Tarikh al-Barzali al-Muqtafi li-Tarikh Abi Shama
- Author died
- 739 AH
- Editions
- t Tadmuri · t al-Uthaymin
Tarikh al-Barzali al-Muqtafi li-Tarikh Abi Shama (The History of al-Barzali: The Continuation of Abu Shama's History) is an annalistic chronicle and biographical work by the Damascene Shafi'i hadith scholar and historian Alam al-Din al-Barzali (665–739 AH / 1266–1339 CE), covering events and obituaries from 665 to 738 AH.
Background and Scope
The work was conceived as a continuation (dhayl) to the historical chronicle of Abu Shama (d. 665 AH / 1267 CE). Abu Shama had authored Kitab al-Rawdatayn and subsequently penned a supplement to it that concluded with the year of his death, 665 AH. Having acquired and studied Abu Shama's text, al-Barzali chose to begin his chronicle in that same year—which coincided with his own birth—and continued it through seventy-three years up to 738 AH, the year preceding his death.
The text is known by several designations, including al-Muqtafi li-Tarikh Abi Shama, al-Muqtafi, Tarikh al-Barzali, and was also referred to by contemporaries such as Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi and Ibn Kathir as al-Wafayat (The Obituaries). Historical reports differed regarding its original size: al-Dhahabi and Taj al-Din al-Subki described it as spanning five volumes or more, Salah al-Din al-Safadi recorded it in eight volumes, and Ibn Qadi Shuhba cited a report from al-Dhahabi describing it in seven volumes.
Structure and Methodology
The chronicle is arranged strictly on a year-by-year basis, organizing events and deaths within the chronological sequence of days and months wherever possible. Unlike works that separated annual political events from the obituaries of scholars, al-Barzali integrated both within the same chronological flow, though biographical entries form the predominant bulk of the work.
Apart from the earliest years corresponding to his childhood, the vast majority of the work comprises contemporary history directly observed or verified by al-Barzali, particularly events and deaths in Damascus. His sources included:
- Direct eyewitness observation of administrative, political, and social developments.
- An extensive network of correspondence with contemporary scholars and historians across various regions who reported local events and deaths to him.
- Official registers, court proceedings of judges and emirs, and chancery documents.
- Scholarly transmission certificates (ijazat) and hadith audition records (sama'at), which aided in standardizing proper names, genealogies, and death dates.
- Earlier and contemporary written works, including Abu Shama's supplement, Ibn Nuqta's Ikmal al-Ikmal, Ibn al-Sha''ar al-Mawsili's Uqud al-Juman, and the records of his own father.
Reception and Continuations
Tarikh al-Barzali served as a foundational source for later fourteenth- and fifteenth-century historians of the Mamluk realm. Ibn Taymiyyah praised al-Barzali's meticulous transmission, remarking that his recording was as precise as an engraving on stone.
His contemporary Shams al-Din al-Jazari incorporated extensive sections of the draft into his chronicle Hawadith al-Zaman, while al-Dhahabi condensed and drew heavily upon its biographical and historical material for Tarikh al-Islam. Ibn Kathir likewise relied upon it for the contemporary portions of al-Bidayah wa-al-Nihayah, completing his excerpts from it in 751 AH and continuing the historical narrative from where al-Barzali left off. Subsequent historians who drew heavily upon the text include Ja'far al-Adfuwi, al-Safadi, Ibn Shakir al-Kutubi, Jamal al-Din al-Isnawi, Ibn Rajab, Ibn al-Mulaqqin, Taqi al-Din al-Fasi, al-Maqrizi, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani.
The chronicle was formally continued by Taqi al-Din Ibn Rafi al-Sallami (d. 774 AH / 1372 CE) in his biographical dictionary al-Wafayat, which took up the record from the point of al-Barzali's coverage.
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