Tarikh al-Mustabsir
- Author died
- 690 AH
- Editions
- Tarikh al-Mustabsir
Tarikh al-Mustabsir (The Guide for the Perceptive Observer) is a seventh-century AH geographical and historical treatise written by the Damascene historian and hadith scholar Ibn al-Mujawir (601–690 AH / 1205–1291 CE), detailing the geography, history, and customs of the Arabian Peninsula .
Author and Background
The book was composed by Abu al-Fath Jamal al-Din Yusuf ibn Ya'qub ibn Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shaybani al-Dimashqi, known as Ibn al-Mujawir . He was a writer and scholar of hadith hailing from Damascus . Biographical sources distinguish him from the earlier vizier and poet Abu al-Fath Yusuf ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Mujawir (d. 601 AH / 1204 CE) .
Scope and Contents
Tarikh al-Mustabsir provides a regional account of western and southern Arabia, beginning its itinerary at Mecca and extending through the Hejaz, Yemen, and Hadramawt, before concluding at Bahrain . The text documents the regional itineraries, historical anecdotes, local customs, and economic conditions of these territories .
Among its detailed observations, the author discusses the port city of Jeddah, recording incidents involving its merchant community, such as raids and sieges by surrounding desert bedouins that prompted affluent residents to migrate with their wealth . It also records institutional and fiscal practices in the region, such as the entry duties levied on Maghrebi pilgrims under the authority of the ruler of Mecca, and the detention of travelers unable to pay those duties on an offshore island near Jeddah .
Editions
The work has been published in two parts bound in a single volume . Selected sections and extracts from the text, alongside related historical works on southern Arabia, were notably edited and published in Leiden in 1936 by the Swedish scholar Oscar Löfgren .
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