Tarikh Arbil
- Author died
- 637 AH
- Editions
- Ministry of Culture and Information, Dar Al-Rasheed for Publishing
Tarikh Arbil (The History of Arbil), formally titled Nubāhat al-balad al-khāmil bi-man warada Irbil min al-amāthil (The Renown of the Obscure Town through the Notable Figures Who Visited Arbil), is a biographical history composed by the historian, administrator, and man of letters Ibn al-Mustawfi (564–637 AH / 1169–1239 CE) .
Scope and Composition
The work focuses on the history and intellectual life of the city of Arbil, documenting the biographies of scholars, poets, traditionists, administrators, and dignitaries who were native to the city or visited it . Ibn al-Mustawfi, who held the position of head of the administrative bureau (istīfāʾ al-dīwān) and later served as vizier in Arbil, welcomed visiting scholars and men of letters, recording their traditions, poetry, and biographical notices . The book was originally arranged in four volumes .
Analysis of the surviving text indicates that the extant manuscript was copied from an authorial draft (musawwada), as evidenced by variations in the systematic ordering of entries, duplicate biographies, and occasional textual omissions .
Reception and Preservation
Tarikh Arbil served as an important source for subsequent biographers and historians; Ibn Khallikan noted that he cited it extensively throughout his biographical dictionary Wafayat al-A'yan .
For an extended period in modern scholarship, the book was believed to have been lost . Surviving portions were later identified, including the second volume and the fourth volume preserved at the Chester Beatty Library (MS 4098) . The preserved second volume was subsequently edited by Sami al-Saqqar and published in two parts in Baghdad in 1980 .
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