Tarikh Dimashq li-Ibn Asakir
- Author died
- 571 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Fikr li-l-Ṭibā‘ah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Tarikh Dimashq (Tarīkh Madīnat Dimashq, "History of Damascus") is a comprehensive biographical and historical work composed by the Shafi'i hadith scholar and historian Abu al-Qasim Ibn Asakir (499–571 AH / 1105–1176 CE) . Spanning around eighty volumes, it documents the topography and history of Damascus and the wider Syrian region, accompanied by extensive biographical records of prominent figures who lived in or visited the city from pre-Islamic antiquity to the author's lifetime .
Title and Composition
The book's full title is Tarīkh Madīnat Dimashq wa-Dhikr Faḍlihā wa-Tasmiyat Man Ḥallahā min al-Amāthil aw Ijtāza bi-Nawāḥīhā min Wāridīhā wa-Ahlihā ("The History of the City of Damascus, the Mention of Its Virtues, and the Naming of Notable Persons Who Resided in It or Passed Through Its Districts Among Its Visitors and Inhabitants") . Ibn Asakir began assembling material for the work early in his scholarly career; his companion Abu Sa'd al-Sam'ani recorded that Ibn Asakir had already commenced drafting the history prior to visiting Nishapur in 529 AH .
As Ibn Asakir recounted in his introduction, the composition was temporarily interrupted by fatigue, illness, and difficult circumstances . Following the entry of the ruler Nur al-Din Zanki into Damascus in 549 AH, Nur al-Din learned of the unfinished history and urged Ibn Asakir to complete it, which prompted the author to resume and finalize his compilation .
Scope and Structure
Structured after the model of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's Tarikh Baghdad, Ibn Asakir's work expanded significantly beyond its predecessor in volume and scope :
- Topographical and Regional History: The opening volumes address the religious merits of Syria (Faḍāʾil al-Shām), the Muslim conquest of the region (Futūḥ al-Shām), and the urban topography (khiṭaṭ) of Damascus, describing its protective walls, gates, quarters, mosques, churches, and river canal networks .
- Foundational Prophetic and Caliphate Biographies: The work incorporates an exhaustive biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, followed by detailed accounts of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and early companions .
- Biographical Dictionary: The core of the encyclopedia presents entries for prophets, caliphs, princes, judges, jurists, hadith scholars, Qur'an reciters, grammarians, and poets .
- Arrangement: Entries are arranged alphabetically, opening intentionally with individuals named Ahmad out of reverence for the Prophet's name, followed by the remaining names, individuals known by their kunyas, and a dedicated concluding section for notable women .
Method and Sources
Ibn Asakir applied the methodology of hadith scholars (muḥaddithūn), transmitting historical reports, narratives, and traditions with full chains of transmission (asānīd) . By citing complete chains, he aimed to place the responsibility of verification on the original narrators while preserving varying transmissions and historical perspectives, including weak or controversial reports .
Entries include assessments of narrator reliability (evaluative criticism and appraisal, or al-jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl), exact orthography and lineages, dates of birth and death, and selections of poetry and prose composed by or related to the subjects . The text preserves extensive fragments of earlier, lost historical writings, serving as a primary source for subsequent historians and biographers such as Ibn al-Athir, al-Mizzi, al-Dhahabi, and Ibn Kathir .
Reception
Scholars praised Tarikh Dimashq for its unprecedented depth and scale. The hadith scholar Abd al-Azim al-Mundhiri commented to Ibn Khallikan that Ibn Asakir must have resolved to write the work and gathered material from the time he attained intellectual maturity, observing that an ordinary lifespan would otherwise be insufficient to compile such a collection . Ibn Kathir stated that Ibn Asakir surpassed earlier historians and exhausted those who came after him, describing the compilation as unique among historical chronicles . In modern assessments, scholars such as Muhammad Kurd Ali highlighted that no city in Islamic history had received a historical work of equivalent magnitude .
Continuations, Abridgments, and Editions
Numerous scholars compiled continuations (adhyāl) and abridgments (mukhtaṣarāt) of the work:
- Continuations: Continuations were written by the author's son al-Qasim ibn Ali (left incomplete), Sadr al-Din al-Bakri, Umar ibn al-Hajib, Ilm al-Din al-Birzali (reaching the year 738 AH), and Ibn al-Qalanisi .
- Abridgments and Selections: Abu Shama al-Maqdisi prepared both a major abridgment in fifteen volumes and a minor version . Jamal al-Din Ibn Manzur condensed the encyclopedia to roughly one-fourth of its original size . Other summaries and selections were authored by Badr al-Din al-Ayni, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (Tuḥfat al-Mudhakkir), Ahmad ibn Abd al-Da'im al-Maqdisi (Fākihat al-Majālis), Ismail ibn Muhammad al-Jarrah (al-ʿIqd al-Fākhir), and Abu al-Fath al-Khatib . In the twentieth century, Abd al-Qadir Badran abridged the work by removing redundant chains and narratives (Tahdhīb Tārīkh Dimashq), publishing five volumes, followed by two additional volumes published by Ahmad Ubayd .
- Editions: The complete Arabic text has been published in eighty volumes by Dar al-Fikr in Beirut, edited by Ali Shiri based primarily on the historic Zahiriyyah/Sulaymaniyyah manuscript from Damascus, supplemented by manuscripts from Cairo, Rabat, Tunis, and Istanbul .
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