Tarikh Ibn Yunus al-Misri
- Author died
- 347 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah
Tarikh Ibn Yunus al-Misri (The History of Ibn Yunus the Egyptian) is a major biographical dictionary composed by the Egyptian historian and hadith scholar Abu Sa'id Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Yunus al-Sadafi (281–347 AH / 894–958 CE), documenting notable figures connected to Egypt from the Islamic conquest to the author's era .
Scope and Structure
The work was composed as two distinct books: a larger compilation dedicated to native and resident Egyptians, titled Tarikh al-Misriyyin (The History of the Egyptians), and a smaller companion work covering visitors to Egypt, titled Tarikh al-Ghuraba' (The History of Foreigners) . Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani noted that when scholars refer generally to "Tarikh Ibn Yunus," they intend Tarikh al-Misriyyin .
Tarikh al-Misriyyin covers individuals from the Islamic conquest of Egypt in 20 AH up to the year of the author's death in 347 AH . It includes Companions of the Prophet who entered Egypt, took part in its conquest, settled in its allotments (khitat), or passed through it during campaigns toward North Africa; individuals born in Egypt (even of non-Egyptian ancestry) who lived there or traveled abroad; and individuals of Coptic or Byzantine origin who embraced Islam . The book was arranged alphabetically by the subjects' given names, beginning with those named Ahmad for blessing, followed by Ibrahim, then proceeding through the rest of the alphabet, and concluding with separate sections for patronymics (kuna) and women .
Tarikh al-Ghuraba' records scholars, jurists, hadith transmitters, judges, and officials who traveled to Egypt from other regions—including Ifriqiya, the Maghrib, al-Andalus, Syria, Iraq, and the eastern Islamic lands—whether they settled permanently, held office, or stayed temporarily before departing .
Methodology and Contents
Ibn Yunus authored the work over the course of his scholarly career, including entries on contemporary figures who were alive at the time of writing . In both sections, he focused extensively on hadith transmitters, recording their names, patronymics, lineages, origins, travels, and narrations . He provided critical assessments of their reliability (al-jarh wa-al-ta'dil), noted personal traits and published writings, recorded birth and death dates along with the places of death, and noted public offices held by the subjects, such as judgeships (qada'), market inspection (hisbah), and state textile supervision (tiraz), occasionally including verses of poetry .
Reception and Continuations
The work earned widespread acclaim among biographical scholars; Ibn Khallikan remarked that Ibn Yunus was deeply knowledgeable about people's conditions and histories, and that he left nothing lacking in his two histories . It became a primary authority on Egyptian transmitters and was quoted extensively by later scholars, including al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ibn 'Asakir, Ibn Makula, al-Sam'ani, al-Qifti, al-Dhahabi, Taj al-Din al-Subki, Ibn Hajar, al-Sakhawi, al-Suyuti, and al-Maqrizi .
Several scholars composed continuations (dhayl) to supplement Ibn Yunus's compilation:
- Ibn Zulaq (d. 387 AH) authored a continuation updating biographical notices of Egyptian figures .
- Ibn al-Tahhan (Yahya ibn Ali al-Hadrami, d. 416 AH) composed a more comprehensive continuation titled Tarikh 'Ulama' Ahl Misr (also known as Ziyadat Tarikh al-Misriyyin), building upon both parts of Ibn Yunus's history .
Reconstruction and Modern Edition
Although the complete original manuscript of the work has not survived intact, its extensive citations across later biographical literature enabled modern scholars to reconstruct large portions of both texts . Researcher Abd al-Fattah Fathi Abd al-Fattah collected and reconstructed 2,164 biographical entries from over seventy classical sources, published in two volumes by Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya in Beirut (2000): the first volume containing Tarikh al-Misriyyin (1,461 entries) and the second containing Tarikh al-Ghuraba' (703 entries) along with an analytical study of the author and his methodology .
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