Example of Medinan Literary Activity in the Eleventh/Seventeenth Century
Before examining the available literary productions of Medinan intellectuals of the twelfth/eighteenth century, their value and what kind of criticism is appropriate to their centents, it will be useful to give some consideration ti the available and famous works of the Medinan intellectuals of the preceding, eleventh/seventeenth century. This precursory century naturally had its effects on the literary production of the centuty which followed, the century which in its various aspects forms the main content of our study. A glimpse of the literary activity of the preceding century is also appropriate in view of the fact that the twelfth/eighteenth century was a relatively gloomy period of time, so that it has been generally avoided by the majority of academic scholarship.
As examples of eleventh/seventeenth-century literature, I have chosen two major works as illustrative and introductory to the period with which we are concerned. The first of these works deals with literary history and is entitled Sulāfat al-CAsr fī Mahāsin al-ShuCarā' bi-kull Misr and was composed by CAlī khān (1).
In his introduction to al-Sulāfa, CAlī stated his aim of writing biographies of the poets of the eleventh/seventeenth century, following the pattern set by the earlier works of "al-ThaCālibī (2) (in Yatīmat al-Dahr) and al-Bākharzī (3) (in Dumyat al-Qasr). Nevertheless, he hesitated in proceeding with his book until the work of al-Khafājī (Rayhānat al-Alibbā) was sent to him from Mecca. Thereafter he wrote al-Sulāfa as a supplement to al-Rayhāna, but he omitted from his own work the poetical works which were already contained in al-Rayhāna, even though he had sometimes to repeat the biographies of the poets mentioned in the latter work. The author arranged his work by regions, so that the first part deals with the works of the intellectuals of Mecca and Medina, the second part with the intellectuals of Bilād al-Shām and Egypt, the third part with Yemen, the fourth part with Persia, Bahrain, and Iraq, and the fifth part with the Maghreb.
We shall look briefly at the second chapter of the first part of al-Sulāfa, which deals with the Medinan intellectuals in the eleventh/seventeenth century and covers. P.249-289 of the edition referred to above (4). From these pages we may draw a number of conclusions which throw some light on the state of literature in Medina during this period. These conclusions may be summarized as follows.
(1) The author concentrated on certain family groups, recording for instance the works of members of the Banū Shaqdam al-Husaynī family (5), members of the Khatīb (preacher) Ilyās family (6), and members of al-CIsāmī family. Some of these families were immigrants to Medina from various Arab provinces, like some members of al-Tarābulsī family from Tripoli (Bilād al-shām), the BākurāC al-Hadramī family from Hadramawt, and al-CIsāmī family from Mecca.
(2) The biographies of this chapter are not exclusively those of poets, but include also some preachers or historians. These were apparently incorporated because they composed occasional verses (7), which might not be considered of high quality, showing that author did not work by any critical criteria to identify good productions from bad ones.
(3) Most of these biographoes are somewhat lacking in details of the early life and educational experience of the subjects treated and, since the author stated in his introduction to his book that he intended to follow the method adopted by al-Tha Cālibī in Yatīmat al-Dahr, the later must also incur some criticism (8).
(4) The author's tendency in this chapter is to select a certain species of poetry. His interest ranges over verses which were composed in praise of his own father, Nizām al-Dīn Ahmad ibn MaCsūm (9), and the poems the latter exchanged with some of his contemporaties who lived in Medina, such as al-Khatīb Ahmad ibn CAbd Allāh al-Barrī al-Hanafī (10). Other selections include the popular genre of that period, which was the eulogy of famous men. Thus we have eulogy of the Prophet Muhammad, as in the poem of al-Sayyid Husayn ibn CAlī ibn Hasan ibn Shaqdam al-Husaynī (11), eulogy of certain Culamā', as in the poem of Muhammad ibn kibrīt (12) on the Istanbul Shaykh al-Islām Yahyā ibn Zakariyā (13), and eulogy of certain rulers and leaders, such as the poem of al-Shaykh Darwīsh ibn Mustafā ibn Qāsim al-Tarābulsī on the occasion of the visit (14) of Zayd ibn Muhsin the Sultan of Mecca (15), and the poem of Fath Allāh al-Nahhās in praise of the Amīr al-Hajj al-Shāmī (16) Muhammad ibn Farrūkhs (17).
(5) While Ibn MaCsūm recorded the literary productions of Medina's intellectuals throughout this chapter of al-Sulāfa, he revealed his own poetical education in many places, as in the biography of al-Khatīb Ahmad al-Barrī, who exchanged some poems with the author’s father. Ibn MaCsūm reckoned that the meaning of one line (18) of al-Barrī's poem was taken from a poem (19) attributed to Abū al-Hasan Muhammad al-Salāmī (20), which he composed in praise of CAdud al-Dawla ibn Buwayh (21). Again, in the biography of Fath Allāh al-Nahhās, Ibn MaCsūm referred to a line contained in one of al-Nahhās' poems (22) attributed to the poet Suhaym CAbd Banī al-Hashās (23).
Having in the above paragraphs reviewed briefly one of the major literary-historical works produced by as Medina intellectual of the eleventh/seventeenth century and having paid particular attention to the chapter concerning Medinan intellectuals, we turn now to one of those intellectuals who contributed to the literary movement of Medina during that period, the famous writer known as Ibn Kibrīt al-Madanī, whose biographical details have already been recorded above in connection with our study of Ibn MaCsūm’s al-Sulāfa(24). One of the important workes of Ibn Kibrīt was written in the field of history and lavishly illustrated with poetic examples. However, before we classify the subjects of this historical work of make any critical comments about its contents, it is appropriate first to give some attention to other works of the famous historians of Medina, produced during the centuries preceding Ibn Kibrīt's time (25).
One of these famous works was al-Durrat al-Thamīna fī Akhbār al-Madīna by Muhammad ibn Mahmūd ibn al-Hasan ibn Hibat Allāh ibn Mahāsin al-Baghdādī (26). His book on the history of Medina is referred to by F. Rosenthal as follows: "On (Medina's) praise (fada'il), relics, and monuments, there is Muhibb-ad-dîn b. an-Najjâr, ad-Durrah at-tamînah fî Akhbar al-Madînah. A supplement to (the Durrah) of one quire was written by Abû l-CAbbâs al-Garrâqî" (27). In his Wafā', al-Samhūdī cited Ibn al-Najjār in al-Durra in about 54 places. He also cited twice the Dhayl (appendix) of Abū al-CAbbās al-CIrāqī. H. al-Jāsir confirmed that a copy of the Dhayl was availableto al-Samhūdī and that he would have been able to use it in composing his Wafā' (28). Al-Durrat al-Thamīna fī Akhbār al-Madīna was published many times, but without editing. The first edition was in 1366/1946, and the third was in 1401/1981 under the title Akhbār Madīnat al-Rasūl. The publisher of both these Meccan editions was Sālih Muhammad Jamāl (Maktabat al-Thaqāfa).
Another work was Jamāl al-Dīn Muhammad al-Matarī al-Ansārī al-Khazrajī al-CAbbādī's (29) al-TaCrīf bi-mā Ānasat al-Hijra min MaCālim Dār al-Hijra. Rosenthal described this book on the history of Medina as an instructive work (30). Al-Samhūdī, in his Wafā', cited al-Matarī in about 124 places. Al-Matarī's work was published by AsCad Darābazūnī al-Husaynī in 1372/1952, but without comparing variant manuscript copies of the book. Among the many copies scattered in different libraries, I have seen two in Dār al-Kutub al-Qawmiyya in Cairo, under the numbers 21 and 064 (history).
Another work on the history of medina was CAbd Allāh ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Farhūn al-YaCmurī al-Mālikī's (31) Nasīhat al-Mushāwir wa-TaCziyyat al-Mujāwir, a one-volume work containing the biographies of a number of Medinans (32). S. Jamāl listed al-Nasīha among the sources on the history of Medina which have not yet been discovered (33) (but see below). CAbd al-Wahhāb Abū Sulaymān gave the same notice concerning Ibn Farhūn's work (34). H. al-Jāsir stated that al-Samhūdī consulted Ibn Farhūn's work during the composition of his own Wafa' (35). I have discovered that al-Samhūdī quoted Ibn Farhūn in about 21 places, introducing these quotations with the words, "al-Badr Ibn Farhūn said…" A manuscript copy of Ibn Farhūn's unpublished work was made available to me in CĀrif Hikmat Library in Medina, no. 797 (history). On the verso of the titlepage, it is recorded that this copy was endowed to the Library in 1368/1948. The book, which is in 276 pages, is devoted to the biographies of the nobles of Medina during the writer's time, including mashā'ikh (chiefs) of the servants of the Prophet’s Mosque (36), al-mujāwirūn al-qudamā' (the old immigrants), al-mu’adhdhinūn (announcers of the prayer), al-khutabā' (preachers), al-qudāt (judges), al-a'imma (prayer leaders), and umarā' (governors). Occasionally, the author also refers to some events in the wider Islamic world, such as the rule of the Fātimids and the battles between Salāh al-Dīn and the Crusaders. Ibn Farhūn completed his book with a small chapter on his own family which had an Andalusian origin, as was noted in his nephew's biography (37). His father emigrated from Tunisia to Medina, where he married a daughter of al-Sharīf CAbd al-Wāhid al Husaynī. Ibn Farhūn confirmed that he himself was born on the 6th Jamādā II, 693/1294.
Abū Bakr ibn al-Husayn ibn CUmar al-Qurashī al-CAbshamī al-Umawī al-CUthmānī al-Marāqī al-Misrī al-ShāfiCī's (38) work on the history of Medina, Tahqīq al-Nusra bi-Talkhīs MaCālim Dār al-Hijra, was cited by al-Samhūdī in his Wafā' in about 29 places. Al-Ziriklī noted that his Tahqīq was published in Cairo by Būshar, but the only edition of this book I have seen was published by Muhammad al-Nimnakānī in Medina in 1374/1955. It claimed to be the first edition and was edited by Muhammad Jawād al-AsmaCī, based on two manuscripts found in Dār al-Kutub al-Misriyya under the numbers 59 and 1614 (history). The two copies have been made available to me. That which is numbered 59 was copied in Medina in 766/1364. Among the many other copies of this work, the one in the British Library (or.3615) concludes with the author's statement that he completed his book on Saturday the 12th Rajab 766/1364. Two further copies of the Tahqīq are found in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, under the numbers 415 and 527. Another two copies exist in al-Haram al-Makkī Library in Mecca. One is under the number 121, in al-Dihlawī Collection, and was copied in 1241/1825; the other is under the number 110, copied in 1092/1681, and used to belong to al-Sharīf CAbd al-Muttalib. Still another copy of this work I have obtained from the Topkapi Saray Müzesi Kütüphanesi (39).
Abū al-Tāhir Muhammad ibn YaCqūb ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrāhīm Majd al-Dīn al-ShāfīCī al-Shīrāzī al-Fīrūzābādī (40) also wrote a history of Medina under the title al-Maghānim al-Mutāba fī MaCālim Tāba. H. Jāsir, who edited one volume of the work, al-qism al-jughrāfī (41), stated that the remainder was still unpublished, but he added that al-Samhūdī, in his Wafā', depended largely on al-Fīrūzābādī's work, quoting from him profusely and either adding some new information of correcting al- Fīrūzābādī's text (42). I have counted 112 citations from al- Fīrūzābādī's work in al-Samhūdī's Wafā', each citation introduced by the phrase qāla al-Majd…" ("al-Majd said…"). In his introduction to the geographical section of al-Maghānim, al- Jāsir stated that this published part of the book was the longest chapter of the book, in which the author depended on Yāqūt’s MuCjam al-Buldān, but tried occasionally to correct the mistakes which he found in Yāqūt's work (43). In other places, however, he repeated Yāqūt's mistakes (44), but also sought to add new information to what he cited from Yāqūt's (45).
Having now reviewed these earlier historians of Medina, we come now to consider al-Jawāhir al-Thamīna fī Mahāsin al-Madinā by al-Sayyid Muhammad Ibn Kibrīt al-Madanī. In this work Ibn Kibrīt has followed closely the method of previous Medinan historians, like al-Matarī, al-Marāghī, and al-Samhūdī in recording the traditional information concerning Medina's mosque, mountains, valleys, wells of water, etc., with relevant quotations in their places (46). However, he also tried to describe the present state of some places as they had become in his own time (47).
Ibn Kibrīt took pains to record the actual dates when things were established in the city, especially items related to water sources, since a city like Medina depended principally for its economic life on agriculture, which in turn depended on the available water sources (48).
Ibn Kibrīt also took an interest in describing the agricultural seasons of the city of Medina and showing how they related to the months and seasons of the year. It is not surprising that he should take such an interest, since we learn from biographical details relating to him that he himself owned some gardens on the outskirts of the city of Medina and that he wrote a book on agriculture entitled Kitāb al-Filāha (49). It is evident from this that Ibn Kibrīt was one of the Medinan intellectuals whose knowledge and writings covered many fields, so that his contribution deserves to be examined and reviewed from a number of angles and in some breadth.
He reveals in this work his particular interest in literature by recording poetical quotations, especially in his study of famous sites in Medina (50). Among these quotations, attributed to different poets of various ages, Ibn Kibrīt recorded some Sufi lines (51) expressing religious longing for the sacred city and for the revered Prophet, which he attributed to al-Sayyid Ahmad al-RifāCī (52).
The later historian of Medina, al-Sayyid JaCfar al-Barzanjī (53), who finished composing his book on Medina's history on the 23rd Dhū al-QaCda 1287/1870, cited some of these religious verses in praise of the Prophet Muhammad, or expressing passionate feeling towards the city (54). He cited Ibn Kibrīt again in other places, but with some occasional criticism, as in the case of the history of a certain prayerniche, al-Mihrāh al-Sulaymānī. Al-Barzanjī insisted that the mihrāb, was not a part of the building expansion work which took place under the second Caliph CUmar ibn al-Khattāb, as Ibn Kibrīt had recorded, but was established rather by Tūghān Shaykh, after the year 860/1455. Al-Barzanjī described Ibn Kibrīt's record in this matter as very weak (55).
"CAlī Khān b. Ahmad b. Muhammad MaCsūm b. Ibrāhīm Sadr al-Dīn al-Husaynī al-Madanī, author of biographical works and a book of travels, b. 15 Djumādā I 1052/12 August 1642 in Medina; he was a descendant of Ghiyath al-Shīrāzī. His father was since 1055/1644 in the service of the prince Shāhinshāh CAbd Allāh b. Muhammad Kutb Shah".(C. Brockelmann, rev. by edrs., art. "CAlī Khān", EI2, vol. I, p. 392f). His biography may be found in al-AClam, vol. V, p. 64 (where the date of his death is given as 1119/1707), T.A. al-Lugha, vol. III, p. 306 (where he is said to have died in 1117/1705), and in C. Brockelmann, GAL, Suppl., Bd. II, p. 627f. (with the same date as in the preceding). See also M. al-Mu'allifin, vol. VII, p. 28.
"Abū Mansūr CAbd al-Malik b. Muhammad b. IsmāCīl, one of the most fertile intellects of the Vth (xith) century, of whose life we only know that he was born in 350 (961) in Nīsābūr and died in 429 (1038)". (C. Brockelmann, art. "al-ThaCālibī", EI, vol. IV, p. 730).
"Al-Bākharzī, Abu 'l-Hasan (or Abu 'l-Kāsim) CAlī b. Hasan b. CAlī b. Abi 'l-Tayyib, Arab poet and anthologist, a native of Bākharzi… he was killed by a sabre stroke in Dhu 'l-KaCda 467/ June-July 1075… his Dumyat a-Kasr [sic] wa CŪsrat Ahl al-CAsr… is an anthology which is a continuation of the Yatima of al-ThaCālibī". (D.S. Margoliouth, art. "al-Bākharzi", EI2, vol. I, . 952).
See CAbd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn IsmāCīl al-Nīsābūrī, Yatīmat al-Dahr fī Mahāsin Ahl al-CAsr, ed. Muhammad Muhyī al-Din CAbd al-Hamid, 2nd ed., vol.I (Cairo, 1375/1956), intro., p. 8.
Al-Amīr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn MaCsūm ibn Ahmad, Nizām al-Dīn, was born and brought up in Mecca. He went to Hyderabad at the request of Sultan CAbd Allāh Qutb Shāh. He later became his son-in-law and acted on the Sultan’s behalf as vicegerent of the Mughal Empire. He died in Hyderabad in 1086/1675. See al-Sayyid CAlī Sadr al-Dīn MaCsūm al-Madanī, Anwār al-RabīC fī AnwāC al-BadīC, ed. Shākir Hādī Shakr, vol. I (1388/1968) p. 5-7.
Ahmad ibn CAbd Allāh ibn Muhammad Abū al-Lutf al-Barrī al-Maghribī al-Mālikī was born in Medina in 1014/1605. He later became a renowned preacher and writer of letters. He died in 1093/1682. See Tuhfat al-Muhibbīn, p. 93.
The poet addressed the Prophet in his verses, showing his personal respect and confessing his belief in the nobility and generosity of Muhammad. Thus he said:
ألا يا رسول اللَّه يا أشرف الورَى
ويا بحر فضل سيْبُهُ دائم المد
لأنت الذي فقت النبيين زلفة
من اللَّه، رب العرش، مستوجب الحمد
("O Prophet of God, you are the noblest of mankind and are like the sea of generosity that flows unceasingly. You surpass the other prophets in coming near to God, who is the Lord of the throne and deserves the praise"). See al-Sulāfa, p. 255.
AL-Sayyid Muhammad ibn CAbd Allāh ibn Shams al-Dīn ibn Ahmad ibn Qāsim ibn Sharaf al-Dīn, well known as Ibn Kibrīt, was born in Medina where he was also brought up and studied. He travelled to Turkey in 1039/1629, a journey which is recorded in his book Rihlat al-Shita' wa's-Sayf. He entered Damascus and Cairo, returning eventually to Medina. We was accused of heresy by some of his contemporaries. He died on the 10th Ramadan 1070/1660. See al-Muhibbī, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 28-31. His biography may be found in al-AClam, vol. VII, p. 118 (where the date of his birth is given as 1012/1603); GAL, Bd. II, p. 393, Suppl., Bd.II, p. 538; and Tuhfat al-Muhibbin, p. 412. On Ibn Kibrīt's travel account, see I.Y. Krachkovski, op.cit., vol. II, p. 726.
Yahyā Efendī ibn Zakariyā ibn Bayrām was Shaykh al-Islām in his time. He was born in Istanbul in 999/1509. He was appointed as judge first in Egypt and then in Bilād al-Shām. After his dismissal from this post, he was appointed as judge or Bursa, then of Edirne, and after that of Istanbul. His famous work in Islamic legal opnions was entitled Fatāwī Yahyā. He also composed some poems in the Arabic language. He died in 1053/1644. See al-AClām, vol. IX, p. 177.
It seems that the poet expressed his appreciation for this leader on the occasion of his defeating the bedouin of his city Medina. Thus he records in his poems:
قد سِرْت من مكَّة لغزوِ
واللَّه بالفتح قد أمدّك
وطالع السَّعد حين وافَى
لقمع أعداك قد أعدّك
("You marched from Mecca to carry out a military expedition and God granted you victory. You were prepared to defeat your enemies when the rising of good fortune assisted you"). See al-Sulāfa, p. 288.
Muhammad ibn Farrukh was a prince from Nablus in Palestine, well known for his bravery and generosity. He was appointed to the Imārat (leadership) of al-Hajj al-Shāmī after his father. He succeeded in defeating the bedouin, which won him fame for bravery and attracted some poets, like Fath Allah ibn al-Nahhās and the prince al-Manjikī, and caused them to devote some of their verses in praise of him. See al-aClām, vol. VII, p. 219f.
The line of al-Salāmī's poem which the author felt that al-Barrī had alluded to was:
فبشرت آمالي بملك هو الورَى
ودار هي الدّنيا، ويوم هو الدّهر
("I delighted my wishes with a king who is mankind, a place which is the world, and a day which is eternity"). See ShiCr al-Salāma, Abī al-Hasan Muhammad ibn CAbd Allāh ibn Muhammad al-Makhzumi al-Salami, ed. Sabih Radif (Baghdad, 1971) p. 67.
Muhammad ibn CAbd Allāh ibn Muhammad al-Makhzūmī al-Qurashī Abū al-Hasan al-Salāmī was born in Kark, Baghdad, in 336/947. He removed to Mosul, thence to isfahān where he contacted al-Sāhib ibn CAbbād who gave him advancement. Then he reached CAdud al-Dawla in Shīrās and became very close to him. When the latter died, the position of al-Salāmī became weakened and he died in the year 393/1003. See al-AClām, vol. VII, p. 100.
"CAdud al-Dawla, Abū ShudjāC Fannā Khusraw, son of Rukn al-Dawla, Buwayhid… amir al-umara', born at Isfahān on 5 Dhu 'I-KaCda 324/24 Sept. 936. On the death in 338/944 of his uncle CImād al-Dawla… [he] succeeded him as ruler of Fārs". (H. Bowen, art. "CAdud al-Dawla", "EI2, vol. I, p. 211).
("If I am a slave, my soul is quite free; or if my colour is black, my morality is white"). See Dīwan Suhaym CAbd Banī al-Hashas, ed. CAbd al-CAzīz al-Maymani (Cairo, 1369/1950) P. 55.
Suhaym CAbd Banī al-Hashās ibn Hind Sufyān ibn Nawfal was a negre poet, born at the beginning of the first Islamic century. He saw the Prophet, who admired his poetical works, and lived until the time of the third Caliph CUthmān ibn CAffān. He was killed, c.40/660, by Banū CAbd al-Hashās because he entranced their women. See W. al-ACyān, vol. II, p. 42-4.
The famous historian of Medina, al-Samhūdī, will not be included, since his biography and a review of his books (especially Wafā' al-Wafā) has been included elsewhere in the English commentary, p. 99, 1.10, q.v.
A "historian and leading ShāfiCī muhaddith of his age, [who] was born in Baghdad in 578/1183… his death [occurred] in 643/1245". (C.E. Fearah, art. "Ibn al-Nadjdjar", EI2, vol. III, p. 896f. See further on Ibn al-Najjār, Irshad, vol. XIX, p. 49-51; GAL, Bd. I, p. 442f.; Suppl., Bd. I, p. 613; al-AClām, vol. VII, p. 307f.
Ibn Farhūn was born in 693/1294 and died in 769/1368. (Al-AClām, vol. IV, p. 271). See further on Ibn Farhun, Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Hajar al-CAsqalanī, al-Durar al-Kāmina fī ACyān al-Mi'at al-Thāmina, ed. M.S. Jad al-Haqq, 2nd ed., vol. II (1385/1966) p. 406f.; Hadiyya, vol. I, 467.
The author was born in Cairo in 727/1327. He emigrated to Medina and settled there for about fifty years, where he was appointed as a judge, preacher, and prayer leader in 808/1405. He died in Medina in 816/1414. (Al-AClām, vol. VI, p. 283f). See further on him, GAL, Bd. I, p. 172, where the date of his birth is given as 728/1328.
Al- Fīrūzābādī "Was born at Kāzarūn, a town near Shīrāz (Irān) in RabīC II or Djumdā II 729/February or April 1329… He was in Medina in 803/1401 when he heard of the death of his father-in-law al-Malik al-Ashraf. In Ramadān 805/April 1403 he made another journey to Mecca, but returned to Zabīd without delay. He died there on 20 Shawwāl 817/3 January 1415". (H. Fleisch, art. "al- Fīrūzābdī", EI2, vol. II, p. 926.
See e.g. his quotation from al-Matarī's al-TaCrīf when identifying the location of al-CAqīq valley in Medina, and again in describing the quality of the water from CAyn CUrwa he quotes from al-Samhūdī's al-Khulasa. (Al-Jawahir, p. 27).
So, when identifying the place called al-Ghāba, he said, "A watering place in al-sāfila (the lowest part) of Medina, where the valleys of the city dwindle away. The people of the city used to own some properties there, but in our time they have become ruins". (Al-Jawahir, p. 29).
So, when Ibn Kibrīt describes the location of the city's manāhil (springs of water), he named one of them Manhal al-Suq ("the spring of the market"), which was located near to the square of Bāb al-Salam ("the gate of peace"), near to the Prophet's Mosque, which provided a large portion of the city's population with water. He mentioned that al-Husayn ibn abī al-Hayjā' diverted this water from al-Azraq well in Qubā' (see p. 59, 1.8) into this particular manhal in 650/1252. (Al-Jawahir, p. 21).
I.Y. Krachkovski mentioned this feature of Ibn Kibrīt's methodology in writing when he reviewed his travelogue, Rihlat al-Shitā' wa's-Sayf. (Op.cit., vol. II, p. 726).
The lines which he recorded are still repeated to the present day by many ordinary people when they visit the city:
في حالة البُعد روحي رحت أرسلها
تقبل الأرض عنِّي فهي نائِبَتِي
وهذه نوبة الأشباح قد حضرت
فامدد يمينك كي تحظى بها شفَتِي
("When I was away, I used to send my soul as a messenger to kiss the land on behalf of me. Now is the time of my presence here. Would you give me your hand and let my lips take their opportunity?") (Al-Jawāhir, p. 13).
"Al-RifāCī, Ahmad b. CAlī Abu l-CAbbas, founder of the RifāCī tarika, died 22nd Djumādā I, 578 (Sept. 23, 1183) at Umm CAbida, in the district of Wāsit". (D.S. Margoliouth, art. "al-RifāCī", EI, vol. III, p. 1156).
Al-Sayyid JaCfar ibn al-Sayyid IsmaCīl al-Madanī al-Barzanjī's father emigrated from Medina to Iraq in 1223/1808, where he married the daughter of the ruler of Iraq at that time, CAbd al-Rahmān Pāshā. Al-Barzanjī records of himself that he was born in Iraqi Kurdistan and that after forty-five years' settlement in the country, his father decided to return to his native Medina in 1269/1852. On their way to medina in that year, the family entered Egypt, where the author took the opportunity to gain religious education in al-Azhar University, where he met some well-known Culamā' of that time, including al-Shaykh Ibrahīm al-Bājūrī. Al-Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Saqqā, and al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Khudarī. In 1271/1854, the author joined his family in Medina. See al-Nuzha, p. 33f. and on al-Barzanjī family, p. 10, 1.8.
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