Examples of Medinan Literary Activity in the Twelfth/Eighteenth Century
As already noticed in our introduction to Ibn Kibrīt's work on the history of Medina, throughout most of the Islamic centuries, the writing about Medina and its history captured the attention of many historians, most of them immigrants from other Islamic lands who settled in the city of Medina for long or shorter periods of time. So as we move to the twelfth/eighteenth century we find that the fascination with the history of the city of medina remained a favourite among the Medina intellectuals of that time.
One of the important works, written not specifically on the history of the city, but rather on the history of its people, was entitled Tuhfat al-Muhibbīn wa’l-Ashāb fī MaCrifat mā li'l-Madaniyyīn min Ansāb (1). This was the work of CAbd al-Rahmān ibn CAbd al-Karīm ibn Yūsuf al-Ansārī (2). The author immediately stated his intention of writing about the genealogies of the families of Medina right at the commencement of al-Tuhfa, where he described the Ansārī family, to which he himself belonged. He also mentioned that he wrote another book specifically detailing the genealogy of his family, called Nashr Kamā'im al-Azhā al-Mustātaba fī Nashr Tarājim Ansār Tāba (3). He claimed that he wrote this book, of which we know nothing apart from its title, because the historian al-Sakhāwī (4) ignored in his two books, al-Tuhfat al-Tīfa (5) and al-Daw' al-LāmiC (6), many branches of the Ansārī family because of his lack of knowledge about their origin. Neither did he attempt to classify them and, because of this evident lack, al-Ansārī pledged himself to make good these deficiencies in al-Sakhāwī's information (7). The editor of al-Ansārī's Tuhfa claimed that the book not only contained genealogical information as the title suggested, but in addition provided a picture of Medinan society in the twelfth/eighteenth century, with its political, sociological, and economic aspects (8).
The author arranged the names of the families described in his book alphabetically and he provided the reader with information about the origin of every family. So, in the case of the Zaytūnī family, he related that these people immigrated to the city of Medina from Anatolia when Hasan Efendī al-Rūmī, well known as al-Zaytūnī, arrived in the city in the year 1100/1688. In explanation of the name al-Zaytūnī, he suggested that this person might have been accustomed to selling olives (Zaytūn) in his native home in Anatolia (9).
In the detailled information provided concerning the people of every family, al-Ansārī recorded the positions each person held and he frankly stated his good and bad features. So, for example, in the case of Muhammad Abū al-Jūd al-Humaydānī, he stated that he was born in 1144/1731, he sought religious education, and later became a teacher and preacher in the Prophet's Mosque. He apparently earned a Lot of Money, but his greedy disposition led him to care for nothing apart from filling his stomach (10). Al-Ansārī applied this method throughout his work, even to the members of his own family, as in the case of his paternal uncle CUmar ibn Muhammad Abū al-Barakāt ibn CAbd al-Karīm al-Ansārī (1156-1189/1743-1770) whose poor upbringing led him, after he married, to spoil everything that his father had left for him. This perverse manner of life apparently led to his emigration to Egypt, where he died (11).
Al-Ansārī also recorded information showing how much some people of Medinan society suffered in the city itself as well as abroad. Thus we have the cases of Ahmad SaCīd al-Bazzāz (who was killed by the bedouin in Mecca in 1176/1762) (12), CAbd Allāh Ahmad al-Ansārī (who was killed in Istanbul in 1126/1714) (13), Ahmad Jibrīl al-Tihāmī (who was killed in Egypt in 1172/1758) (14), and Muhammad Efendī al-Rūmī (who was killed while he was praying in 1187/1773) (15). In these cases of murder just listed the author did not explain the motives for the violent action taken against them, although in some other cases he did provide explanations, as in the case of al-Tayyib ibn Muhammad ibn Qāsim al-Balkhī, who was killed by al-Sharīf SaCd ibn Zayd (16) in 1104/1692, because the inhabitants complained to the Sharīf about his disgusting behaviour(17). Such a killing by a ruler in that period of time was evidently a familiar matter and shows that the political and social life of Medina in the twelfth/eighteenth century had sunk to unfortunate depths of corruption.
On the economic life of the city, we notice from the information recorded by al-Ansārī that some of the families of Medina occupied the same profession. It might have been a religious profession, as in the case of the Makkī family who occupied the office of preaching in the Prophet's Mosque (18), or perhaps an official post, as in the case of the Baytī family who occupied the clerical office in the Sharīf's administration (19). Some seem to have maintained a commercial interest, as in the case of the Banānī family who traded in perfumes and fabrics (20). This last profession seems to have been despised by the society at that time. Al-Ansārī himself betrayed such an attitude towards this profession when he wrote the biography of Abū al-Khayr Hajjār al-CUmarī, whom he criticised for leaving his family's religious profession in the Prophet's Mosque and taking up instead the trade in fabrics as some Indian people were doing (21). Some other families depended on agricultural labour, as in the case of the Baghūlī family who immigrated to Medina from Iraq and started to work in cultivating the land in some gardens outside the city (22).
Finally, it should be noted that al-Ansārī was not free from bias in reporting some information relating to certain famillies whose views differed from his own, as, for instance, in the case of the Nakhlī family (23).
The unpublished materials, or even missing works relating to the biographical history of Medina, have led some writers on Islamic history to record, as did Rosenthal, that "the old history of Medina may have been rather similar to that of Mecca. It apparently contained very little, if any, biographical material. This is the conclusion suggested by the lack of quotations from Medinese city histories in later biographers" (24). However, from the seventh-eighth/thirteenth-fourteenth centuries, it is possible to recognize the emergence of some special biographical documents relating to Medinan history. So, for example, we have recorded in our introduction to Ibn Kibrīt's work that Ibn Farhūn (25) (693-769/1294-1369) devoted his book to the biography of the nobles of Medina during his time, and his contemporary, CAfīf al-Dīn CAbd Allāh ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Matarī (698-765/1299-1364), also wrote a book on the lives of Medina’s nobles entitled al-IClām bi-man dakhal al-Madīna min al-AClām (26).
Following the two historians, Ibn Farhūn and al-Matarī, there was later the historian Shams al-Dīn al-Sakhāwī (27) (831-902/1427-1497), who composed his work on the people of Medina since the Prophet Muhammad's time as far as his own time, following an alphabetical method of arranging people and families. He even included the people who settled in Medina for only one year for educational purposes. The unedited work was published for first time in 1376/1957 in three volume under the title al-Tuhfat al-Latīfa fī Ta'rīkh al-Madīnat al-Sharīfa, with an introduction by the writer Tāhā Husayn. The third volum went as far as the Arabic letter mīm and it was mentioned on the final page that the author finished writing his book on Sunday the 11th Dhū al-QaCda 952/1545(28). We should also note the work of CAbd al-Rahmān al-Ansārī, entitled al-Tuhfa, which was written on the genealogies of Medina's families and contained detailed biographical records of Medina's nobles during the elevent-twelfth/seventeenth-eighteenth centuries (29).
Another kind of biographical work, a large part of which covered the biographies of Medina's writers and some of their poetical productions, was a work not yet published entitled Tuhfat al-Dahr wa-Nafhat al-Zahr fī ACyān al-Madīna min Ahl al-CAsr (30), written by CUmar ibn al-Mudarris CAbd al-Salām al-Dāghistānī (31). However, the attribution of the book is debated and some writers have attributed it to Muhammad Khalīl al-Murādī (32) (1173-1206/1759-1791). S.D. al-Munajjid, who was able to see the copy in Cambridge University Library, was apparently the source of this attribution (33) and other writers, like CU.R. Kahhāla (34) and Usāma al-CĀnūtī (35), have followed him. I have also been able of consult the Cambridge copy of Tuhfat al-Dahr, in which the author's name is given as Sayyid Khalīl Efendī al-Murādī ad the copyist’s name is given as CUmar ibn CAbdal-Salām al-Dāghistānī al-Madanī (36). As mentioned in the previous chapter, a relationship had been established between the Hejazi, the Yemeni, and Shāmī intellectuals (37), so that it is possible that this copy of Tuhfat al-Dahr was presented to Muhammad Khalīl al-Murādī for use as material in the preparation of his own work Silk al-Durar (38). We know indeed from the studies of D. Ishāq Mūsā al-Hysaynī that al-Murādī wrote some letters to the Culamā' of other Arab provinces urging them to send him biographical material concerning their provinces' nobles in the twelfth/eighteenth century (39). One of those with whom al-Murādī was in correspondence was al-Sayyid Muhammad Murtadā al-Zabīdī(40), who met some Medinan intellectuals of that time (41). In evidence of the fact that Tuhfat al-Dahr was definitely written by al-Dāghistānī, we should be aware of the evidence that al-Dāghistānī's fame achieved in the writing of this book led some of his contemporaries to mention his name in association with the title of the book (42). Further, in a line from another poem addressed by al-Sayyid Yahyā ibn al-Sayyid Husayn Hāshim (43) to the author of the book, his name is given as CUmar (44). There is other evidence of the authorship of this book contained within itself, for we find in its pages a biography of the author's brother, who is called Abū Bakr ibn al-Mudarris CAbd al-Salām al-Dāghistānī (45). In addition to this internal evidence, the attribution of this book to al-Dāghistānī is found in the following century by the writer CAbd al-Razzāq al-Baytār (46), who gave the title of the book as Al-Ālī' al-Thamīna fī ACyān ShuCarā' al-Madīna (47).
We ture now to the contents of this book and its importance in the literary history of Medina in the twelfth/eighteenth century. If Ibn MaCsūm devoted a chapter of his book al-Sulāfa to the Medinan intellecctuals of the eleventh/seventeenth century, then al-Dāghistānī devoted his whole book to the Medinan intellectuals of the twelfth/eighteenth century, and he stated in his introduction that he wanted to record the merits of his writing contemporaries and to protect their literary productions against loss (48).
He arranged his book in four sections, viz.: (1) the sayyids; (2) the Culamā' who were of good character; (3) the most honourable Culamā'; and (4) the men of letters. This arrangement was not apparently based on any particular critical evaluation of the verse, but was based instead on the socials class of the day. So he started with the sayyids, the works of some of whom were weak (49), although some of them might be considered good expressions of the age and the society they lived in (50). Al- Dāghistānī did not specify clearly what was the distinction between the second and the third sections in his arrangement. Perhaps he was induced to follow other writers in dividing their books into many sections, as already noticed in the case of Ibn MaCsūm' al-Sulāfa, even though the purpose was there quite different (51).
In the introduction to his book, al-Dāghistānī also expressed his disappointment at the poor state of literature in his own time (the twelfth/eighteenth century) (52). However, in spite of the indication in this passage of his awareness of true literary quality and a feeling for good construction and excellent style, it yet appears that it never occurred to al-Dāghistānī that what he complained of in the lack of ability, artificiality, and unimagonative imitation in the literary works of his own time, was still evident in his own compositions. Furthermore, throughout his work, he actually praised many verses which lacked literary inspiration and artistic talent (53).
Al-Dāghistānī did, however, demonstrate his critical ability not only in recording the production of Medina's poets in the twelfth/eighteenth century, but also in comparing some of their works, particularly at the level of meaning, with some of the early and famous Arab poets' works, like those of Abū Nuwās (54), "al-Buhturī" (55), and other Mamlūk poets like Mujīr al-Dīn ibn Tamīm (56), Safī al-Dīn al-Hillī (57), and Jamāl al-Dīn ibn Nubāta (58). This comparative work undertaken by Dāghistānī throughout his work is one aspect of the book's great importance as a primary source for examining the state of poetry in twelfth/eighteenth-century Medina, on account of which his work ought to receive the attention of a special study.
Muhammad ibn CAbd al-Rahmān ibn Muhammad al-Sakhāwī was born in cairo in 831/1427. He was a renowned historian, in addition to which he contributed to other areas of learning, like Fiqh, Hadīth, Fara'id, and mathematics. He died in Medina in 902/1497. See M. al-mu'allifīn, vol. X, p. 150.
I have been able to obtain copies of the following three manuscripts of this work: (1) The Medina Library copy, al-Sāfī Collection of manuscripts, No. 1288. The date of completion was 1199/1784. It is this copy which is referred to in the study below. (2) Topkapī Saray copy, MS. 519. The date of completion was the 10th Dhū al-QaCda 1201/1786. This copy originally belonged to CĀrif Hikmat Library in Medina, as is noted on the first page of the copy. It is probable that this copy was among the manuscripts which were transferred from Medina to Turkey during the First World War, some of which were returned to Medina, while others remained there, according to information obtained from one of the librarians in CArif Hikmat Library. (3) Cambridge University Library, MS. Add. 785. A fourth copy, which I have not been able to see, is noted by Salāh al-Dīn al-Munajjid as being preserved in al-Taymuriyya Library, cairo, No. 1421. See al-Mu'arrikhūn al-Dimashqiyyūn fī al-CAhd al-CUthmānī (1964) p. 74.
"MawsuCat al-Qarn al-Thānī CAshar al-Hijrī, "Majalla MajmaC al-Lughat al-CArabiyya bi'l L-Qāhira, vol. XLI (Cairo, 1398/1978) p. 43-48. See also al-Murādī's introduction to his book under the alternative title Akhbār al-A-Csār fī Akhbār al-Amsār (al-Murādī, op.cit., vol. I, p. 4).
A eulogistic poem was written for al-Dāghistānīby the poet al-Sayyid Zayn al-CĀbidīn ibn Muhammad ibn CAlī al-Barzanjī, in which the full name of the book was alluded to in one of its lines, viz.:
إمام بدا للناس، والدَّهر تُحفة
همام، نَمَى من طيبة نفحة الزهر
("A leader emerged for thes people and age is a gem, a hero who advanced from Tayba [Madina], the fragrance of a flower"). See Tuhfat al-Dahr, p. 25.
We may cite two of the last lines of Yahyā Hāshim's poem which contain this evidence:
فلأنت حَسَّان الزَّمان فَكُن به
بسما طباق الشِّعر بَدْراً نيِّرا
واسلم لنا: عُمراً لملة قصدنا
تَحمي بَسيف لانتقادك آخضرا
("You are the Hassān [the name of the Prophet Muhammad's poet] of this age. So be his shining moon on the wide sky of poetry. O CUmar, be safe for the sake of our aim. With your fresh sword you would fend away all criticism"). See Tuhfat al-Dahr, p. 120.
Abu Bakr recorded that al-Dāghistānī presented a copy of his book under this title to one of the Ottoman viziers in Istanbul in 1201/1786, two years after the book had been published in Medina under the title Tuhfat al-Dahr. See A.H. fī al-Hijāz, p. 76.
See, for example, the works of Sayyid JaCfar al-Baytī covering pages 37-52 of Tuhfat al-Dahr, and the works of al-Sayyid Yahyā Hashim covering pages 103-127 of the same book.
He stated this disappointment in the following passage:
مضى الزمن الذي قد كان فيه
لأهل الشعر عز وارتفاع
فإن الشعر في ذا العصر علم
قليل الحظ، ملفوظ، مُضَاع
ولئن هُجِر الأدب ملياً، واصبح نسياً منسياً، فإن لزنده ورياً يلمتع سقطه، ولمزنه ودقاً يستدر نقطه، والمُرتدي بفاخر مطارفه بين الأخدان والأقران، يُشارُ إلى مَجْده وبيانه بالسلام والبنان، خصوصاً إن نَظَم في سِلْك التَّحايف زبرجده، وَسَلَكَ في قالب الطَّرَائف عسجده.
("The time of power and zenith of the people of poetry has passed. The poetry of this age is endued with knowledge, but has less fortuity and more neglect. If literature were ignored for a long time and became completely forgotten, its flint would still shine with a sparkle, and a meadow would seek its drops of rain. Whoever would seek glorious objects by it [poetry], would be singled out as an example of nobility and rhetoric with a finger of exclamation among his companions and associates, especially if he composed his gems in unique lines and placed his treasures in a witty course"). See Tuhfat al-Dahr, p. 2f.s
"Abū Nuwās, al-Hasan b. Hāni al-Hakmī, the most famous Arabic poet of the Cabbāsid period. He was born in al-Ahwāz between 130/747 and 145/762 and died in Baghdād between 198/813 and 200/815". (E. Wagner, art, "Abu Nuwās, "EI2, vol. I, p. 143f).
"Al-Buhturī, Abū CUbāda al-Walīd b. CUbayd (Allāh), Arab poet and anthropologist of 3rd/9th century (206-284/821-897)". (C. Pellat, art. "al-Buhturī", EI2, vol, 1, p. 1289f).
Muhammad ibn YaCqūb ibn CAlī Abu CAbd Allāh was a poet from Damascus, who settled in Aleppo in the service of its king, al-Mansūr. He died in 684/1285. See al-AClām, vol. VIII, p. 18.
"Safī al-Dīn CAbd al-CAzīz ibn Sarāya al-Hillī, who was born on 27th August 1278, paid a visit to Egypt to the court of al-Malik al-Nāsir, in 1326, but very soon returned to Mâridîn. He died at Baghdad towards 1351". (C. Huart, Arabic Literature [1903] p. 323).
"Ibn Nubāta Jamal al-Dīn (1287-1366), who was born at Mayyāfariqin, was brought up in Egypt and went to Damascus in 1316. He lived to be seventy years old, and died in hospital. He left dīwān and anthology (Saj al-Mutawwaq), a treatise on the conduct of the king (Suluk Duwal al-Mulūk), and some other works", (C. Huart, op.cit., p. 324).
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