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Athar al-bilad wa akhbar al-'ibad (book)

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Athar al-bilad wa akhbar al-'ibad (book)
Book cover of Athar al-bilad
Book cover of Athar al-bilad
AuthorZakariyya b. Muhammad al-Qazwini
LanguageArabic
SubjectGeography and History
PublishedBeirut, 1998
Publisheral-Matba'a al-I'lamiyya


Āthār al-bilād wa akhbār al-ʿibād (Arabic: آثارُ البلاد و أخبارُ العباد) is a geographical and historical book in Arabic written by 'Imad al-Din al-Qazwini (d. 682/1283), a geographer and cosmographer of the 7th/13th century. The book was written in 674/1276 and is organized into an introduction and seven sections. In Athar al-bilad, al-Qazwini compiled what he knew, heard, or observed regarding the characteristics of lands and their inhabitants, thereby presenting a collection of geographical, historical, literary, and natural data. In addition to its status in the history of Islamic geography, this book is considered an important source for research in cultural and literary history due to its numerous reports on poets and men of letters from various cities and regions.

Author

The author of the book Athar al-bilad wa akhbar al-'ibad is 'Imad al-Din Abu 'Abd Allah Zakariyya b. Muhammad al-Qazwini (b. 605/1208 – d. 682/1283) who descended from the lineage of Anas b. Malik al-Ansari.[1]

Modern bibliographic and research sources also refer to al-Qazwini as a geographer and cosmographer, placing his birth date around the early 7th/13th century.[2][3]

There is a disagreement regarding the author's denomination. Some consider him a Shafi'i, while others, such as Agha Buzurg Tihrani in al-Dhari'a, consider him a Shi'a.[4]

Subject of the Book

Extensive geographical, literary, historical, and scientific information has been compiled in this book. Athar al-bilad contains reports about a number of renowned Persian poets. This feature has led to the book being used in research on literary history and cultural history, in addition to its geographical applications.[5]

Date of Writing

'Imad al-Din al-Qazwini wrote this book in 674/1276.[6] In his introduction to the book, Hajji Khalifa stated that the work is organized into "an introduction and seven climes," that the author composed it in 674/1276, and that he passed away in 682/1283.[7][8]

Hajji Khalifa reported the following regarding the book Athar al-bilad wa akhbar al-'ibad:

— It is a volume comprising an introduction and seven climes, beginning with the phrase "Glory belongs to You and majesty belongs to Your greatness..." It is by the learned Sheikh Zakariyya b. Muhammad al-Qazwini, the author of the book Aja'ib al-makhluqat. In this book, he compiled whatever he knew, heard, or observed regarding the characteristics of lands and their inhabitants; although—like other works of this genre—correct and incorrect materials are found side by side within it. The date of the book's composition is the year 674 AH, and the author passed away in 682 AH.[9]

Content

The book contains three prefaces and seven sections regarding seven regions (climes).

First Preface: Concerns the necessity of establishing cities and villages.[10]

Second Preface: Concerns the characteristics of lands, which itself contains two chapters:

Chapter One: Regarding the influence of lands on their inhabitants; it also covers the division of the globe into East, West, North, and South, and mentions their characteristics.
Chapter Two: Regarding the influence of lands on minerals, plants, and animals. It refers to climatic conditions for the formation of minerals, the growth of plants, and the life of animals based on the understanding of scientists at the time of the book's compilation.[11]

Third Preface: Concerns the climes of the earth. It discusses the climes and the regions of the seven climes under separate headings. It then proceeds to discuss lands, areas, geographical regions, countries, provinces, cities, towns, villages, islands, mountains, fortresses, buildings, and historical monuments.[12]

In the final version of the book, the introduction of lands and regions is performed based on the division of the seven climes, and the entries for each clime are generally arranged alphabetically.[13]

Method

When mentioning any historical place, the author provides many details about it, such as pre-Islamic narrations (Jahiliyya), local stories, Prophetic hadiths, qanats, industrial and agricultural products, birds, events, scholars, men of letters, and poets originating from there, as well as poems related to it. For instance, at the beginning of the discussion on the first clime, he refers to Iram, the city built by Shaddad b. 'Ad from the People of 'Ad, and mentions some of its details.[14]

Research indicates that al-Qazwini utilized earlier sources extensively in compiling geographical data and adapted from Yaqut al-Hamawi's Mu'jam al-buldan in many instances.[15]

Prints and Translations

The book Athar al-bilad wa akhbar al-'ibad was first published by Heinrich Ferdinand Wüstenfeld along with al-Qazwini's other work, Aja'ib al-makhluqat, in 1264/1848 in Göttingen, Germany. In this edition, Wüstenfeld edited and published the text based on available manuscripts. This edition served as the basis for subsequent publications of the work. In 1960, the book was published again in Beirut by Dar Sader, which is essentially an offset and reprint of Wüstenfeld's edition. In addition to these two editions, other manuscripts and reprints of this work have been published in Islamic and Arab countries.

Notes

  1. ↑ Tihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, 1408 AH, vol. 15, p. 219; vol. 1, p. 7.
  2. ↑ Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, vol. I, p. 481.
  3. ↑ Kračkovsky, Arabskaya geograficheskaya literatura, pp. 359–360.
  4. ↑ Āthār al-bilād wa akhbār al-ʿibād, trans. Jahāngīr Mīrzā, p. 12.
  5. ↑ Iqbāl, "Kitāb-i āthār al-bilād-i Qazwīnī wa tarjuma-yi aḥwāl-i shuʿarā-yi Fārsī", Yādgār, vol. 4, no. 9-10 (Khurdād & Tīr 1327 Sh).
  6. ↑ Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Kashf al-ẓunūn, vol. 1, p. 9.
  7. ↑ Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Kashf al-ẓunūn, vol. 1, p. 9.
  8. ↑ Reinaud, Géographie d’Aboulféda, pp. cxliii–cl.
  9. ↑ Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Kashf al-ẓunūn, vol. 1, p. 9.
  10. ↑ Qazwīnī, Āthār al-bilād, p. 7.
  11. ↑ Qazwīnī, Āthār al-bilād, p. 9.
  12. ↑ Qazwīnī, Āthār al-bilād, p. 12.
  13. ↑ Wüstenfeld, Āthār al-bilād wa akhbār al-ʿibād, Introduction.
  14. ↑ Qazwīnī, Āthār al-bilād, p. 15.
  15. ↑ Kowalska, "The Sources of al-Qazwīnī’s Āthār al-Bilād", Folia Orientalia, pp. 41–88.

References

  • Brockelmann, Carl. Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur. Leiden, Brill.
  • Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Muṣṭafā b. ʿAbd Allāh. Kashf al-ẓunūn ʿan asāmī al-kutub wa al-funūn. Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.
  • Iqbāl, ʿAbbās. "Kitāb-i āthār al-bilād-i Qazwīnī wa tarjuma-yi aḥwāl-i shuʿarā-yi Fārsī". Yādgār, vol. 4, no. 9-10, Khurdād & Tīr 1327 Sh.
  • Kowalska, M. "The Sources of al-Qazwīnī’s Āthār al-Bilād". Folia Orientalia, 8 (1966).
  • Kračkovsky, I. Y. Arabskaya geograficheskaya literatura. Moscow–Leningrad, 1957.
  • Mudarris, Muḥammad ʿAlī. Rayḥānat al-adab. Tabriz, 1346 Sh.
  • Qazwīnī, Zakariyyā. Āthār al-bilād wa akhbār al-ʿibād. Beirut, Dār Ṣādir, 1960.
  • Āthār al-bilād wa akhbār al-ʿibād. Translated by Jahāngīr Mīrzā.
  • Reinaud, M. Géographie d’Aboulféda. Paris, 1848.
  • Tihrānī, Āghā Buzurg. Al-Dharīʿa ilā taṣānīf al-Shīʿa. 1408 AH.
  • Wüstenfeld, F. (ed.). Āthār al-bilād wa akhbār al-ʿibād. Göttingen, 1848.
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