Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1577 (1577) |
| Died | 1632 (aged 54–55) |
| Academic background | |
| Influences | Muhammad al-Bukhari |
| Academic work | |
| Main interests |
|
| Notable works | Rawdat al-As andNafḥ al-ṭīb |
| Arabic name | |
| Personal (Ism) | Aḥmad |
| Patronymic (Nasab) | ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā |
| Teknonymic (Kunya) | Abu ’l-ʿAbbās |
| Epithet (Laqab) | Shihāb al-Dīn |
| Toponymic (Nisba) | al-Maqqarī al-Tilimsānī al-Fāsī al-Mālikī |
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Maqqarī al-Tilmisānī (oral-Maḳḳarī) (أحمد المقري التلمساني), (1577-1632)[1] was an Algerian scholar, biographer and historian who is best known for hisNafh at-Tib [ar],S a compendium of the history ofAl-Andalus which provided a basis for the scholarly research on the subject until the twentieth century.
A native ofTlemcen and from a prominent intellectual family originally from the village ofMaqqara, nearM'sila in Algeria.[1] After his early education in Tlemcen, al-Maqqari travelled toFes in Morocco and then toMarrakesh, following the court ofAhmad al-Mansur. On al-Mansur's death in 1603, al-Maqqari established himself in Fes,[1] where he was the imam of theQarawiyyin Mosque.[1]
In 1617, he left for the East, possibly following a quarrel with the local ruler, and took up residence inCairo, where he composed his best known work,Nafḥ al-ṭīb.[1]
In 1620, he visitedJerusalem andDamascus, and made five pilgrimages over six years. AtMecca andMedina he gave popular lectures on ḥadīth. In 1628, he was again in Damascus, where he continued his lectures onMuhammad al-Bukhari's collection ofḤadīth ('Traditions'), and spoke much of the glories ofMuslim Iberia, and received the impulse to write his work on this subject later. That year he returned to Cairo and spent a year in writing his history of Spain. Surviving manuscripts are now held in part atEl Escorial, nearMadrid. He died in 1632 during preparations to settle in Damascus.[2]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Thatcher, Griffithes Wheeler (1911). "Maqqarī". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 664–665.
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