Shihāb al-Dīn Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn Abī al-Dam al-Ḥamawī[a] (29 July 1187 – 18 November 1244), known asIbn Abī al-Dam,[b] was anArab historian andShāfiʿī jurist.[1]
Ibn Abī al-Dam was born inḤamāt underAyyūbid rule on 29 July 1187.[2] He studied inBaghdad, the capital of theʿAbbāsid Caliphate; taught in the Ayyūbid cities of Ḥamāt,Aleppo andCairo; and was in 1225 appointedqāḍī (chief judge) of Ḥamāt.[3] In his own writings, he insists that he played no role in the coming to power of his patron, Emiral-Nāṣir Qilij Arslān, in 1221.[4]
Ibn Abī al-Dam belonged to the Shāfiʿī school of jurisprudence (fiqh).[5]Al-Muẓaffar II, who replaced al-Nāṣir asemir of Ḥamāt in 1229, sent him on a diplomatic mission to Baghdad inAH 641 (1243/1244). The following year, he was sent back to inform the Abbasid court of al-Muẓaffar's death. He fell ill with dysentery on the journey atal-Maʿarra and returned to Ḥamāt, where he died on the same day he entered the town, 18 November 1244.[6]
Ibn Abī al-Dam wrote several works inArabic. His only preserved historical work,al-Shamārīkh min al-Taʾrīkh,[c] is a shortannalistic history from the time ofMuḥammad down to AH 628 (1230/31).[7] It is found in at least two manuscripts: Oxford,Bodleian Library, ms. Marsh 60 (Uri 728) andAlexandria, Municipal Library, ms. 1292b.[8] It is dedicated to al-Muẓaffar II.[2] Ibn Abī al-Dam includes in it a copy of the diploma by which the Sultanal-Kāmil invested al-Muẓaffar with Ḥamāt. He defended the sultan's policy towards theSixth Crusade, which resulted in the return ofJerusalem to crusader rule in 1229.[9]
Ibn Abī al-Dam's other known work of history, a massive biographical dictionary in six volumes entitledal-Taʾrīkh al-Muẓaffarī, islost.[10] It is probably the "large history" (al-taʾrīkh al-kabīr) that he refers to in theShamārīkh. It was written first and was dedicated to al-Muẓaffar at his accession in 1229.[11] According toal-Sakhāwī'sIʿlān, it was arranged alphabetically beginning with "a biography of the Prophet, followed, successively, by thecaliphs, philosophers-theologians,ḥadîṯ scholars, ascetics, grammarians, lexicographers,Qurʾân commentators,wazîrs, (army) leaders, and poets." Persons with the name Muḥammad were listed first and women last.[12]
Besides his historical works, Ibn Abī al-Dam wrote commentaries onal-Ghazālī'sWasīṭ andAbū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī'sTanbīh. HisTadqīq al-ʿināya fī taḥqīq al-riwāya is on the transmission ofḥadīth.[2] He also wrote works onIslamic sects and the conduct of judges (adab al-qaḍāʾ).[13] His legal opinions were discussed byTaqī al-Dīn andTāj al-Dīn al-Subkī.[2]
The following is the account inal-Shamārīkh of thesiege of Damascus in 1229:
This year al-Malik al-Ašraf returned fromTall al-ʿAğūl and camped about Damascus at the beginning of Rabīʾ I, putting it under siege for [the months of] Rabīʾ and the two Ğumādā-s. The Sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil arrived and camped there, and there were many engagements, which are well-known, until the situation of the city's garrison became serious. There was nothing left foral-Malik al-Nāsir [Dāʾūd] but to throw himself on the mercy of the Sultan al-Malik al-Kãmil and to sue for his clemency. So he went out to meet him fearfully and fell to the ground before him and kissed his feet.[14]
