ḤASANb.MUḤAMMADal-BŪRĪNĪ (1556-1615) LIFE Ḥ.B.wasoneofthemostprominentscholarsofDamascusinhistime,renowned forhiscommandofthesciencesofthearabiclanguageaswellashiscomprehensive knowledge of Arabic literature and history. He was acquainted with a number of high-rankingottomanscholarsanddignitaries,andacarefulobserveroftheregional politicsandlocalaffairsofhistime. Ḥ.B. sattributivederivesfromhisfather shomevillageofbūrīn,nearnāblus.he wasborn,however,inhismother svillageofṣaffūriyyahinthesancaqofṣafadin 963/1556, and started his education there by learning the Qur an. In the year 973 /1565-6,hisfamilymovedtoDamascus.Hisfatherwasanupholsterer(munajjid)by professionandlateraperfumist(ʿattār).herentedaroomforhissonattheʿumariyyah College in the Ṣaliḥiyyah suburb of Damascus, where Ḥ.B. began to attend classes.bytheyear988/1580-81,ḥ.b.wasteachingshāfiʿīfiqhhimselfata spot (buqʿa)intheumayyadmosque.inthiscapacity,hecametotheattentionoftheretired judgeʿabdurraḥmān al-furfūrī(d. 992/1585), who seems to have acted as his patron. HereceivedhisfirstformalteachingpositionatthenewlyestablishedDarwīshiy- yahmosquein993/1585.sevenyearslater,histeacherandfather-in-lawaḥmadal- ʿĪṯāwī(d.1025/1616)grantedhimalicensetoissuefatwas.Bythetimeofhisdeath (1024/1615),Ḥ.B.hadheldteachingpositionsinseveralcollegesinDamascus.Consideringtheparticularlybitterdisputeamongstlocalscholarsconcerningtheirdistribution, these positions must have been the source for considerable revenue. Ḥ.B. s incometowardstheendofhislifemustthereforehavebeensubstantial,andhisfather is reported to have retired from his profession to live off his son s income. The father ssomewhatlowlystatuswassomethingthathisrivalscouldandsometimesdid highlight, 1 andḥ.b. slifeisverymuchanillustrationofhowagiftedsonofasmalltown artisan could, by means of his education, rise to social and economic prominenceinoneofthemajorcitiesoftheottomanempire. ThoughformallyaShāfiʿīmufti,Ḥ.B.wasnotdeemedbycontemporaryscholars tohavebeenaspecialistinislamiclaw.rather,hewasrenownedforhiseruditionin thesciencesofthearabiclanguage(i.e.,grammarandrhetoric)andhisknowledgeof poetryandhistoricalanecdotesthatallowedhimtoplayaprominentroleinthescholarlygatheringsofhistime.havinglearnedpersianfromatabrīziimmigranttodamascus,ḥ.b.lateralsoacquiredsomeknowledgeofturkish,thoughasalatersource noted hewasbetterinpersian. 2 Ḥ.B. sliteraryinterestsmeantthathecultivatedthe friendshipofpeopleoutsidetheclassoftheulema,suchaspoetsandscribes,manyof whomareincludedinhisbiographicaldictionary.indeedḥ.b.washimselfapoetas 1
wellasascholar,andwasallocatedanentryinthepoeticanthologyofhisyounger EgyptiancontemporaryAḥmadal-Khafājī(d.1059/1659). WORKS 1Tarājimal-aʿyānminabnā al-zamān Ḥ.B. started writing his biographical dictionary of contemporaries, Tarājim alaʿyān min abnā al-zamān (The Biographies of Notables from the People of the Times)intheyear1009/1601withtheencouragementofMuḥammadAmīnal-ʿAjamī(d.1019/1610),thetreasurer(defterdār)ofDamascus.Heseemstohavepresented acopyoftheworktoal-ʿajamī,andlateranothercopytomuḥammadb.manjak(d. 1032/1623),aprominentmilitarynotableofDamascus.However,hewasstilladding passagestotheworkintheyearofhisdeath,1024/1615,andthereisnothingtosuggestthatheever completed it. Intheintroductiontohiswork,Ḥ.B.expressedhisdesiretoproduceaworkofhistoryinthetraditionofthegreathistoriansofthepast,suchasIbnKaṯīr(d.774/1373), Ibn al-aṯīr(d. 620/1223), Ibn Khallikān(d. 681/1282), Ibn Shaddād(d. 632/1235), andibnḥajaral-ʿasqalānī(d.852/1449).yet,ḥ.b. sworkdifferssignificantlyfrom those penned by the aforementioned historians, as it is mainly a biographical dictionaryofnotablesthattheauthorhadmetpersonally,andpeopletendtobeincluded inthedictionarytotheextentthattheyenterintotheauthor scircleofacquaintances. With very few exceptions, the only non-damascene notables who are accorded entriesintheworkarethoseḥ.b.metduringtripstotripoliin1009/1600,aleppoin 1017/1608,andtheHijāzin1021/1611.ItisthusḤ.B.whoinasenseholdsthework together,andheoftenappearsinit,meetingtheprotagonists,exchangingpoetrywith them, teaching them or being taught by them. Accordingly, many passages of the workareinthefirst-person.ḥ.b.alsoreliesalmostexclusivelyonoralsources.itis noteworthy that none of the historians mentioned above composed a similar work. The precursors of Ḥ.B. s conception of a biographical dictionary of contemporaries arerathertobefoundintheworksoftheprominentmamlukbelle-lettristṣalāḥuddīn al-ṣafadī(d.765/1363)and,closertoḥ.b. stimeandplace,thedamascenescholar IbnṬulūn(d.953/1546). 3 Ḥ.B. s work is an important historical source for the political history of Syria in his lifetime. He lived through a period in which Ottoman central authority over the regionwasweakenedandlocalleadersrosetoprominence,oftenbolsteredbyroaming mercenaries(sekbān) who sold their services to the highest bidder. These local notablesoftensquabbledandfoughtwitheachother,andsometimesignoredordefiedimperialorders.ḥ.b.livedthroughthesiegeofdamascusandthelootingofits extra-muralsuburbsin1015/1606bythetroopsofʿalījānbulād(d.1020/1611),the renegade governor of Aleppo, and Fakhruddīn al-maʿnī (d. 1045/1635), the Druze EmirofMt.Lebanon.Heviewedthisdevelopmentfromthestandpointofloyaltyto the Ottoman state, though his descriptions tend to be nuanced and balanced rather thanmerelypartisan.hewasalsooftencarefultodistinguishbetweenmerehear-say 2
and information obtained from what he considered more trustworthy and informed sources. The value of his observations is enhanced by the fact that he used to frequentthestatealot, toquoteacontemporarysource. 4 ManyofhisinformantsincludeDamascenemilitarynotablesandOttomandignitarieswhoparticipatedinsome capacityinthemajorpoliticalandmilitaryeventsofthetime.ḥ.b. scloserelations with the political-military elite were not to the liking of some of his contemporary scholars who thought close relations with the temporal authorities to be morally corrupting. However, it made him an informed observer of the major political and militaryeventsofhistime. Ḥ.B. sbiographicaldictionaryisalsoinformativeonintellectual,culturalandliterarylifeindamascusinthelate16 th andearly17 th centuries.despitehisstatedintentionofonlymentioningpositiveattributesofthepeoplehewaswritingabout,heoftenrecordedbitterdisputesandrivalriesbetweennotables,hisownunfavorableimpressionsofpeople,theoccurrenceofinflationandplague,andstoriesofcrimesand sexual misdemeanors. His work also provides information on the lives of (mainly ArabbutalsosomePersianandTurkish)poets,scribes,saintsand holyfools (majādhīb). The extant manuscripts indicate that Ḥ.B. regularly rewrote, deleted from, and addedtohisbiographicaldictionaryandthisprocessofrevisionseemstohavegone onuntiltheauthor sdeath.certainpassageshaveanalmostdiary-likefeel,withpassagesinthesameentryobviouslywrittenatdifferenttimes.otherpassagesaremore polishedandwritteninrhymedprose.onoccasion,anentrywillreadverydifferently indifferentextantmanuscripts.assuch,onecannothopetoeditḥ.b. sworkwiththe assumptionthatthereisanidealautographtobereconstructedoncescribal errors, omissions, and additions havebeenpeeledaway.giventheexistenceofsignificant variants in the extant manuscripts with an equal claim to authorial authority, a thoroughcomparisonofmanuscriptswouldofferafascinatinginsightintothewayin whichanottomanhistorianworked. AlmosthalfacenturyafterḤ.B. sdeath,thedamascenescholarfaḍlullāhal-mu- ḥibbī(d.1082/1671),thefatherofthemorefamoushistorianmuḥammadamīnal- Muḥibbī(d.1111/1699),preparedaneditionofTarājimal-aʿyānattherequestofthe Ottoman scholar and judge Meḥmed ʿİzzetī (d. 1092/1681). The edition was completedin1078/1667-68.fourofthesixextantmanuscriptstodayarebasedonmuḥibbī sedition(seebelow Manuscripts :B,DK,CB,AH),though,puzzlingly,someof thesediffersubstantiallyamongstthemselves.twootherextantmanuscriptsareindependentofmuḥibbī srecension(seebelow Manuscripts :AS,V). In 1959, the first volume of an edition of Ḥ.B. s Tarājim al-aʿyān appeared in print. The editor was Ṣalāḥuddīn al-munajjid, who introduced the volume with a lengthyandvaluableintroductiononthelifeofḥ.b.,basedonanumberofthenunpublished sources. He also described the four manuscripts available to him at the time,namely,ah,b,dk,andas.hediscounteddkasderivativeofah.healso judgedthatahrepresentedalaterversionofḥ.b. swork,ascloseaspossibletothe 3
versionoftheworkwhenitsauthordied.hethereforemadeahthebasetextofhis edition,thoughhenotedvariantsfrombandasinhisapparatus.in1963,thesecond volumeoftheworkappeared,coveringentriesuptoandincludingtheletterfā.sadly,theremainingpartsoftheworkhaveneverbeenpublished. SomeofMunajjid seditorialdecisions,however,arequestionable.oneproblemis that he simply took at face value the colophons of manuscripts AH and B which only give the date on which Muḥibbī completed his edition and no indication of a dateonwhichtheywerecopiedfromthatedition andaccordinglyconcludedthat bothmanuscriptswerebythehandoffaḍlullāhal-muḥibbīhimself(despitethefact thatitishighlyunlikelythatthetwomanuscriptswerecompletedonthesamedate). Munajjid also noted the anomaly that the two manuscripts, with the same colophon and, in his opinion, same handwriting, in fact disagreed substantially in entire passagesaswellasintheorderingofbiographicalentries.indeed,manuscriptbwasadjudgedbymunajjidtobeclosertomanuscriptas,whichisindependentofmuḥibbī sedition,thantomanuscriptah.itshouldalsobenotedthatahlwardt,inhismagisterialverzeichnissofarabicmanuscriptsinberlin,judgedbtohavebeencopied inthe18 th century.hethusdidnotsimplyassumethatthecolophonmeantthatthe manuscriptwasbythehandofmuḥibbī.yetanotherreasontodoubtthatmanuscripts AHandBareactuallybyMuḥibbīisthat,asMunajjidnoted,thepassagesofPersian andturkishpoetryinḥ.b. sworkarecorruptinallthreemanuscriptsthatheused, whereas Faḍlullāh al-muḥibbī, who, according to his son Muḥammad Amīn, was knowledgeable in both languages, could hardly have dedicated a copy with such corruptionstoanottoman-turkishscholarandjudge. ThefactthatMunajjiddidnotmakeuseofmanuscriptsCBandVisalsoadrawback.CBisdefinitelynotbythehandofMuḥibbī,butmayyetbeolderthanbothAH andb.havingbeenbasedonmuḥibbī sautographedition,itshouldattheveryleast be useful in throwing light on the puzzling differences between AH and B. ManuscriptVisvaluableasoneoftwoextantmanuscriptsthatareindependentofMuḥibbī sedition.itstextisclosertobandasthantotheapparentlyanomalousahthat Munajjidchoseashisbasetext. A revised and complete edition based on all extant manuscripts(minus the derivativedk)isverymuchadesideratum.moderntext-processingprogramsshouldallow for an edition that will reproduce, where necessary, major differences between themanuscriptsinparallelcolumns. WhatfollowsisanoutlineofthelistofbiographicalentriesofthepartoftheViennamanuscriptcoveringthelettersqāfthroughyā,correspondingtothepartthatwas notpublishedbymunajjid: Fol. 125r: Kamāluddīn b. Muḥammad b. ʿAjlān; Karīmuddīn al-ṭayrānī. Fol. 126r: Ka- māluddīnmuḥammadb.aḥmad.fol.126v:luṭfīçelebīb.yaḥyā.fol.128r:luṭfīb.mu- ḥammadb.yūnus.fol.128v:luṭfullāhal-balkhī;muḥammadefendib.burhānuddīnal-ḥamīdī;muḥammadb.al-amīrmanjak.fol.129v:muḥammadamīnal-daftarīal-ʿajamīal- 4
Abharī.Fol.131v:Muḥammadal-Baghdādī.Fol.132r:Muḥammadb.Muḥammadb.Dā ūd al-muftī al-maqdisī. Fol. 133r: Muḥammad b. al-ṣāliḥī al-hilālī. Fol. 134r: Muḥammad b. Muḥammadb.Qāsimal-Rūmī.Fol.134v:Muḥammadb.Fawwāz.Fol.135v:Muḥammadb. ʿAlā uddīn al-baʿlī. Fol. 136r: Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbdurraḥmān. Fol. 136v: Muḥammad al-sharīf. Fol. 138v: Muḥammad al-ʿalamī al-maqdisī. Fol. 139r: Muḥammad al-ʿalamī. Fol. 139v: Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-ḥarastānī; Muḥammad al-tannūrī; Muḥammadb.ʿAjlān.Fol.140r:Muḥammadb.Muḥammadal-Zughbī.Fol.140v:Muḥammadb.Khalīlb.Qayṣar.Fol.141r:Muḥammadal-Ḥalabīal-Qurashī;Muḥammadb.Jalāluddīn.Fol.141v:Muḥammadal-Ḥijāzī.Fol.143r:Muḥibbuddīnal-Ḥamawī.Fol.144r:Muṣṭafā al-ʿakkārī.fol.144v:maḥmūdb.muḥammadibnʿabdulḥamīd;marādīs.fol.145r:manṣūr b.ʿabdurraḥmān;mu minpāshā.fol.145v:mūsāb.jamīlal-sipāhī;muḥammadal-ṭarābulusī.fol.146r:nūruddīnal-bāqānī.fol.146v:najmuddīnb.al-badral-ghazzī.fol.147v: Najībuddīnal-Ṣaydāwī;NūruddīnʿAlīal-Ḥusaynī.Fol.148r:Niẓāmuddīnal-Sindī;Nāhiḍb. ʿAbdulqādiral-Baʿlī.Fol.149r:Wafā b.aḥmadal-ḥawzanī;wafā b.shaykhal-islāmal- Faraḍī;Yūsufb.Sayfā.Fol.152v:Yūsufb.Abīlfatḥ.Fol.153v:Yūsufb.Najā al-ṭarābulusī. Fol.154v:Yaḥyāal-Ḥalabīal-Faraḍī;Yaḥyāb.al-Shamsb.al-Minqār.Fol.155r:Yaḥyāb. ʿĪsāminKarakal-Shawbak. ApartfromtheTarājimal-aʿyān,theworkforwhichḤ.B.becamebestknownin hisowndaywashiscommentaryonthedīwānofthefamousmysticalpoetibnal- Fāriḍ(d.632/1235),acommentarythat,tothechagrinofthelatermysticalcommentatorʿAbdulghanīal-Nābulusī(d.1143/1731),confineditselftothelevelofexoteric meaningandlinguisticanalysis. 5 HisDīwānisalsoextant. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1Tarājimal-aʿyānminabnā al-zamān Manuscripts:(1)B:Berlin,StaatsbibliothekzuBerlin,WetzsteinII29;189fols., [TBC].ThecolophonstatesthattheeditorFaḍlullāhal-Muḥibbīcompletedhiswork in thebeginningsofrajabintheyear1078. (W.Ahlwardt.Verzeichnissderarabischen Handschriften der königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin, 1887-99), no. 9889).(2)DK:Cairo,Dāral-Kutubal-Miṣriyya,576Tārīkh;198fols.(or396pages), [TBC].Undated.CopiedbythehandofacertainAḥmadb.Aḥmadal-Jazā irī.accordingtothecatalogue(fihrisal-kutubal-ʿarabiyyahal-mawjūdahbi l-dārli-ghāyatshahrdecembersanat1928,vol.5,133-134),themanuscriptwascopiedfroma manuscript in the Aref Hikmat Library in Medina, i.e., from AH.(3) AS: Calcutta, LibraryoftheAsiaticSocietyinCalcutta,no.D22(previously,no.624);235fols., [TBC]. No indication of the copyist or date. Ostensibly made from two autograph drafts (musawwadatayn) of Ḥ.B. s work, prepared for Muḥammad Amīn al-daftarī andmuḥammadb.manjak,respectively.(mirzāashrafʿalī.catalogueofthearabic ManuscriptsintheLibraryoftheAsiaticSocietyofBengal(Calcutta,1899),54).(4) CB:Dublin,ChesterBeattyLibrary,Arabic3219.Ḥ.B. sworktakesupthefirst184 foliosofthemanuscript,[tbc].dated21rajab1105/18march1694andisostensiblycopiedfromfaḍlullāhal-muḥibbī sautographedition.(a.j.arberry.hand-list 5
of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library (Dublin, 1955-66), no. 3219).(5)AH:Medina,ArefHikmatLibrary,42Tārīkh;approximately150unnumberedfols.,[TBC].ThecolophonmatchesthatofmanuscriptB,i.e.,itstatesthatthe editor,faḍlullāhal-muḥibbī,completedhisworkin thebeginningsofrajabinthe year1078. (ʿUmarRiḍāKaḥḥālah.Al-Muntakhabminmakhṭūṭātal-Madīnaal-Munawwara(Damascus,1973),81).(6)V:Vienna,ÖsterreichischeNationalbibliothek, Mxt.346;155fols.,39lines,nash.Copiedin1185/1771bytheDamascenescholar Muṣṭafā b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-kanjī. (G. Flügel. Die arabischen, persischen undtürkischenhandschriftenderkaiserlich-königlichenhofbibliothekzuwien(vienna,1865-1867),no.1190). Editions:(1)Ṣalāḥuddīnal-Munajjid.Tarājimal-aʿyānminabnā al-zamān(damascus,1959-63).[2vols.only,coveringuptoandincludingbiographicalentriesundertheletterfā ].(2)ʿAdnānal-Bakhīt. AḥdāṯbilādṬarābulusal-Shām. Majallat Majmaʿal-Lughaal-ʿArabiyyaal-Urdunī,1(1978),191-206.[Reproducestheentry onyūsufsayfāfromtheviennamanuscript]. Generalbibliography Muḥammad Amīn al-muḥibbī. Khulāṣat al-aṯar fī tarājim ahl al-qarn al-ḥādī ʿashar(Cairo,1284/1867-68),vol.2,51-62.Ṣalāḥuddīnal-Munajjid. Introduction totarājimal-aʿyānminabnā al-zamān(damascus,1959).carlbrockelmann.geschichte der arabischen Literatur (Leiden, 1937-1949), vol. 2, 374-5; Supplement, vol.2,401.carlbrockelmann. al-būrīnī,al-ḥasan. EncyclopediaofIslam 2 (Leiden,1960-2002),vol.1,1332.IbnAyyūbal-Anṣārī.Al-Rawḍal-ʿāṭirfīmātayassara min akhbār al-qarn al-sābiʿ ilā khitām al-qarn al-ʿāshir. Ed. by A. Günes (Berlin, 1981),45-50.NajmuddīnMuḥammadal-Ghazzī.Luṭfal-samarwaqatfal-ṯamarmin tarājim aʿyān al-ṭabaqah al-ūlā min al-qarn al-ḥādī ʿashar. Ed. by M. al-shaykh (Damascus,1981-82),vol.1,355-390. 1 In the words of a contemporary, Ḥ.B. s father was a sheer commoner (min quḥḥi l-ʿawām), cf. NajmuddīnMuḥammadal-Ghazzī,Luṭfal-samarwaqatfal-ṯamarmintarājimaʿyānal-ṭabaqahalūlāminal-qarnal-ḥādīʿashar,ed.byM.al-Shaykh(Damascus,1981-82),vol.1,359. Muḥibbī(d. 1111/1699)relatedastoryofḤ.B. senemiestryingtoembarrasshimbyinvitinghisfathertojoinhis sonatanaudiencewithoneofthegrandeesofdamascus;cf.khulāṣatal-aṯarfītarājimahlal-qarn al-ḥādīʿashar(cairo,1284/1867-8),vol.2,55. 2 al-ghazzī,luṭfal-samar,357;muḥibbī,khulasatal-aṯar,vol.2,52. 3 The pioneering work in the genre of biographies of contemporaries seems to have been Ṣafadī s Aʿyān al-ʿaṣr wa aʿwān al-naṣr. See C. Robinson, Islamic Historiography (Cambridge, 2003). Ibn Ṭulūn scontributionstothegenreincludedhakhā iral-qaṣrbi-tarājimnubalā al-ʿaṣranditscontinuational-tamattuʿbi l-aqrānbaynatarājimal-shuyūkhwa l-aʿyān.thelatterworkwasabridgedby Ḥ.B. saleppinecontemporaryaḥmadb.al-mullāal-ḥaṣkafī(d.1004/1596)underthetitlemutʿataladhhānminal-tamattuʿbi l-aqrānandpublishedintwovolumesbydārṣādir(beirut,1999). 4 Thephraseisthatof,52. 5 Muḥibbīexplicitlywrotethatthiswas hismostfamouswork (ashharta alifhi);cf.khulāṣatalaṯar,vol.2,51. 6
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