MAQRIZI, or MAKRIZI [Tagi ud-Din Ahmad

See also:

• IBN

ibn 'Al] (1364–1442)  , Arabian historian, known as al-Maqrizi because of his ancestral connexion with Maqriz, a suburb of Baalbek, was born at Cairo and spent most of his life in Egypt, where he was trained in the Hanifite school of law, though later he became a Shafi`ite with an inclination to Zahirite views . In 1385 he made the pilgrimage . For some time he was secretary in a government office, and in 1399 became inspector of markets for Cairo and northern Egypt . This post he soon gave up to become preacher at the mosque of `Amr, president of the mosque ul-Hakim, and a lecturer on tradition . In 1408 he went to Damascus to become inspector of the Qalanisiyya and lecturer . Later he retired into private life at Cairo . In 1430 he made the pilgrimage with his family and travelled for some five years . His learning was great, his observation accurate and his judgment good, but his books are largely compilations, and he does not always acknowledge the sources to which he is indebted . Most of his works are concerned with Egypt . The most important is the Maw¢'iz w¢l-I'tibar fi dhikr ul-Ifitat wal-Aihdr (2 vols., Bulaq, 1854), translated into French by U . Bouriant as Description topographique et historique de l'Egypte (Paris, 1895-1900; cf . A .

R .

Guest, " A List of Writers, Books and other Authorities mentioned by El Magrizi in his Khitat," in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1902, pp . 103–125) . Of his History of the Fatimites an extract was published by J . G . L . Kosegarten in his Chrestomathia (Leipzig, 1828), pp . 115–123; the History of the Avyubit and Mameluke Rulers has been translated into French by E . Quatremere (2 vols., Paris, 1837–1845) . Magrizi began a large work called the Mugaffa, a cyclopaedia of Egyptian biography in alphabetic order . It was intended to be in 8o volumes, but only 16 were written . Three autograph volumes exist 4n MS. in Leiden, and one in Paris .

Among smaller works published are the

Mahommedan Coinage (ed . O . G . Tychsen, Rostock, 1797 ; French translation by S. de Sacy, Paris, 1797); Arab Weights and Measures (ed . Tychsen, Rostock, 'Soo) ; the Arabian Tribes that migrated to Egypt (ed . F Wiistenfeld, Gottingen, 1847) ; the Account of Hadhramaut (ed . P . B . Noskowyj, Bonn, 1866) ; the Strife between the Bani Umayya and the Bani Hashim (ed G . Vos, Leiden, 1888), and the Moslems in Abyssinia (ed . F . T .

Rink, Leiden, 1790) . For Maqrizi's life see the quotations from contemporary

biographies in S. de Sacy's Chrestomathie arabe (2nd ed., Paris, 1826), ii . 112 seq., and for other works still in MS . C . Brockelmann, Gesch. der arabischen Litteratur (Berlin, 1902), ii . 38-41 . (G . W .