Extensive Reading in the Arabic Tradition

Quran and Quranic Studies

Hadith

History
- Arabian Antiquity
- Prophetic Biography
o Ibn Hisham – Sira
o Al-Waqidi – Kitab al-Maghazi
o Ibn Abd al-Barr – al-Durar fi Ikhtisar al-Maghazi wal-siyar
o Ibn Sayyid al-Nas – ‘Uyun al-Athar (classic hadith-based sirah work)
o Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah – Zad al-Ma’ad (shama’il and fiqh al-sirah)
o Burhan al-Din Ibrahim al-Halabi – very popular sirah
o Al-Qastallani – al-Mawahib al-Laduniyyah (major shama’il work)
- World and Kingdom History
o Ibn Abd al-Hakam – Kitab futuh misr
o Al-Baladhuri – Futuh al-buldan
o Al-Dinawari – al-Akhbar al-Tiwal
o Al-Tabari – Tarikh
o Ibn Fadlan – Rihla (travels among Vikings)
o Al-Mas’udi – Muruj al-Dhahab
o Al-Qadi al-Nu’man – Iftitiah al-Da’wah (Fatimid History)
o Ibn al-Qutiyya – Tarikh iftitah al-andalus
o Ibn Hayyan – al-Muqtabis fi Tarikh al-andalus
o Al-Baydhaq – al-Muqtabis (on rise of Almohads)
o Ibn Munqidh – al-I’tibar (on Crusades)
o Ibn al-Athir – al-Kamil fil-Tarikh
o Ibn Shaddad – al-Nawadir -al-Sultaniyya (biography of Saladin)
o ‘Imad al-Din al-Isfahani – al-Fath al-Qussi (Saladin, highly ornate style of
rhymed prose)
o Ibn Khallikan – Wafiyat al-‘Uyun – biographical dictionary
o Ibn ‘Idhari – Bayan al-Maghrib (Almohads and Almoravids)
o Al-Dhahabi – Tarikh al-Islam (includes highly regards sirah at beginning)
o Ibn Kathir – al-Bidayah wal Nihayah
 o Ibn Battutah – al-Rihla
o Ibn Khaldun – Tarikh but also his autobiography (al-Ta’rif bi Ibn Khaldun)
o
o
- Local and City History
o Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi -Tarikh Baghdad
o Ibn ‘Asakir – Tarikh Dimasq
o Taqi al-Din al-Fasi – al-Iqd al-Thamin (great history of Mecca)
- Cultural and Literary History
- Mamluk Historians
o As’ad Ibn Mammati – Qawanin al-Dawanin (chancery manual) and al-Fushush fi
Hukm al-Qaraqush (satire of Qaraqush)
o Ibn Abd al-Zahir – al-Rawd al-Zahir (material on Baybars(
o Shafi ibn ‘Ali al-Misri (biographies of Baybars and Qalawun)
o Al-Dawadari – Kanz al-durar (awlad al-nas, lots of literary, storytelling elements)
o Al-Yusufi – Nuzhat al-Nazir – highly colloquial style of Middle Arabic, even
more literarized than Ibn al-Dawadari
o Al-Jazari – Hawadith al-Zaman – main source for trials of Ibn Taymiyya in Cairo
o Al-Nuwayri – Nihayat al-Arab fi funun al-adab – chancery manual with lots of
historical information
o Al-‘Umari – al-Ta’rif bil mustalah al-sharif – Instruction of the Noble Technique
(short chancery manual) and magnum opus – Masalik al-Absar (but disappointing
on historical content, mainly a copy of al-Dhahabi)
o Al-Safadi – biographical dictionaries al-Wafi bil Wafayat (received main
attention from scholars for comprehensiveness) and A’yan al-‘Asr (on his
contemporaries) – biography al-Nasir Muhammad in both dictionaries
o Al-Maqrizi – Khitat (topography of Egypt) and Suluk (history) – but overrated
according to COE
o Al-‘Ayni – ‘Iqd al-Juman – superior to al-Maqrizi, but neglected
o Ibn Taghri Birdi – premier court historian of his time
o Ibn Iyas al-Hanafi – Bada’i al-Zuhur (lots of folk romance elements)
o Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani – biographical dictionaries
o Al-Sakhawi – al-Daw’ al-Lami’ biographical dictionary (unique b/c includes his
own autobiography, more critical appraisals, including of al-Suyuti, and more
biographies of women)
o Al-Qalqashandi – Subh al-A’sha’ – references for chancery scribes, notable for
amount of diplomatic and administrative documents it preserves
Fiqh
 Ibrahim al-Halabi – al-Multaqa is supreme classic of Hanafi law, used by Schacht as
model for systematic section in “Introduction to Islamic Law”
Dogmatics (Theology)

Mysticism
 Al-Muhasibi (781-857) –
 Dhul Nun al-Misri (796-859)
 Bistami (d. 849 or 875)
 Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi (d. 869)
 Sahl al-Tustari (818-896)
 Junayd (835-910)
 Al-Hallaj (858-922)
 Al-Niffari (d. 965)
 Al-Sha’rani (898-973)
 Sarraj (d. 988) – Kitab al-luma’
 Abu Talib al-Makki (d. 996)
 Al-Sulami (937-1021) – Tabaqat al-Sufiyya
 Al-Qushayri (986-1073) - Risala
 Abu Nu’aym – Hilyat al-Awliya (biographies of saints)
Poetry

Medicine and Pharmacy

- Translations of Galen (Djalinus)
- Hunyan b. Ishaq al-Ibadi – Kitab al-masa’il fil-tibb lil-mut’allimeen
- Ibn Masawayh
- ‘Ali b. Sahl Rabban al-Tabari – Firdaws al-Hikma
- Ibn Butlan – Taqwim al-Sihha (created fashion for medical charts)
- Al-Tibb al-Nabawi
o Tibb al-a’imma
o Ibn Habib al-Andalusi – Mukhtasar fil-Tibb
o Ibn al-Sunni
o Ibn Kayyim al-Djawziyya
o Djalal al-Din al-Suyuti
- Four comprehensive Arabic medical encyclopedias
o Al-Razi – Kitab al-Mansuri fil-Tibb and Kitab al-Haawi
o Ali b. al-‘Abbas al-Madjusi – K. Kamil al-sina’a al-tibbiyya (better organized
than al-Razi’s work
o Ibn Sina – K. al-Qanun fil-Tibb (and important commentary and abridgement by
Ibn al-Nafis – al-Mujiz)
- Ophthalmology (especially rich literature in Arab lands)
 o Hunayn b. Ishak – K. al-‘Ashr makalat fil-ayn
o Ali b. ‘Isa – Tadhkirat al-Kahhalin
o Ibn al-Nafis – K. al-Muhadhdhab fi tibb al-ayn
- Pharmacy
o Ibn al-Baytar – most famous manual of materia media
o ‘Ali b. ‘Abd al-‘Azim al-Ansari – book on poison and antidotes
- Surgery
o Al-Zahrawi’s chapter in Kitab al-Tashrif – translated by Gerard of Cremona and
very popular in Europe (known as Abulcasis)

Zoology

Alchemy / Chemistry

Botany / Agriculture

Mathematics

Astronomy

Astrology

Meteorology

Lexicography

Grammar

Geography
Al-Qazwini – Most important Arabic cosmology