Tasmiyat Wulat Misr (The Enumeration of the Rulers of Egypt)
Al-Qudat (The Judges)
Known for
Arab Historian and Islamic Scholar
Abu Umar Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Kindi (
Arabic: أبو عمر محمد بن يوسف الكندي) (January 18, 897 – October 16, 961) was a prominent
Arab historian, genealogist, and hadith scholar. He studied under the most famous hadith scholar of his time, imam
al-Nasa'i.[1]
Biography
A descendant of the tribe of
Banu Kindah, al-Kindi was born in
Egypt to the
Tujib clan. Although few details of his life are known, he is reported to have received an education on the
Quran and
hadith under
Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Qudayd and
Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Nasa'i, and was later a transmitter of hadith himself. As a
faqih he belonged to the
Hanafi school of jurisprudence. He died in Fustat in 961 and was succeeded in his literary work by his son Umar.[2][3][4]
Al-Kindi is chiefly famous for his two surviving works, Tasmiyat Wulat Misr ("The Enumeration of the Rulers of Egypt") and Al-Qudat ("The Judges"), which together represent a key source of Egyptian provincial history and its political and legal institutions during the early
Islamic era. Rulers, which provides an account of the governors of Egypt appointed by the
caliphs and the major events that took place during their administrations, covers the period from the Islamic conquest in 641 until the death of
Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid in 946, with a supplemental continuation by an unknown author extending to the coming of the
Fatimids in 969. Judges is dedicated to the succession of Egyptian
qadis from 661 until 861, with two continuations that extend to the mid-eleventh century. Both works represent an early example of provincial
historiography and have been used extensively by later authors.[2][3][5]
The two works are preserved in a manuscript held by the
British Museum. An edited version was published under the title The Governors and Judges of Egypt by Rhuvon Guest in 1912.[2][3]
List of works
"The Western Contingents" (Al-Jund al-Gharbi or al-Ajnād al-Gharabāʾ)
"Sites" (Al-Khiṯaṯ) — Likely an account of various sites in Fustat
"The History of the Great Mosque of the People of the Standard" (Akhbār Masjid Ahl al-Rāyah al-Aẓam) — Regarding the
Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Fustat
"The Life of al-Sari ibn al-Hakam" or "The Life of Marwan ibn al-Ja'd" (Sīrat al-Sarī ibn al-Ḥakam / Marwān ibn al-Ja'd) — Presumably a biography of either the ninth century Egyptian governor
al-Sari ibn al-Hakam or the last Umayyad caliph
Marwan ibn Muhammad al-Ja'di
"The Book of Clients" (Kitāb al-Mawālī) — Likely an account of important Egyptian mawali
"The Enumeration of the Rulers of Egypt" or "The Rulers of Egypt" (Tasmiyat Wulāt Miṣr or ʾUmarāʾ Miṣr)
Another surviving work, the "Virtues of Egypt" (Faḍāʿil Miṣr) is sometimes attributed to al-Kindi, but is believed to have instead been produced by his son Umar.[7]
Notes
^المقريزي, أحمد بن علي (2009). تاريخ المقريزي الكبير المسمى (المقفى الكبير). بيروت، لبنان: دار الكتب العلمية. p. 497.
Gordon, Matthew S. (2006).
"Kindi, Al-". In Meri, Josef W. (ed.). Medieval Islamic Civilization, An Encyclopedia: Volume 1, A - K, Index. New York and Great Britain: Routledge. pp. 440–441.
ISBN978-0-415-96690-0.
Guest, Rhuvon (1912). Introduction.
The Governors and Judges of Egypt. By Al-Kindi, Muhammad ibn Yusuf. Guest, Rhuvon (ed.). Leydon and London: E. J. Brill.
Tillier, Mathieu (2012). Introduction. Histoire des cadis égyptiens. By Al-Kindi. French translation by Mathieu Tillier. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.