Ibn Abi Hajalah 1357

Ibn Abi Hajalah: Sukkardan al-sultan

(The Sultan's Sugar Box) (1357) Cairo

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Born in Tlemcen and educated in Damascus, the fourteenth-century Arab litterateur Ibn Abi Hagalah (1325-1375AD) spent most of his adult life in Mamluk Cairo. His best-known works are Sukkardan as-sultan (The Sultan's Sugar Box) and Diwan as-sababah (The Register of Passionate Love), two anthologies that he dedicated to his patron, the Mamluk Sultan Hasan. His description of the sources of the Nile has nothing original.

Taken from: Website Fr. Nat. Library.

A treatise on the number seven, with special reference

to the history of Egypt and the life and acts of the Mamluk

Sultan al-Malik al- Nasir Abu al- Mahasin Hasan.

Folio 9v : a world map which mentions Africa and the Nile.

Taken from: Journal Asiatique 1837 p115-116 by father Bargès

Kitāb sukkardān al-sulṭān taʾlīf Shihāb al-Dīn ibn al-ʻAbbās Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá ibn Abī Bakr al-shahīr bi-Ibn Ḥajalah al-Maghribī al-Tilimsānī al-Ḥanafī., . | HathiTrust Digital Library

P33

The source of the Nile is subject of discussion between the people; some go as far as to say that it descends from the mountains totally covered with snow that are found among those of the immense chain of Qaf (1); after that by the effect of the power of the Most High it passes the Green River, then successively by gold mines, rubies, emeralds and coral, and after having run long time in the interior of the earth it will form a current in the sea of the Zinges and then goes in the direction of Egypt. If it would be different say the authors of this opinion; that is to say this river is not in the sea to mix with its water then nobody could drink it because of extreme natural sweetness. Other ones fix the place where it starts appearing at 11 deg. on the other side of the equator, and make him leave from the mountains of al Qomr, or, they say, eleven sources give birth to it.

P71

Love for her to love the Sudan is right;

I love for her love black dogs this happens in the house (=extended family) of some Arabs and he wanted to say that his beloved when she was black he loved everything black for her, what Ibrahim ibn Sebaba said it was violent against black love which is the case ….. and beauty, how can one who is anxious to blame those who sees it all with the maternal eye, and has provided enough verses in this sense and the story remained attached to the house mentioned, it is okay to mention it ………

P72

I love for her love the Sudan, and I love even the black dog, so these two love two kisses for the sake of their lover and the love of these two bridesmaids are close to the heart of their lover and this produced the prince of the believers in exhaustion; and the greatness he found in the eyes of her virtue and her good manners and her speech, and a counterpart to this story will come in the conclusion of the chapter, God Almighty willing …….

(1) chain of Qaf: in Arabic tradition is a mysterious mountain renowned as the farthest point of the earth.