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Ibn al-Dawadari : Kanz al-durar

(Universal Chronical) (1335).

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Abu Bakr b. Abd Allah b. Aybak al-Dawadari , Egyptian historian. Date of bird and dead unknown; lived in Cairo and Damascus as a child. He had some unknown government post. Two of his books survive; an extensive universal chronicle (Durar al-tidjan) and an abridgement (Kanz Al Durar wa Djami Al Ghurar). The year 1335 is the year in which he finished the first book. About East Africa he only speaks in general; and more extensive about the mythical stories on the sources of the Nile.

 Taken from: http://books.islamww.com/bk_page-113-201.html

 

Vol1 p103

Mention the countries and their population

The scholars of the authority stated: The inhabited population of the earth varied in its dangers and after its distances divided between seven nations, and they are: the people of China, India, the Sindh (1), the Romans, the Persians, the Turks, and the Arabs.

I said: The owner of this transfer did not mention Sudan, which is the greatest of these nations in the multitude, and perhaps they are included in his saying and the chain of transmission but they are from far.

He said: Ptolemy narrated that he counted the cities of the world in his time and they were: four thousand and two hundred cities,

Khalid bin Abdullah al-Marozi said that the cities of the world were eight thousand cities, China has 1,000 cities, India has 1,000 cities, Zangis,

Abyssinia and Nubia a thousand cities.The rest of the cities are scattered in the provinces.

Vol1 p161

About the wonders of the East Sea.

Scientists said: It takes from the big dark ocean sea of Morocco to the ends as far as India and China eight thousand miles, and in width thousand seven hundred miles, this may differ in different places narrower and wider, Ibn al Manada said: the length of the sea from Qulzum (2) to Wakwak (3) four thousand and five hundred leagues (4), and the great bays include: Bay related to Abyssinia that extends to the land of Zinj and to a place called Barbara (5), a length of five hundred miles and about a hundred miles, this is not the Barbara (5) known in Morocco from the African soil, but it is elsewhere.

Vol1 p190-191

Al-Jawhari (6), may God have mercy on him, said: of the Nile river in Egypt, it is unanimously agreed that it flows from Mount moon, and it was mentioned in a geography and depicted and it stems from the twelve sources and the sources are pouring into the lake called Bataeh (7) behind the equator, which gathers the water and being on the sands there and between the mountains and then going into the Sudan and then empties into the Sea of Zinj in this sea is the island Qanbalu (8) which is an island full of people who are Muslims but speak a Negro language. The Muslims overwhelmed the people of this island around the time of the extinction of the king of the Umayyad (9) and beginning of the Abbasid state, and that sea of Qanbalu (8) which pours in is the Sea of Oman and from Jebel moon (10) to this island is a march of five hundred leagues (4) and the flow of its mouth in this sea becomes stronger during the days of the increase in the Nile, and it runs with a great flow and the places of the eyes (=sources) becomes numerous until it is said that the water affects its color in a color sweeter than honey.

Said Ka’ab al-Ahbar (11): that he found in the Torah (12) that the Nile River comes from the honey of paradise and goes through Abyssinia and the wilderness, not so said Ahmed bin Bakhtiar (13): the source which is the origin of the Nile is the first source of Mount Moon which included ten rivers in the Nile of Egypt. He said: The Nile cuts the first region, then passes it to the second, and from its beginning from Jabal al-Qamar until its end and its mouth in the Roman Sea, three thousand leagues (4). ………..

And they differ as to the reason for its increase and decrease, then some said: The reason for its increase and decrease in its springs decrease, and others said: Its increase from rain and torrents rains in the countries of Abyssinia and Nubia during the winter days, and it increases, but it is delayed until the summer after the distance, and the people of this said that His springs under the Mountain of the Moon bloom during the days of its increase, indicating that this is from the power of God Almighty without an increase in rain, and it is correct, that this increase and decrease is a measure of the Mighty and the Wise, who in everything has a verse indicating that he is one.

And all the water and rivers flow to the direction of the south except the Nile, because it is outside the equator and runs towards the north. ……………

Vol1 p193

Rain is not specific to India only, it is specific to one of the seven regions that India is part of and the region, as I know what it has from the east to the west, and if it rained down on the mountains that are not between us and the sea, I mean the mountains from this region, with which fertilisers were poured into it from the mountains of the moon and poured into the Nile in addition to its original source, and this does not deviate it from its color. The dispensation of the Mighty, the Wise, the Most Majestic, and there is no other god.

Vol1 P195

Al-Jawhari (6) said: The crocodile is water-born known in Egypt, and Al-Jahiz (14), may God have mercy on him, said in the Book of Wonders of the Countries that Makhran (15) is part from the Nile of Egypt because there is the crocodile in it. The Nile exits from Jabal Al Qamar from the south side of the Equator and Equinox line, and between Makhran (15) in Sind and between Abyssinia and Nubia, is the Eastern Sea, so how can it be part of it, and if the crocodile is found in Makhran (15) in Sind (1), it may be found in it as it was found in the Nile.

Vol1 p202

……………. and all of the rivers and springs we mentioned are inside the seven regions except for the springs in Jabal al-Qamar, they are outside that because they are (south of) the equator ……………

Vol2 p81

Then Ham was born from Canaan, among them: the Spaniards, the Zunuy, and several races who reproduced in the Maghreb about seventy genera. And they are different in their actions, and they have kings. Some of them wear leather, some of them wear hashish (=leaves), and some of them make for themselves horns of animal bones, and they have a mouse that they eat and they call it: Son of heaven. One of them marries twenty women, and every night he goes to bed with two of them, he has intercourse with them, otherwise the king will divorce them from him.

Vol2 p105-106

And this king Eikam (18) was a long time before the Flood, and he saw in his knowledge that the Flood was coming, and he commanded the demons to build a place for him behind the equator, so that the corruption of this being would not catch him. So he built the palace that is in the neighbourhood of the Moon Mountain, which is his palace. The copper of which the statues are (16), was famously mentioned among the commoners in the city of Copper (17). This palace includes thirty-five statues (40), it is only from its throats that the Nile water leaves, and it is erected in the Batiha (7).

And from that al-Batiha (7) it diverges and flows to several places, other than this Nile that connects to Egypt. When they build for him this palace, he liked to see it before he lived in it. He sat in a dome, and the demons carried him on their shoulders to that palace. When he saw the wisdom of its construction and decoration, and on its walls, the inscriptions and images of the spheres and other kinds of wonders in them - it used to be lit without a lamp, and he installed in it tables with all kinds of foods and colors of all kinds, he does not know who made them, as well as all the drinks and utensils that are used and not lacking, and in the middle of it is a pool of solid water, you see it moving and it is still, and many things more too much to summarize - which baffles minds. He liked what he saw, and returned to Egypt on the shoulders of demons. And he assigned his son Erek to what he should do, and the king imitated him, returned to that palace, and stayed there until he perished, and the palace settled in its condition. It is to this king Eikam (18) that the Coptic Qur’ans are attributed, which contain their histories, and most of them relied on mentioning him in this regard.

Vol2 p129

As for Shamwan Al Ashmouni (19), it is said: It was Hermes (20) the first, who built a house of statues by which he knew the magnitudes of the Nile at the Mountain of the Moon. And made a temple there for the sun. And he quoted words that invade the mind. And he was hiding from people's eyes while he was among them, and they did not see him. He is the one who built Ashmonin. Rather, it was named after him: Shamwan Al Ashmonite, so this name was heavy, and it was said: Ashmonin. And we built a city that supported us, and used flags and stadiums in it. And in the eastern foothills of the mountain he worked a city called: Aotatius. And he made a lot of miracles in it, and made it four doors on four sides. He placed on the eastern gate an image of a punishment, on the western gate an image of a bull, on the tribal door a picture of a lion, and on the sailor the image of a dog.

Vol2 p135

(About Ibn Al-Boudhir)(21)

It is said: He was sent to Hermes (20) the Egyptian, so he sent him to the Mountain of the Moon, which brings out the Nile from beneath it until he made a temple of copper statues there, and made the sling to which the water of the Nile was poured, and he was the one who modified the two sides of the Nile, and it was perhaps spent so that it did not run.

Vol2 p177-178-179-180-181

He mentioned Al-Walid Ibn Domag (22), the first pharaoh in Egypt

This is according to most scholars in the history of Egypt that he was the first of the pharaohs in Egypt, so he made it permissible for its people and took its money and took a group of their priests and sages, and he was allowed to go out to stand on the mouth of the Nile and invade from its side of the nations. So he stayed three years preparing and preparing for his departure and what he needed. And he appointed a help over Egypt, and he went out in a massive army, and he did not pass by a nation but annihilated it.

It is said: He stayed in his trip for many years. And he passed over the land of gold, and it has sprouted bars, and it is the last country of Alwa (39). Al-Walid (22) was still walking until he reached Al-Batiha (7), from which the water of the Nile is poured, from the statues that come out from the foot of the Mountain of the Moon. Then he walked to the temple of the sun, and entered it.

It is said: He was engaged with the new things, and it struck him. And he reached the mountain of the moon.

Rather, it is named Moon Mountain because the moon does not see it, because it is outside the equator. And he looked at the Nile emerging from its foot, from these aforementioned statues, and passing by paths, and reaching the mouth of the river that had collapsed to it, then the equator was reachable, and it flowed in the Nile River, and another spring extended from it from the direction of the area of India. And that spring is also from the Mountain of the Moon, and in it there is a saying what we presented in the first part.

It is reported from Al-Walid (22) that he saw the copper palace in which the statues were made by Hermes (20) the First that we mentioned, and that the Nile emerges from the throats of those statues of gold, which are thirty-six statues (41), and then poured into Batiha (7) that had been orchestrated by those ancient nations. The goodness of the flow of the Nile originated from these statues, and it was carried to that of Albatiha (7), with a river from the mouth of the Nile, estuaries from several pools, such as streams or torrents.

And these ponds contain prepared water, so if the time for rains it rains in those ponds and valleys, then it overflows and runs in those estuaries and is thrown into those sluggish ones, with a river from the mouth of the Nile, with the length of the distance to the territory of Abyssinia. And it is still running until it arrives in the summer at the Egyptian homes, at a time when it needs to be increased, to benefit from the lands that he left and irrigated. So the duration of its run will be based on the principle of those ponds until it reaches Egyptian lands: three months and more. Likewise, the duration of rain in the winter season in these lands.

Also, the duration of the increase in the Egyptian lands, for the continuity of the supply of torrents from those valleys and ponds. The increase in the Nile is due to the large number of rains in that year, and its decrease due to the lack of it. And the abundance of rain is part of the mercy of God Almighty upon His servants.

He also said: Hermes (20) tightened these statues and made them thirty-six (41). And a judgment for each statue is an arm of water to increase, and that the increase in the Nile should be thirty-six cubits (23), and to its end eighteen cubits, to realize with this appreciation the benefit of irrigation in the country and the neighboring lands, from its appearance until it is poured into the salty sea, at the end of it two groups are divided: one of them has a zigzag that ends at Rasheed's mouth (24) and poured into the salty.

And the other in straightforwardness to the mouth of Damietta (25) and poured in the salty.

Jada bin Sinan Al-Hamiri, the author of this transmission, said: The Nile has seven thousand miles from its beginning to its end, and this is from the judgment of God Almighty that does not realize its goal. And the benefit of these meanings to catch the increase of the Nile, so that the benefit of holding it occurs. If it was not of the zigzag, it would not have an increase in it, because of its concentration in the salty. The lands returned to benefit from its increase, but he did not narrate the rest of it.

Al-Walid (22) ordered wells to be dug in the lands that the Nile did not reach, and irrigated on the necks of cows, and they dug.

The Egyptian lands also continued until the days of Alexander the Macedonian and Aristoteles the Wise(26), so he made with the mouth of Damietta (25) a sealed dam that was submerged in water, like the shape of the mortar in the tangerine sea. Then he caught what was poured into the salty, and the excess accumulated by the Nile, and it floated and irrigated the rest of those lands that are irrigated with walls from the designated wells, and the richest on that. And he made in that dam a breach in order to dispose of the excess to the benefit of the country, for fear of drowning.

I said: I made the image of the Nile, as I saw it on that date. Pictured:

<A drawing of the image of Jabal al-Qamar and the description of the statues that pour into al-Batiha (7) and the path until it reaches the mouth of Rasheed and the mouth of Damietta (25) and then to the sea, see here >. The map on top fits here.

Vol2 p183-184

And some of the people of Al-Athar (27) said: These four rivers: Sihon, Gihon, Euphrates and the Nile (28), emerge from one origin, as was mentioned previously.

And it was said: It emerges from a dome in the Land of Gold, beyond the dark sea. And it was said: They are from heaven, and the dome is from aquamarine. And it is mentioned that a man from the son of Al-Ais bin Ishaq bin Ibrahim (29), peace be upon them both, reached the dome and crossed the dark sea. He is called Jabir, and he has lots of news. He mentioned this: Abu Saleh, the writer of Al-Layth bin Saad (38), is one of the hadiths.

Others said: These rivers are divided into seventy-two divisions of the nations mentioned above.

Others said: These rivers emerge from rivers that join together and dissolve in heat, then they flow into these rivers and irrigate from them, for what God Almighty wants to manage his creation.

Alwalid ibn Amleq news

They said: Al-Walid bin Amleq (22), when he reached Jabal al-Qamar, saw a high mountain, so he did the trick until he climbed over it to a place behind it, then he overlooked the stinking, black sea, and looked at the Nile flowing over it like rivers, and that from these aspects it had stench odors until it destroyed many from his companions, then he go out faster after he nearly perished.

And they reminded people that they saw no sun or moon there except for a light, and they did not know what it was.

Vol3 p55

(Ibn Luhayah al-Qadi)

He mentioned a nice chapter in the Nile of Egypt

It is appropriate for this place to be mentioned

This Nile is the most amazing thing in Egypt, and it comes from behind the equator at eleven degrees to the south, and ends at Alexandria division, and at Damietta (25) division,

When the width of thirty-three deg. in the north, and from its beginning to its end forty-two degrees, each degree of sixty miles, so its length is from the position of the exit of its beginning to the position to which it ends resting in the salty eight thousand six hundred and fourteen miles and two-thirds of a mile ……………….

The author of the book Tassee Al-Akhbar, Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Anas Al-Azri, said: The exit of the Nile to Egypt is from behind Jabal al-Qamar, and it is set in two lakes behind the equator line, and it is divided into the land of Nubia, then it branches out below Fustat (30) to become a division to Alexandria and a branch to Damietta (25), the number of miles from its exit to its mouth is five thousand nine hundred and thirty miles, and the first is closer to the correct one, and God knows best.

Vol5 p217

As for Haji Ibn al-Rumi (31), he has the purpose in that. It is <that> saying (from simple):

The people of the Zanj and the Turks have reached ... in us the ugliest act of hope

Vol7 p49

(in 1263) Sultan Saladin seized all the ammunition and money in the palace, and Nur al-Din, the Lord of the Levant, carried a load of palace funds, weapons, jewels and artifacts, and that was a large sum. Among the gifts are the donkey (zebra), elephant and giraffe.

Vol9 p217

And in it (1312AD), the Messenger of the Lord of Yemen arrived at the high gates, and he brought a lot of tribute, and I looked over the porters' heads to the guarded castle, counting them four hundred porters and nine porters, and on each porter cage a right-footed goalkeeper and the artifacts underneath, including sixty-six porters on it were ivory, ebony, sandals, etc. Sixty porters of Qena spears, and the rest money and artifacts, and in the gift a small elephant and two tigers, four cheetahs, ten heads of horses clothed with barkstones and twenty servants of good looks.

Note: the same got repeated by Baybars al-Mansuri: Tuhfa al-mulukiyya (Mamluk Chronical)(d1325)

Taken from: Der Neger in der Bildersprache der arabischen Dichter By Manfred Ullmann

Vol I p318

(citing abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Said also called ibn Saraf al Qairawani)(32)

The coward was not welcomed after being dragged in that night over which a belt lay.

With a tattered shirt, it seems to us to be the head of a zanj with a sore on it.

Vol I p342

(citing abdallah ibn al Mu’tazz)(33)

It is as if the blazing fire that covers the coals from above is a zanjiyya who has folded her fingers over a bitter orange to hide it.

Vol I p348

(citing Tamim ibn al Mu’izz li din Allah al Fatimi) (34)

It is as if the stars are under the black of the night, when they are broken in, a zanj who shows teeth standing alone when they are punching.

Note: My reason for adding so much poetry is that it gives a less racist picture then the philosophers give.

(1) Sindh: now in Pakistan.

(2) Qulzum: located at the head of the Gulf of Suez.

(3) Wakwak: here the Waqwaq in the far east in meant.

(4) Leagues: any of several European units of measurement ranging from 2.4 to 4.6 statute miles (3.9 to 7.4 km).

(5) Barbara: Here the Berbera in North Somalia or the Berbera coast North of Mogadishu.

(6) Al-Jawhari: see my webpage Al Jawhari (1001).

(7) Bataeh: batihah; swamp, lake.

(8) Qanbalu; Qanbuluh: The island of Qanbalu from where the Zanj slaves were imported till the great Zanj revolt in Basra. (Zanzibar or Pemba).

(9) Umayyad: were the first Muslim dynasty, (661 – 750)in Damascus. Their dynasty succeeded the leadership of the first four caliphs.

(10) Jebel moon: Jebel = mountain; The mountain of the moon from which the nile flows.

(11) Ka’ab al-Ahbar: was a 7th-century Yemenite Jew from the Arab tribe of "Dhi Raʿin" who converted to Islam.

(12) Torah: Here: means the totality of Jewish teaching, culture, and practice.

(13) Ahmed bin Bakhtiar: an important judge from Wasit in the 12th century AD. His statement is repeated by: Suyuti (1445-d1505); Ibn al Jawzi (1257); Ibn al Jawzi (1200); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); Annon: Dhikr Kalam (15th).

(14) Al-Jahiz: see my webpages on Al-Jahiz (776-869).

(15) Makhran; Mekran: Makran or Mecran and Mokran, is the coastal region of Baluchistan (Pakistan).

(16) copper of which the statues are : the 85 copper or bronze statues build at the source of the Nile by Hermes. They are mentioned by the following authors: Maslamah ibn Ahmad Majriti (1050); Wasif Shah (1209); Murtada Ibn al-Afif (1237); Picatrix: (1256); Nuwayri (1333); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); al Maqrizi (1441); Ibn al Wardi (1456); Dhikr Kalam al-Nas fi Manba’ al-Nil (15th); Suyuti (d1505).

(17) the city of Copper: On the city of Brass see my webpage: Alf Layla wa Layla (end 15th cent)

(18) king Eikam: known as Anqam  the Priest, this legend in repeated by Wasif Shah (1209); Nuwayri : Nihayat al-Arab (1333) and Murtada Ibn al-Afif (d1237); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335) and Makrizi (1441) have Eiqam; Annon: Dhikr Kalam (15th) has Am Kaam. Anqam , son of Aram : Aram was a son of Shem son of Nun, and the father of Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash.

(19) Shamwan Al Ashmouni: Wasif Shah (1209) has Shaon of Ashmun: Ashmum literally: fortress. Ashmum is now also a city in Egypt. It was the mythical capital city of Egypt before the floods which destroyed it.

(20) Hermes the first: The first Hermes, was a "civilizing hero", an initiator into the mysteries of the divine science and wisdom that animate the world. Hermes is here a legendary Hellenistic figure that originated as a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth in the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt.

(21) Ibn Al-Boudhir: Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); Wasif Shah (1209) has Al-Budashir; Nuwayri (1333) has Al-Boudsir; Ibn Khaldun (1406) Al-Boudashir Ibn Qubt; literally meaning form the Red House; al Maqrizi (1441) has Budchir; Annon: Dhikr Kalam (15th) has Berdashir; Suyuti (1505) has Budchir

(22) Al-Walid: Ar-Rayyan ibn al-Walid ibn Dauma was an Amalekite king of Misr during the time of Prophet Yusuf (=Joseph)

Walid is mentioned in the following books: Al-Mas'udi: (916) Kitab al-Ausat; Ibn Babawayh (991); Maslamah ibn Ahmad Majriti (1050); Katib Marrakesh (12th); Wasif Shah (1209); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); Nuwayri (1333); Maqrizi (1441) (Oualid); Ibn Abd'essalem al-Menoufi (15th); Suyuti (1505).

(23) cubits: Distance from fingers to elbow (45cm).

(24) Rasheed's mouth: Rashid: Rosetta or Rashid is a port city of the Nile Delta, 65 km (40 mi) east of Alexandria.

(25) Damietta: important town in the delta of the Nile.

(26) Aristoteles: was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece taught by Plato.

(27) Al-Athar: literally: what came before.

(28) These four rivers: Sihon, Gihon, Euphrates and the Nile: religious traditions have it these are the four rivers of paradise.

(29) Repeated by the following authors: Masudi (916): Amran, son of Jabir; Al-Muqaddasi: (985) has Imran; in Dawadari (1335): a man from the son of Al-Ais bin Ishaq bin Ibrahim; Ibn Abd’essalam al-Menoufi (15th): Amran ibn-Folan ibn-al-Aiss ibn-Ishak ibn-Ibrahim; Suyuti (1505): Umran ben ‘Ays; Grandsonn of Muhallib bin Muhammad bin Shadi (1126).  

(30) Fustat; Fostat or al-Fustat: now part of Cairo.

(31) Haji Ibn al-Rumi: see my webpage Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi(1273)

(32) Abdallah Muhammad ibn Said also called ibn Saraf al Qairawani: poet from Qairawan in Tunesia died 1067

(33) abdallah ibn al Mu’tazz: the son of the caliph al-Mu'tazz (861-908)

(34) Tamim ibn al Mu’izz li din Allah al Fatimi: Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Muizz li-Din Allah was the fourth Fatimid Caliph and 14th Ismaili imam, reigning from 953 to 975.

(35) Tamasat: 85 tamatil: or tamafil: the 85 copper or bronze statues build at the source of the Nile by Hermes. They are mentioned by the following authors: Maslamah ibn Ahmad Majriti (1050); Wasif Shah (1209); Murtada Ibn al-Afif (1237); Picatrix: (1256); Nuwayri (1333); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); al Maqrizi (1441); Ibn al Wardi (1456); Dhikr Kalam al-Nas fi Manba’ al-Nil (15th); Suyuti (d1505).

(36) Qus: here most probably Kush an ancient kingdom south of Egypt. Kus; Qus; Caus : mentioned as being south of Egypt. Repeated by: al-Zayyat (1058); Al Zuhri : (1137); Nuwayri (1333); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); Salamanca translator (1420).

(37) Famm Dimydt, mouth of Damiette: important town in the delta of the Nile.

(38) Al-Layth bin Saad: In Suyuti (1505) he is called Imam al-Layth ibn Sa'd; in Ibn Abd’essalam al-Menoufi (15^th): Alleith ibn-Saad; Al-Muqaddasi (985) al-Laith ibn Sa‘d; Dawadari (1335): Al-Layth bin Saad.  

Al-Layth ibn Saʿd ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Fahmi al-Qalqashandi (713-791) was the chief representative, imam, and eponym of the Laythi school of Islamic Jurisprudence. He was regarded as the main representative of an Egyptian tradition of law.

(39) land of Alwa: northeast of the merging of the White Nile and the Bleu Nile; was a medieval kingdom in what is now central and southern Sudan. Found in Al Khwarizmi (847); Suhrab (945); Ibn al-Fakih al Hamadhani (903); al-Zayyat (1058); Idrisi (1150); Wasif Shah (1209); Ibn Said (1250); Al-Dimashqi (1325); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); Ibn Abd’essalam al-Menoufi (15^th).

(40) the 35 channels, qanawat are meant here.

(41) our author collected information from different sources.