Ibn Budayr

Shihab ad-Din Ahmad ibn Budayr al-Hallaq (* 1st half of the 18th century in Damascus ; † after 1762 ibid), correctly Shihāb ad-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Budayr al-Ḥallāq ( Arabic : al-Ḥallāq , "the barber “), Was a Damascus barber and chronicler of the Arabic language in the Ottoman Empire .

Life

Ibn Budayr came from a family of porters who worked on the Hajj route to Mecca . His place of birth - adapted to the family's work area - was the al-Qubaybat district on this pilgrimage route outside the city walls. However, he did not take up the profession prescribed by it, but began an apprenticeship with a Damascus barber named Ahmad al-Hallaq b. al-hashish in Bab al-Barid , the city center. Most of Damascus' training centers were located here, an important factor for Ibn Budayr's further life.

This local rise from the outskirts to the center ran parallel to the social rise from the level of porter to that of chronicler. In his teacher's business he made contact with personalities such as' Abd al-Gani al-Nabulusi († 1731) and Murad Afandi al-Kasih († 1720), the two most important Sufi scholars of this time in Damascus. This gave him access to important training centers. Ibn Budayr mentions in his chronicle that he studied religious studies and law with well-known teachers and established friendly relationships with some. Especially with the chronicler Muhammad b. Dschum'a al-Maqar († 1744), the author of the work al-Bashat wa 'l-qudah fi Dimaschq ("The governors and judges of Damascus"), linked him to the common membership of the Qadiriyya Sufi order. Al-Maqar, in his own words, encouraged him to write his chronicle.

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His work is entitled Ḥawādith Dimaschq asch-Shām al-yaumīya min sanat 1154 ila sanat 1176 ("The daily events of Damascus from 1154 to 1176" [1741–1762 AD])

The contents of the chronicle are events in Damascus during the lifetime of Ibn Budayr. It is the only historical work of Arabic- Islamic literature available to us that was written by a barber. This went unnoticed until the late 19th century, only Muhammad Sa'id al-Qasimi († 1900) rediscovered the work and took over the revision (see next chapter). After it had long been believed that there was no longer an original manuscript, one was probably found after all; it is now in Dublin.

Without a preface, Ibn Budayr begins immediately with the events of the first day in 1741. The whole work is written in the style of the “voice of the common people” ( al-asaghir ) and of the “citizens” ( al-'awam ). He contrasts them with the accusation of the success of the "great people" ( al-akabir ). He complains that the unworthy can get high positions while the poor decent go without support. This consistent setting in his chronicle is a topos that can be found in many Arabic-Islamic and Ottoman works at the time, e.g. B. in the diary of Seyyid Hasan († 1665). Ibn Budayr demonstrates this injustice using the example of the governor of Damascus, As'ad Pasha al-'Azm, a member of the influential al-'Azm family. He points out the achievements, mistakes, abuses of power and feuds of the pasha , which he contrasts with the unusually long, uninterrupted and thus unprecedented term of office.

He especially called the dignitaries sent to Damascus from Istanbul as opportunistic and only concerned with their own enrichment, to the detriment of ordinary city dwellers. The author sees the state in disorder because he cannot control it - the main theme of his diary. But he also sees the socially preferred position of Muslim men in danger from “modern” fads. He therefore denounces the fact that women picnic and smoke outdoors, that Jews are allowed to sit on higher seats in the coffee house than Muslims. He is not aware of the contradiction between his own social advancement and his complaints at work.

The chronicle names, often very dramatically, daily events such as the appointment and dismissal of dignitaries, their abuses of power, obituaries, new buildings, natural disasters, epidemics, food prices, riots and the events surrounding the annual arrival of the pilgrim caravan. Unlike in "learned" chronicles, the inclusion of gossip from society, including sex scandals, also occurs.

review

For these reasons, Ibn Budayr's diary was almost entirely ignored by the scholars of his time. Only Muhammad Sa'id al-Qasimi, the progenitor of a well-known Damascus family of scholars, wrote a review of the diary. The author is called Aḥmad al-Budayri al-Ḥallāq, al-Qasimi titled his work Ḥawādith Dimaschq al-yaumīya (" Current Events in Damascus"). His interventions in the style and textual structure of Ibn Budayr are relatively strong, so he adds a "classic" opening to the work, which names the sultan and the governor and asks God to support them. As a result, there was a break in style in the editing, since Ibn Budayr's original text and that added by al-Qasimi do not match. Only by finding a possible original version can the barber's original speech rhythm be read again.

A revised version of al-Qasimi's review was published in 1959.

Text examples

1. ↑ “The first day of 1154 [1741] was a Saturday. The common people say that an earthquake will come in Damascus, as a result of which many places will be destroyed and men will become women. ” Ibn Budayr: Ḥawādith ... , p. 2a.
2. ↑ “In 1154 'Ali Pasha the Turk was governor of Damascus. This was eleven years close to the coronation of our Lord, Sultan Mahmud Han , son of Sultan Mustafa Han , may God protect the throne of the state until the end of time. " Al-Qasimi: Ḥawādith ... , p. 82.

Manuscripts

• Original manuscript (?), Dublin , Chester Beatty Library , No. 3551/2, 192 folios
• Review of Muhammad Sa'id al-Qasimi, Damascus, Maktabat al-Asad ("Library of the Lion"), al-Zahiriyya 4283, 58 folios (copied in 1901)
• Review of Muhammad Sa'id al-Qasimi, Damascus, Maktabat al-Asad, al-Zahiriyya 3737, 55 folios (copied 1905)
• A manuscript supposedly in Cairo , al-Taymuriyya collection, has not yet been found

See also

• List of Ottoman chroniclers

literature

• Dana Sajdi: Shihābaddīn Aḥmad Ibn Budayr al-Ḥallāq , April 2007. In: C.Kafadar / H.Karateke / C.Fleischer: Historians of the Ottoman Empire. Harvard University. Center for Middle Eastern Studies, ISBN 9780-9762-7270-0 , pp. 97-99. [1]