Nadschm ad-Dīn al-Ghazzī

Nadschm ad-Dīn al-Ghazzī ( Arabic نجم الدين الغزي, DMG Naǧm ad-Dīn al-Ġazzī ; * January 19, 1570 in Damascus ; † June 8, 1651 ibid) was the most important Damascus historian in the second half of the 16th to the beginning of the 17th century. His full name was Nadschm ad-Dīn Muḥammad b. Badr ad-Dīn Muḥammad b. Raḍī ad-Dīn Muḥammad b. Shihāb ad-Dīn Aḥmad al-Ghazzī al-ʿĀmirī al-Quraishī ad-Dimashqī.

Life

In two works by al-Ghazzi, the biography of Bulghat al-wādschid fī tardschamat shaich al-islām al-wālid about his father Badruddin Muhammad al-Ghazzi († 1577) and a second about celebrities of the 16th century in Damascus (al-Kawākib as -sāʾira fī aʿyān al-miʾa al-ʿāschira) he noted information about himself. These were also the basis for the al-Ghazzi biography in Chulāṣat al-athar fī ʿayān al-qarn al-ḥādī ʿaschar of the chronicler Muhammad al-Amin al-Muhibbi († 1699).

Al-Ghazzi’s family came from a number of well-known ulamas (religious scholars), his father was a professor and writer, head of the Koran readers, imam of the Umayyad mosque and mufti of the Sunni Shafiite school. That is why al-Ghazzi received his first religious education and training from him. After his father's death taught him famous ulema, such as the Hanafi -Mufti of Damascus, furthermore, the Shafi'i Mufti Schihabuddin Ahmad al-'Itawi († 1616), the Qadi b Muhibbuddin. Abu Bakr al-Hamawi († 1608), as well as the Koran teacher and highest Ottoman Qādī of Damascus, Muhammad b. Hasan al-Sa'udi († 1590). Al-Ghazzi described him as "the most intelligent and thirsty for knowledge of all Turkish scholars" .

Al-Ghazzi also wrote a list of the historical works he used, as well as reports on trips to Syria , Lebanon , Palestine and Istanbul . He performed the Hajj to Mecca twelve times and was a follower of Sufism in the Qadiriyya religious school. Al-Ghazzi soon had a good reputation as a scholar, teacher at the madrasas (religious colleges), author, imam, Friday preacher and mufti. In Mecca, too, he was known by the nicknames “the hadith scholar of the age” and “the scholar from al-Sham” (Damascus). He married a daughter of his mentor al-'Itawi who died of a plague epidemic, after which he took one of her sisters as his wife. He himself died at the age of 83 in the house of an otherwise unknown woman (wife?) After suffering a slight one-sided paralysis seven years before his death.

Al-Ghazzi, despite some critical comments, was a loyal Ottoman subject, as can be seen from his works. However, his criticism of the Ottoman Empire was ethnic and cultural, not political. His work covers the political, social, religious, cultural and economic history of Damascus.

Works

• al-Kawākib as-sāʾira fī aʿyān al-miʾa al-ʿāschira

In the introduction, al-Ghazzi explains that in this work he intends to record the biographies of famous ulema of the 10th century that have hitherto been missing in literature. By critically examining the existing sources, he eliminated errors, especially in the calculation of time, and improved the form. The first section records, in alphabetical order, all ulema who died in the period (ṭabaqa) between 1494 and 1527, the second between 1528 and 1559, and the third between 1560 and 1592. Unlike earlier authors, he defines Ṭabaqa as 33 years old , based on a Hadith of the Prophet Mohammed . His work differs from that of his contemporaries al-Burini , al-Muhibbi and Ibn al-Hanbali, as he devoted his work almost exclusively to the biographies of Ulema, other notables, such as sultans , Ottoman dignitaries and high military officials are only cited sporadically. The Janissaries -Befehlshaber and the Ottoman governors of Damascus, he does not mention. The individual persons are described by their life data, characteristic habits and anecdotes, whereby the length of the entries varies greatly. A total of 1543 biographies are available in the work.

• Luṭf as-samar wa qaṭf ath-thamar min tarajim aʿyān al-ṭabaqa al-ūlā min al-qarn al-ḥādī ʿaschar

Al-Ghazzi saw this work as a continuation of al-Kawākib for another 33 years, as he noted in the introduction. However, there is a difference because he used more recent sources and his own observations from the contemporaries described. Here, too, religious dignitaries predominate in the total of 283 biographies. Together with al-Kawākib , the biographical collection comprises 1,819 people and a period of 133 years.

• Bulghat al-wādschid fī tardschamat shaich al-islām al-wālid

The biography of al-Ghazzi's father, Badruddin Muhammad al-Gazzi, was written in several parts and therefore had different titles. The final edition also includes a-Ghazzi’s autobiography up to the age of 27 (1595/96). This edition contains the following information about Badruddin in 10 chapters: his descent ( nasab ) ; his teachers; his works (al-Ghazzi mentions more than 100); Birth and death; its good properties; his position among the hadith scholars.

• Travel reports and other works

According to Maḥmūd al-Shayḫ, an editor of al-Ghazzi’s works, he also wrote three travelogues. His travels to Baalbek in 1618 as a member of an arbitration commission, to Istanbul in 1622 and at least one of his pilgrimages with reports on the resting places are only preserved or cited or mentioned in later writings. In total, al-Ghazzi wrote at least 50 works, including those on hadith , Arabic poetry and scripts, literature, poetry, ethics, medicine and Sufism.

Manuscripts

al-Kawākib as-sāʾira fī aʿyān al-miʾa al-ʿāshira

• Beirut , University Library, three-part edition
• Berlin , Berlin State Library , No. 9891, 49 folios
• Cairo , al-Azhar University , No. 348, 359 folios, first and second sections, copied 1688/89, probably the oldest surviving copy of the work
• Damascus, Maktabat Zahiriyya , 217 folios
• Dublin , Chester Beatty Library , No. 3708, 568 folios
• Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi , Hazine 1286, 247 folios
• Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi , Emanet Hazinesi 1220, 186 folios
• London , British Museum , No. 938, 738 folios
• Medina , Maktabat 'Arif Hikmat , 329 folios
• Rampur ( India ), Rampur State Library , No. 3708

Luṭf as-samar wa qaṭf ath-thamar min tarajim aʿyān al-ṭabaqa al-ūlā min al-qarn al-ḥādī ʿaschar

• Cairo, Dar al-Kutub al-Miṣriyya , 186 folios
• Cairo, Dar al-Kutub al-Miṣriyya , no.3402 , probably the oldest surviving copy (1697)
• Cairo, Maktabat Taymūriyya , copy of the manuscript of the Maktabat Zähiriyya in Damascus
• Damascus, Maktabat Zahiriyya , 51 folios
• Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, No. 3708, 568 folios
• Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi , Emanet Hazinesi 1220, 186 folios
• Medina, Maktabat 'Arif Hikmat , 114 folios
• Rampur, Rampur State Library, # 3708

literature

• Michael Winter: al-Ġazzī Najmuddin Muḥammad b. Muḥammad , June 2007. In: C.Kafadar / H.Karateke / C.Fleischer: Historians of the Ottoman Empire. Harvard University. Center for Middle Eastern Studies, ISBN 978-0-9762727-0-0 , pp. 97-99. [1]