Al-Bayan al-Mughrib facts for kids
The Kitāb al-bayān al-mughrib is a very important history book from the Middle Ages. Its full name means "Book of the Amazing Story of the History of the Kings of al-Andalus and Maghreb."
This book was written around 1312 by a historian named Ibn Idhāri. He was from Marrakech, a city in the Maghreb region (which is now mostly Morocco). The book tells the history of the Maghreb and Iberia (modern-day Spain and Portugal).
Today, researchers find al-Bayān al-Mughrib (often called just the Bayān) very valuable. It contains unique information and parts of other old books that are now lost.
About the Book
Ibn Idhāri divided his big history book into three main parts:
- The first part covers the history of the Maghreb region. It starts when Islam first arrived and goes up to the 12th century.
- The second part focuses on Al-Andalus. This was the name for Muslim-ruled parts of Iberia during the same time period.
- The third part tells the story of two important empires: the Almoravids and the Almohads. These groups ruled large areas of the Maghreb and Al-Andalus.
Finding the Book
The first two parts of the book were published in Latin by Reinhart Dozy between 1848 and 1852. Later, a better version of these parts came out in 1948.
Some parts of the book have been translated into Spanish. There was also an early French translation, but it wasn't very popular. Overall, not many translations of this important work have been published yet.
The Missing Pieces
For a long time, the third part of the book was thought to be lost or incomplete. In the 20th century, some damaged pages of this part were found. Even though the beginning and end were missing, these found pages were very helpful. They allowed historians to correct mistakes and add missing information to other known history books, like the Rawd al-Qirtas.
In 1983, an Arabic version of the book was published. It included the incomplete third part, making more of Ibn Idhāri's work available to scholars.
See also
In Spanish: Al-Bayan al-Mughrib para niños
