Al-Jabarti's History

Entitled "Aja'ib al-Athar fi al-Tarajim wal-Akhbar" (Wonders of the Past in Biographies and News) - 3 Volumes

Author's Name: Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan al-Jabarti

The book "Aja'ib al-Athar fi al-Tarajim wal-Akhbar," or "Al-Jabarti's History" as it is called, is considered one of the most important history books of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AH. It might even be considered the only accredited source that describes Egypt without bias towards a ruler or prejudice towards an individual. Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti states in the introduction: "I had blacked out pages concerning the events of the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth century in which we live, gathering some general occurrences and others verified in detail. Most of them were tribulations we experienced and matters we witnessed, and in the course of that, I recounted previous events I had heard and received from the mouths of elders, and some biographies of famous notables among scholars and respected emirs, mentioning glimpses of their news and conditions, and some dates of their births and deaths. So I wished to bring together their scattered parts and record their elusive details in systematically arranged papers, organized by years, to facilitate review for the discerning student and for them to benefit from what they seek."