Author's name: By Prince Mu'ayyad al-Dawla Usama ibn Munqidh al-Kinani al-Shayzari

The King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies has published a new book as part of its Heritage Verification series. It is "Akhbar al-Nisa" (Women's News) by Prince Mu'ayyad al-Dawla Usama ibn Munqidh al-Kinani al-Shaizari (d. 584 AH), edited by Dr. Rashid al-Khayyun. The manuscript of this book was considered lost among the manuscripts of literary heritage until it traveled from Afghanistan to Pakistan. It then settled at the King Faisal Center, which paid great attention to it and worked to verify and revive it for the first time in a luxurious edition, making it available to researchers, specialists, and readers across the Arab world. The book's editor, Dr. Rashid al-Khayyun, explained that after searching libraries around the world, he found only this unique and rare manuscript, which is owned by the King Faisal Center. Because the book lacks the beginning and some chapters at the end, most indexers and translators did not mention it, and it remained locked away in library drawers until it was identified and its attribution to its author was confirmed with extensive evidence. Pointing out that the author did not share the title of his book with anyone except his contemporary, Imam Abu al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH), and there is some similarity between the two books in terms of topics. However, the book “Akhbar al-Nisa” is distinguished by its methodology of presenting and categorizing the topics. The author distributed the news of women into chapters, starting with mothers and sisters, then wives and daughters, then famous women, and so on, with a selection of their famous stories, paying attention to their poetry and prose, and what was said about them. The author adopted a very good methodology in presenting each topic, as he begins the topic with a verse from the Holy Quran, followed by a brief interpretation of it, then narrates Arab poetry and sayings related to his topic, avoiding repetition and tending to limit himself to the point of evidence from some stories. Therefore, the book “Akhbar al-Nisa” is considered one of the most important sources of Arabic literature, both poetry and prose, as its author has included a number of quotes from lost sources, crafted in an elegant literary style, and added to it from his own encyclopedic knowledge. The book derives its scholarly value from the stature of its author, who is one of the leading literary figures of the sixth century AH who combined chivalry, poetry and writing. He was born into a family known for its knowledge and leadership, and inherited the emirate of the city of Shaizar in the Levant. Imam al-Dhahabi described him as one of the heroes of Islam and the leader of the prominent poets. It is noteworthy that the book “Akhbar Al-Nisa” was published in 700 pages of medium size, and bears the number 52 in the Heritage Verification Series issued by the King Faisal Center, which has been working since its establishment in 1983 to care for the Arab and Islamic heritage, and to introduce the unique and rare valuable manuscripts, and to revive them and issue them in elegant scientific editions, until the Center’s publications became heritage and historical references that the elite of specialists and those interested in the Arab world are keen to acquire.