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Maqrizi, Taqi ad-Din Ahmad
al-Khitat (al-Mawaiz wa 'l-I'tibar fi dhikr al-Khitat wa 'l-Athar)
A scholarly exchange for the study of Islamic Arhitecture of Cairo
archive of earlier home page(Arabic Lesson, Egypt Tour Notes, Islamic Architecture links) at this site
NEW!! My Blog, a modern "Tatler" in English, French and Arabic, Qahawi Al-Bahr Al-Abyad Al-Mutawasat (Coffee Shops, Mediterranean)
Maqrizi's Khitat is a rich source of information on the plan of Cairo in the Middle Ages. Maqrizi lived in the 14th and 15th centuries and was a pioneer archaeologist as well as a historian.
Most of the mosques, houses, stables, and palaces the Khitat describes have disappeared under post 15th century Cairo, but from what does remain, one can re-construct, in a literary way, with quotations from Maqrizi, what the city in his time was like.
Reading the Khitat, however, is a vast undertaking, even though it is one of the first Arabic historical texts to have a sort of table of contents. As I read my facsimile of the famous "Boulaq" edition, I am putting some of Maqrizi as quotations on the web. I have found that Maqrizi lends himself to hyper text, and now that even English IBM Compatibles running Internet Explorer 5 and above can read Arabic HTML, it is possible to link from one Arabic quote in Maqrizi to another, which helps one determine where he is in the medieval city of Cairo.
My hope is that researchers, architects, and hobbyists who are also reading Maqrizi might share what they find as they read. For example, if I know someone is working on caravansarais in medieval Cairo, and I ran across a reference to some caravansarais, I would share the reference in Maqrizi. And visa versa, if someone studying something else runs across a reference to the Yanisiyya quarter(harat al-Yanisiyya), which I am interested in, I would hope they would share it with me.
My reserch in arranging these quotes is copyright. You may however quote Maqrizi and my given source, but please credit me and this home page.
Other scholars reading Maqrizi, who have found an interesting area of research may send me their source in the Khitat and I will put the text in Arabic on this web page, where likewise they should be given credit for finding the source.
The Khitat is very popular, and is often published in a four-volume format, rather than the 2-volume facsimile of the Bulaq edition. Even if you are reading one of these less expensive--but better printed!--editions, you can cite me the chapter and subheading of the quote and I will find the Bulaq edition source. (Maqrizi puts stars on each side of the chapters, and puts subheadings in brackets)
Here are three sites on the web from which it can be ordered:
2 volume Dar Sadr l'it-tiba'a we al-nashr Boulaq edition $18.75
2 volume? edition? from Dar al-kitab Al Arabi$55.00 (found on Yahoo June 7th 2002)
4 volume 1997 Beirut edition with footnotes by Khalil Omran al-Mansur $35
3 volume 1998 Madbouli Publishing edition, edited by Zeinhoum and Sharqawi $29.41 $60
I have just received a message from Izzat at www.almaktabah.com that the Dar Sadr Boulaq facsimile edition is out of print. If anyone knows a source,please e-mail me--i.e. leave a message on my secure guestbook.
Research notes 04/11/2002: 4- LCN: 96960560 Ibn Abd al-Zahir, Muhyi al-Din. al-Rawdah al-bahiyah al-zahirah fi al-khitat al-Muizziyah al-Qahirah / li-Ibn Abd al-Zahir Muhyi al-Din Abu al-Fadl Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Zahir al-Misri ; haqqaqahu wa-qadama la-hu wa-allaqa alayhi Ayman Fuad Sayyid. al-Tabah 1. al-Qahirah : Maktabat al-Dar al-Arabiyah lil-Kitab, 1996. $5.30 (U.S.) 185 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Classic 13th. century description of Cairo, with a scholarly introduction.
Petra Schmidt Two Early Arabic Sources on the Use of the Magnetic Compass