Al-Muqaddasī, Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions 54
created: This entry is taken from Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions 54 written
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: ar; ar
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/394

and

قيساريَّة

is directly attested at Al-Muqaddasī, Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions 54. This passage was written ca. 985 C.E. possibly in Syria-Palestine. Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Muqaddasī (334-390 A.H./945-1000 C.E.) was an Arab geographer and traveler during the mid- to late 10th century. Born in Jerusalem, al-Muqaddasī began studying history, jurisprudence, and matters of religion at a young age. As a member of the Balkhī school founded by Abū Zayd al-Balkhī (d. 322/934), al-Muqaddasī researched and wrote only on the lands under the authority of Islam. His major geographical work Aḥsan al-Taqāsīm fī l-Maʿrifat al-Aqālīm (Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions) draws upon a robust literary genre that emerged in the 9th century, al-masālik wa-l-mamālik ("routes and realms"), but also incorporates scientific and religious principles. Best Divisions includes Al-Muqaddasī’s own experiences and observations after 20 years of traveling across the Abbasid Empire and beyond. This passage enumerates the cities across Syria-Palestine by district.

ولحمص سلمية تدمر الخُناصرة كفرطاب اللاذقيَّة جَبَلَة جُبَيل انطرسوس بلنياس حصن الخوابي لجُّون رَفنَيّة جُوسِيَة حماة شيزر وادي بطنان ولدمشق دَارَيَّا بانياس صيدا بيروت عرقة أطرابلس الزبدانىُّ ، وناحية البقاع مدينتها بعلبكُّ ولها كامد عرجموش ولطبريَّة بيسان أذرعات قدس كابل اللَّجُّون عكَّا صور الفراذية وللرملة بيت المقدس بين جبريل غزَّة عسقلان يافة ارسوف قيساريَّة نابلس اريحاء عمَّان. قيساريَّة وباعيناثا وخجندة والدينور ونوقان أو بخمس نواح الصغد والصغانيان ونهاوند وجزيرة ابن عمر وسابور فاختر ما شئتَ منها فإنها مَنَازِه الإسلام، وامَّا الأندلس فيقال انها جنّات ومستفاض جنَّات الدنيا اربع غوطة دمشق ونهر الأبلَّة وروضة الصغد وشعب بوَّان.

[ed. de Goeje 1906]

The district of Ḥimṣ has the cities of Salamiyya, Tadmur, al-Khunāṣira, Kafarṭāb, al-Lādhiqiyya, Jabala, Jubayl, Anṭarsūs, Bulunyās, Ḥuṣnu al-Khawābī, and next to Lajjūn, Rafaniyya, Jūsiya, Ḥamā, Shayzar, and Wādī Buṭnān. The district of Dimashq has the territories of Bāniyās, Ṣaydā, Bayrūt, ʿArqa, Aṭrābulus, and al-Zabadānī. The district of al-Biqāʿ has the city of Baʿlabakk, and the towns of Kāmid and ʿArjamūsh… [The district of al-Urdunn] has the capital of Ṭabariyya, and has Baysān, Adhriʿāt, Qadas, Kābul, al-Lajjūn, ʿAkkā, Ṣūr, and al-Farādhiyya. [The district of Palestine] has the capital al-Ramla, and the towns of Bayt al-Muqadis, Bayt Jibrīl, Ghazza, ʿAsqalān, Yāffa, Arsūf, Qaysāriyya, Nāblus, Arīḥāʾ, and ʿAmmān.Qaysāriyya, Bāʿaynāthā, Khujanda, Dīnawar, and Nūqān—or five districts—Ṣughd, Ṣaghāniyān, Nahāwand, Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar, and Sābūr. Choose any of these places, for they are beautiful lands of Islam. As for al-Andalus, one says that it is a paradise. But the abundant paradises of the world are four: the Ghūṭa of Dimashq, the river of Ubulla, the meadows of Ṣughd, and the valley of Bawwān.

[Trans. T. Marashi with ref. to Ranking and Azoo 1906 and Collins 1994]

Works Cited

[...] 54
[...] 95

Additional Bibliography

[...] 132

[Adhriʿāt

Anṭarsūs

Arsūf

Arīḥāʾ (Jericho)

Aṭrābulus

Bayrūt (Beirut)

Baysān

Bayt Jibrīl

Bayt al-Muqadis (Jerusalem)

Baʿlabakk

Bulunyās

Bāniyās

Dimashq (Damascus)

Ghazza (Gaza)

Jabala

Jubayl

Jūsiya

Kafarṭāb

Kābul

Kāmid

Lajjūn

Nāblus

Qadas

Rafaniyya

Salamiyya

Shayzar

Tadmur

Wādī Buṭnān

Yāffa (Jaffa)

al-Biqāʿ

al-Farādhiyya

al-Khunāṣira

al-Lajjūn

al-Lādhiqiyya

al-Ramla

al-Zabadānī

ʿAkkā (Acre)

ʿAmmān

ʿArjamūsh

ʿArqa

ʿAsqalān (ʿAshkelon)

Ḥamāh

Ḥimṣ (Homs)

Ḥuṣnu al-Khawābī

Ṣaydā

Ṣūr (Tyre)

Ṭabariyya (Tiberias)]

[Geography

Government

Islam

Islamic History

Natural Environment]