Looking at the World from Egypt: Ibn Abdulhakem and his Work: Futuhu Mısr

Abstract

The earliest known work on the history of Egypt, the Maghrib and Andalusia is Ibn Abd al-Hakam's Futūhu Misr wa ahbāruhā.  Due to this feature, the work has been an indispensable source for later authors after him. This study aims to give information about the author's life and to evaluate and introduce the work in different aspects, especially in terms of style and content, through a careful reading of the work. In the study, the sources of the information transmitted by the author and other authors who used him as a source and made references to him in the subsequent periods were tried to be identified. As a method, firstly, the content of the work was determined by reviewing different copies of the work. Then, issues such as the historical method followed by the author, the way he expressed the narrations, and the language and style he used were discussed. In addition, the study includes

the understanding of history in Egypt during the period of Ibn Abd al-Hakam and tries to reveal its importance by evaluating the work from various aspects. As a result, it was determined that Futūhu Misr wa ahbāruhā was prepared within the framework of the general method of Muslim historiographers as a local history work centered on Egypt, starting from Adam. In addition to this, it has been observed that the work contains original and interesting details that we cannot find elsewhere, especially important details about Egypt, Maghrib, the conquest process of Andalusia and the Berbers. The work has been an important source for later authors.