Al-Istiqsa

كتاب الاستقصا لأخبار دول المغرب الأقصى
Kitab al-Istiqsa li-Akhbar duwal al-Maghrib al-Aqsa
AuthorAhmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri
LanguageArabic
Publication placeMorocco

Al-Istiqsa (Arabic: الاستقصا) or Kitab al-Istiqsa li-Akhbar duwal al-Maghrib al-Aqsa (كتاب الاستقصا لأخبار دول المغرب الأقصى) is a multivolume history of Morocco by Ahmad ibn Khalid an-Nasiri first published in Cairo in 1894.[1][2][3] It was the first comprehensive national history of Morocco, covering the history of al-Maghrib al-Aqsa (Morocco) from the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb to the reign of Abdelaziz of Morocco in 1894.[1][2][3]

The book was pioneering in using non-Muslim sources, annotating and contextualizing citations, and using exact quotations.[1]

The Scottish orientalist H. A. R. Gibb described an-Nasiri's work as the "last worthy representative" of tarikh, or the old Arabic historiographical tradition,[2] while the French orientalist Évariste Lévi-Provençal considered it a novel work on three accounts: that it was read by a local and foreign audience—Muslims and non-Muslims alike, that it is a general history and not restricted to a specific dynasty or city, and that it was the first Moroccan historical work to cite non-Muslim European sources.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Miller, Susan Gilson (2013). A history of modern Morocco. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-62469-5. OCLC 855022840.
  2. ^ a b c d Calderwood, Eric (2012-07-26). "THE BEGINNING (OR END) OF MOROCCAN HISTORY: HISTORIOGRAPHY, TRANSLATION, AND MODERNITY IN AHMAD B. KHALID AL-NASIRI AND CLEMENTE CERDEIRA". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 44 (3): 399–420. doi:10.1017/s0020743812000396. ISSN 0020-7438.
  3. ^ a b Hilleary, Joseph Campbell, "Traders and Troublemakers: Sovereignty in Southern Morocco at the End of the 19th Century" (2020). Honors Projects. 141. https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/honorsprojects/141