MEDIEVAL KNOWLEDGE IN MODERN READING:

A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ARABIC ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF

OMNI RE SCIBILI

UI..RICH MARZOLPH

In 1981, when the Lebanese capital of Beirut still remained in the

firm grip of civil war, one of the most inspiring intellectual events
in the city was the weekly meeting in the house of Il}san CAbbas, a
renowned Palestinian specialist in Arabic history and classical Ara-
bic literature. When on one of these occasions, I asked him about
the fifteenth-century Arabic encyclopaedia called al-Musta{raf, I
was astonished to see him frown and actually advise me not to
mention the subject to him again. It was only several weeks later
that he informed me about the reason for his harsh reaction: Il}san
CAbbas told me that when he was growing up, the major reading
matter available to satisfy his curiosity, in fact the only book in the
home of his family besides the Qoran, the holy book of Islam, had
been the Musta{raj----JSo he knew it almost by heart and was reluc-
tant to confront his memory. Unfortunately, we never managed to
discuss the Musta{raf in depth, but since this experience I think of
the Musta{raf as a kind of Hausbuch of the average intellectual
family in the Arab world.

Any effort to evaluate the Musta{raf's position at the turn of the

twentieth century not only leads to a discussion of its individual
qualities but also necessitates a number of preliminary remarks
sketching the historical and literary background of its genesis.
As for the historical dimension, Arabic literature is convention-
ally divided by analogy to political events into three major periods
designated classical, intermediary (post-classical, pre-modern), and
modern. The classical period began with the oral literature of pre-
Islamic times, had its first major authors in the ninth century C.E.
and lasted until the Mongol invasion and the resulting abolishment
of the Abbasid caliphate in 1258. The intermediary period, lasting
until the end of the eighteenth century, is seen by most Western as
well as Islamic scholars predominantly as a period of cultural de-
cline and decadence with few literary products deserving serious
408 ULRICH MARZOLPH

attention; accordingly, only a minute percentage of the literary pro-

duction of this period has been researched. In terms of literature,
this decadence is usually seen in the small number of original, indi-
vidual, inspiring, or simply new contributions: authors tended to
produce highly repetitive compilations of the achievements of the
classical period. It is to this period that the Musta(rafbelongs. The
modern period was initiated by Napoleon's Egyptian expedition
and the ensuing developments, confronting the Arab world with the
achievements of the West. In literature, this confrontation on the
one hand resulted in a definite break with tradition and the forma-
tion of modern literature as influenced by Western models and
ideas; on the other hand it led to a conscious appreciation of the
heritage of classical Arabic literature, most of whose major works
have become available in critical editions.
As for the literary dimension, the Mustatraf belongs to the
genre of adab-literature, a genre which aims at combining instruc-
tion and entertainment, conveying knowledge in a diverting manner
and employing entertaining topics in order to present and discuss
serious moral and ethical matters. Moreover, the Mustatrafbelongs
to the category of encyclopaedia, or more specifically, the adab-
encyclopaedia, a category which had already been established by a
number of basic works in the ninth and tenth centuries, and to
which the Musta(raf represents the last major contribution. So the
Musta(raf's genesis is to be seen against the specific background
of a literary product summing up previous knowledge in a period of
cultural decline.
In comparison with many other authors of the medieval period,
the known facts about the Musta(raf's author form a relatively
clear picture. 1 His name was Baha,addin Abii ,1-Fatl) Mul)ammad
ibn AJ:unad ibn Man~ii.r al-Ibsihi. He was born around the year
790/1388 in the village of Absiiya in the Fayyii.rn (Upper Egypt),

1
The most comprehensive presentation of lbsihi's biography is given by T.
Paajanen, Scribal Treatment of the Literary and Vernacular Proverbs of al-
Musta(raf in 15th-17th Century Manuscripts. Wtth special reference to diglossic
variation (Helsinki 1995) 15-21 (Studia Orientalia 77). Paajanen's book is a de-
tailed study of the Musta(raf's chapter on proverbial sayings (6), making this the
only chapter so far covered by extensive research. On the position of the proverbial
chapter in Arabic tradition see also R. Sellheim, "Eine fiinfte Miszelle zur ara-
bischen Sprichworterkunde," Oriens 32 (1990) 463-475, at 469.
 MEDIEVAL KNOWLEDGE IN MODERN READING 409
whence his epithet al-Absihi, more commonly al-Ibsihi. He was
educated in the traditional fields of knowledge such as theology,
jurisprudence, and grammar, is known to have received lessons in
Cairo from Jalaladdin al-Bulqini, probably was close to ~U.fi-circles
and appears to have made a living following his father's profession
as a preacher. He is said to have died after the year 850/1446. The
entry devoted to him in the biographical dictionary of eminent men
of the ninth/fifteenth century compiled by his contemporary as-
Sabawi (d. 902/1497) 2 describes him as a productive writer and
author of several other works besides the MustatraJ, but also criti-
cises a certain laxity and inexactitude in grammatical correctness, a
verdict amounting to an implicit warning against the reliability of
the way he presents his material.
The Mustatraf's full rhyming title is al-Mustatraffi kulli fannin
musta:fraf, roughly to be translated "The most appreciated precious
topics from every art regarded as elegant." The French translation
by Gustav Rat renders the title as "Recueil de morceaux choisis ~a
et Ut dans toutes les branches de connaissances reputees et attray-
antes";3 and Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall imitates the Arabic
rhyme in his German equivalent "Das Entziickende aus allen
Kenntnissen Pfliickende."4 The Mustatraf has been characterised
by Western scholars as "a vast encyclopaedia of omni re scibili," 5
intending to inform the reader de rebus omnibus et quibusdam
aliis, 6 a veritable "Dictionnaire de conversation" 7 treating just

2
Samsaddin Mul;lammad ibn 'Abdarraijman as-Sabawl: a{i-l)au' al-lami' li-
ahl al-qarn at-tiJsi' (repr. Beirut s.a.) 7.109.
3
Al-Mosta(raf, tr. G. Rat, 2 vols. (Paris{foulon 1899-1902). For reviews and
related commentaries up to about 1905, see V. Chauvin, Bibliographie des ou-
vrages arabes ou relatifs au.x arabes publies dans !'Europe chretienne de 1810 a
1885 (liege/Leipzig 1892-1922) 9.64-65, no.86.
4
J. van Hammer-Purgstall, "Bericht iiber die in den letzten vier Jahren 1845,
46, 47 und 48 zu Constantinopel gedruckten und lithographirten Werke,"
Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 3,2 (1849) 126-
137, 174-182, 251-261, 266-275, 310-315; concerning the Musta(raf see 255-261,
266-273, at 255.
5
J.-C. Vadet, "al-lbshlhl," in: Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden/London 1979)
3.1005-1006, at 1005, rendering the statement as supplied in Rat, Mosta(raf (as in
n.3) author's preface, l.vii.
6
Orientalistische Litteratur-Zeitung 6 (1903) 289 (H. Reckendorf).
7
Journal asiatique 19,15/1 (1900) 388 (J. Houdas).
410 ULRICH MARZOLPH

about every topic a fourteenth-century Muslim ought to be in-

formed about, 8 a "populare Moralenzyklopadie," 9 in general a
"fully-fledged representative of Arabic encyclopaedic literature."10
Ibsihi himself outlined the aim of his compilation in his introductory
remarks by first referring to previous authors who had collected
"literary subjects, pious exhortations and moral instructions" be-
sides presenting "voluminous books on history, anecdotes, tales,
stories, witticisms and delicate poetry." 11 Though he agrees with the
merits of those previous compilations, he judges his own work as
more comprehensive and more systematically arranged-"so that
its reader can find in it everything he looks for and wishes," and so
that anyone studying its list of contents can immediately identify the
topic he is looking for.
The Mustatraf is almost exclusively a compilation of material
available in previous sources. Ibsihi explicitly acknowledges his
indebtedness to two previous adab-encyclopaedias: Kitiib al- <Iqd
by Ibn CAbdrabbih (d. 327/949) and Rabt iil-iibriir by az-
ZamabSari (d. 538/1144). In addition to these he has exploited a
large number of other works of theological, historical, and adab-
literature,12 some of which are mentioned at various places in his
book. The author's personal contribution to his work is minimal,
restricting itself-according to the recent analysis by Timo Paa-
janen13-to four categories:
1. Brief comments and requests addressed to the reader con-
cerning the subject at hand
2. Summaries at the beginning or the end of chapters and [... ]
short remarks serving as transitional material
3. Descriptions of events based on al-Ibsihi's personal experi-
ence

C. Pellat, "l.es encyclopedies dans le monde arabe," in: id., Etudes sur
l'histoire socio-culturelle de l'Islam (London 1976) 631638, at 642 ("tout ce qu'un
Musulman moyen doit savoir").
9
Literarisches Centralblatt 54, 29 (1903) 982 (C. F. Seybold).
10 Paajanen, Proverbs (as in n.1) 20.
11 A concise listing of traditional narrative material in the Musta(raf is sup-
plied by U. Marzolph, "lbslhl," in: Enzyklopiidie des Miirchens (Berlin/New York
1993~ 7.610.
1
Summarised following Rat, Mosta(raf(as in n.3) by Paajanen, Proverbs (as
in n.1) 20, n.2.
13 Paajanen, Proverbs (as in n.1) 21, with references in n.36.
 MEDIEVAL KNOWLEDGE IN MODERN READING 411
4. Insertions of his own verses and poems in the text
Furthermore, a recent Arabic editor of the Mustafraf 4 has
pointed out that Ibsihi probably owes more to the Kitab al- <Iqd
than a body of borrowed material, but probably even modelled the
title of his own book on a remark in the introductory passage in
which Thn CAbdrabbih explicitly mentions a tale (babar) "regarded
as elegant," using the same word musta:fraf later employed by
Ibsihi in coining the title of his encyclopaedia.
The Musta(raf contains a total of 84 chapters. Jean-Claude
Vadet, the author of the entry on Ibsihi in the Encyclopaedia of
Islam/ 5 has made the only attempt at analysing the Musta(raf's
larger groups of chapters treating similar topics:
chapters 1-16: human mind and the natural lights of reason: re-
ligion, wisdom, good customs, various talents
chapters 17-22: a sort of treatise on society and its most charac-
teristic categories
chapters 23-51: "pure" morality
chapters 52-76: various thoughts on the marvels of nature and
the profane arts of poetry and music
Vadet's grouping is admittedly rough. It constitutes a first attempt
at deciphering a system which obviously does not disclose itself
easily. On the other hand, there is no absolute necessity to pre-
suppose a systematic arrangement of the material in the Mustatraf
Arabic adab-encyclopaedias usually work with a fair amount of
associative criteria often resulting in a kind of "holistic" creative
chaos, and the Musta(raf's author is right in underlining the com-
paratively strict organisation of his own work. And yet, though this
may be predominantly the obsession of a Western analytic mind, it
is unsatisfying not to be able to discover a master-plan in the Mus-
ta(raf's inner structure.
In this respect, it seems worthwhile to consider again the role of
the Kitiib al- <Iqd as model, pointed out by CAbdallah Anis at-
Tabbac. In addition to moulding the title of his encyclopaedia on the
quotation from the Kitiib al- <Iqd, Ibsihi might have drawn some
inspiration for the arrangement of his material from Ibn
CAbdrabbih, the chapters of whose book are arranged as a necklace
14
Ed. 'Abdallah Anis at-Tabba' (Beirut 1981) 20.
15
Vadet, "al-Ibshihi" (as in n.5).
412 ULRICHMARZOLPH

Ciqd) of precious stones, lined up in symmetrical sequence of

twelve jewels on each side around a centrepiece, thus amounting to
25 chapters altogether. Though it is not possible to decipher a strict
arrangement of chapters in the Musta(raf comparable to the parallel
naming of chapters in the clqd, there are some striking similarities
in structure. A closer examination of the Musta(raf at first reveals a
frame of predominantly religious topics: the opening chapters deal
with the basic tenets of the Islamic creed (1) and the Qoran (3),
besides discussing (as equally basic, yet subordinate elements)
reason, intelligence and stupidity (2); 16 the concluding chapters (77-
83), on the other hand, while abruptly following the merry chapters
on women, wine, jokes and anecdotes (73-76), close the frame with
an intense memento mori elaborating prayer, destiny, repentance,
illness, death, patience, and the uselessness of attaching oneself to
this world. A final chapter (84) praises the prophet Mohammed.
This predominantly religious frame is .filled by two halves of une-
qual length, the first of which (chapte~ 5-45) focuses on moral and
ethical qualities while the second deals ~i}h distracting (46-62) and
entertaining (63-76) matters. Within this general description, sev-
eral groups of between two to seven chapters with a common
theme can be identified, following one another like rough jewels on
a string:
5-9: language
10-13: virtues and vices
14-20: government
21-25: social life
30-31: saints
40-41: courage
46-48: the body
63-67: wonders of creation
68-73: entertainment
75-76: jocular narratives
Some of the chapters are arranged according to the principle of
contrasts, such as 19-20: justice and injustice, 26-27: modesty and
pride, 33-34: generosity and stinginess, 51-52: richness and pov-
erty; others follow with a loose or even without any apparent con-

16
F. Rosenthal, Knowledge Triumphant. The Concept of Knowledge in Medie-
val Islam (Leiden 1970) 274-275.
 MEDIEVAL KNOWLEDGE IN MODERN READING 413
nection to the previously treated topics, such as 35: table-manners
following 34: stinginess; 50: travel following 49: names; 59: the
ancient Arabs following 58: slavery.

The Mustatraf has been known to Western scholars at least since

the early eighteenth century, when it was the subject of a short entry
in Barthelemy d'Herbelot's Bibliotheque orientale (originally pub-
lished in 1697), the first encyclopaedia of Islam ever conceived. 17
The fact that its "overall plan is less easy to discern" 18 has
prompted a number of highly critical evaluations, most of them
published in contemporary reviews by leading Arabists of the time
of Gustav Rat's French translation/ 9 which appeared in two vol-
umes in 1899 and 1902-making the Mustafraf the only Arabic
encyclopaedia to be translated in full into a European language.
Rene Basset regards the lack of originality as a characteristic trait
of this kind of literary work, and of that of Ibsihi in particular, to
whom he concedes "peu de personalite"; 20 Maurice Gaudefroyes-
Demombynes sees the Mustatraf as an important source of second
hand information, extracted in the course of the extensive and var-
ied readings of a good scholar, who-without aiming to think him-
self [!] ("sans chercher a penser par lui-meme")-wanted to leave
the fruits of his efforts as a heritage for his fellow-citizens. 21 While
Hermann Reckendorf laments a lack of (intellectual) depth, 22 Baron
Bernard Carra de Vaux senses a "multitude of treasures" in the
Musta{raf, but advises us first to work the ore so the pure metal can

17
Bibliotheque orientale, ou Dictionnaire universe!, contenant generalement
Tout ce qui regarde le connoissance des Peuples de !'Orient. [ ..] par Monsieur
d'Herbelot (Maestricht 1776) 634 qualifies the Mustafraf as "un Florilege
d'elegances Arabiques." On d'Herbelot see H. Laurens, Aux Sources de
l'Orientalisme. La Bibliotheque Orientate de Barthelemi D'Herbelot (Paris 1978)
and the criticism most pointedly voiced in E.W. Said, Orientalism (New York
1978~ passim.
1
H. Kilpatrick, "A Genre in Classical Arabic literature: The Adab Encyclo-
pedia," in: R. Hillenbrand, Union Europeenne des Arabisants et Islamisants. lOth
Congress. Proceedings (Edinburgh 1982) 34-42, at 35.
19
Rat, Mosta(raf(as in n.3).
20
Revue de l'histoire des religions 41 (1990) 401-417, at 401.
21
Revue critique d'histoire et de litterature 37,2 (1903) 124-125, at 125.
22
Orientalistische Litteratur-Zeitung 6 (1903) 290: "In die Tiefe freilich geht
das Werk nirgends."
414 ULRICH MARZOLPH

show.23 Michael Jan de Goeje at least concedes an "honourable

position" 24 for the Musta(raf.
While several specific essays on Egyptian encyclopaedic litera-
ture towards the end of the Middle Ages treat their subject without
even so much as mentioning the Musta(raf 5-which in itself ap-
pears to be a judgmental measure-few evaluations are predomi-
nantly positive. Thus, Joseph van Hammer-Purgstall while intro-
ducing the Musta(raf's Turkish translation speaks of one of the
most famous Arabic anthologies and one of the most important,
instructive and entertaining encyclopaedias; 26 Max Weisweiler re-
gards the book as a brilliant supplement to Ibn ·Abdrabbih's com-
pilation;27 Sergej Shuiskii in a short encyclopaedic survey qualifies
the Musta(raf as one of the "practical handbooks that are real treas-
ure troves of cultural data."28 Yet in most of the more recent state-
ments, a highly critical attitude prevails. For Jean-Claude Vadet the
Musta(raf is a "rather clumsy work" with a "rather haphazard ar-
rangement" which however he admits not to be "entirely illogi-
cal."29 Hartmut Fahndrich sees in the Mustatraf an inner, material
continuity of this kind of adab-literature through the centuries, but
clearly discerns a limited intellectual capacity ("begrenztere geis-
tige Fahigkeiten") in its author. 30 And Franz Rosenthal in his dis-
cussion of the presentation of knowledge in what he labels "adab
anthologies" is wise enough not to qualify the Musta(raf at all, but
23
Revue critique d'histoire et de litterature 34,2 (1900) 370-373, at 369.
24 Deutsche Litteraturzeitung 24 (1903) 466-467, at 466.
25
G. Wiet, "Les classiques du scribe egyptien au XV' siecle," Studia islamica
18 (1963) 41-80 (exclusively on Qalqasandi); R. Blachere, "Quelques reflexions
sur les formes de l'encyclopedisme en Egypte et en Syrie du VIII"/XIV" siecle a la
fin du Xf/XV" siecle," Bulletin des etudes orientales 23 (1970) 719 (on Nuwairi,
'Umari, and Qalqasandi); M. Chapoutot-Remadi, "Les encyclopedies arabes de la
fin du Moyen Age," in: A Becq (ed.), L'Encyclopedisme. Actes du Colloque de
Caen 12-16 janvier 1987 (Paris 1991) 267-279 (on Watwat, Nuwairi, 'Umari,
Qal~asandi).
6
Hammer-Purgstall, "Bericht" (as in n.4) 255, 256.
27 M. Weisweiler, Arabische Miirchen (Diisseldorf/KOln 1966) 2.287.
28 S. Shuiskii, "Encyclopedias and Dictionaries, Arabic and Persian," in: Dic-
tionary of the Middle Ages (New York 1984) 4.442-446, at 445.
29 Vadet, "al-lbshihl" (as in n.5).
30
H. Fahndrich, "Der Begriff »adab« und sein literarischer Niederschlag," in:
W. Heinrichs (ed.), Neues Handbuch der Literaturwissenschaft, vol. 5: Oriental-
isches Mittelalter (Wiesbaden 1990) 319-345, at 335.
 MEDIEVAL KNOWLEDGE IN MODERN READING 415
makes it clear that he finds it difficult when characterising lbsihi's
achievement to "speak of a development." 31
The critical and even devastating evaluation by Western scholars
is in sharp contrast to the Musta(raf's unquestioned appreciation in
its original environment. Most major libraries in East and West
contain one or more manuscripts of the Musta(raf, some of them
compiled comparatively close to the author's lifetime; 32 lbsihi's
actual autograph, however, has not yet been identified. A number of
imitations and extracts prepared by later Arabic authors 33 demon-
strate the Musta(raf's popularity, as does the (enlarged) Turkish
translation prepared by Es cad Efendi at the beginning of the nine-
teenth century. 34 As a matter of fact, the rich manuscript tradition of
the Musta(raf appears to have given way to an equally rich tradition
in print since about the middle of the nineteenth century. Between
1850 and 1950 the Musta(raf was printed (in Bulaq or Cairo)
probably up to twenty times, and since then the Cairo editions have
been republished numerous times in photostatic reprints (in Beirut);
the book was finally published in modern type (and in an allegedly
first critical edition relying on several, though undisclosed, manu-
scripts) in the early 1980s.35 In the 1990s, Beirut publishers even
produce small excerpts almost of a chapbook character with titles
such as al-Musta:fraf min al-Musta(raf ("The most elegant pieces
from al-Musta(raf') clearly aiming at a reading public with limited
financial means such as those buying from the numerous sidewalk
peddlers and newspaper stands in the big cities of the Arab world.
Both recent Arabic editors of the Musta(raf stand to its defence, not
so much against the Orientalist criticism, but rather against critical
evaluations such as the one stated in as-Sabawi's biographical dic-
tionary.36 Mufid Qumail;m stresses the author's intention to support

31 Rosenthal, Knowledge (as in n.16) 274.

32 Paajanen, Proverbs (as in n.1) 22-30, 257-258.
33 C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Literatur, 2nd ed. (l.eiden
1943) 2.68; Supplement (Leiden 1938) 2.55-56.
34 See Hammer-Purgstall, "Bericht" (as in n.4).
35 Ed. 'Abdallah Anis at-Tabba' (as in n.14); ed. Mufid Qumai~ (Beirut
1983), 2 vols. I would like to thank Hilary Kilpatrick for pointing out to me the
new edition by Darwis ai-Guwaidi (Beirut 1996) as advertised in Sulaiman's Book-
shop List no. 92 (January-March 1996).
36 as-Sabawi, l)au' (as in n.2).
416 ULRICH MARZOLPH

and strengthen human qualities and underlines his effort to employ

simple yet illustrative passages from the Qoran and the prophet
Mohammed's sayings, "which enter the heart and the mind without
any obstacle"; furthermore, he stands up against those who regard
Thsihi as an uninspired compiler, a Materialhuber (Arabic
gammtr), by underlining the Mustatraf's character as the product
of an intentional educational process. 37 CAbdallah Anis at-Tabbac
points out the <Iqd's role as model, defends Thsihi against the re-
proach of grammatical laxity, and advertises the Mustatraf as a
direct successor to the model compilations of the classical period,
labelling it as "book of the books, treasure of traditional literature,
and ultimate goal to be attained." 38
Both views, the nationalist praise as well as the Orientalist criti-
cism, miss an essential point, probably the essential point consti-
tuting the Mustatraf's timeless importance and responsible for its
privileged position over a period of more than five centuries. True,
the Mustatraf's author may not claim to be an original thinker,
which in the eyes of Western criticism would alone deserve recog-
nition and praise. Yet, as I have elaborated in a different context/ 9
and as is similarly the case in the field of European compilations of
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, in contemporary opinion a
work did not necessarily have to have an individual approach in
order to deserve high esteem. As for Arabic compilations, the indi-
vidual contribution of an author often did not consist in what was
presented, but rather in how he presented it. The raw material
would be regarded as a kind of common stock which everyone was
entitled to exploit, and the achievement of an author would be
judged according to the quality of the authorities he quoted from
and the individual way in which he organised his material.
In this respect the Mustatraf has achieved incomparably more
than any of its successors. First, the material is presented in a com-
paratively structured way in chapters which are easy to locate; sec-
ond, the presentation of material within the respective chapters

37
Qumail;la (ed.),Musta{raf(as in n.35) 58.
38
at-Tabba' (ed.), Musta{raf(as in n.l4) 23.
39
U. Marzolph, Arabia ridens. Die humoristische Kurzprosa der frilhen adab-
Literatur im internationalen Traditionsgeflecht, 2 vols. (Frankfurt am Main 1992)
1.60-66.
 MEDIEVAL KNOWLEDGE IN MODERN READING. 417
follows a pattern which is both traditionally accepted and convinc-
ing: introductory passages from the Qoran are followed by sayings
of the prophet Mohammed; next come those of his companions,
until the level of presentation gradually descends from the sacred to
the profane, to anecdotes and poetic verses; 40 third, and most im-
portant, the complete work does not comprise more than a single
volume. This makes the Mustatrafthe first major representative of
the genre of encyclopaedic vademecum, a book which not only
offers its rich treasury of traditional knowledge in the dignified and
secluded atmosphere of public or private libraries, but which is
available as a constant mobile companion, supplying ready refer-
ence for questions on all vital subjects of everyday life.
Given its unique position of addressing a large audience, it is
important to recall the nature of the Mustatraf's material. On the
one hand, it is of a definitely traditional nature. Ibsihi has picked the
"most appreciated precious topics from every art (traditionally)
regarded as elegant." Yet he has arranged the material in a specific
order, and his distinct imprint implicitly reveals itself in the choice
of topics as well as their arrangement. Charles Pellat, for instance,
has pointed out the significant position of the Mustatraf's last
chapter (84) on the praise of the prophet Mohammed. According to
Pellat, Ibsihi's contemporaries in the fifteenth century were well
aware of the fact that the cultural and political decadence they faced
did not leave much choice but to ask God's blessing for the prophet
Mohammed and his community, hoping that the situation could be
improved and the glory of Islam would be restored. 41 Franz Ro-
senthal has emphasised the position of the chapter on knowledge
(2), ranking only second after the introductory chapter on the pillars
of Islam. In his opinion, this position is indicative of the author's
evaluation of all secular learning as secondary to religious identity:
"the intellect ranks in importance below the duties of the religious
law." 42 And Pellat goes so far as to suggest a twofold moral func-
tion of the Mustatraf, inasmuch as it not only supplied basic infor-
mation on useful topics but also in a period of stagnation helped to
strengthen confidence by recalling the achievements of the classical

40
a. Journal asiatique 19,15/1 (1900) 389 (J. Houdas).
41
Pellat, "Encyclopedies" (as in n.8) 643.
42
Rosenthal, Knowledge (as in n.16) 274.
418 ULRICH MARZOLPH

period. 43 Thus, one might even regard the Mustatrafas an essential

factor in shaping the identity of its readers.
Pellat, Rosenthal and others 44 understand lbsihi's "concern with
impressing upon his readers the religious and moral virtues of
knowledge" as an inevitable result of the "intellectual climate of his
time." 45 From the present perspective, at the turn of the twentieth
century, it is evident that lbsihi's work over the centuries since its
compilation has lost little of its original appeal. So if the Mustatraf
at the time of its compilation constituted an essential factor in
shaping the identity of its readers, its permanent appeal is bound to
signal a lasting continuity of this very meaning. Obviously, modern
readers still delight in and profit from the Mustatraf's presentation.
On the other hand, the new vigour the Muslim world has gained
since about the middle of the twentieth century has resulted in the
strengthening of its traditional identity, and religious as well as tra-
ditional cultural values of the classical period are held in higher
esteem than ever. For those concerned, this is not indicative of a
new period of decadence or a feeling of inferiority, but rather ex-
presses a new consciousness of dignity and pride referring to the
cultural achievements of the classical period. Time will show
whether under these conditions a work like the Mustatraf, preserv-
ing cultural values of the classical period, moulded in the specific
understanding of its fifteenth-century Egyptian author, and pre-
sented in its almost unaltered medieval form to a modern audience,
will retain the privileged position it has held for so many centuries.

43
Pellat, "Encyclopedies" (as in n.8) 643-644.
44
See Fiihndrich, Begriff(as in n.30) 335: "trotz der dem Geist seiner Zeit ent-
sprechenden starkeren Betonung des Religiosen bei al-lbslhl"; cf. G.E. von Grune-
baum, Der Islam im Mittelalter (Zurich/Stuttgart 1963), especially chapter 1,
where the Musta(rafis cited in several places (see index).
45
Quotations from Rosenthal, Knowledge (as in n.16) 275.
 MEDIEVAL KNOWLEDGE IN MODERN READING 419

APPENDIX: LIST OF CHAPTERS IN THEMUSTA'{RAF

1. basic tenets of people earth

Islam 33. generosity 67. mines and
2. reason and 34. stinginess precious stones
intelligence 35. table-manners 68. music and singing
3. the Qoran 36. forgiveness and 69. singers and
4. knowledge magnanimity musicians
5. sayings 37. keeping of 70. female singers
6. proverbs promises 71. love
7. rhetoric 38. discretion 72. poems
8. prompt answers 39. perfidy 73. women
9. speeches, poetry 40. courage 74. wine
10. trust in God 41. heroes 75. jokes
11. counsel and 42. praise 76. anecdotes
experience 43. satire 77. prayer
12. moral advice 44. sincerity and lying 78. destiny
13. silence 45. filial piety 79. repentance
14. rulership and 46. beauty and 80. illness
obedience ugliness 81. death
15. companionship of 47. jewelry and 82. patience
the ruler adornment 83. the world and the
16. counsellors 48. youth and old age hereafter
17. courtiers 49. names 84. praise of Moham-
18. judges 50. travel med
19. justice 51. richness
20. injustice 52. poverty
21. how to treat the 53. begging
subjects 54. presents
22. happiness of the 55. work and
people professions
23. good and bad 56. fate
character 57. relief after
24. good company hardship
25. harmony 58. slavery
26. modesty 59. the ancient Arabs
27. pride 60. prophecy
28. boasting 61. ruses
29. dignity 62. animals
30. venerated people 63. wonders of
and saints creation
31. miracles ofthe 64. jinns
saints 65. wonders of the sea
32. bad and lowly 66. wonders of the
 PRE-MODERN
ENCYCLOPAEDIC TEXTS
Proceedings qf the Second COMERS Congress,
Groningen, 1-4 July 1996

EDITED BY

PETER BINKLEY

BRILL
LEIDEN · NEW YORK · KOLN
1997