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120 Nasser Rabbat
tat wa-l-athar, which I am claiming, not without a touch of belated vindication, to
be a Khaldunian history. A fuller treatment of the subject will appear in my forthcoming
Arabic intellectual biography of al-Maqr\z\.
A Mutually Beneficial Relationship
Ibn Khaldun, albeit a relatively latecomer into al-Maqr\z\’s life, was one of the
most influential figures in his education and most probably in the formulation
of his worldviews. Al-Maqr\z\ appears to have met Ibn Khaldun shortly after the
latter arrived in Cairo in January 1383. 6 We do not know how and where the two
first met, but the possibilities range from an introduction by a mutual patron to
an encounter at a scholarly majlis. A young man of around 18 years of age with a
traditional ^^ulama## education and a pronounced eagerness to learn, al-Maqr\z\
seems to have occasionally studied with Ibn Khaldun. He mentions in the biographical
note of a distant relative of his, Najm al-D\n al-Bah\ al-0anbal\, that
they both read the short book, al-Jumal fi l-Mantiq, of Afdal al-D\n al-Khunaj\
(1194–1248), a very popular epitome on logic, with Ibn Khaldun, who commented
on the book in his Muqaddima. 7 Al-Maqr\z\ also mentions that al-Bah\ al-0anbal\
was related to his grandfather, Ibn al-Sa#igh al-0anaf\ (d. 1375), who was a famous
0anaf\ judge in Cairo and held several important positions in the Mamluk administration,
and who was al-Maqr\z\’s first teacher and mentor until his death when
his grandson was about ten. 8 This suggests that al-Maqr\z\ may have been introduced
to Ibn Khaldun by a friend of his late grandfather, who enjoyed the support
of an influential network from among the major ^ulama# of Cairo, any of whom
could have been al-Maqr\z\’s recommender. Be that as it may, al-Maqr\z\ fast became
a regular in the circle of Ibn Khaldun and benefited from his knowledge in
6 Ibn Tawit al-Tanj\, Al-Ta^rif bi-bn Khaldun, 246; Walter Fischel, Ibn Khaldun in Egypt. His
Public Functions and his Historical Research, 1382–1406. A Study in Islamic Historiography
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), 18.
7 al-Maqr\z\, Durar, 3:88–89. On al-Khunaji and his book, see Khaled el-Rouayheb, “al-Khunaj\,
Afdal al-D\n,” Encyclopaedia of Islam III, edited by Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John
Nawas, Everett Rowson. Brill Online, 2012. http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/
encyclopaedia-ofislam-3/al-khunaji-afdal-al-din-COM_24187), May 15, 2012.
8 For the biography of Ibn al-Sa#igh, see Ibn 0ajar al-^Asqalan\, Inba# al-ghumr bi-#anba^ al-^umr,
5 vols. (Hyderabad: Da#irat al-Ma^arif al-^Uthmaniyya, 1967), 1: 95–96; idem, Al-Durar al-kamina fi
a^yan al-mi#a al-thamina, Mu1ammad^Abd al-0am\d Dhan, ed. 6 vols. (Hyderabad: Da#irat al-Ma^arif
al-^Uthmaniyya, 1972), 3: 499–500; al-Maqr\z\, al-Suluk li-ma^rifat duwal al-muluk, Mu1ammad M.
Ziyada et al., eds., 4 vols. (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub, 1934–72), 3, 1: 92, 198, 245, and 4: 1107 In this
multiple references, al-Maqr\z\ is chronicling the last stages of the career of his grandfather.