Fahrassat al-Mintawrî

Fahrassat al-Mintawrî
Imam Abi Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Abdelmalik al-Qîssî al-Mintawrî
(m. 834 H)
Fahâris, as well as ithbât and barâmîj, are considered as a kind of writing in
which North African and Andalusian Ulemas have always excelled and were distinct
from their Eastern peers. When we study the content of these fahâris we observe
that most of them focus on the cheykhs [of the authors of fahâris] and on the titles
of the books they learnt from them by listening, reading or by other ways of
transmission. Fahâris were part of oral teaching programs, like glossaries, poetry or
prose.
One of the aspects of the interest of North African and Andalusian Ulemas for this
kind is that anyone of them who professed in writing wrote a fahrassa. However, in
spite of the great number of fahâris, most of them are lost. In order to save what
can be saved, the Patrimony Revival, Research and Studies Centre of the
Muhammadan League of Religious Scholars has begun the study, the annotation and
the publication of the rare fahâris available in libraries. The Centre begins the fahâris
series by the important fahrassa of the [Quran] reciting, the Hadîth specialist, Imam
Abi Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Abdelmalik al-Qîssî al-Mintawrî (d. 834 H.). This
fahrassa, containing a big number of books titles, indicates the continuity of scientific
references conserved by Andalusians and the permanence of scientific communication
between North Africa and the East. This fahrassa is very important because it is
very rich and useful. On the style level it looks like the fahrassa of Ibn Khayr al-
Ishbîli (d. 575 H).
The fahrassa of al-Mintawrî, the one of Abi Zakaria as-Serraj (d. 805 H.), al-
Barnâmaj of Abi Abdallah al-Majârî (d. 862 H.), ar-Rihla of Abi al-Hassan al-
Qalsâdî (d. 891 H.), that contains his fahrassa, as well as the manuscript of Abi
ja’far Ahmad Ibn Ali al-Balwî al-Uâdî Ashî (d. 938 H.) are considered as the last
episodes the fahâris series in Andalusia.
Translation: Mekaoui Abdélilah