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The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar

Kitāb al-Tījāni (Arabic: كتاب التيجان) also known more commonly as The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar, is a historical and biographical work by the Yemeni historian Wahb ibn Munabbih,[1][2][3] an 8th AD century Israʼiliyyat author.[4] The book is also known as Kitāb al-Tījān li ma'rifati muluk al-zamān fi akhbar Qahtān (The Book of Crowns, on the kings of yesteryear in the accounts of the Qahtānites).[5]

The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar
Cover of the book
AuthorIbn Hisham and Wahb ibn Munabbih
Original titleالتيجان في ملوك حمير
LanguageArabic
GenreEarly Islamic history, Arabian Jewish History, Biographical works
Publication date
First Edition published in 1929
Original text
التيجان في ملوك حمير at Arabic Wikisource
TranslationThe Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar at Wikisource

The book later transmitted by Ibn Hisham who also worked on the As-Sīrah an-Nabawiyyah.[2][5][6] Ibn Hisham reported that he acquired the book's narratives from 'Abd al-Mun'im ibn Idris.[Notes 1][8]

Content

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The book focuses on biographies, as well as the genealogy and ancestry of the rulers of the Himyarite Kingdom.[2][9][3][10]

Included in the book is a study of the genealogy of the descendants of Ham, son of Biblical Noah, which the book describe as progenitor of Habesha peoples or Ethiopian peoples.[11] In this topic, Wahb also narrated the story of how the South Arabian king Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan had fought against the presence of Habesha peoples in the Arabian peninsula since the 6th century AD.[12]

The book also discusses the identity of Dhu al-Qarnayn, whom is identified as being of Byzantine ancestry.[13] However, Ibn Hisham also gives his own personal commentary stating that Dhu al-Qarnayn was one of the Tababi'ah (plural of Tubba', the ruling title of the Himyarites), with the name of Sa'b ibn al-Harith.[4][14] Dhu al-Qarnayn is also attributed with the action of conquering parts of the Iberian Peninsula.[11]

Commentaries

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Ibn Hisham, who authored the commentaries of this book, also gave his own analysis that the name of Yemen were given from their primordial founder, Ya'rub ibn Qahtan,[15][16] who is also known by his other name, "Yaman".[17]

Modern historian Jan Retsö has suggested that the commentaries of Ibn Hisham have shown that there was interest from Muslim orthodoxy in his era to preserve the historiography of Yemeni tradition.[18]

Modern historians have said that some entries and stories in the book, are, however, legendary in nature and may not reflect reality.[9][3][10]

List of kings mentioned in the book

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The book structures mainly examines the descendants of South Arabian patriarch Qahtan.[5] Below is a list of kings mentioned in the book, in order:[2][9][3]

  1. Malik al-Himyar, the son of Sheba
  2. Wa'il ibn Himyar
  3. Saksak ibn Wa'il
  4. Ya'fur ibn Saksak
  5. 'Amir Dhu Ra'ish
  6. Al-Ma'afir ibn Ya'fur
  7. Shaddad ibn Aad
  8. Luqman ibn Aad
  9. Dhu Shaddad al-Himaal ibn Aad
  10. Al-Harith ibn al-Himaal
  11. Dhul Qarnayn
  12. Dhu'l Manar Abrahah
  13. 'Abd ibn Abrahah ibn Ra'ish
  14. 'Amr ibn Abrahah ibn Ra'ish
  15. Shurahil
  16. Al-Hudhad ibn Shurahil
  17. Queen of Sheba
  18. Rehoboam
  19. Malik ibn 'Amr ibn Ya'fur
  20. Shammar Yahri'sh
  21. Safi' ibn Shammar, the king of the Nabataeans
  22. 'Amr ibn 'Amr Mazikiyah
  23. The first king of the Ghassanids
  24. Rabia ibn Nasr
  25. Abu Karib
  26. Hassan Yuha'min
  27. Sharhabil Yafar (known here as 'Amr ibn Tubba' al-As'ad)
  28. 'Abd-Kulal
  29. Sharhabil Yakkuf (known here as Tubba' bin Hassan)
  30. Rabia, son of Marthad ibn 'Abd-Kulal
  31. Hassan ibn 'Amr ibn Tubba'
  32. Abraha, son of Al-Sabbah (not Abraha al-Ashram)
  33. Dhu Shanatir
  34. Dhu Nuwas
  35. Abraha
  36. Yaksum ibn Abraha
  37. Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan

See also

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References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ ‘Abd al-Mun’im ibn Idris ibn Sinan were acknowledged as author of Hadith chain traditions and lores. he is gained notoriety for being untrustworthy that various Hadith scholars such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Daraqutni, Ali ibn al-Madini and Abu Zur’ah deemed him as liar and weak as narrator.[7]

Sources

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  1. ^ "Gorgias Press". www.gorgiaspress.com. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  2. ^ a b c d "التيجان في ملوك حمير • الموقع الرسمي للمكتبة الشاملة". 2017-06-12. Archived from the original on 2017-06-12. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  3. ^ a b c d Al-Munabbih, Wahb bin (2009-04-02), "The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar: Kitāb al-Tīgān", The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar (in Arabic), Gorgias Press, doi:10.31826/9781463212162, ISBN 978-1-4632-1216-2, retrieved 2024-04-26
  4. ^ a b Maaike Zimmerman; Stelios Panayotakis; Wytse Keulen (2017). The Ancient Novel and Beyond (ebook). Brill. p. 11. ISBN 9789047402114. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Sezgin, Fuat (1967). Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums. Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill.
  6. ^ Marmaduke William Pickthall (1928). Islamic Culture Volume 2. Islamic Culture Board. p. 56. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  7. ^ Mawlana 'Abd al-Hayy al-Lakhnawi. "Narrating Fabricated Reports on the Praise of the Prophet". Deoband.org. Retrieved 27 April 2024. Al-Athar al-Marfu'ah fi l-Akhbar al-Mawdu'ah, pp.16-35; From Majmu'ah Rasa'il al-Lakhnawi, volume 5, Edited by: Na'im Ashraf Nur Ahmad, Published by: Intisharat Shaykh al-Islam Ahmad Jami
  8. ^ Abd Al-Aziz Duri (2014). Donner, Fred; Conrad, Lawrence I. (eds.). The Rise of Historical Writing Among the Arabs. Princeton University Press. p. 130. ISBN 9781400853885. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  9. ^ a b c "The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar". Gorgias Press LLC. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  10. ^ a b Al-Munabbih, Wahb bin (2009). The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar (in Arabic). Gorgias Press, LLC. ISBN 978-1-59333-515-1.
  11. ^ a b Zvi Ben-Dor Benite (2013). The Ten Lost Tribes A World History. OUP USA. pp. 93–4. ISBN 9780199324538. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  12. ^ Brannon M. Wheeler (2002). Prophets in the Quran An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis (Paperback). Bloomsbury Academic. p. 228. ISBN 9780826449573. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  13. ^ Reyhan Durmaz (2022). Stories Between Christianity and Islam Saints, Memory, and Cultural Exchange in Late Antiquity and Beyond (Hardcover). University of California Press. p. 101. ISBN 9780520386464. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  14. ^ الإيناس بعلم الأنساب - المغربي - ج١ - الصفحة 41.
  15. ^ *van Donzel, E. J. (1994). Islamic desk reference (Illustrated ed.). BRILL. p. 483. ISBN 9789004097384. ya'rub arab.
  16. ^ C.H.M. Versteegh (2007). Ditters, Everhard; Motzki, Harald (eds.). Approaches to Arabic Linguistics Presented to Kees Versteegh on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday. Brill. p. 203. ISBN 9789004160156. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  17. ^ jan retsö (2005). Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah; Árnason, Jóhann Páll; Wittrock, Björn (eds.). Axial Civilizations and World History. Brill. ISBN 9789004139558. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
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