Al-Istiqsa Explained

كتاب الاستقصا لأخبار دول المغرب الأقصى
Kitab al-Istiqsa li-Akhbar duwal al-Maghrib al-Aqsa
Author:Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri
Orig Lang Code:ar
Country:Morocco
Language:Arabic

Al-Istiqsa or Kitab al-Istiqsa li-Akhbar duwal al-Maghrib al-Aqsa 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.

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

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, 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.

References

  1. Book: Miller, Susan Gilson . A history of modern Morocco . 2013 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-139-62469-5 . New York . 855022840.
  2. 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 . 10.1017/s0020743812000396 . 0020-7438.
  3. 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