Travel in al-Ḍāhirī’s Sefer ha-musar: Between Reality and Imagination
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30827/meahhebreo.v73.28922Keywords:
al-Ḍāhirī, Sefer ha-musar, Arabic Maqama, Hebrew Maqama, travelAbstract
This article meticulously and systematically analyzes travel accounts appearing in al-Ḍāhirī’s Sefer ha-musar (Book of adab), which is divided into forty-five maqāmāt, written in rhymed prose and according to the literary rules of the Arabic and Hebrew Maqama genres. The theme of travel forms a large portion of this sixteenth-century Yemenite book, as it depicts the protagonist’s travels among several countries and regions in the East. Through such descriptions, some details about the places he visited are given, with special attention and significance being paid to Jerusalem and other holy places in Palestine. Some scholars and historians have utilized these literary passages as reliable historical sources to understand the period. By comparing al-Ḍāhirī with other Arabic and Hebrew Maqama authors with reference to authentic historical documents, this article tackles, in a comprehensive manner, the question of reality and imagination in his travel accounts.
Downloads
References
Abbās, I. (Ed.) (1997), Ibn Bassām al-Shantarīnī, al-dhakhīra fī maḥāsin ’ahl al-jazīra. vol. 1, part 2. Bayrūt: Dār al-Thaqāfa.
Abdu, M. (Ed.) (2005), Al-Hamadhānī, maqāmāt badī‘ al-zamān al-hamadhānī. Cairo: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 3rd edition.
Al-Batūl, A. F. M. (2006), khuyūt al-ẓalām ‘aṣr al-’imāma al-zaydiyya fī al-yaman (284–1382 AH). Sanaa: Markaz Nashwān al-Ḥamīrī lil-dirāsāt wal-nashr.
Al-Kabsī, M. I. (2005), al-laṭā’if al-sunniyya fi ’akhbār al-mamālik al-yamaniyya. Sanaa: Maktabat al-Jīl al-Jadīd.
Al-Makkī, Q. N. (1967), ghazawāt al-jirākisa wal-’atrāk fī janūb al-jazīra al-musamma al-barq al-yamānī fī al-fatḥ al-uthmānī. Riyad: Dār al-Yamāma.
Al-Maqḥafī, I. A. (2002), mu‘jam al-buldān wal-qabā’il al-yamaniyya. Beirut: al‑Muʼassasa al-Jāmiʻiyya.
Al-Maqḥafī, I. A. (2015), mu‘jam al-buldān wal-qabā’il al-yamaniyya, Sanaa: Dār al-kalima - Beirut: al-Muʼassasa al-Jāmiʻiyya.
Al-Mashhadānī, Y. J. (2015), al-‘ilāqāt al-miṣriyya al-hindiyya fī al-‘aṣr al-mamlūkī. Cairo: al-Maktab al-‘Arabī lil-Mu‘ārif.
Al-Mawṣilī, S. (2005), qalā’id al-jumān fī farā’id shu‘arā’ hādhā al-zamān, edited by Al-Jabūrī, K. S., vol. 9. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya.
Al-Shawkānī, M. A. (1929), al-badr al-tāli‘ bi-maḥāsin man ba‘d al-qarn al-sābi‘, vol. 2.Cairo: Matba‘a al-Sa‘āda.
Al-Warāklī, H. (2006), Al-Saraqustī, A. M, al-maqāmāt al-luzūmiyya. Oman: Jidār lil-Kitāb al-‘Ālamī.
Al-Wāsi‘ī, W. (1927), tārīkh al-yaman. Cairo: al-Maṭba‘a al-Salfiyya.
Al-Zarkalī, K. (2002), al-a‘lām. Beirut: Dār al-‘Ilm lil-Malāyīn.
Al-Ḥajrī, Q. (1966), taḥqīq Ismā‘īl al-Akwa‘, majmū‘ buldān al-yaman wa-qabā’iliha. Sanaa: Dār al-Ḥikma.
Al-Ḥamawī, Y. (1993), mu‘jam al-’udabā’ (’irshād al-’arīb ’ilā ma‘rifat al-’adīb), edited by ’Iḥsān ‘Abbās, vol. 5. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-’Islāmī.
Alnaddaf, A. H. (1928) Sefer Otzar Sifre Teman. In Ḥoveret Seride Teman. Jerusalem: Defus Halevi Tzuqerman: 7–25.
Amir, Y. (2005), Ḥayye rabbi Zecharya al-ḍāhirī. In Seri, S. and Kesar, I. (Eds.), Haliḥot qedem be-mishkenot Teman. Tel Aviv: E‘ele be-Tamar: 459–466.
Avitzur, S. (1962), Tzefat – merkaz le-ta‘asiyat arige tzemer ba-me’a ha-15. Sefunot, 6: 43–69.
Bar-Giorah, N. (1957), Meqorot le-toldot ha-yeḥasim ben ha-yehudim ha-levanim ve-ha-sheḥorim be-qochin. Sefunot, 1: 243–278.
Blau, J. - Yahalom, J. et al (Eds.) (2009), Kitāb al-durar, ve-hu sefer penine ha-musarim ve-shivḥe ha-qehalim. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Brann, R. (2002), Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh and Twelfth Islamic Spain. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Brody, H, (1894), Matmone mistarim. Kraków: Yosef Fisher.
Chenery, T. (Trans.) (1867), The Assemblies of Ḥarīri, vol. 1. London: Williams and Norgate.
Cooperson, M. (Ed.) (2020a), Al-Ḥarīrī, Maqāmāt Abī Zayd al-Sarūjī. New York: New York University Press.
Cooperson, M. (Trans.) (2020b), Impostures by Al-Hariri. New York: New York University Press.
Davidson, E. (2010), Ḥakhme tzefat ben ha-shanim 1540–1615 – ma‘amadam ha-dati ve-ha-ḥevrati. PhD Dissertation. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University.
Ḍayf, S. (1956), al-riḥlāt. Cairo: Dār al-Mu‘ārif.
Decter, J. P. (2007), Iberian Jewish Literature between al-Andalus and Christian Europe. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Fischel, W. J. (1980), Ha-yehudim be-iran ba-me’ot 16–18. Pe’amim 6: 4–31.
Goitein, S. D. (Ed.) (1983), Ḥayyim ben Yaḥya Ḥabashush, Mas‘ot ḥabashush: ḥezyon teman. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Government of Kerala, State Annual Action Plan 2015–16, 38.
Hämeen-Anttila, J. (2002), Maqama: A History of a Genre. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Jacobs, M. (2014), Reorienting the East: Jewish Travelers to the Medieval Muslim World. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Katsumata, N. (2002), The Style of the Maqama: Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Syriac. Middle Eastern Literatures 5.2: 117–137.
Kilito, A. (1983), Les séances: récits et codes culturels chez Hamadhânî et Harîrî. Paris: Sindbad.
Klein-Franke, A. (1981), Ha-yehudim be-aden ba-me’a ha-19. Pe’amim, 10: 36–60.
Klein-Franke, A. (1984), Ha-mishlaḥat ha-mada‘it ha-rishona li-drom ‘arav ke-maqor le-toldot yehude teman. Pe’amim, 18: 80–101.
Leicht, R. (2022), A Maimonidean Life – Joseph ben Judah Ibn Shim‘on of Ceuta’s Biography Reconstructed. Maimonides Review of Philosophy and Religion, 1: 1–48.
Monroe, J. T. (Trans.) (2002), Al-Maqāmāt Al-Luzūmīyah. Leiden, Boston and Köln: Brill.
Mu’nis, Ḥ. (1986) tārīkh al-jughrāfiya wal-jughrāfiyyīn fī al-andalus. Cairo: Maktabat Madbūlī.
Münz-Manor, O. (2019), Imagined Journeys: Travel Narratives in Judah Alharizi’s Tahkemoni and Zachariah Aldahiri’s Sefer Hamusar. Jewish Studies Quarterly, 26: 43–58.
Nāṣir al-Dīn, M. M. (2002), dīwān ṭarafa ibn al-ʻabd al-bakrī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya.
Pagis, D. (1978), Variety in Medieval Rhymed Narratives. Scripta Hierosolymitana, 27: 79–98.
Parfitt, T. (1996), The Road to Redemption: The Jews of the Yemen, 1900–1950. Leiden: Brill.
Prendergast, W. J. (Trans.) (1915), The Maqāmāt of Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī. London: Luzac.
Qoraḥ, A. Y. (1954), Sa‘arat teman. Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook.
Rand, M. (2018), The Evolution of al-Ḥarizi’s Taḥkemoni. Leiden and Boston: Brill.
Ratzaby, Y. (1978), Hashpa‘at alḥariri ‘al alḍahiri. Biqqoret u-Farshanut, 11–12: 55–83.
Ratzaby, Y. (Ed.) (1965), Sefer ha-musar: maḥberot rabbi Zecharya al-ḍāhrī. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute.
Reichert, V. E. (Trans.) (1965), The Tahkemoni of Judah Al-Ḥarizi, vol. 1. Jerusalem: Raphael Haim Cohen’s Publishers.
Reichert, V. E. (Trans.) (1973), The Tahkemoni of Judah Al-Ḥarizi, vol. 2. Jerusalem: Raphael Haim Cohen’s Publishers.
Sadan, J. (2002), Un intellectuel juif au confluent de deux cultures Yehūda al-Ḥarīzī et sa biographie arabe. In Fierro, M. (Ed.). Judíos y musulmanes en al-Andalus y el Magreb: Contactos intelectuales. Madrid: Casa de Velázques: 105–152.
Sadan, Y. (1996), Rabbi yehuda al-ḥarīzī ke-tzomet tarbuti. Pe’amim, 68: 16–76.
Schipper, A. (2002), Medieval Hebrew Narrative and the Arabic Literary Tradition. Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge, 29: 87–94.
Schipper, A. (2002), The Hebrew maqama, in Hämeen-Anttila, J. (Ed.), Maqama: A History of a Genre. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag: 302–327.
Segal, D. S. (Trans.) (2002), The Book of Taḥkemoni: Jewish Tales from Medieval Spain. Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization.
Sharqawy, H. M. (2014), sūrat al-mujtama‘ bayn al-maqāma al-‘arabiyya wa-al-‘ibriyya fī al-’andalus: dirasā ’adabiyya muqārana. PhD Dissertation. South Valley University.
Steingass, F. (Trans.) (1898), The Assemblies of Ḥarīri, vol. 2. London: The Patronage of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Sukenik, E. L. - Cassuto, M. D. et al (Eds.) (1978), Etziklopedya miqra’it, vol. 5. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute: 480.
Tanenbaum, A (2003), Of a Pietist Gone Bad and Des(s)erts Not Had: The Fourteenth Chapter of Zechariah Aldahiri’s Sefer hamusar. Prooftexts, 23: 297–319.
Tanenbaum, A (2005), Of Poetry and Printed Books: Cultural Contacts and Contrasts Between the Jews of Yemen and the Land of Israel in Zechariah Alḍāhirī’s Sefer Hamusar. Jewish Studies Quarterly, 12.3: 260–280.
Tanenbaum, A (2005), ‘Credit is Due to the One Who Completes It’: Zechariah Alḍahiri on Poetic Originality and Plagiarism. Journal of Jewish Studies, 56: 101–117.
Tanenbaum, A (2007), The Urge to Be Immortalized: Zechariah Alḍāhirī’s Poetic Epitaphs for Himself. In Decter, J. P. – Rand, M. (Eds.). Studies in Arabic and Hebrew Letters in Honor of Raymond P. Scheindlin. Piscataway: Gorgias Press: 181–210.
Tanenbaum, A (2008), Didacticism or Literary Legerdemain? Philosophical and Ethical Themes in Zechariah Aldahiri’s Sefer Hamusar. In Langermann, Y. T - Stern, J. (Eds.), Adaptations and Innovations: Studies on the Interaction Between Jewish and Islamic Thought and Literature from the Early Middle Ages to the Late Twentieth Century, Dedicated to Professor Joel L. Kraemer. Leuven: Peeters Publishers: 358–364.
Tanenbaum, A (2009), Kabbalah in a Literary Key: Mystical Motifs in Zechariah Aldāhirī’s Sefer hamusar. The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 17.1: 47–99.
Tanenbaum, A (2011), Polemics Real and Imagined in Zechariah Alḍāhirī’s Sefer Ha-Musar. Bekkum, W. V. – Katsumata, N (Eds.), Giving a Diamond: Essays in Honor of Joseph Yahalom on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday. Leiden and Boston: Brill: 243–263.
Tanenbaum, A (2015), Sefer ha-musar le-rabbi Zechariah al-ḍāhirī: tekhniqot sifrutiyot ve-tokhen. Tema, 13: 33–41.
Tanenbaum, A (2017), The Uses of Scripture in Zechariah al-Ḍāhirī’s Sēfer ha-mūsār. in Yeshaya, J. - Hollender, E. (Eds.), Exegesis and Poetry in Medieval Karaite and Rabbanite Texts. Leiden and Boston: Brill: 147–184.
Tanenbaum, A (2022), Hidden Gems: The Hebrew Maqāma from Yemen. Intellectual History of the Islamicate World, 10: 189–222.
Tobi, Y. (1999), The Jews of Yemen: Studies in Their History and Culture. Leiden: Brill.
Toporovsky, Y. (Ed.) (1952), Taḥkemoni. Tel Aviv: Maḥbarot le-Sifrut.
Torollo, D. (2021), On Wine, Wandering, and Wisdom: Musar and Adab in Medieval Sepharad. Miscelánea De Estudios Árabes Y Hebraicos. Sección Hebreo, 70: 31–49.
Turkī, H. (2016), al-madāris al-fikriyya wa-ta’thīrha fī «kitāb al-’akhlāq» li- zechariah al-ḏāhirī. master’s thesis, Cairo University.
Wagner, M. S. (2002), Like Joseph in Beauty: Yemeni Vernacular Poetry and Arab Jewish Symbiosis. Leiden: Brill.
Yahalom, J. - Blau, J. (2003), Mas‘e yehuda: ḥamisha pirqe masa‘ meḥorazim le-alḥarizi. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Yahalom, J. - Katsumata, N. (Eds.) (2010), Yehuda al-Ḥarīzī, taḥkemoni o maḥberot heman ha-’ezraḥi. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Haitham M. Sharqawy Sharqawy, Naoya Katsumata
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Este obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional.
