Muhammed al-Baydhaq

Abu Bakr Mohammed ibn Ali al Sanhaji al-Baydhaq () (died after 1164) was a Maghribi historian mainly known as a companion of Ibn Tumart and chronicler of the Almohads. Al-Baydhaq (meaning pawn) was his nickname, because he was small in stature. He was from the tribe of Senhaja.

The title of his main work is: Al moqtabass min kitabi al anssab fi maärifati al ashab (written ca. 1150). It is the most important source on the period. Written in Classical Arabic, Berber words, names and sayings are used throughout the text, making it an important work for scholars of the medieval Berber language.

References

• Akhbār al-MahdÄ« Ibn TÅ«mart wa-bidāyat dawlat al-MuwaḥḥidÄ«n (or. text in Arabic) ed. Al-Ribā, 1971
• Ed. in Algeria as: Kitāb Akhbār al-MahdÄ« ibn TÅ«mart (Algiers: al-Mu’assasa al-Waá¹­aniyya li-l-Kitāb, 1982)

External links

• Al kindi catalogue http://alkindi.ideo-cairo.org/controller.php?action=SearchAuteur&vedetteId=5782&lang=en
• An annotated guide to Arabic autobiographical writings (ninth to nineteenth centuries c.e.)http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft2c6004x0&doc.view=content&chunk.id=d0e9049&toc.depth=100&anchor.id=0&brand=eschol