The Book of Gifts and Rarities is an Arabic history of wealth and ostentation from the 6th to 11th centuries. It was written in Egypt by an official of the Fatimid Caliphate sometime after 1071. The extant version of the work is incomplete and lacks clear attribution. Although it has been attributed to Al-QÃÂá¸Âë al-Rashëd Aḥmad ibn al-Zubayr, this ascription is not universally accepted.
The Book of Gifts and Rarities is strictly anonymous as it stands and its authorship debated.
The text's first editor, Muḥammad ḤamëdallÃÂh, identified the author as al-QÃÂá¸Âë al-Rashëd Abà « l-Ḥusayn Aḥmad ibn al-QÃÂá¸Âë al-Rashëd ibn al-Zubayr. This name is known only from some citations by al-Ghà «zà «li, although ḤamëdallÃÂh argued that he was identical to the Muhadhdhab ibn al-Zubayr whose poetry is cited in al-Maqrëzë's Khiá¹Âaá¹Â. No al-QÃÂá¸Âë al-Rashëd ibn al-Zubayr is mentioned in any of the biographical dictionaries that cover the 11th century.
In her doctoral dissertation, GhÃÂda al-ḤijjÃÂwë al-Qaddà «më tentatively identified ḤamëdallÃÂh's Ibn al-Zubayr, on the basis of his name and title, as the elder brother of the great-great-grandfather of the judge Aḥmad ibn al-Zubayr, who died in 1166 or 1167. The latter is mentioned in the biographical dictionary of Ibn KhallikÃÂn. He belonged to a family of judges (qÃÂá¸Âës) with the hereditary honorific (laqab) al-QÃÂá¸Âë al-Rashëd. The other parts of his Arabic name are his kunya Abà « l-Ḥusayn ('father of al-Ḥusayn') and his nasab, Ibn al-Zubayr, referring to the name of an ancestor. His given name was Aḥmad. He must have been the eldest son, since he gave his eldest son the same name as his father (al-Ḥusayn).
ShÃÂkir Muá¹£á¹Âafàidentifies al-Ghà «zà «li's Ibn al-Zubayr with the 12th-century judge and al-Maqrëzë's with his brother, a poet who died in 1166. Neither could be the author of an 11th-century text. In a more recent work, al-Qaddà «më rejects ḤamëdallÃÂh's hypothesis and treats the text as anonymous.
The author can be approximately dated by internal references in the text. In 1052 or 1053, he witnessed at Tinnës the transshipment of gifts sent by the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX and bound for Cairo and the court of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustaná¹£ir. At Tinnës in 1070, he was told by Khaá¹Âër al-Mulk Muḥammad, son of the vizier al-YÃÂzurë, about a gift sent to al-Mustaná¹£ir by King . The latest event in which he mentions himself is a meeting in Damietta in 1071.
The author thus lived in Egypt between 1053 and 1071 and was probably a Fatimid official. ḤamëdallÃÂh thought he was an official already in 1052âÂÂ1053, having previously the Buyid emir Abà « KÃÂlëjÃÂr (1024âÂÂ1048) in Iraq. Clifford Bosworth surmises he was probably a Shëÿë who fled to the Fatimids after the arrival of the Sunnë Seljuks in Iraq. Al-Qaddà «më originally thought that he was probably a young man, perhaps even a teenager, in 1052.
The Book of Gifts and Rarities does not survive complete. It is known from one extensive manuscript now in the library of Afyonkarahisar in Turkey. This is not a complete text, but consists of excerpts gathered by ShihÃÂb al-Dën al-Awḥadë in the 15th century. The manuscript itself is an autograph by Ibn DuqmÃÂq, who died in 1406. It may once have belonged to the Ottoman vizier Gedik Ahmed Pasha (1473âÂÂ1482). The titlepage, added later, mistakes al-Awḥadë for the author. Both al-Maqrëzë in his Khiá¹Âaá¹ and IttiÿÃÂẠal-Hunafàand al-Ghà «zà «li's Maá¹ÂÃÂliÿ quote excerpts not included in al-Awḥadë's compendium.
The title is a matter of confusion. At the end of the sole surviving copy, al-Awḥadë calls the book he compiled from KitÃÂb al-HadÃÂyàwaþl-tuḥaf, 'Book of Gifts and Rarities'. The title on the titlepage, added by a librarian, is KitÃÂb al-DhakhÃÂþir waþl-tuḥaf, 'Book of Treasures and Rarities'. It is not original, but is taken from al-Maqrëzë. In her dissertation, al-Qaddà «më accepts the full title as given by al-Ghà «zà «li (KitÃÂb al-ÿAjÃÂþib waþl-á¹Âuraf waþl-hadÃÂyàwaþl-tuḥaf, 'Book of Wonders, Curiosities, Gifts and Rarities'), which the latter usually abbreviates to al-ÿAjÃÂþib waþl-á¹Âuraf.
The first edition of the Book of Gifts and Rarities was published as the first volume in Kuwait's "Arab Heritage" series in 1999 under the title KitÃÂb adh-dhakhÃÂþir waþt-tuḥaf. An English translation was published in 1996 under the title Book of Gifts and Rarities.
The Book of Gifts and Rarities is a history of wealth that covers gift exchanges between rulers, lavish and costly celebrations, inheritances and treasure troves. It was divided into twelve chapters, subdivided into 414 paragraphs. The version of al-Awḥadë, however, twice combines two chapters into a single chapter (chapters 5 and 10), making a total of ten chapters. Their titles are:
The Book covers mainly the Abbasid, Buyid and Fatimid dynasties. The earlier Rightly-Guided Caliphs and the Umayyads receive less coverage, and that mostly related to war booty. The whole work projects a gradual increase in luxury among Muslim rulers. The Fatimids have been lumped into the final chapter by al-Awḥadë. The earliest episode recounted in the surviving version of the text is the gifts sent to the rulers of China, India and Tibet by the Sasanian king Khosrow I (531âÂÂ579). The latest episode is dated 1071. Geographically, its scope stretches from al-Andalus in the west to Sind in the east.
The author was an eyewitness to some of what he records, but most was taken from written sources. He cites 21 different written authorities as well as some eyewitnesses and, in a few cases, hearsay.
The Book is the most important source for two famous pearls of great size, al-Yatëma (Orphan) and al-ÿAáºÂëma (Enormous).