Mir'at al-Zaman fi Tawarikh al-A'yan

Mir'at al-zaman fi tawarikh al-a'yan ("The Mirror of Time in the Histories of the Notables") is a universal history by Shams al-Din Abu al-Muzaffar Yusuf ibn Qizoghlu, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (581-654 AH), published by Dar al-Risala al-Alamiyya in Damascus in twenty-three volumes in 1434/2013. ^{1 2}

The author says that people's aims in reading reports differ: some prefer the lives of the ancients and the sages, some the stories of prophets, caliphs, kings, viziers and men of letters, some the lives of ascetics and the righteous, and some seek the conduct of a prudent man to learn good management, or the traces of a careless one to be warned. ³ Since histories mostly "gather the lean with the fat, the weak with the sound, and repetition empty of benefit", he sought God's guidance in composing this book. ³

His plan is to begin with the creation of the heavens and the earth, follow with the life of the Prophet, then the events of each year and the notables who died in it, counting years from the Prophet's birth; in criticism and praise of transmitters he follows the earlier authorities "because it does not depend on proof"; and he named it Mir'at al-zaman fi tawarikh al-a'yan "so that the name fits what it names". ³ He prefaces it with five fasls: on the meaning of ta'rikh and whether the Arabs distinguished it from tawrikh; on the principal histories and chains of reports; on the duration of the world; on the well-ordered style an author should use; and on the titles of the chapters. ⁴

The first fasl opens with his reading, under his teacher Abu al-Yumn Zayd ibn al-Hasan al-Kindi in Damascus in 604 AH, of al-Jawaliqi's al-Mu'arrab, which says that the dating people use is not purely Arabic, that Muslims took it from the People of the Book, and that their era from the Hijra was set down under Umar. ⁵ He cites al-Jawhari that ta'rikh and tawrikh mean the same, and al-Asma'i that Tamim say warrakhtu and Qays arrakhtu. ⁵ He then lists views on the beginning of dating: from Adam's descent to the Flood, then Abraham's fire, then the times of Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus, as reported from al-Sha'bi; al-Waqidi's account of Arab eras down to the Year of the Elephant; Himyar dating by their Tubba' kings and the Arabs by their famous battle-days; the Persians by their kings, the Romans from the killing of Darius, the Copts from Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews from the destruction of Jerusalem. ^{6 7}

In volume 22 (588-654 AH), edited by Ibrahim al-Zaybaq, he often writes "the author said" when telling what he saw: ⁸

• He says he wrote a commentary on Ruh al-arifin, in which the caliph al-Nasir li-Din Allah gathered the licences granted to him, and that his commentary is in the endowment of the Ashrafiyya Dar al-Hadith in Damascus. ⁹
• He relates his session in the Damascus mosque on Saturday 5 Rabi' I 607, when he had the hobbles for the fighters' horses made from penitents' hair carried in, and his march to Nablus for the campaign with al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Isa. See Sibt ibn al-Jawzi's session of 607 AH. ^{10 11}
• In 613 he travelled to Khilat, preached in the mosque of Harran at al-Malik al-Ashraf's request in the presence of the preacher al-Fakhr ibn Taymiyya, then met al-Malik al-Mu'azzam between Maslama and al-Raqqa, who gave him his camel and took his horse; he made a retreat at al-Raqqa and al-Ashraf then equipped him for the hajj. ¹²
• In 626 he preached in the Damascus mosque at al-Nasir Dawud's suggestion after al-Kamil had handed Jerusalem to the emperor, and spoke of what had befallen the Holy House. See the cession of Jerusalem, 626 AH. ¹³

Each volume of the Risala edition has its own editor; the editors use several manuscripts identified by letters and put their additions from them in square brackets. ^{14 10}