Al-Muhallabi

[pp. 177-178]

AL-MUHALLABĪ

(d. before 996 A.D.)

An otherwise unknown, Al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad al-Muhallabī, the author of a K. al-masālik wa-l-mamālik (al-'Azīzī), of which only fragments have been preserved in quotations by other historians.

EI (s.v.)

T.: MC 683-84 A:1

The following passages are taken from al-Yaqūt.

Aksintilā, a town in the southern part of Ifrīqiya. Abul-Ḥasan al-Muhallabī says: Aksintilā is a large and important town, whose king is a man of the Barbar tribe, a branch of the Hawwāra: he is called Shal ibn al-Fihrī and is a Muslim ... The same author says: at Aksintilā two roads begin, the northern one leading eastwards, leads to the country of al-Kanz, who belongs to the Blacks (Sūdān) ... it is a five days’ journey. (Yacut ed. F. Wüstenfeld I, p. 342; MC 683 r).

Al-Muhallabī says: The Zaghāwa possess two towns, namely Manān and Tarozākī, both within the first Climate, at Lat. 21°. He goes on to say: The kingdom of the Zaghāwa is very large among the kingdoms of the Blacks (Sūdān): to the east, it is bounded by the kingdom of the Nūba, which lies above Ṣa’īd and Miṣr at 10 days’ distance. They [the Zaghāwa] comprise many peoples, and the length of their country equals 15 days' journey and the width is the same. The whole territory is covered uninterruptedly with cultivated lands. All their houses are built of straw and reeds, including the royal palace. They venerate and worship the king as a divine being, to the exclusion of the Most High. (op.cit. II, pp. 932 - 933; MC 683 v).

[p. 178] Abūl-fidā' has preserved the following passage:

The author of "al-'Azīzī" says: From Dunqula to the country of the Zaghāwa, towards the south, it is twenty days’ Journey. (Abulfeda ed. Reinaud-de Slane, (Arabic) Paris 1840, p. 159; MC 684 r).