النص المفهرس

PREFACE
In the English language preface to this volume, I propose to confine
myself to commenting upon the MS. sources which I have made use of
in editing the text of the Kitab al-Maghazi of al-Waqidi and to a short
description of the methods followed in the editing process. A more lengthy
study of al-Waqidi and his place in the sira-maghazi literature will be
found in the Arabic preface.
The main MS. on which the text is based (B.M. Or. 1617) is the only
complete copy of the work known to exist. It was acquired by the British .
Museum from Theodore Preston in 1878, having been obtained by him
in Aleppo in 1847. The MS. is dated 11th. Sha ban 465 A.H. and the
introductory isnad shows that between the fifth anonymous link in the
catena and al-Waqidī himself come, in order of priority, Abu 'Abdallah
Muhammad ibn Shujā' al-Thalji, Abū'l-Qasim 'Abd al-Wahhab ibn Abi
Hayya, Abu Umar Muhammad ibn al- Abbas ibn Zakariya ibn Hay-
yawayhi and Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Jawhari. Ibn al-
Thalji (d. 266 A.H.) is described by al-Baghdadi as "fagih of the people
of Iraq in his day"1 and was a specialist not only in law but in the reciting
of the Quran and hadith2. According to Ibn Hajar, he was appointed
qādī by al-Mutawakkil.3 Ibn Abī Hayya (d. 319 A.H.) was the librarian
of al-Jāhiz4. Ibn Hayyawayhi (d. 382 A.H.) was specialized in hadith
and maghazi and was a transmitter not only of al-Waqidi but also of Ibn
Sa'd.5 al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Jawhari (d. 454 A.H.) was one of the 'ulama'
of the Iraqi school and afterwards gadi of Medina".
The MS. is written in clear naskhi and with almost full diacritical
pointing. First impressions are, however, misleading for the vowel and
case signs seem to have been inserted later and are completely unreliable.
Furthermore, the text itself proved to be so full of errors as to make the
task of editing very much more complicated and laborious than was at
first anticipated - this was particularly so in the later sections of the work
where I have had to rely, for the most part, on the main MS. Grammatical
(1) Tarikh Baghdad, V, 350.
(2) al-Jawahir al-mudiya, II, 60.
(3)
Tahdhib al-tahdhib, IX, 220.
(4)
Tārīkh Baghdād, XI, 28.
(5)
Tarikh Baghdad, III, 121.
(6)
Tarikh Baghdad, VII, 364.

Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E.C.4
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BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI LAHORE DACCA
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KUALA LUMPUR HONG KONG
C
MARSDEN JONES 1965

THE KITAB AL-MAGHAZI
OF
AL-WAQIDI
VOLUME ONE
EDITED BY
MARSDEN JONES
LONDON
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1965