Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi

Ibn abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi or al-Murrakushi (Full name: Abu abd Allah Muhammed ibn Muhammed ibn abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi أبو عبد الله محمد بن محمد بن عبد الملك المراكشي ) (b. 5 July 1237 – September 1303) was a Moroccan Arab scholar, historian, judge and biographer. He is the author of the famous book  'Ad-Dayl wa Takmila', a nine-volume biographical encyclopaedia of notable people from Morocco and al-Andalus.

Life
Born into a notable family of prestigious Arab lineage in Marrakech, hence the nisba, al-Marrakushi. In 1300, Ibn Abd al-Malik left Marrakech following the court of the Marinid King Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr and settled in Mansourah, where the Marinids were besieging Tlemcen in an attempt to oust the Abd al-Wadid dynasty. He seems to have died there three years later in September 1303, despite reports of him being at Aghmat only three months earlier. He had a son who settled in Málaga where he became a close friend of Ibn al-Khatib. The latter based much of his biographical book Al-Ihata on the works of Ibn abd al-Malik.

Work

 * Ad-Dayl wa Takmila (الذيل والتكملة) ('Appendix and Supplement'); Ibn abd al-Malik's biographical dictionary and life's work completed months before his death. His intention to complete the biographical dictionaries of Ibn Bashkuwāl and Ibn al-Faraḍī resulted in this surpassing sequel. Of the nine original, approx., 700 page volumes, four volumes survive intactvols. 1, 5, 6, 8.  Two more survive in partvols. 2 and 4.  The work is rich in detail.  Some inaccurate renderings  in name pronunciation arise from the Arabic writing system.


 * Al-Dhayl wa-al-takmilah : li-kitābay al-Mawṣūl wa-al-Ṣilah (الذيل والتكملة لكتابي الموصول والصلة)