Mujir al-Din al-‘Ulaymi and His Book al-Tarikh al-Mu‘tabar fi Anba’ man Ghabar: A Study of His Biography and His Work

Abstract

This study examines the figure of the historian Mujīr al-Dīn al-ʿUlaymī (860–928 AH / 1455–1521 CE), one of the prominent scholars of the 9th and 10th centuries AH, through a study of his biography, his era, and his scholarly career. It analyzes his methodology in his book al-Tārīkh al-Muʿtabar fī Anbāʾ man Ghabar. The research reviews al-ʿUlaymī’s intellectual and political environment under the Burjī Mamluk state, highlighting the teachers from whom he studied and the positions he held, in addition to his various writings. It also focuses on the study of al-Tārīkh al-Muʿtabar in terms of its themes, motives for composition, narrative method, and principal sources, while emphasizing its scholarly value and standing among the later encyclopedic works of Arabic-Islamic historiography. Notably, al-ʿUlaymī combined both annalistic and thematic approaches, paid great attention to precise documentation, and demonstrated a critical sense in presenting narratives, which made his book an important reference for the study of general history and the late Mamluk period.