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Personal Diary of Abu Ali ibn al-Banna

Aliases
Aliases Arabic
Abu Ali ibn al-Banna
Abu 'Ali al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn al-Banna' al-Baghdadi al-Hanbali
Background and Biography
Background and Biography

Excerpts
English translation of the 18 March 1068 CE Earthquake Report from Makdisi (1956b)

  • from Makdisi, G. (1956b). Autograph Diary of an Eleventh-Century Historian of Baghdād--II. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 18(2): 239-260" > al-Banna's diary by Makdisi (1956b:248-251)


11. The news5 has arrived that there was a terrible earthquake in the City of the Prophet (Madina)-God's blessing and peace be on him ! - on Tuesday, the 11th of Jumada I (18 March), which brought down two merlons from the minaret of the Prophet's Mosque-peace be on him! The people were greatly disturbed by the earthquake on account of this. They turned to God in penitence for their evil deeds, broke instruments of pleasure, and drained the intoxicants. The governor of the city, known as 'the perfumer of adulterous women ',1 was banished. Very grave was that which happened to them. The earthquake then continued its course overrunning Wadi 's-Safa, al-Marwa, Khaibar, Wadi 'l-Qura, Taima', Tabuk, and Aila. As for Aila, its inhabitants all perished except for 12 persons who had gone out fishing on the sea, thus escaping death. As for Taima', it used to have one source of water; God then produced another source in it, the bottom of which fills each year with 2,000 dinars. And the earth was laid open disclosing a large place yielding pure gold and golden jewels. As for Tabuk, God produced near the lotus tree of the Prophet-God's blessings be on him !-(and) his spring of water, in a place known as al-Qur, three more springs of water improving their condition. The earthquake then ploughed through ar-Ramla; 15,000 persons perished, and nothing was left in it, according to reports, except two houses. The Sacred Rock in Jerusalem moved from its usual place, then returned. At this time, the earthquake subsided, after it had passed through Surair, of Hijaz, and most of Syria, until it had arrived at ar-Ramla. The sea (. . .) the distance of one day's march. The sea surged and caused great damage. It surged again, after people had gone into it gathering what they could find on its floor; none perished but those who were close to the shore. Such is what happened. I hope that God will place the Muslims in renewed security. On this very same day, in the month of Jumada I (began on 8 March 1068), we had in fact experienced a slight earthquake; it was this very same one.

Footnotes

5 This report, dated Jumada I, and the previous one (see p. 248-9), dated the 24th of Rajab, may be found mentioned in several historical works, combined into one report dated the month of Jumada I, or without mention of any month. None which I have seen mentions the month of Rajab. The following sources, all subsequent in date to the Diary, are those which I have come across: al-'Azimi, ed. Cahen, in JA, ccxxx, 1938, 358; Ibn al-Jauzi, Muntazam, viii, 248, and Shudhur al-'uqud, two MSS in Dar al-Kutub, Cairo, Tarikh no. 994, 139-40 (anno 462 [sic]) and Tarikh no. 95 mfm, fol. 125a (anno 453 [sic]); Bundari, Zubdat an-nusra, ed. Houtsma (Recueil de Textes relatifs a l'Histoire des Seldjoukides, Vol. ii), 34; Ibn al-Athir, Kdmil, anno 460 (according to Muntazam); Sibt Ibn al-Jauzi, Mir'dt az-zaman, MS Ar. Paris 1506, photo-reproductions in Dar al-Kutub, Cairo, Tarikh 551, fol.111 a-b; Dhahabi, Duwal al-Isldm, i, 208 (according to Kdmil); Y&fi'i, Mir'at al-jandn, III, 84 (according to Kcmil) ; Ibn Kathir, Biddya, XII, 96 (according to Muntazam); 'Aini, 'Iqd al-jumdn, MS in Dar al-Kutub, Cairo, Tarikh 1584, 244-5 (according to Mir'dt az-zaman); Ibn al-'Imad al-Hanbali, Shadharat adh-Dhahab, in, 308 (anno 460, according to Muntazam), and 309 (anno 462 [sic], according to Shudhufr al-'uqid).

1 cf. parallel passages in Mir'at az-zamnn, fol. Illb: [Arabic text]. The word [Arabic text] would be better changed to [Arabic text] (the prostitutes), which would be more in conformity to the meaning of [Arabic text], in the text of Mir'at az-zamdn. The text of 'Iqd al-jumdn is also defective: [Arabic text].

English translation of the 29 May 1068 CE Earthquake Report from Makdisi (1956b)

  • from Makdisi, G. (1956b). Autograph Diary of an Eleventh-Century Historian of Baghdād--II. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 18(2): 239-260" > al-Banna's diary by Makdisi (1956b:248-251)


1. Sunday day (the 1st of) Shauwal (460/3 August 1068); according to the appearance (of the crescent) and in conformity to stellar calculation.

The month of Ramadan passed completely without dissension, its beginning and its end. Praise be to God ! We ask of Him, the Munificent, that it be accepted.

...

3. News reports5 arrived on Thursday (5 or 12 Shauwal/7 or 14 August) from the merchants to the residence of the Shaikh Ajall Ibn Jarada6 to the effect that there had occurred in Palestine and ar-Ramla, on the 24th of Rajab, this year (29 May 1068), a terrible earthquake, which made away with all its dwellings except two. Approximately 15,000 persons perished. The Rock in Jerusalem clave in two, then drew back together, by the will of God-exalted is He above all! The sea sank into the earth for a day and a night, and people entered it, gathering from it; but it turned back upon them and caused a number of them to perish.

Footnotes

5 See p. 250, n. 5.

6 Abi 'Abd All&h Muhammad b. Jarada (d. 476); biographical notice in Ibn al-Jauzi, al-Muntazam ft tarzkh al-muluk wa'l-umam, ix, 9-10; wealthy Hanbalite merchant, son-in-law of Abi Manuiir b. Yuisuf (see p. 254, n. 8), founder of Masjid Ibn Jarada (erroneously attributed to his son Abu Nasr in Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi't-tarikh, anno 494) and of a school for girls (No. 96, second note); typographical error in his name: ' Jarada ', in Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa'n-nihayaft't-tarikh, xII, 125, reproduced in Ibn al-Athir, Kdmil (Cairo ed.), viII, 124, n. 1. See also Nos. 19, 22, 25, 35, 63, 66, 67, 74, 76, 77, 80, 81, 83, 85, 88, 96, 103, 104, 106, 121, 139, 141, 152, and 175.

Chronology

al-Banna recorded these events in his diary on the 3rd and 11th of Shauwal of A.H. 460 which works out to the 3rd and 13th August of 1068 CE, roughly 2 - 4 months after the earthquakes struck. The repetition of seismic effects in the 29 May 1068 CE (Ramla) earthquake from the 18 March 1068 CE (Hejaz) earthquake makes one wonder if he wasn't really talking about just one earthquake which struck on 18 March 1068 CE and was felt by al-Banna in Baghdad.
18 March 1068 CE earthquake which struck Ayla and the Hejaz
Year Reference Corrections Notes
Tuesday 18 March 1068 CE Tuesday 11th of Jumada I A.H. 460 none Calculated using CHRONOS. 18 March 1068 CE falls on a Tuesday (calculated using CHRONOS) in the Julian calendar which is also what was reported by al-Banna. al-Banna indicates that the date he provided was in conformance with stellar calculations and thus should agree with calculations made using CHRONOS.
18 March 1068 CE Tuesday 11th of Jumada I A.H. 460 none date provided by Makdisi (1956b:250).
29 May 1068 CE earthquake which struck Palestine and Ramla
Year Reference Corrections Notes
Thursday 29 May 1068 CE 24th of Rajab of A.H. 460 none Calculated using CHRONOS. 29 May 1068 CE falls on a Thursday (calculated using CHRONOS) in the Julian calendar. al-Banna indicates that the date he provided was in conformance with stellar calculations and thus should agree with calculations made using CHRONOS.
29 May 1068 CE 24th of Rajab of A.H. 460 none date provided by Makdisi (1956b:248).
Seismic Effects

18 March 1068 CE earthquake which struck Ayla and the Hejaz
  • brought down two merlons from the minaret of the Prophet's Mosque [in Medina]
  • The earthquake then continued its course overrunning Wadi 's-Safa, al-Marwa, Khaibar, Wadi 'l-Qura, Taima', Tabuk, and Aila
  • As for Aila, its inhabitants all perished except for 12 persons who had gone out fishing on the sea
  • As for Taima', it used to have one source of water; God then produced another source in it
  • the earth was laid open disclosing a large place yielding pure gold and golden jewels. [Taima]
  • As for Tabuk, God produced near the lotus tree of the Prophet-God's blessings be on him !-(and) his spring of water, in a place known as al-Qur, three more springs of water improving their condition.
  • The earthquake then ploughed through ar-Ramla; 15,000 persons perished, and nothing was left in it, according to reports, except two houses.
  • The Sacred Rock in Jerusalem moved from its usual place, then returned.
  • At this time, the earthquake subsided, after it had passed through Surair (Sudair ?), of Hijaz, and most of Syria, until it had arrived at ar-Ramla.
  • tsunami - The sea surged and caused great damage.
  • On this very same day, we had in fact experienced a slight earthquake [in Baghdad]; it was this very same one.
29 May 1068 CE earthquake which struck Palestine and Ramla
  • made away with all its [Ramla's] dwellings except two. Approximately 15,000 persons perished.
  • The Rock in Jerusalem clave in two.
  • tsunami - The sea sank into the earth for a day and a night, and people entered it, gathering from it; but it turned back upon them and caused a number of them to perish.
Locations

18 March 1068 CE earthquake which struck Ayla and the Hejaz 29 May 1068 CE earthquake which struck Palestine and Ramla Sources
Sources

Online Versions and Further Reading
References

Notes
Notes on al-Banna's Diary

Wikipedia, citing Makdisi (1956a) states the following about al-Banna's diary

Ibn al-Banna kept a diary, of which only part survives. The part that survives is part of the original manuscript itself, written in Ibn al-Banna's own messy handwriting.1 The language used is a streamlined version of Arabic suitable for quickly taking notes. The diary is valuable as a primary source about 11th-century Baghdad, particularly for events involving the Hanbali community.

The diary's extant part covers a period of just over one year, from 3 August 1068 to 4 September 1069. When Ibn al-Banna began keeping a diary is not known, but he most likely kept writing in it until his death in 1079. The part that survives today eventually ended up in the possession of Diya ad-Din al-Maqdisi, a hadith scholar who had studied under Ibn al-Jawzi. Al-Maqdisi is known to have travelled to Baghdad shortly before Ibn al-Jawzi's death in 1201, and it may have been during this trip that he obtained the present fragment of Ibn al-Banna's diary. In any case, al-Maqdisi later endowed the diary fragment as waqf property for the library of the Diya'iya madrasa he founded in Damascus – a note written in the margin of the first page identifies it as property of the madrasa.

At least two later writers used the diary as a source: Ibn al-Jawzi and Ibn Rajab. Ibn al-Jawzi appears to have had access to parts of the diary that are now lost, but not the current fragment, so it seems that the diary had become separated into multiple parts by then. On the other hand, Ibn Rajab had access to the currently-known part of the diary, but not any others, so the part that survives today was probably in its present state by his time (i.e. none of it has been lost since then).

Ibn al-Banna's diary was meant for his own personal use and was never meant to be published. As evidence of its private nature, it documents the internal dissension within the Hanbali community that he would not have wanted to reveal to the general public (particularly the controversial case surrounding Ibn Aqil), and it also contains unflattering information about Sharif Abu Ja'far, who Ibn al-Banna held in extremely high regard. Most likely, Ibn al-Banna used the diary as a personal notebook for writing down anything he thought was important or interesting, and then later selectively draw upon those notes for material he did intend to publish. Its private nature makes the diary a more reliable source for the events it covers and also "reveals the temperament of the author, his personality, his prejudices, more vividly and more accurately than the stereotyped accounts given in the biographical devoted to him."
Footnotes

1 George Makdisi, who translated the diary into English, described the handwriting this way: "There is a minimum of diacritical marks. The letters themselves are not always clearly traced out; they often appear attached to each other where they should not be, and in many cases, they do not even appear. I spent a great amount of time merely on the deciphering of the text."

Notes on Chronology from Makdisi (1956a)

Wikipedia, citing Makdisi (1956a:23) states the following about al-Banna's diary

Date. - The problem of dating the Diary is a simple one. The beginning of each lunar month, almost without exception, is established by the author as being such and such a day, even though he did not have anything to report for that particular first day of the month. The result is that, along with other dates given with precision in the text of the Diary, almost every entry which it contains may be likewise dated with precision. Thus the present fragment of the Diary begins on Sunday the first day of the year 461, which corresponds to 3 Aug 1068 of the Christian Era. The last entry is dated the 14th of Dhu'l-Qa'da, 461, corresponding to 4 September 1069.

There are some mistakes in the dates as set down by the author; some he corrected, and others apparently escaped his attention. The dated entries, indicating the date on which the event took place, do not necessarily indicate the date on which the entry was recorded; the author rarely declares having written the report of a given event on the same day of it's occurrence. The month with the lowest amount of entries is Shauwal, 461, where there are only a few lines; while Rabi II, of the same year, is the most documented one. The most frequent and persistent documentation occurs with regard to the case of Ibn 'Aqil.