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Clearing up the Description of Earthquakes by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti

كتاب كشف الصلصلة عن وصف الزلزلة by عبد الرحمن بن كمال الدين أبي بكر بن محمد سابق الدين خضر الخضيري الأسيوطي

Aliases
Aliases Arabic
Al-Suyuti
As-Suyuti
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
Abu 'l-Fadl 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad Djalal al_Din al-Khudayri
Background and Biography
Background and Biography

Excerpts
English translated from a French translation of al-Suyuti by Nejjar (1973-1974)

18. 747/748 CE - Damascus

In Tadkirat al-Wadâ'î (69), the following tradition is reported carried according to 'abd-Allâh ibn Kathîr al-Qârî who said:

We were victims of an earthquake in Damascus78 in A.H. 130 [September 11 747/August 30, 748]; the inhabitants had left their city; the sûq ad-Dâjâj79 (poultry market) fell from the “Great Rocks”80. Several days after the disaster, they began to search part of the rubble, and31 it was then that they found a living man! "How did you survive?"32 they asked him; he replied: "A young dog33 brought me a bone, which she held in her mouth, and put it in mine."
Footnotes

69) 'Ali ibn al-Mudh'affar ibn Ibrâhîm al-Kindi al-Wadâ'i (1242 AD - 1316 AD), author of a work in 50 volumes entitled: “at-Tadkira al-Kindivya”. Cf. Ziriklî, t. V, pp. 174-175

78) to, Damascus in 130; (G): to Damascus and in 130...

79) V.s.i. in (B).

80) Rocks (A and G) : of.

31) V.s.i. in (B and G)

32) V.s.i. in (G)

33) V.s.i. in (B)

19. 748/749 CE - Damascus ?

'Abd-Allâh ibn Kathîr al-Qâri said [also]:

I was told informed, during the catastrophic earthquake84 of A.H. 131 [August 31, 748/August 19, 749], that the ceiling of the mosque (70) opened, revealing the sky; another earthquake occurred after this last one85, closing the opening again.
Footnotes

84) during the catastrophic earthquake + (G): and during.

70) This is most likely the one in Damascus.

85) V.s.i. in (B)

English from Ambraseys (2009)

A.H. 130

In Tadkirat al-Wada'i the following tradition is reported after `Abd-Allah ibn kathir al-Qari who said,
We were victims of an earthquake in Damascus in 130: the inhabitants had left their town; the Dajaj suq [poultry market] fell from the "Great Rocks". Several days after the catastrophe they started to dig through a part of the ruins and then it was that a man was found alive...


A.H. 131

[`Abd-Allah ibn kathir al-Qari also] said,
I was told that at the time of the catastrophic earthquake of 131, the platform of the mosque opened, allowing the sky to be seen; another earthquake following after this last one closed the gap up again.


(al-Suyuti 17-19/9-10.)

English from Sprenger (1843)

A.H. 130. There was an earthquake at Damascus, which was so violent, that the people were obliged to leave the town.

A.H. 131. Several new shocks in Damascus

English from Sprenger (1843) - embedded



Semi critical edition in Arabic by Al-Saladani (1971) - embedded



An Original Manuscript - Arabic

  • The Noor book courtesy of Najib Abou Karaki (personal correspondence, 2022)



























Chronology

It is possible that as-Suyiti is repeating the same earthquake twice and giving two different A.H. years due to chronological confusion in his sources.
Year Reference Corrections Notes
11 September 747 - 30 August 748 CE A.H. 130 none
daytime (?) 31 Aug. 748 - 19 Aug. 749 CE A.H. 131 none
  • Calculated with CHRONOS
  • the platform of the mosque opened, allowing the sky to be seen suggests a daytime earthquake. If it was a nighttime earthquake, they would have seen stars.
Seismic Effects

A.H. 130 earthquake
  • an earthquake in Damascus in A.H. 130
  • the inhabitants had left their city
  • the Dajaj suq [poultry market] fell from the "Great Rocks"
  • Several days after the disaster, they began to search part of the rubble, and it was then that they found a living man!
  • people obliged to leave town and that fact that rescue efforts were delayed a few days suggests strong aftershocks in the days after the main shock
A.H. 131 earthquake
  • the catastrophic earthquake of A.H. 131
  • the platform of the mosque opened, allowing the sky to be seen; another earthquake following after this last one closed the gap up again.
Sources
Sources

Notes and Further Reading
References