Ḥamza ibn Aḥmad ibn Sibāṭ al-Faqīh al-ʿĀlayhī () (died 1520) was a

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

historian and a scribe of the Buhturid emirs of

Mount Lebanon Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round. Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, ...

Life and work

Hamza was based in Aley in the Gharb area southeast of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

in Mount Lebanon. His father Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Salih (d. 1482) was a disciple of the reformist Druze religious leader al-Sayyid Abd Allah al-Tanukhi and the

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

of his mosque in Abeih. Hamza was one of two sons of Shihab al-Din, the other being Zayn al-Din Abd al-Rahman (d. 1491). Like al-Sayyid al-Tanukhi and the Buhturid

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

s of the Gharb, the Sibat family were descendants of the

Tanukh The Tanukh (, sometimes referred to as the Tanukhids (, ), was an Arab tribal group whose history in the Arabian Peninsula and the Fertile Crescent spanned the 2nd century CE to the 17th century. The group began as a confederation of Arab tribes ...

, an Arab tribe which was long established in the Gharb. Part of his work chronicled the Tanukh's history, before and after their acceptance and propagation of the Druze doctrine in the early 11th century. Hamza chronicled the medieval history of Mount Lebanon. His work was largely based on the chronicle of the Buhturid chronicler Salih ibn Yahya (d. 1435). Ibn Sibat continued the history of Mount Lebanon for the rest of the 15th century through the first years of Ottoman rule, which began in 1516. For the history of his own time, he relied on his personal observations. He is a principal source for the history of the Druze

Ma'n dynasty The Ma'n dynasty (, alternatively spelled ''Ma'an''), also known as the Ma'nids; (), were a family of Druze chiefs of Arab stock based in the rugged Chouf District, Chouf area of southern Mount Lebanon who were politically prominent in the 15th� ...

of the

Chouf Chouf (also spelled Shouf, Shuf or Chuf; ) is a historic region of Lebanon, as well as an administrative district in the governorate ( muhafazat) of Mount Lebanon. Geography Located south-east of Beirut, the region comprises a narrow coastal stri ...

in the closing years of

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

rule in the 1490s through 1516 and the first interactions of the Ma'ns and the Buhturids with the Ottoman conquerors. The 17th-century

Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...

historian and patriarch Istifan al-Duwayhi and the 19th-century Maronite historian Tannus al-Shidyaq depended mainly on Hamza's chronicle for their histories of non-Maronite Mount Lebanon.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *{{cite book , last1=Salibi , first1=Kamal S. , title=The Druze: Realities & Perceptions , date=2005 , publisher=Druze Heritage Foundation , location=London , isbn=9781904850069 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4YWAQAAMAAJ 1520 deaths 16th-century people from the Mamluk Sultanate 16th-century historians from the Ottoman Empire Arab people from the Ottoman Empire Druze people from the Ottoman Empire History of the Druze Ottoman period in Lebanon People from Aley District Historians from the Mamluk Sultanate Tanukh Arabs from the Mamluk Sultanate