Hamid Ibn Muhammad Ibn Raziq (17831874), also known as Salil Ibn Raziq, was an

Omani Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

poet and historian and the author of a number of works, including the influential ''History of the Imams and Sayyids of Oman''. Ibn Raziq wrote his ''History'' on the request of Said Hamad Al Busaidy, a nephew of Said bin Sultan Al Busaidi, the Sultan of Muscat and it was completed on 12 December 1857. The original manuscript of Ibn Raziq's book was presented to English

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

and scholar of

oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...

, George Percy Badger

FRGS The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

in 1860 by the Sultan of Muscat at that time,

Thuwaini bin Said Thuwaini bin Said al-Busaidi (, ) (1821–1866) was Sultan of Muscat and Oman (19 October 1856 – 11 February 1866) and the third son of Said bin Sultan Sayyid Saïd bin Sultan al-Busaidi (, , ) (5 June 1791 – 19 October 1856) was Sultan of ...

. Badger, a member of the council of the Haklyut Society, produced a translation of the History which was published by the society in 1871, including a number of notes and appendices. On Badger's death, the original manuscript was left to his wife, who donated it to the

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of over 100 libraries Libraries of the University of Cambridge, within the university. The library is a major scholarly resource for me ...

, and it has consequently not yet been published in Arabic.

Work

Ibn Raziq's history of Oman covered the period CE 661–1856 and comprised three volumes, the first of which Badger did not translate as it consisted of 'elaborate genealogies of the Arab tribes of Yemen'. The second two volumes detail the history of Oman from the Julanda bin Masud to Said bin Sultan's death at sea on his way to

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

in October 1856. Badger omitted a number of 'irrelevant episodes and laudatory poems' from his translation. Ibn Raziq's full name is given in the book as Hamid bin Muhammad bin Razik bin Bakhi, 'an Ibadhy by religion, and a native of the town of Nakhl'. His original Arabic title for the book translates to ''A Plain and Authentic Exposition of the Chronicles of the Seyyids of the Al Bu Saidi''. A celebrated figure in Oman, the 150th anniversary of his death was included in the program of UNESCO's 42nd Session. Ibn Raziq's other works in Arabic, perhaps ironically given his greatest work is only available in English, have not been translated into English, including his ''The Clear Victory of the House of Busaid''.

References

{{Reflist Historians by ethnicity Arab historians Omani Ibadi Muslims Omani writers Omani poets 1783 births 1874 deaths