The Portrayal of China in the Works of Muslim Writers of ‘Ajāyib-Nāmih up to the Ninth Century A.H.

تاریخ و فرهنگ

Article 5, Volume 52, Issue 2 - Serial Number 105, January 2021, Pages 154-125   

Document Type: Promotional article

DOI: 10.22067/jhistory.2021.70645.1047

Authors

Seyyede Zahra Razavian¹; Hamidreza Sanaei^{* 2}

¹Graduate student of History of Islamic Culture and Civilization, Alzahra University

²Assistant Professor, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Abstract

The world of wonders and mysterious phenomena provides man with amusement and at times fills him with dread. Wonders are a source of fascination to him. Man has always expressed a strong desire for understanding such phenomena and making contact with them. This desire is represented in the culture and literature of some human societies in forms of imagination, legend, and myth. Muslims, too, were extremely fond of this topic. The publication of multiple books titled ‘Ajāyib-Nāmih (Books of Wonders) in Islamic culture and civilization proves this fact. In composing such works, Muslim authors relied on the books written by the ancients, as well as anecdotes told by their own contemporaries and perhaps personal observations. They were intrigued by a wide array of wonders, ranging geographically from a large part of the Great Muslim land, to non-Muslim countries located near and far from it. Among the countries referred to as Dār al-Kufr (The Abode of Unbelief), China was perceived as a mysterious land in the Muslims’ mind and imagination. This was due to a its long distance and a lack of communication between the Muslims and the Chinese, resulting in a lack of knowledge about the culture.  The present study aims to explore the portrayal of this large country (China) as explained in the Muslim ‘Ajāyib-writers up to the ninth century A.H./fifteenth century A.D., using the descriptive-analytical method.

Keywords

China; wonder writing (‘Ajāyib-writing); human and natural wonders

References

Aḥmadī, Muḥsin. “Buzurg ibn Shahryār”. Dāyrah al-Maʿārf Buzurg Islāmī, vol. 12, ed. Kāẓim Mūsavī Bujnūrdī, Tehran: Markaz Dāyrah al-Maʿārf Buzurg Islāmī, 2004/1383.

ʻAlavān, Muḥammad Bāqir. “Kutub ʿAjāyib al-Makhlūqāt fī al-Adab al-ʿArabī”, dar al-Maūrid, no.10, 1974/1353.

Ālbūshūkih. ʻAlī. Barrisī Taṭbīqī ʿAjāyibnigārīhāy Mansūb bih Muḥammad Sīyāh Qalam bā ʿAjāyibnigārīhāy ʿAjāyibnāmih Zakarīyā Muḥammad Qazvīnī. Master Thesis, Faculty of Visual Arts, University of Art, Tehran, 2015/1394.

Ashkavārī, Muḥammad Jaʿfar. “ʿAjāyibnigārī dar Tamadun Islāmī: Khāstgāh va Dūrih Bandī”. Dar Muṭāliʻat Tārīkh   Islām, 9, no.33, (2017/1396): 30-51.

Ashkavārī, Muḥammad Jaʿfar. “ʿAjāyibnigārī Ibn Faqih dar kitab al-Buldān”, Tārīkh  Islām,  yr.14, no.4 (winter2013/1392)

Ashkavārī, Muḥammad Jaʿfar. “Jahānshināsī dar ʿAjāyibnigārīhā”, Tārīkh ʿIlm, 7, no.1, (2019/1398): 1-35.

Ashkavārī, Muḥammad Jaʿfar. Naqd-i Barrisī Taṭavur ʿAjāyibnigārīhā dar Mutun Jughrāfīyāī Islāmī tā Qarn Hashtum Hijrī. PhD Thesis, University of Tehran, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies (2013/1392).

Āzarī Ṭūsī. Gharāyb al-Dunyā va ʿAjāyb al-Aʿālā. Nuskhih Khaṭī Kākh-i Gulistān, no.2156.

Bābāī, Ṣughrā. Sinkhshināsī ʿAjāyibnāmihhā(Sabk, Rivāyat, Taṣvīr). Supervisor: ʻAlī Riżā  Nīkūī va ʻAlī Ṣafāī, Master Thesis, Faculty of Humanities, University of Guilan 2012/1391.

Bahār, Mihrdād, Pazhūhishī dar Asāṭī  Irān. Tehran: Ṭūs, 1997/1376.

Bakrān, Muḥammad ibn Najīb. Jahānnāmih. Ed. Muḥammad Amīn Ryāhī, Tehran: Kitānkhānih Ibn Sīnā, 1963/1342.

Barātī, Parvīz. ʿAjāyib-i Irānī, Rivāyat, Shikl va Sākhtār Fāntizī ʿAjāyibnāmihhā bih Hamrāh Matn ʿAjāyibnāmihī Qarn Haftum. Tehran: Afkār, 2009/1388.

Bīrūnī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. Taḥqīq Mā l-l-hind. Researched by Aḥmad Ārām, Beirut: ʿĀlim al-Kutub, 1983/1403.

Damishqī, Muḥammad ibn Abī Ṭālib. Nukhba al-Ddahr fī ʿAjāyb al-Barr va al-Baḥr. translated by Sayyid Ḥamīd Ṭabībīyān, Bunyād Farhangistānhāy Irān, 1978/1357.

Dihkhudā, ʻAlī Akbar. Lughat Nāmih. Tehran: University of Tehran, 1966/1345.

Fażl Allāh, Rashīd al-Dīn. Tārīkh Chīn (az Jāmiʻ al-Tavārīkh Khājih Rashīd Fażl Allāh( .  ed. Wang Yidan, Tehran: Markaz Nashr Dānishgāhī, 2000/1379.

Gharnātī, Abū Ḥāmid. Tuḥfa al-Albāb wa Nukhba al-Iʿijāb. researched by ʻAlī ʻUmar, Cairo: Maktaba al-Thiqāfa al-Dīnīyh, 2003/1423.

Ḥājī Khalīfih, Muṣṭafā ibn ʻAbd Allāh. Kashf al-Ẓunūn ʻAn Asāmī  al-Kutub va al-Funūn. Baghdād: Maktaba al-Muthanā, 1941/1360.

Ḥasan, Zakī Muḥammad. Jahāngardān Musalmān dar Dūrih Mīyānī. translated by ʻAbd Allāh Nāṣirī Ṭāhirī, Tehran: ʻIlm, 2010/1389.

Ḥulīfī, Shuʻiyb. “Banīyāt al- ʿAjāybī fī al-Rivāya al-ʿArabīya”. Fuṣūl, no.3 (1997/1376):112-119.

Ḥulīfī, Shuʻiyb. “Makavvanāt al-Sard al-Fāntīstikī, Fuṣūl, no. 45 (Spring1993): 65-97.

Ḥurī, Abū al-Fażl. “ʿAjāyibnāmihhā bih Manzalih Adabīyāt Vahmnāk bā Nigāhī bih Barkhī Ḥikāyathāy Kitāb ʿAjāyb Hind”. Naqd Adabī, yr. 4, no.15( 2011/1390): 137-164.

Ḥurī, Abū al-Fażl. “Vahmnāk dar Adabīyāt Kuhan Irān”. Pazhūhish Zabānhāy Khārijī Tehran, no.34 (winter 2006/1385): 61-76.

Ḥurī, Abū al-Fażl. “Zhānr Vahmnāk: Shagarf/ Shaguft dar Dāstānhāy Faraj Baʻd az Shiddat. Faṣlnāmih Naqd Adabī, no.3(2008/1387): 7-30.

Ḥusaynī, Āsīyih va Aḥmad Laʻbat fard. “Jāygāh Chīn dar Tārīkhnigārī ʿUmumī Irān Islāmī Piysh az Ḥamlih-yi Mughūl”,  Pārsivā, 15,  no.13(autumn2015/1394): 59-71.

Ibn Faqia, Abū ʻAbd Allāh Aḥmad. al-Buldān. Yūsuf al-Hādī,  Beirut: ʿĀlim al-Kutub, 1996/1416.

Ibn Khurdādhba, Abū al-Qāsim ʿUbīd Allāh. al-Masālik wa al-Mamālik. Līdin: Brīl, 1889/ 1268.

Ibn Muḥadis Tabrīzī. ʿAjāyb al-Dunyā. Ed. ʻAlī Navīdī Malātī, Tehran: Muqūfāt Duktur Maḥmūd Afshār bā Hamkārī Nashr Sukhan, 2018/1397.

Ibn Nadīm, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq. al-Fihrist. Translated by  Muḥammad Riżā Tajadd, Tehran: Asātīr, 2002/1381.

Ibn Vaṣīf Shāh, Ibrāhīm. Mukhtaṣar ʿAjāyib al-Dunyā. Ed. Sayyid Ḥasan Kasravī, Beirut: Dār al-Kutub  al-ʻIlmīyya, 2001/1421.

Ibn Wardī, ʿUmar ibn Muẓafar. Kharīda al-ʿAjāyb wa Farīda al-Gharāʾib. ed. Anvar Muḥmūd al-Zinātī, Cairo: Maktaba al-Siqāfa al-Dīnīya, 2007/1428.

Idrīsī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. Nuzha al-Mushtāq fī Ikhtirāq al-Āfāq. Beirut: ʿĀlim al-Kutub, 1989/1409.

Imāmī, Naṣru Allāh. Mabānī va Ravish Naqd Adabī. Tehran: Jāmī, 2006/1385.

Irwin, Robert. Taḥlīlī az Hizār va Yik Shab. translated by Firydūn Badrihī, Tehran: Farzān Rūz, 2004/1383.

Ismāʿil Pāshā. Hidīya al-ʿĀrifīn, Asmāʾ al-Mūʾalifin va Āthār al-Muṣanifin.  Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.

Khūzān, Maryam. “Dāstān  Vahmnāk”. Nashr-i Dānish. no.65 (Murdād va Shahrīvar 1991/1370) : 33-37.

Krachkovskii, Ignatii IUlianovich, Tārīkh Nivishtihāy Jughrāfīyāī  dar Jahān Islāmī, translated by Abū al-Qāsim Pāyandih, Tehran: ʾAlmī  va Farhangī, 2000/1379.

Maqdisī,  Abū ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad. Aḥsan al-Taqāsīm fī Maʻrifa  al-Aqālim. Cairo: Maktaba Madbūlī, 1991/1411.

Masʻūdī, Ḥusayn ibn ʻAlī. Murūj al-Dhahab wa Maʻādin al-Jawhar. Ed. Asʻad Dāghar, Qum, Dār al-Hijrah, 1989/1409.

Mihrī, Fāṭimih. “Mabādī  Ṭarḥi Nū dar Khānish ʿAjāyibnāmihhā”, Adab-i Fārsī, yr.8,  no.1(spring and summer 2018 /1397): 97-113.

Muḥammad Panāh, Bihnām, Asrār Tanadun Chīn Bāstān. Tehran: Sabzān, 2009 /1388.

Mūlavī, Muḥammad ʻAlī . “Pilyīnī”. Dar Dāyrah al-Maʿārf Buzurg Islāmī, vol.13, Zir Naẓar Kāẓim Mūsavī Bujnūrdī, Tehran: Markaz Dāyrah al-Maʿārf Buzurg Islāmī, 2020/1399.

Muqīmī, Qahār, “Ibn Vaṣyf Shāh”. Dar Dāyrah al-Maʿārf Buzurg Islāmī, vol.5, Zir Naẓar Kāẓim Mūsavī Bujnūrdī, Tehran: Markaz Dāyrah al-Maʿārf Buzurg Islāmī, 2020/1399.

Nūrūzī, Sārā, “Shīz dar ʿAjāyibnāmihhā”, Tārīkh Rivāī,  2, no.7(2017/1396).

Parvīzī, Muḥammad, “ʿAjāyibnāmihhā va Ajāyibnigārīhā”. Tandīs, no.112 (Ābān 1989 /1368 ) : 12-15.

Pīshāvarī. Nigārstān ʿAjāyib va Gharāyb bā Muqadamih Muḥīt Ṭabāṭabāī. Tehran: Kitābfurūshī Adabīyih Nāsir Khusrū, s.d.

Qāzvīnī, Zakaryā ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd. ʿAjāyib al-Makhlūqāt wa Gharāyb al-Mūjūdāt. Tehran: Muḥammad Naṣīr Khānsārī, 1283.

Rāmhurmuzī, Buzurg ibn Shahryār, ʿAjāyb al-Hind, Barrih va Baḥrih, ed. Pieter Antonie va Van der Lith, Beirut: Dār va Maktaba Bybliyun, 2009.

Rāmhurmuzī, Buzurg ibn Shahryār, translated by Muḥammad Malikzādih, Tehran: Bunyād Farhang Irān, 1969/1348.

Rāzī, Amīr. “Ajāyibnāmih Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd  Hamidānī”. Sūrih Andīshih, no.74 (summer 1999/(1378: 125-131.

Riżābīgī, Maryam. “Muqāysih Taṭbīqī Asāṭir Mill Mukhtalif”. Dar Adabīyāt Fārsī, 5, no.20 (2008/1387): 155-175.

Sajādī Rād, Sayyid Karīm va Ṣidīqih Rād. “Barrisī Taṭbīqī Ūsṭūrih Gāv dar Asāṭir Mill Mukhtalif”. Dar Muṭāliʻat Taṭbīqī, 5, no.19(autumn 2011/1390): 29-44.

Shabān, Shīlā. Barrisī  Khāstgāhhāy ʿAjāyibnigārī dar Āsār, Hieronymus Bosch. Supervisor: Fāṭimih Hunarī Mihr, Master Thesis, Al-Zahra University, Faculty of Art, 2012/1391.

Sīrāfī, Ḥasan ibn Yazīd. Raḥlih. Ed. ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad Ḥabashī, Abū Ẓabī: al-Majmaʻ al-Thiqāfa, 1999.

Stenou, Katerina. Taṣvīr Dīgarī (Tafāvut az Ūstūrih tā Pishdāvarī). Translated by  Gītī Diyhīm, Tehran: Daftar Pazhūhishhāy Farhangī, 2004/1383.

Sulṭānī, Akram, “Baḥsī Pyrāmūn ʿAjāyibnāmihhā va Nażāyir Ān (Muʿarifī Gharāyb al-Dunyā va ʿAjāyb al-Aʿālā  Shiykh Āzarī Ṭūsī)”. Majalih Dānishkadih Adabiyāt va ʻulum Insānī, no.57(2006/1385): 131-149.

Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Ayūbḥāsib. Tuḥfa al-Gharāyb. Ed. Jalāl Matīnī, Tehran: Kitānkhānih, Mūzih va Markāz Asnād Majlis Shurāy Islāmī, 1992/1371.

Tārīkh   Sīstān. Ed. Malik al-Shuʿrāy Bahār, s.n. Tehran: 2002/1381.

Thompson, Carl. Safarnāmihnivīsī: Nigāhī bih Taḥavulāt Safarnāmihnivīsī dar Gharb. translated by Saʿidih Zād Qanād, Tehran: Pazhūhishgāh Farhang va  Ḥunar va Irtibāṭāt, 2017/1396.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. ʿAjāyib al-Makhlūqāt va Gharāyb al-Mūjūdāt. Ed. Manūchihr Sutūdih, Tehran: ʻIilmī va Farhangī, 2003/1382.

Zumurudī, Ḥamīrā va Fāṭimih Mihrī, “ʿAjāyibnāmihhā va Mutun ʿAjāyibnāmihī: Muʿarifī Sākhtārī Matnhā”. Dar Sabkshināsī Naẓm va Nasr Fārsī, 7, no.26 (2014 /1393)