Ibn Al-Makin

• He was one of the prominent thinkers of the 13th century.

• His full name is Abu al-Taiyeb Girgis ibn al-Amid, but he was called ibn al-Makin. His brother was al-ass’ad Ibrahim, the scribe of armies during the rule of King al-A’del (the Just).

• We do not know much about his biography; however, in his love to God he abstained from the world’s glory and dedicated his life to worship, asceticism and study in the monastery of Abbot Yoannis al-Qasir (the Short; known as Dair al-Baghl ) in Torah, south of Old Cairo.

• He was a pious monk and remained in his monastery devoting his time to contemplation, prayer, research, study and writing on ecclesiastical sciences.

• He became proficient in Coptic, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew and Syriac, as well as rhetoric, philosophy, logic, astronomy, and history.

• The Coptic language was obliterated in 706 when Abdullah the brother of al-walid ibn abd al-Malek ibn Marawan from Bani Omaya replaced Coptic with Arabic as the official language of Egypt; Coptic was forbidden in government offices. Ibn al-Makin was one of the first Coptic Orthodox writers to use the Arabic language in his works.

• There is no clear evidence that he was priest, but we can make this conclusion from some references. He died in Damascus.

• Sidio , mentions in his book ‘ The History of the Arabs’ that, “ Girgis, the Christian who died in 1273, known as ibn al-Makin, summarized

• and completed the history of Abi Gaafar ibn Garrir al-Tabari .”

• He wrote dogmas (doctrines) and civic history.

• Of his works, 4 books are renowned:

1. Mokhtassar al-baiyan fi tahkik al-iman known as Al-Hawi :

• It was one of the largest works on theology, doctrine, history, spirituality, and philosophy written in the 13th century.

• It is an apologetical work consisting of two volumes covering Church doctrine, and including interpretation of difficult passages of scripture.

2. Al-mostafad le zawi al-egtehad : This book was written against the heretics of his time. It is unpublished.

3. Al-Magmu al-Mubarak (Civic history; unpublished):

• Some parts of this work are based on the writings of the prominent historian, al-Tabari.

St. Boutrus Al-Sedmanti

• It consists of two volumes; it is believed they were written between 1262 and 1268. They focus on the chronology of kings and the rise and fall of kingdoms.

• Volume 1 covers the period from creation to Pre-Islam; Volume II covers from the Islamic period to 1260.

• The history of ibn al-Makin has been translated into French, English and Latin.

• It also was the main source of information for the book of the historian Al-Maqrizi (1364-1442) in the sections on Christians.

4. Completed the history work of al-Tabari :

• After the death of al-Tabri, ibn al-Makin completed his book.

• A manuscript of this book is preserved in Dar al-Kottob al-Masreya.

• Extracts have been translated into French and Latin.