Al-Qazwini
Āthār al-bilād wa-akhbār al-ʿibād
before 1238 CE
experimental AI-aided translation
2026
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NOTE |
Zakariyya‘ al-Qazwini (c. 1203-1283) was a Persian cosmographer and geographer who wrote a famous cosmological treatise and also a geographical dictionary. It is from the latter work, whose name translated into English as Monuments of the Lands and Historical Traditions about Their Peoples, that I excerpt the passages from the work’s chapter on the Third Climate relating to the ancient history of Egypt and the legends associated with it. Al-Qazwini does not provide a narrative history, and his chapter’s dictionary format offers little organizing logic to connect the sections together. They appear at intervals throughout the chapter, interspersed with discussions of other parts of North Africa and the Levant. The stories are not themselves unique—most appear in the historical work of al-Masʿūdī or in the Akhbar al-zaman that falsely passed under his name.
N.B.: Because al-Qazwini’s work has never been translated into a European language, this translation is experimental and was produced from the 1848 Arabic edition of Ferdinand Wüstenfeld with the aid of artificial intelligence. In other cases where I have used this method, I have had partial Latin, French, or German translations or extensive translated quotations to compare the results to. However, this was not possible for al-Qazwini. While the gist of the translation remained consistent across various platforms and models, different AI translators disagreed markedly about specific words and phrases, and Google’s translator was most prolix in adding explanatory material not in the original, while Copilot tended to fabricate names or hallucinate details where the text was difficult. Therefore, I cannot guarantee that the translation is word-perfect (especially for proper names, which had the greatest variance), and I advise readers to consult the Arabic original. |
MONUMENTS OF THE LANDS
AND HISTORICAL TRADITIONS ABOUT THEIR PEOPLES
THE THIRD CLIME
Praise be to the Lord of Lords and the Ordainer of Causes; and peace and blessings be upon the Master of the Messengers, the Intercessor whose intercession is accepted on the Day of Reckoning, and upon his family and his noble, pure, and illustrious companions.
The Third Clime
It begins at the latitude where the longest day lasts thirteen hours, one-half, and one-quarter [of an hour]. It encompasses parts of the lands of the East, Persia, Ahvaz, the Two Iraqs, the Levant, Egypt, Alexandria, Barca, and Ifriqiya; and it extends to the shores of the surrounding ocean. The longest day for the inhabitants of this clime lasts thirteen hours and forty minutes.
[…]
Ansina is an ancient city situated on the eastern bank of the Nile in the land of Egypt. Ibn al-Faqih relates the following account: “The city was transformed into stone; men and women alike were transmuted into rock while engaged in their daily activities. A man was lying with his wife; a butcher was in the act of severing a limb; a woman was passing by, kneading her dough; a child was reaching out his hand; and loaves of bread were in the oven—all were instantly turned into solid stone. Furthermore, Ansina is known for its ‘milk-stone,’ a mineral that is said to grow and propagate. If a piece of it is broken off, the remaining portion regenerates its mass. Moreover, if one stone is placed against another and left submerged in water for a year, the two fuse together to form a single, unified stone. If a ship is constructed from this material and remains in the water for a period of time, the entire vessel eventually becomes as if it were a single, monolithic piece. Perhaps the city’s renown stems from this very phenomenon. It also yields a fruit resembling the date palm in its color, shape, and taste.”
[…]
Akhmim is a small town, flourishing with palms and crops, situated on the eastern Nile. Among its wonders is the mountain on its western side, for if a person inclines his ear to it and listens carefully, he hears the sound of gurgling water, resembling the murmur of speech, though the specific words remain unintelligible.
And in the Akhbār Miṣr it is said that when God drowned Pharaoh and his armies in the sea, Egypt was left without men or soldiers. Then a woman of the royal house of the Pharaohs named Dalūka took charge, for she feared that kings would covet the land now that it lacked defenders. In her time there was a sorceress whom the Egyptians honored for her knowledge of magic, called Tadhūra. Dalūka said to her: “We are in need of you to make something that will serve as a protection for our land, to guard it from the kings, for we have been left without men.” Tadhūra agreed to what she asked. She constructed for her a great building with four gates, each facing one of the four directions. She depicted within it ships, men, horses, mules, and many other forms, and said: “I have made for you something that will spare you the need for men, weapons, and armies. Whoever comes against you from the land will be met by horsemen and mules and warriors; and whoever comes against you from the sea will be met by ships.” When the images were completed, if an enemy approached, the images would appear to move—horses and mules would seem to advance, and ships would seem to sail—until the attackers fled in terror. This story resembles the tales of the ancients, and is mentioned in many histories of Egypt. The building still stands today.
It is said that Abū al‑Ghayth Dhū al‑Nūn al‑Miṣrī, the famous ascetic of Akhmīm possessed wondrous states and strange marvels. It is said that Sām ibn ʿAbd Allāh al‑Maghribī asked Dhū al‑Nūn about the cause of his repentance. Dhū al‑Nūn replied: “There was something I could not bear to speak of.” He (al‑Maghribī) said, “By the right of your covenant with God, tell me.” He said: “I left Egypt intending to visit some villages. I slept along the road, and my eyes opened to see a great jar that had fallen from its shelf onto the ground. The earth split open, and from it emerged two serpents, one gold and the other silver. In one was sesame, and in the other something like flour. They would eat from one and drink from the other. I said to myself: ‘Woe to me! If the beasts of the earth are provided for in this way, how can I doubt God’s provision for me?’ So I repented. That was in the year 245.”
Yūsuf ibn al‑Ḥusayn said: “It reached me that Dhū al‑Nūn knew the Greatest Name of God. So I traveled to Egypt and served him for a year. I said to him: ‘Master, I have devoted myself to your service; I wish you would teach me the Greatest Name of God, for you will not find anyone more worthy of it than me.’ He remained silent for a year and some months. Then one day he gave me a small box wrapped in a cloth. Dhū al‑Nūn was then in Fusṭāṭ. He said: ‘Take this to our friend so‑and‑so in Fusṭāṭ.’ I took the box and walked along the road, thinking about it, until I could no longer restrain myself. I opened the cloth and lifted the lid—and behold, a mouse leapt out onto the dish! I screamed and threw it aside. I returned to him angry. When he saw me, he knew what was in my face. He said: ‘I entrusted you with a mouse, and you betrayed me. How then could I entrust you with the Greatest Name of God? Leave me, for I will never show it to you.’”
[,,,]
Concerning Alexandria, the famous city of Egypt on the shore of the sea, the historians disagreed about who built it. Some of them held that it was founded by the first Alexander, namely Dhū al-Qarnayn son of Sulūs al-Rūmī, who traversed the earth, reached the place of darkness and the setting-place of the sun, and whose teacher was Aristotle. He performed the pilgrimage to Mecca and emigrated, according to what God Most High has informed us concerning him. When he reached Egypt he did not depart from it before he took there a column of copper, from the top of which to its base was written: ‘There is no path behind me.” Others said that it was built by Alexander son of Dārā son of Dārāb son of Bahman son of Isfandiyār the Roman, who resembled Alexander the First because he too went to the lands of the East and West. He died at the age of thirty-two years. The first Alexander was a believer, whereas the second followed the doctrine of Aristotle. Between the first and the second there was a long span of time.
It is said that when Alexander came to build Alexandria, he merely rebuilt a city already built by Shaddād bin ʿĀd. Traces remained there of the giant people and colossal monuments. When the Greek wished to build Alexandria, he entered its temple and asked its god to reveal to him whether the city would endure or not. In a dream the idol said: “You shall build this city, and its buildings will stretch across the horizons. Its inhabitants will be beyond number. The wholesome winds will mingle in its air and drive sickness away from them. Build its walls strongly with lime and gypsum, and fortify it against evils so that the devils may not dwell in it. And if kings bring their armies against it, they shall not enter it by force.” Alexander examined its site and found its air pleasant, and established there many great marble columns, and he said: “This is one of the five places chosen by the gods.” He gathered the priests and chose the proper time for building it. They brought bells, and when the astrologers struck the bell, the builders began construction from all sides at once.
While they were working, a bird flew down and landed on the bell, causing it to move. The builders stopped. They said to Alexander: “You wanted its endurance, but God wanted its swift ruin. Only what God wills will be. Do not continue until its foundations are set.” When night came, spirits emerged from the ruins and destroyed what had been built. This continued every day, and guards were appointed to protect it, but each morning they found it ruined. Alexander then made a talisman to repel the spirits so they could not approach it. Al‑Masʿūdī said: “Upon the talisman are images, forms, and inscriptions that remain until our time. Each column is eighty cubits high, with images and writings.”
Alexander built underground chambers beneath the city, where a horseman could ride with his spear. He built seven walls around it. It is now a city rich in blessings. The commentators say that the “black land” in the verse: “And We inspired Moses and his brother: Settle your people in houses…” refers to Egypt, and that Alexandria was inhabited in the time of Moses and the magicians. It existed long before Alexander by thousands of years. Solomon also sat in it.
Al‑Gharnāṭī said: “Outside Alexandria, toward the sea, there is a platform of marble unlike anything else. Each column stands on a marble base, and on its top is something like it. The marble is white, speckled with red and black like Yemeni onyx. Its height is thirty cubits, and its circumference eight cubits. It has a door of marble, with its lintel and jambs also of marble.” This platform contains more than three hundred columns, all of one type and one shape. In the middle of this platform is a column of marble on a marble base, 101 cubits high and 45 cubits in circumference, polished like glass.
Among its wonders is a column known as Ḥaddād, like a great lighthouse, carved from a single stone, standing on a square base of red stone, and on another stone like a bowl. It is said that it was carved by a single craftsman, and the precision of its joints shows the strength of his skill. Abū al‑Rayḥān said in al‑Āthār al‑Bāqiya: “In Alexandria there is a moving column. People say it moves with the movement of the sun. They say this because when it leans, a pebble placed beneath it is crushed.” He said: “I tested it with a piece of glass and heard its crack.”
Alexandria is full of marvels. There is a stairway where the scholars sit to observe the sea. On its lower step was placed the instrument of the astronomer, for that was its proper position.
Among its wonders is the Lighthouse. Its base is carved from stone. Above it is a square tower, and above the square tower a round tower. The first is 90 cubits, the second the same, and the round one 30 cubits. At the top is a mirror, and beside it a watcher. When the enemy came from the lands of the Romans, the watcher saw them in the mirror and warned the people.
This mirror remained until the time of ʿAbd al‑Malik ibn Marwān. He was told: “There is treasure beneath the Lighthouse.” He sent men to dig beneath it. When they reached the foundation, the Lighthouse cracked. People panicked. When ʿAbd al‑Malik saw this, he realized the mirror had been destroyed, and he ordered the Roman prisoners to be executed.
The Lighthouse in our time stands on a high hill overlooking the sea. Its base is square and broad. A horseman can ascend it on horseback. The stones are long and well‑fitted. There remains now only the upper fortress, reached by steps. ʿAbd al‑ʿAzīz ibn Marwān gathered the architects and said: “I want to restore Alexandria to what it was. Look at it and tell me.” They went to the ruins and returned with twenty measures of dust from its stones. They said: “These men are exhausted. We cannot restore it to what it was.”
[…]
Jazīra (Giza?), a city teeming with Muslims who had conquered it by force, remained under their dominion for a considerable period; indeed, it continued to serve as a major center for many years. Eventually, however, the inhabitants suffered a decline in their fortunes. Jazīra is a district located in Egypt. According to Hamid al-Andalusi, the site contains a talismanic device for controlling the sands, specifically, a statue [the Sphinx?]. The sands lie behind it, extending toward the direction from which the winds blow from the lands of the Maghreb; once carried to this statue, the sand advances no further. The villages, districts, farms, and orchards all lie before this statue, while the vast expanse of sand stretches out behind it. This sandy terrain was once the site of cities and villages; the sand has now engulfed and buried them, though the marble pinnacles of their structures and the bones of their inhabitants remain visible amidst the sands, albeit inaccessible. He recounted: “I once ascended some of the sand dunes at dawn, after the sands had shifted and piled up during the night, and I beheld the sand stretching out like a boundless ocean, its horizon utterly indistinguishable. I caught sight of the City of Pharaoh Joseph (peace be upon him), a city whose architecture and palaces were grander and more exquisitely constructed than those of the City of Pharaoh Moses (peace be upon him). The sands had partially engulfed it, yet the marble pinnacles of the palaces remained visible above the surface. I located the entrance to the palace of Joseph (peace be upon him) and ascended a passageway within it, a steep, arduous climb, until I reached the central courtyard of the palace of Joseph (peace be upon him). Inscribed upon one of its walls was the name ‘Joseph.’” This city was encircled by a formidable fortress wall and abounded with flowing waters, vineyards, orchards, and gardens filled with grapes, pomegranates, apples, and figs. Its produce was so sweet and succulent that it surpassed the fruits of any other region watered by the heavens.
[…]
Amulā is a city situated on the eastern bank of the Nile. It is asserted (and God knows best) that the world’s entire supply of emeralds is found within this region. There are two mountains there; one is known as the “Mountain of the Emeralds,” and the other is called the “Mountain of the Adversaries.” These two mountains stand opposite one another, separated by a distance of three miles.
[…]
Damietta is an ancient city situated between Tennis and Fusṭāṭ (Cairo). It is distinguished by its exceptionally pure air and serves as one of the frontier strongholds of the Islamic world, located at the point where the waters of the Nile River flow into the sea. The Nile’s width at this location measures approximately one hundred cubits. [...]
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There is a fissure in the cliff overlooking the Nile, specifically near the well-known Mount of Joseph (Jabal Yusuf). On the feast day of this monastery, people of every description flock to the site. Not a single person remains behind; they all gather at that fissure and cry out in supplication at daybreak. One after another, they insert their heads into the cleft and continue to cry out until one of their heads becomes firmly wedged within the rock. The individual remains trapped there until he dies; at that moment, the rest of the crowd disperses, awaiting the arrival of the following year. No one remains behind, and thus concludes the annual ritual. This occurrence serves as an omen: if a head becomes wedged, it signifies that the year ahead will be one of great abundance and fertility. […]
[…]
Qadiya is a town in the districts of Egypt, situated on the banks of the Nile. It was said to contain a Birba—an ancient temple—that was considered one of the wonders of the world. Al-Masʿūdī relates: “I saw that Birba after it had been repurposed by some officials as a storehouse for fodder. I observed that whenever anyone approached its entrance with the intention of entering, any crawling creature or insect upon his person would immediately fall off before he could step inside.” It remained in this state until it fell into ruin during the month of Shawwal in the year 350 AH.
[…]
The region of Upper Egypt (the Said) is a land of wonders; the Nile flows through its midst, with cities and villages lining both its banks, their buildings overlooking the river, and gardens and orchards adorning its shores, bearing a striking resemblance to the landscape between Wasit and Basra in the land of Iraq. In Upper Egypt, there are ancient ruins containing tombs hewn into the rock face. Within these tombs lie the remains of humans, birds, cats, and dogs, all wrapped in coarse linen shrouds resembling bales of merchandise. These shrouds are treated with preservatives that prevent decay; indeed, were one to unwrap the linen from the remains, the body beneath would remain intact.
Al-Harawi recounts: “I once saw the remains of a young woman whose shroud had been removed; traces of henna dye were still visible on her hands and feet.” I have also been informed that when the people of Upper Egypt dig wells, they often discover graves hewn into the bedrock resembling stone troughs stacked one atop another. When such a grave is uncovered, the air causes the body within to disintegrate, though it may have remained intact for ages prior. Within these graves, they also find stones resembling minted gold coins, specifically dinar coins, bearing inscriptions in an ancient script. These are believed to be the dinars of Pharaoh and his people, the wealth that God Almighty transformed into stone in response to the supplication of Moses: “Our Lord! Destroy their wealth...”
[…]
Al‑Shams is a city that was once one of the royal seats of Pharaoh in Egypt. It lies on the western side of the Nile. It is said that Pharaoh’s treasures were buried there, and it is near Fusṭāṭ. They say that it was there that Jacob placed Joseph’s shirt upon his face. Among its marvels is what Ibn Ibrāhīm al‑Miṣrī related: that in it there are two pillars built upon the surface of the earth without any foundation. Each pillar is fifty cubits high. Upon them are figures of a human being riding an animal, and on the rider’s head is something like a helmet, with two eyes made of copper. When the Nile rises, moisture seeps from them, and water drips from the two images. The sun, at its rising, aligns with them: When it reaches the first degree of Capricorn, which is the shortest day of the year, it reaches the southern pillar, and rises directly over its dome. When it reaches the first degree of Cancer, the longest day of the year, it reaches the northern pillar, and rises directly over its dome. Between these two points it moves back and forth throughout the year. From the pillars there drips salt, and other substances, and people take from them for medicinal purposes.
[…]
Regarding the most renowned city of Egypt, specifically Fusṭāṭ, it was built by Amr ibn al-Aas. […] There was in Fusṭāṭ a talisman against crocodiles. Abū al‑Rayḥān al‑Mawārizmī said: “In Fusṭāṭ there was a talisman against crocodiles. They could not harm anything around it. When a crocodile approached its vicinity, it would roll over onto its back, and children would play with it. That talisman was broken, and the crocodiles returned.”
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A district in Upper Egypt, lying in a depression of the land, with the Nile overlooking it. It is said that Joseph the Truthful, when he governed Egypt and saw what its people suffered from famine, found that the Fayyūm was a marsh into which the surplus waters of Upper Egypt flowed. God revealed to him: “Dig three canals: one from the upper region of Upper Egypt, one to the east, and one to the west, each from such‑and‑such a place to such‑and‑such a place.” Joseph commanded the workers accordingly. The eastern canal flowed into the Nile; the western canal flowed into the desert; and the upper canal flowed into the Fayyūm. He ordered the laborers to remove the reeds and brushwood from it until the land became clean and good. Then the Nile rose, entered its canals, and irrigated it from the upper canal of Upper Egypt. All of this was completed in seventy days. His companions saw this and said: “This is the work of a thousand years!” So the place was named al‑Fayyūm.
Its lands became fertile like the lands of Egypt. It contains three hundred and sixty villages, and it is said that each village is irrigated for one day, according to the rising of the Nile. Then the produce of each village is collected, and the system continued in this way. They planted grains and trees until it became mostly gardens. People marveled at what Joseph had done. He said: “I have no knowledge of the unseen except what I have seen. Let every district of Egypt send me its original register of sales and taxes, and let every household build for itself a village.” Thus the villages of the Fayyūm were made to correspond to the districts of Egypt. When they finished building, Joseph allotted to each village a fixed amount of water, neither more nor less. He assigned to each village its irrigation time, day and night, and fixed its share so that no one would take more or less than his due.
Pharaoh said to him: “This is from the kingdom of heaven.” Joseph replied: “Yes. I learned from it the weights of the earth and water, and how to take their measures.” Joseph spoke of the science of extracting water and the divine success granted in it.
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Qifṭ is a city in the land of Egypt, in Upper Egypt. It has many orchards and cultivated fields, and it produces dates, grapes, and lemons. The author of ʿAjāʾib al‑Akhbār says: In it there is a temple whose roof is supported by three hundred and sixty columns, each column carved from a single piece of stone. At the top of each column is the image of a man wearing a cap. The entire roof is laid upon the edges of these columns at their corners, and the stones are so perfectly fitted that no joint can be seen; the viewer thinks it is a single piece. They say that these images are the portraits of the kings of that dynasty. On each column is an inscription, but no one in our present age can read it or understand what it contains.
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Egypt: A renowned region, forty nights’ journey in width and of equal length. Its length extends from Al-Arish to Aswan, and its width extends from Barca to Ayla. It was named after Misr ibn Misraim ibn Ham ibn Noah, its progenitor. It possesses the finest soil of any land and is the least prone to desolation; indeed, its blessing shall never cease as long as [humanity] remains upon the face of the earth. It is said that its climate is distinct from that of all other regions, and that its inhabitants are by nature refined and gentle. Some have described Egypt, saying:
“It consists of three months of white snow, three months of black musk, three months of green emerald, and three months of pure gold.
“Do you not see how Egypt has gathered within itself all manner of blossoms in a single season—The tender lily, the violet, the rose, the narcissus, and the jasmine?
“It is as if the earth itself were a garment, woven from the finest brocade and silk.”
Among its wonders is the rising of the Nile River, even as all other waters recede, at the very end of summer. Its waters inundate the entirety of the land of Egypt; and when the level rises twelve cubits, a herald proclaims daily: “The blessed Nile has risen by such-and-such [amount].”
In the middle of the Nile stands a structure built by Al-Ma‘mun, housing a Nilometer. Within this structure stands a column of Aswan granite, twenty-four cubits in height, with a marker inscribed upon each cubit. Each cubit is further subdivided into twenty-four fingers’ breadths. The chamber containing the Nilometer connects directly to the Nile, allowing the water to flow in so that its exact level may be ascertained by observing the column. Officials are stationed at the column to monitor and record these measurements. If the water level reaches sixteen cubits, a bountiful harvest is assured for the people of Egypt. If it rises beyond that, up to twenty cubits, the land is blessed with even greater fertility and abundance. It is said: “By God, a momentous event shall occur: the land of Egypt will become entirely a single body of water. The waters will surge forth, driving scorpions and serpents from their lairs; they will invade the villages and their outskirts, bringing with them mud and silt, until the waters of the Nile cover the entire face of the earth. Breathing becomes difficult, and whenever a patch of dry land emerges from the earth, seeds are sown upon it, and livestock are released to graze there. The floodwaters then recede into their channels, leaving behind a meager residue of moisture, yet yielding an abundant harvest—for God Almighty has endowed it with His mercy.”
It is also said—and this is a matter of common knowledge in the lands of Islam—that the Nile is unique among the rivers of the world. Originating in the lands of the Qum [the Mountains of the Moon], south of the Equator, it is the only river on earth that flows from south to north. Furthermore, it remains at its peak volume precisely when other waters and rivers are at their lowest ebb. While other rivers rise and fall in accordance with the changing seasons, the Nile alone defies this pattern. The Qadi [Judge] states: “God Almighty ordained the Nile to serve as a source of irrigation for the crops of Egypt, rendering the people self-sufficient during the summer months when the river is in full flood. The waters rise and flow through the canals and sluices, allowing people to measure the exact extent of the flood's rise and fall.” The Qadi further notes: “The first person to measure the Nile in Egypt was Yusuf ibn Abi al-Aas. Upon his arrival in the region, the locals approached him and said: ‘O Emir, our land observes a certain custom: the Nile will not flow unless we perform a specific ritual. When twelve nights of this month have passed, we select a young maiden; we appease her parents with gifts, adorn her in the finest garments and jewelry available, and then cast her into the Nile so that the river may flow.’ Amr [ibn al-Aas] replied: ‘Such a practice has no place in Islam; indeed, Islam abolishes and supersedes all the customs that preceded it.’” They settled in Bunna, Abib, Misra, and Hula Jajri for a short while, no more than a katya [a brief interval]. Then, the people were struck by drought. When ‘Amr observed this, he wrote to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) informing him of the situation. ‘Umar wrote back to him, stating: “You are correct; Islam obliterates what came before it. I have sent you a slip of paper; cast it into the Nile.” The message within the letter read: “From the Servant of Allah, ‘Umar, Commander of the Faithful, to the Nile of Egypt: As for what follows, if you flow of your own accord, then cease to flow; but if it is Allah, the One, the All-Subduing, who causes you to flow, then we ask Allah, the One, to make you flow.”
‘Amr al-Aas cast the slip into the Nile one day before the Coptic Festival of the Cross. The people of Egypt had already prepared to evacuate, for their livelihoods could not be sustained without the Nile. Yet, when they awoke the following morning, Allah had caused the Nile to rise by seventeen cubits in a single night.
As for the source of the Nile: It originates from the lands of the Zanj [East Africa], flowing through the lands of the Abyssinians until it reaches the lands of the Nubians. A traveler sailing upon it can see mountains to both his right and his left, until it finally empties into the sea. It is said that the reason for its rise during the summer is the heavy rainfall in the land of Zanzibar; in those regions, the rain pours down as if gushing from the mouths of waterskins, and torrents flow into the Nile from the surrounding valleys. By the time this water traverses those vast wildernesses and reaches Egypt, it coincides with the peak of the summer heat—precisely the time when the people are in dire need of it.
Among the wonders of the Nile is the crocodile (timsah), which is found nowhere else. It is said that it is also found in the Indus River, though not in the same massive size as those in the Nile. It is a predatory beast; should it seize a victim, its teeth interlock and become entangled, making it impossible for the victim to break free. As the poet said: “It seizes and crushes with its jaws the mighty Nile.”
Al‑Bawāqīl are jars from which the people of Egypt drink water. In it there is a small tree called in Greek Mouqīqūs. At night it appears with a glittering radiance, and many people think it is the fire of shepherds. But when someone approaches it, the closer he gets, the more the light diminishes, until when he reaches it, its light is extinguished. There is also a plant called al‑Dallis, from which the ropes of ships are made. The craftsmen of al‑Qūqus take a piece of this plant, light it, and it burns in their hands like a candle. Then they extinguish it, and it remains unburned throughout the night. When they need light, they take its end and whirl it for a moment like a sling, and it ignites by itself. There is also a kind of Indian pumpkin, two of which must be carried on a strong camel. Its taste is sweet like honey. There is a kind of lime the size of a melon, mottled like a mule. It is not found in any other land. If it is taken from its place, it does not survive.
There is a large bird, black‑bodied with a white head, called the Eagle of the Nile. When it flies, it says “Allāh fawq, fawq” (“God above, above”) in a clear voice that people can hear. It lives on the blood of the Nile and does not leave that place. The flea there has no wings or legs, and the mice of that region are more numerous than in any other land. When the Nile rises, the water overwhelms their holes, and not a single mouse remains in all the area. Then, after a time, they are born again in great numbers.
Among the wonders of Egypt is a creature called the mongoose. Al‑Masʿūdī said: “It is an animal larger than a rat and smaller than a weasel, with a black body. When it sees a snake, it approaches it, and the snake coils around it to devour it. When the mongoose gets inside the coils, it relaxes its body suddenly, and the snake’s body splits open from the force. This is the special property of this animal. They say that if the snake coils around it twice, it dies. In Egypt it is like the hedgehog in Khurāsān.”
Among the wonders of Egypt are the two pyramids near Fusṭāṭ. Abū al‑Ṣalt said: “Each of them is a structure of the greatest craftsmanship, square in base, rising in a tapering form. The height of each is three hundred and seventeen cubits. Around them are four faces, each a perfect triangle, each side measuring four hundred and sixty cubits. Despite their immense size, they are built with the utmost precision, firmness, and proportion. They are unaffected by the passing of ages, the beating of storms, or the shaking of earthquakes.”
Some people say that on the pyramids is written: “Whoever wishes to know the strength of the king who built them, let him destroy them. If he cannot destroy them with iron, let him try with fire.”
Ibn Zūlāq said: “We know of no structure in the world with stone laid upon stone that is higher or broader than these two. Their length on the ground is such‑and‑such cubits, and their height is measured as such‑and‑such.”
And Abū ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Salāma al‑Qaḍāʾī said in his Book of Egypt: A man entered one of the ancient tombs and found in it a scroll. They sought someone who could read it, and they found a monk in the monastery of Dayr al-Qalamūn who could decipher it. In it was written: “We observed the courses of the stars, and we saw that a calamity would descend from the heavens and rise from the earth, overshadowing us. We found it corrupting the earth, its plants, and its animals. So, when the western pyramid was completed, and the eastern pyramid was built for the son of its builder, we wrote on their sides that a plague would be born from the conjunction of the great cycle, at the moment when the Heart of Leo enters the first degree of Cancer. And the tablets will be found when the sun and moon are in these positions of the heavens: the sun in such‑and‑such a degree, Saturn in twenty‑eight degrees and twenty minutes of such‑and‑such a sign, Jupiter in twenty‑nine degrees and twenty minutes of such‑and‑such a sign, Mars in nine degrees and three minutes of such‑and‑such a sign, Venus in twenty‑eight degrees of such‑and‑such a sign, Mercury in twenty‑nine degrees of such‑and‑such a sign, the lunar apogee in five degrees and minutes of Leo.”
When Sūrīd died, he was buried in the eastern pyramid, and his brother Harmūj was buried in the western pyramid, and the son of his brother Darūn was buried in the pyramid that is colored. These pyramids have doors in vaulted chambers beneath the earth, descending one hundred and fifty cubits. The door of the eastern pyramid is on the east side; the door of the western pyramid is on the west side; and the door of the colored pyramid is on the north side. In the pyramids is gold in quantities beyond description.
The translator of this document carried it from the Coptic language into Arabic in the year 225 AH. He calculated the years from the beginning of the great cycle until his own time and found them to be 4,321 solar years. He then calculated how many years had passed from the beginning of the cycle until the present, and found them to be 3,941 years, leaving 380 years remaining. Thus he knew that the scroll had been written 380 years before the Flood.
Some poet said:
“The minds of the wise are bewildered by them, and the dreams of the great are humbled before their greatness.
“Lofty structures whose peaks the hands of builders cannot reach, and whose heights the imaginations of climbers cannot attain.
“Are they the tombs of foreign kings, or banners planted in the sands of Egypt?”
Some claimed that the pyramids of Egypt are the tombs of mighty kings, who wished to distinguish themselves from all other rulers after death, just as they had distinguished themselves in life, and that they desired their memory to endure through the ages.
Muhammad ibn al-‘Arabi, surnamed Muḥyī, said: “I think that those people were of the religion of the Sabians, and so they made the pyramids as a sign, perhaps because they knew through their science of the passing away and ruin of the world and the coming of the Resurrection.” Among those who excelled in this field was the first Hermes, a figure known to the Greeks as Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalalel, son of Kenan, son of Enosh, son of Seth, son of Adam (peace be upon them all). In the Arabic tradition, he is known as Idris. He mastered the sciences, acquiring them through diligent study and rigorous practice, and he preserved their knowledge for posterity.
Among the wonders of Egypt is the Sphinx, a great human‑shaped figure, carved and fashioned. The sand has covered most of it, leaving only its head visible. It is said that it is a talisman against the sand, so that the sands do not overwhelm the district of Giza, for the sands there are many, heaped and pressing upon one another. When I saw it in the year 512, only the upper part of its head was visible above the sand. It is a magnificent work, and it is said that the craftsman who made it died before completing it. Some who saw it said that there is a passageway in its ear, and that it is carved from a single stone.
Shāfiʿī al‑Iskandarī said: “Contemplate the construction of the two pyramids, and between them the mighty Sphinx.”
Within it, at its very summit, a basin was discovered, situated amidst the branching passages, measuring eight cubits and one span. I found it in a state of disrepair; indeed, what I witnessed fell short of its [historical] description, save for the two pyramids themselves, which remained just as I had seen them before. [Regarding the basin:] When the flowing water ceases to issue from its source and the liquid within it subsequently drains away, people investigate the cause. They then descend into the basin, cleanse it, and the water returns to it, resuming its flow just as it was before. Abu al-Rayhan al-Khwarizmi discussed the matter of this basin in his book, The Remaining Traces of Past Centuries (Al-Athar al-Baqiyah). [He noted that] this basin is known as Al-Haud (The Basin).
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Among its wonders is Mount Ṭayr (“Mountain of Birds”), in Upper Egypt east of al‑Fayyūm. It was named so because a kind of black bird called al‑Bawqahr comes there every year. When the bird arrives, it perches on a ledge in the mountain. Each bird enters its head into a hole in the rock. If it succeeds, it throws itself into the Nile and swims wherever it wishes. If it fails to enter its head, it is seized by the hole and remains hanging until it dies. When this happens, the people know that the year will be prosperous. If the bird succeeds, the year will be lean.
Also among its wonders is the Well of al‑ʿAyn al‑Dallīfa. People draw water from it into glass vessels with great effort. In a year they obtain about two hundred Egyptian pounds of water. There is a Christian man skilled in refining it; no one else can do it. Kings have tried to learn the craft from him, but he said: “If I teach anyone, I will lose my livelihood.”
Al‑Makkī said: “I drank from this well. Its water is sweet, with a slight medicinal taste.”
The king al‑ʿĀdil asked his father, the king al‑Nāṣir, to plant some balsam trees. He permitted him, and he spent great sums planting them, but they did not grow. He asked his father to divert a canal from the well to irrigate them. He did so, and the trees flourished. Thus they learned that the balsam grows only by the property of that well. There is no place in the world where the balsam tree grows except there. A man from the people of Injāz saw the balsam tree and said: “This is the very tree of balsam, but we do not know how to extract its sap.”
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Manf [Memphis] is the city of Pharaoh, the Pharaoh of Moses. It is said that it was the first city to be inhabited after the Flood. It is the city referred to in the verse of God Most High: “He entered the city at a time when its people were heedless.” It lies near Fusṭāṭ. There were in it four rivers, whose waters met at the place of Pharaoh’s throne.
A man said: “I entered Manf (Memphis). I saw the house of Pharaoh. I walked through its halls, its drinking‑rooms, and its chambers. All of it was carved from a single stone. I did not see in it two stones joined together, nor two rocks meeting. The remains of this city are still visible today in the stones of its palaces.” Ibn Zūlāq said: “I heard some of the scholars of Egypt say that the palace of Pharaoh—its pillars, its supports, its roof, its floor, and its walls—were all of green stone.”
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Ansina is an ancient city situated on the eastern bank of the Nile in the land of Egypt. Ibn al-Faqih relates the following account: “The city was transformed into stone; men and women alike were transmuted into rock while engaged in their daily activities. A man was lying with his wife; a butcher was in the act of severing a limb; a woman was passing by, kneading her dough; a child was reaching out his hand; and loaves of bread were in the oven—all were instantly turned into solid stone. Furthermore, Ansina is known for its ‘milk-stone,’ a mineral that is said to grow and propagate. If a piece of it is broken off, the remaining portion regenerates its mass. Moreover, if one stone is placed against another and left submerged in water for a year, the two fuse together to form a single, unified stone. If a ship is constructed from this material and remains in the water for a period of time, the entire vessel eventually becomes as if it were a single, monolithic piece. Perhaps the city’s renown stems from this very phenomenon. It also yields a fruit resembling the date palm in its color, shape, and taste.”
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Akhmim is a small town, flourishing with palms and crops, situated on the eastern Nile. Among its wonders is the mountain on its western side, for if a person inclines his ear to it and listens carefully, he hears the sound of gurgling water, resembling the murmur of speech, though the specific words remain unintelligible.
And in the Akhbār Miṣr it is said that when God drowned Pharaoh and his armies in the sea, Egypt was left without men or soldiers. Then a woman of the royal house of the Pharaohs named Dalūka took charge, for she feared that kings would covet the land now that it lacked defenders. In her time there was a sorceress whom the Egyptians honored for her knowledge of magic, called Tadhūra. Dalūka said to her: “We are in need of you to make something that will serve as a protection for our land, to guard it from the kings, for we have been left without men.” Tadhūra agreed to what she asked. She constructed for her a great building with four gates, each facing one of the four directions. She depicted within it ships, men, horses, mules, and many other forms, and said: “I have made for you something that will spare you the need for men, weapons, and armies. Whoever comes against you from the land will be met by horsemen and mules and warriors; and whoever comes against you from the sea will be met by ships.” When the images were completed, if an enemy approached, the images would appear to move—horses and mules would seem to advance, and ships would seem to sail—until the attackers fled in terror. This story resembles the tales of the ancients, and is mentioned in many histories of Egypt. The building still stands today.
It is said that Abū al‑Ghayth Dhū al‑Nūn al‑Miṣrī, the famous ascetic of Akhmīm possessed wondrous states and strange marvels. It is said that Sām ibn ʿAbd Allāh al‑Maghribī asked Dhū al‑Nūn about the cause of his repentance. Dhū al‑Nūn replied: “There was something I could not bear to speak of.” He (al‑Maghribī) said, “By the right of your covenant with God, tell me.” He said: “I left Egypt intending to visit some villages. I slept along the road, and my eyes opened to see a great jar that had fallen from its shelf onto the ground. The earth split open, and from it emerged two serpents, one gold and the other silver. In one was sesame, and in the other something like flour. They would eat from one and drink from the other. I said to myself: ‘Woe to me! If the beasts of the earth are provided for in this way, how can I doubt God’s provision for me?’ So I repented. That was in the year 245.”
Yūsuf ibn al‑Ḥusayn said: “It reached me that Dhū al‑Nūn knew the Greatest Name of God. So I traveled to Egypt and served him for a year. I said to him: ‘Master, I have devoted myself to your service; I wish you would teach me the Greatest Name of God, for you will not find anyone more worthy of it than me.’ He remained silent for a year and some months. Then one day he gave me a small box wrapped in a cloth. Dhū al‑Nūn was then in Fusṭāṭ. He said: ‘Take this to our friend so‑and‑so in Fusṭāṭ.’ I took the box and walked along the road, thinking about it, until I could no longer restrain myself. I opened the cloth and lifted the lid—and behold, a mouse leapt out onto the dish! I screamed and threw it aside. I returned to him angry. When he saw me, he knew what was in my face. He said: ‘I entrusted you with a mouse, and you betrayed me. How then could I entrust you with the Greatest Name of God? Leave me, for I will never show it to you.’”
[,,,]
Concerning Alexandria, the famous city of Egypt on the shore of the sea, the historians disagreed about who built it. Some of them held that it was founded by the first Alexander, namely Dhū al-Qarnayn son of Sulūs al-Rūmī, who traversed the earth, reached the place of darkness and the setting-place of the sun, and whose teacher was Aristotle. He performed the pilgrimage to Mecca and emigrated, according to what God Most High has informed us concerning him. When he reached Egypt he did not depart from it before he took there a column of copper, from the top of which to its base was written: ‘There is no path behind me.” Others said that it was built by Alexander son of Dārā son of Dārāb son of Bahman son of Isfandiyār the Roman, who resembled Alexander the First because he too went to the lands of the East and West. He died at the age of thirty-two years. The first Alexander was a believer, whereas the second followed the doctrine of Aristotle. Between the first and the second there was a long span of time.
It is said that when Alexander came to build Alexandria, he merely rebuilt a city already built by Shaddād bin ʿĀd. Traces remained there of the giant people and colossal monuments. When the Greek wished to build Alexandria, he entered its temple and asked its god to reveal to him whether the city would endure or not. In a dream the idol said: “You shall build this city, and its buildings will stretch across the horizons. Its inhabitants will be beyond number. The wholesome winds will mingle in its air and drive sickness away from them. Build its walls strongly with lime and gypsum, and fortify it against evils so that the devils may not dwell in it. And if kings bring their armies against it, they shall not enter it by force.” Alexander examined its site and found its air pleasant, and established there many great marble columns, and he said: “This is one of the five places chosen by the gods.” He gathered the priests and chose the proper time for building it. They brought bells, and when the astrologers struck the bell, the builders began construction from all sides at once.
While they were working, a bird flew down and landed on the bell, causing it to move. The builders stopped. They said to Alexander: “You wanted its endurance, but God wanted its swift ruin. Only what God wills will be. Do not continue until its foundations are set.” When night came, spirits emerged from the ruins and destroyed what had been built. This continued every day, and guards were appointed to protect it, but each morning they found it ruined. Alexander then made a talisman to repel the spirits so they could not approach it. Al‑Masʿūdī said: “Upon the talisman are images, forms, and inscriptions that remain until our time. Each column is eighty cubits high, with images and writings.”
Alexander built underground chambers beneath the city, where a horseman could ride with his spear. He built seven walls around it. It is now a city rich in blessings. The commentators say that the “black land” in the verse: “And We inspired Moses and his brother: Settle your people in houses…” refers to Egypt, and that Alexandria was inhabited in the time of Moses and the magicians. It existed long before Alexander by thousands of years. Solomon also sat in it.
Al‑Gharnāṭī said: “Outside Alexandria, toward the sea, there is a platform of marble unlike anything else. Each column stands on a marble base, and on its top is something like it. The marble is white, speckled with red and black like Yemeni onyx. Its height is thirty cubits, and its circumference eight cubits. It has a door of marble, with its lintel and jambs also of marble.” This platform contains more than three hundred columns, all of one type and one shape. In the middle of this platform is a column of marble on a marble base, 101 cubits high and 45 cubits in circumference, polished like glass.
Among its wonders is a column known as Ḥaddād, like a great lighthouse, carved from a single stone, standing on a square base of red stone, and on another stone like a bowl. It is said that it was carved by a single craftsman, and the precision of its joints shows the strength of his skill. Abū al‑Rayḥān said in al‑Āthār al‑Bāqiya: “In Alexandria there is a moving column. People say it moves with the movement of the sun. They say this because when it leans, a pebble placed beneath it is crushed.” He said: “I tested it with a piece of glass and heard its crack.”
Alexandria is full of marvels. There is a stairway where the scholars sit to observe the sea. On its lower step was placed the instrument of the astronomer, for that was its proper position.
Among its wonders is the Lighthouse. Its base is carved from stone. Above it is a square tower, and above the square tower a round tower. The first is 90 cubits, the second the same, and the round one 30 cubits. At the top is a mirror, and beside it a watcher. When the enemy came from the lands of the Romans, the watcher saw them in the mirror and warned the people.
This mirror remained until the time of ʿAbd al‑Malik ibn Marwān. He was told: “There is treasure beneath the Lighthouse.” He sent men to dig beneath it. When they reached the foundation, the Lighthouse cracked. People panicked. When ʿAbd al‑Malik saw this, he realized the mirror had been destroyed, and he ordered the Roman prisoners to be executed.
The Lighthouse in our time stands on a high hill overlooking the sea. Its base is square and broad. A horseman can ascend it on horseback. The stones are long and well‑fitted. There remains now only the upper fortress, reached by steps. ʿAbd al‑ʿAzīz ibn Marwān gathered the architects and said: “I want to restore Alexandria to what it was. Look at it and tell me.” They went to the ruins and returned with twenty measures of dust from its stones. They said: “These men are exhausted. We cannot restore it to what it was.”
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Jazīra (Giza?), a city teeming with Muslims who had conquered it by force, remained under their dominion for a considerable period; indeed, it continued to serve as a major center for many years. Eventually, however, the inhabitants suffered a decline in their fortunes. Jazīra is a district located in Egypt. According to Hamid al-Andalusi, the site contains a talismanic device for controlling the sands, specifically, a statue [the Sphinx?]. The sands lie behind it, extending toward the direction from which the winds blow from the lands of the Maghreb; once carried to this statue, the sand advances no further. The villages, districts, farms, and orchards all lie before this statue, while the vast expanse of sand stretches out behind it. This sandy terrain was once the site of cities and villages; the sand has now engulfed and buried them, though the marble pinnacles of their structures and the bones of their inhabitants remain visible amidst the sands, albeit inaccessible. He recounted: “I once ascended some of the sand dunes at dawn, after the sands had shifted and piled up during the night, and I beheld the sand stretching out like a boundless ocean, its horizon utterly indistinguishable. I caught sight of the City of Pharaoh Joseph (peace be upon him), a city whose architecture and palaces were grander and more exquisitely constructed than those of the City of Pharaoh Moses (peace be upon him). The sands had partially engulfed it, yet the marble pinnacles of the palaces remained visible above the surface. I located the entrance to the palace of Joseph (peace be upon him) and ascended a passageway within it, a steep, arduous climb, until I reached the central courtyard of the palace of Joseph (peace be upon him). Inscribed upon one of its walls was the name ‘Joseph.’” This city was encircled by a formidable fortress wall and abounded with flowing waters, vineyards, orchards, and gardens filled with grapes, pomegranates, apples, and figs. Its produce was so sweet and succulent that it surpassed the fruits of any other region watered by the heavens.
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Amulā is a city situated on the eastern bank of the Nile. It is asserted (and God knows best) that the world’s entire supply of emeralds is found within this region. There are two mountains there; one is known as the “Mountain of the Emeralds,” and the other is called the “Mountain of the Adversaries.” These two mountains stand opposite one another, separated by a distance of three miles.
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Damietta is an ancient city situated between Tennis and Fusṭāṭ (Cairo). It is distinguished by its exceptionally pure air and serves as one of the frontier strongholds of the Islamic world, located at the point where the waters of the Nile River flow into the sea. The Nile’s width at this location measures approximately one hundred cubits. [...]
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There is a fissure in the cliff overlooking the Nile, specifically near the well-known Mount of Joseph (Jabal Yusuf). On the feast day of this monastery, people of every description flock to the site. Not a single person remains behind; they all gather at that fissure and cry out in supplication at daybreak. One after another, they insert their heads into the cleft and continue to cry out until one of their heads becomes firmly wedged within the rock. The individual remains trapped there until he dies; at that moment, the rest of the crowd disperses, awaiting the arrival of the following year. No one remains behind, and thus concludes the annual ritual. This occurrence serves as an omen: if a head becomes wedged, it signifies that the year ahead will be one of great abundance and fertility. […]
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Qadiya is a town in the districts of Egypt, situated on the banks of the Nile. It was said to contain a Birba—an ancient temple—that was considered one of the wonders of the world. Al-Masʿūdī relates: “I saw that Birba after it had been repurposed by some officials as a storehouse for fodder. I observed that whenever anyone approached its entrance with the intention of entering, any crawling creature or insect upon his person would immediately fall off before he could step inside.” It remained in this state until it fell into ruin during the month of Shawwal in the year 350 AH.
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The region of Upper Egypt (the Said) is a land of wonders; the Nile flows through its midst, with cities and villages lining both its banks, their buildings overlooking the river, and gardens and orchards adorning its shores, bearing a striking resemblance to the landscape between Wasit and Basra in the land of Iraq. In Upper Egypt, there are ancient ruins containing tombs hewn into the rock face. Within these tombs lie the remains of humans, birds, cats, and dogs, all wrapped in coarse linen shrouds resembling bales of merchandise. These shrouds are treated with preservatives that prevent decay; indeed, were one to unwrap the linen from the remains, the body beneath would remain intact.
Al-Harawi recounts: “I once saw the remains of a young woman whose shroud had been removed; traces of henna dye were still visible on her hands and feet.” I have also been informed that when the people of Upper Egypt dig wells, they often discover graves hewn into the bedrock resembling stone troughs stacked one atop another. When such a grave is uncovered, the air causes the body within to disintegrate, though it may have remained intact for ages prior. Within these graves, they also find stones resembling minted gold coins, specifically dinar coins, bearing inscriptions in an ancient script. These are believed to be the dinars of Pharaoh and his people, the wealth that God Almighty transformed into stone in response to the supplication of Moses: “Our Lord! Destroy their wealth...”
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Al‑Shams is a city that was once one of the royal seats of Pharaoh in Egypt. It lies on the western side of the Nile. It is said that Pharaoh’s treasures were buried there, and it is near Fusṭāṭ. They say that it was there that Jacob placed Joseph’s shirt upon his face. Among its marvels is what Ibn Ibrāhīm al‑Miṣrī related: that in it there are two pillars built upon the surface of the earth without any foundation. Each pillar is fifty cubits high. Upon them are figures of a human being riding an animal, and on the rider’s head is something like a helmet, with two eyes made of copper. When the Nile rises, moisture seeps from them, and water drips from the two images. The sun, at its rising, aligns with them: When it reaches the first degree of Capricorn, which is the shortest day of the year, it reaches the southern pillar, and rises directly over its dome. When it reaches the first degree of Cancer, the longest day of the year, it reaches the northern pillar, and rises directly over its dome. Between these two points it moves back and forth throughout the year. From the pillars there drips salt, and other substances, and people take from them for medicinal purposes.
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Regarding the most renowned city of Egypt, specifically Fusṭāṭ, it was built by Amr ibn al-Aas. […] There was in Fusṭāṭ a talisman against crocodiles. Abū al‑Rayḥān al‑Mawārizmī said: “In Fusṭāṭ there was a talisman against crocodiles. They could not harm anything around it. When a crocodile approached its vicinity, it would roll over onto its back, and children would play with it. That talisman was broken, and the crocodiles returned.”
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A district in Upper Egypt, lying in a depression of the land, with the Nile overlooking it. It is said that Joseph the Truthful, when he governed Egypt and saw what its people suffered from famine, found that the Fayyūm was a marsh into which the surplus waters of Upper Egypt flowed. God revealed to him: “Dig three canals: one from the upper region of Upper Egypt, one to the east, and one to the west, each from such‑and‑such a place to such‑and‑such a place.” Joseph commanded the workers accordingly. The eastern canal flowed into the Nile; the western canal flowed into the desert; and the upper canal flowed into the Fayyūm. He ordered the laborers to remove the reeds and brushwood from it until the land became clean and good. Then the Nile rose, entered its canals, and irrigated it from the upper canal of Upper Egypt. All of this was completed in seventy days. His companions saw this and said: “This is the work of a thousand years!” So the place was named al‑Fayyūm.
Its lands became fertile like the lands of Egypt. It contains three hundred and sixty villages, and it is said that each village is irrigated for one day, according to the rising of the Nile. Then the produce of each village is collected, and the system continued in this way. They planted grains and trees until it became mostly gardens. People marveled at what Joseph had done. He said: “I have no knowledge of the unseen except what I have seen. Let every district of Egypt send me its original register of sales and taxes, and let every household build for itself a village.” Thus the villages of the Fayyūm were made to correspond to the districts of Egypt. When they finished building, Joseph allotted to each village a fixed amount of water, neither more nor less. He assigned to each village its irrigation time, day and night, and fixed its share so that no one would take more or less than his due.
Pharaoh said to him: “This is from the kingdom of heaven.” Joseph replied: “Yes. I learned from it the weights of the earth and water, and how to take their measures.” Joseph spoke of the science of extracting water and the divine success granted in it.
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Qifṭ is a city in the land of Egypt, in Upper Egypt. It has many orchards and cultivated fields, and it produces dates, grapes, and lemons. The author of ʿAjāʾib al‑Akhbār says: In it there is a temple whose roof is supported by three hundred and sixty columns, each column carved from a single piece of stone. At the top of each column is the image of a man wearing a cap. The entire roof is laid upon the edges of these columns at their corners, and the stones are so perfectly fitted that no joint can be seen; the viewer thinks it is a single piece. They say that these images are the portraits of the kings of that dynasty. On each column is an inscription, but no one in our present age can read it or understand what it contains.
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Egypt: A renowned region, forty nights’ journey in width and of equal length. Its length extends from Al-Arish to Aswan, and its width extends from Barca to Ayla. It was named after Misr ibn Misraim ibn Ham ibn Noah, its progenitor. It possesses the finest soil of any land and is the least prone to desolation; indeed, its blessing shall never cease as long as [humanity] remains upon the face of the earth. It is said that its climate is distinct from that of all other regions, and that its inhabitants are by nature refined and gentle. Some have described Egypt, saying:
“It consists of three months of white snow, three months of black musk, three months of green emerald, and three months of pure gold.
“Do you not see how Egypt has gathered within itself all manner of blossoms in a single season—The tender lily, the violet, the rose, the narcissus, and the jasmine?
“It is as if the earth itself were a garment, woven from the finest brocade and silk.”
Among its wonders is the rising of the Nile River, even as all other waters recede, at the very end of summer. Its waters inundate the entirety of the land of Egypt; and when the level rises twelve cubits, a herald proclaims daily: “The blessed Nile has risen by such-and-such [amount].”
In the middle of the Nile stands a structure built by Al-Ma‘mun, housing a Nilometer. Within this structure stands a column of Aswan granite, twenty-four cubits in height, with a marker inscribed upon each cubit. Each cubit is further subdivided into twenty-four fingers’ breadths. The chamber containing the Nilometer connects directly to the Nile, allowing the water to flow in so that its exact level may be ascertained by observing the column. Officials are stationed at the column to monitor and record these measurements. If the water level reaches sixteen cubits, a bountiful harvest is assured for the people of Egypt. If it rises beyond that, up to twenty cubits, the land is blessed with even greater fertility and abundance. It is said: “By God, a momentous event shall occur: the land of Egypt will become entirely a single body of water. The waters will surge forth, driving scorpions and serpents from their lairs; they will invade the villages and their outskirts, bringing with them mud and silt, until the waters of the Nile cover the entire face of the earth. Breathing becomes difficult, and whenever a patch of dry land emerges from the earth, seeds are sown upon it, and livestock are released to graze there. The floodwaters then recede into their channels, leaving behind a meager residue of moisture, yet yielding an abundant harvest—for God Almighty has endowed it with His mercy.”
It is also said—and this is a matter of common knowledge in the lands of Islam—that the Nile is unique among the rivers of the world. Originating in the lands of the Qum [the Mountains of the Moon], south of the Equator, it is the only river on earth that flows from south to north. Furthermore, it remains at its peak volume precisely when other waters and rivers are at their lowest ebb. While other rivers rise and fall in accordance with the changing seasons, the Nile alone defies this pattern. The Qadi [Judge] states: “God Almighty ordained the Nile to serve as a source of irrigation for the crops of Egypt, rendering the people self-sufficient during the summer months when the river is in full flood. The waters rise and flow through the canals and sluices, allowing people to measure the exact extent of the flood's rise and fall.” The Qadi further notes: “The first person to measure the Nile in Egypt was Yusuf ibn Abi al-Aas. Upon his arrival in the region, the locals approached him and said: ‘O Emir, our land observes a certain custom: the Nile will not flow unless we perform a specific ritual. When twelve nights of this month have passed, we select a young maiden; we appease her parents with gifts, adorn her in the finest garments and jewelry available, and then cast her into the Nile so that the river may flow.’ Amr [ibn al-Aas] replied: ‘Such a practice has no place in Islam; indeed, Islam abolishes and supersedes all the customs that preceded it.’” They settled in Bunna, Abib, Misra, and Hula Jajri for a short while, no more than a katya [a brief interval]. Then, the people were struck by drought. When ‘Amr observed this, he wrote to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) informing him of the situation. ‘Umar wrote back to him, stating: “You are correct; Islam obliterates what came before it. I have sent you a slip of paper; cast it into the Nile.” The message within the letter read: “From the Servant of Allah, ‘Umar, Commander of the Faithful, to the Nile of Egypt: As for what follows, if you flow of your own accord, then cease to flow; but if it is Allah, the One, the All-Subduing, who causes you to flow, then we ask Allah, the One, to make you flow.”
‘Amr al-Aas cast the slip into the Nile one day before the Coptic Festival of the Cross. The people of Egypt had already prepared to evacuate, for their livelihoods could not be sustained without the Nile. Yet, when they awoke the following morning, Allah had caused the Nile to rise by seventeen cubits in a single night.
As for the source of the Nile: It originates from the lands of the Zanj [East Africa], flowing through the lands of the Abyssinians until it reaches the lands of the Nubians. A traveler sailing upon it can see mountains to both his right and his left, until it finally empties into the sea. It is said that the reason for its rise during the summer is the heavy rainfall in the land of Zanzibar; in those regions, the rain pours down as if gushing from the mouths of waterskins, and torrents flow into the Nile from the surrounding valleys. By the time this water traverses those vast wildernesses and reaches Egypt, it coincides with the peak of the summer heat—precisely the time when the people are in dire need of it.
Among the wonders of the Nile is the crocodile (timsah), which is found nowhere else. It is said that it is also found in the Indus River, though not in the same massive size as those in the Nile. It is a predatory beast; should it seize a victim, its teeth interlock and become entangled, making it impossible for the victim to break free. As the poet said: “It seizes and crushes with its jaws the mighty Nile.”
Al‑Bawāqīl are jars from which the people of Egypt drink water. In it there is a small tree called in Greek Mouqīqūs. At night it appears with a glittering radiance, and many people think it is the fire of shepherds. But when someone approaches it, the closer he gets, the more the light diminishes, until when he reaches it, its light is extinguished. There is also a plant called al‑Dallis, from which the ropes of ships are made. The craftsmen of al‑Qūqus take a piece of this plant, light it, and it burns in their hands like a candle. Then they extinguish it, and it remains unburned throughout the night. When they need light, they take its end and whirl it for a moment like a sling, and it ignites by itself. There is also a kind of Indian pumpkin, two of which must be carried on a strong camel. Its taste is sweet like honey. There is a kind of lime the size of a melon, mottled like a mule. It is not found in any other land. If it is taken from its place, it does not survive.
There is a large bird, black‑bodied with a white head, called the Eagle of the Nile. When it flies, it says “Allāh fawq, fawq” (“God above, above”) in a clear voice that people can hear. It lives on the blood of the Nile and does not leave that place. The flea there has no wings or legs, and the mice of that region are more numerous than in any other land. When the Nile rises, the water overwhelms their holes, and not a single mouse remains in all the area. Then, after a time, they are born again in great numbers.
Among the wonders of Egypt is a creature called the mongoose. Al‑Masʿūdī said: “It is an animal larger than a rat and smaller than a weasel, with a black body. When it sees a snake, it approaches it, and the snake coils around it to devour it. When the mongoose gets inside the coils, it relaxes its body suddenly, and the snake’s body splits open from the force. This is the special property of this animal. They say that if the snake coils around it twice, it dies. In Egypt it is like the hedgehog in Khurāsān.”
Among the wonders of Egypt are the two pyramids near Fusṭāṭ. Abū al‑Ṣalt said: “Each of them is a structure of the greatest craftsmanship, square in base, rising in a tapering form. The height of each is three hundred and seventeen cubits. Around them are four faces, each a perfect triangle, each side measuring four hundred and sixty cubits. Despite their immense size, they are built with the utmost precision, firmness, and proportion. They are unaffected by the passing of ages, the beating of storms, or the shaking of earthquakes.”
Some people say that on the pyramids is written: “Whoever wishes to know the strength of the king who built them, let him destroy them. If he cannot destroy them with iron, let him try with fire.”
Ibn Zūlāq said: “We know of no structure in the world with stone laid upon stone that is higher or broader than these two. Their length on the ground is such‑and‑such cubits, and their height is measured as such‑and‑such.”
And Abū ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Salāma al‑Qaḍāʾī said in his Book of Egypt: A man entered one of the ancient tombs and found in it a scroll. They sought someone who could read it, and they found a monk in the monastery of Dayr al-Qalamūn who could decipher it. In it was written: “We observed the courses of the stars, and we saw that a calamity would descend from the heavens and rise from the earth, overshadowing us. We found it corrupting the earth, its plants, and its animals. So, when the western pyramid was completed, and the eastern pyramid was built for the son of its builder, we wrote on their sides that a plague would be born from the conjunction of the great cycle, at the moment when the Heart of Leo enters the first degree of Cancer. And the tablets will be found when the sun and moon are in these positions of the heavens: the sun in such‑and‑such a degree, Saturn in twenty‑eight degrees and twenty minutes of such‑and‑such a sign, Jupiter in twenty‑nine degrees and twenty minutes of such‑and‑such a sign, Mars in nine degrees and three minutes of such‑and‑such a sign, Venus in twenty‑eight degrees of such‑and‑such a sign, Mercury in twenty‑nine degrees of such‑and‑such a sign, the lunar apogee in five degrees and minutes of Leo.”
When Sūrīd died, he was buried in the eastern pyramid, and his brother Harmūj was buried in the western pyramid, and the son of his brother Darūn was buried in the pyramid that is colored. These pyramids have doors in vaulted chambers beneath the earth, descending one hundred and fifty cubits. The door of the eastern pyramid is on the east side; the door of the western pyramid is on the west side; and the door of the colored pyramid is on the north side. In the pyramids is gold in quantities beyond description.
The translator of this document carried it from the Coptic language into Arabic in the year 225 AH. He calculated the years from the beginning of the great cycle until his own time and found them to be 4,321 solar years. He then calculated how many years had passed from the beginning of the cycle until the present, and found them to be 3,941 years, leaving 380 years remaining. Thus he knew that the scroll had been written 380 years before the Flood.
Some poet said:
“The minds of the wise are bewildered by them, and the dreams of the great are humbled before their greatness.
“Lofty structures whose peaks the hands of builders cannot reach, and whose heights the imaginations of climbers cannot attain.
“Are they the tombs of foreign kings, or banners planted in the sands of Egypt?”
Some claimed that the pyramids of Egypt are the tombs of mighty kings, who wished to distinguish themselves from all other rulers after death, just as they had distinguished themselves in life, and that they desired their memory to endure through the ages.
Muhammad ibn al-‘Arabi, surnamed Muḥyī, said: “I think that those people were of the religion of the Sabians, and so they made the pyramids as a sign, perhaps because they knew through their science of the passing away and ruin of the world and the coming of the Resurrection.” Among those who excelled in this field was the first Hermes, a figure known to the Greeks as Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalalel, son of Kenan, son of Enosh, son of Seth, son of Adam (peace be upon them all). In the Arabic tradition, he is known as Idris. He mastered the sciences, acquiring them through diligent study and rigorous practice, and he preserved their knowledge for posterity.
Among the wonders of Egypt is the Sphinx, a great human‑shaped figure, carved and fashioned. The sand has covered most of it, leaving only its head visible. It is said that it is a talisman against the sand, so that the sands do not overwhelm the district of Giza, for the sands there are many, heaped and pressing upon one another. When I saw it in the year 512, only the upper part of its head was visible above the sand. It is a magnificent work, and it is said that the craftsman who made it died before completing it. Some who saw it said that there is a passageway in its ear, and that it is carved from a single stone.
Shāfiʿī al‑Iskandarī said: “Contemplate the construction of the two pyramids, and between them the mighty Sphinx.”
Within it, at its very summit, a basin was discovered, situated amidst the branching passages, measuring eight cubits and one span. I found it in a state of disrepair; indeed, what I witnessed fell short of its [historical] description, save for the two pyramids themselves, which remained just as I had seen them before. [Regarding the basin:] When the flowing water ceases to issue from its source and the liquid within it subsequently drains away, people investigate the cause. They then descend into the basin, cleanse it, and the water returns to it, resuming its flow just as it was before. Abu al-Rayhan al-Khwarizmi discussed the matter of this basin in his book, The Remaining Traces of Past Centuries (Al-Athar al-Baqiyah). [He noted that] this basin is known as Al-Haud (The Basin).
[…]
Among its wonders is Mount Ṭayr (“Mountain of Birds”), in Upper Egypt east of al‑Fayyūm. It was named so because a kind of black bird called al‑Bawqahr comes there every year. When the bird arrives, it perches on a ledge in the mountain. Each bird enters its head into a hole in the rock. If it succeeds, it throws itself into the Nile and swims wherever it wishes. If it fails to enter its head, it is seized by the hole and remains hanging until it dies. When this happens, the people know that the year will be prosperous. If the bird succeeds, the year will be lean.
Also among its wonders is the Well of al‑ʿAyn al‑Dallīfa. People draw water from it into glass vessels with great effort. In a year they obtain about two hundred Egyptian pounds of water. There is a Christian man skilled in refining it; no one else can do it. Kings have tried to learn the craft from him, but he said: “If I teach anyone, I will lose my livelihood.”
Al‑Makkī said: “I drank from this well. Its water is sweet, with a slight medicinal taste.”
The king al‑ʿĀdil asked his father, the king al‑Nāṣir, to plant some balsam trees. He permitted him, and he spent great sums planting them, but they did not grow. He asked his father to divert a canal from the well to irrigate them. He did so, and the trees flourished. Thus they learned that the balsam grows only by the property of that well. There is no place in the world where the balsam tree grows except there. A man from the people of Injāz saw the balsam tree and said: “This is the very tree of balsam, but we do not know how to extract its sap.”
[…]
Manf [Memphis] is the city of Pharaoh, the Pharaoh of Moses. It is said that it was the first city to be inhabited after the Flood. It is the city referred to in the verse of God Most High: “He entered the city at a time when its people were heedless.” It lies near Fusṭāṭ. There were in it four rivers, whose waters met at the place of Pharaoh’s throne.
A man said: “I entered Manf (Memphis). I saw the house of Pharaoh. I walked through its halls, its drinking‑rooms, and its chambers. All of it was carved from a single stone. I did not see in it two stones joined together, nor two rocks meeting. The remains of this city are still visible today in the stones of its palaces.” Ibn Zūlāq said: “I heard some of the scholars of Egypt say that the palace of Pharaoh—its pillars, its supports, its roof, its floor, and its walls—were all of green stone.”
[…]
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Source: Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, ed., Zakaria Ben Muhammed Ben Mahmud el‑Cazwini’s Kosmographie. Zweiter Theil. Kitāb Āthār al‑Bilād: Die Denkmäler der Länder (Göttingen: Dieterichsche Buchhandlung, 1848).
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