Ibn Budayr

Shihab al-Din Ahmad Ibn Budayr al-Hallaq (Arabic: شهاب الدين أحمد بن بُدير), otherwise known as Ibn Budayr and al Budayri the Barber (Arabic: بديري الحلاق), c. 1701 — 1761 CE / 1112 or 1113 — 1175 AH, was a barber and popular historian from Damascus during Ottoman rule. He is most known for authoring a historical chronicle titled: "The Daily Events of Damascus" (Arabic: حوادث دمشق اليومية romanized: Hawadith Damashq al Yawmiyya).

Early life Born in the neighborhood al-Qubaybāt (Arabic: القبيبات), located about one kilometer southwest of Damascus and along the route to Mecca, Ibn Budayr grew up outside of the sphere of "high culture" and economic privilege. He descended from a family of 'akkām (Arabic: عكام), porters who served wealthy clients on the pilgrimage to Mecca, and would have grown up on modest means. Some prestige was allotted to his father and male relatives working as 'akkām for completing the Hajj several times, earning them the title hajji (Arabic: الحجّي; romanized: Hajji, Hajjeh, Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj). But Ibn Budayr and his family held very little social status in the Damascus hierarchy. While we know little about his father, he mentions his mother and two children in his chronicle, a daughter named Saliha (Arabic: صلحة), and a son involved in religious studies.

19th century map of Damascus published by Irish Presbyterian minister J. L. PorterAfter the death of his father, Ibn Budayr and his family moved to al-Ta`dīl (Arabic: التعديل), a neighborhood in the southwestern section of Damascus that was deeply integrated in local Damascene commerce and culture. al-Ta'dīl was most likely a relatively affluent neighborhood in this area.

As a child, Ibn Budayr apprenticed at a barbershop owned by Aḥmad Ibn al-Ḥashīsh (Arabic: أحمد بن الحشيش) that served local elites, such as Shaykh `Abd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī (Arabic: الشيخ عبد الغني بن النابلسي). He eventually established his own barbershop in the neighborhood Bāb al-Barīd (Arabic: باب البدرث) located in the wealthy center of Damascus.

Education He studied the Quran, theology, jurisprudence, grammar, and religious sciences under three prominent Damascene scholars. Two of his teachers frequently taught and studied at the famed Umayyad Mosque (Arabic: ألجامع ٱلأموي, romanized: al-Jāmiʿ al-Umawī).

Sufism Phrases Ibn Budayr includes in his writing indicate a sophisticated understanding of Sufism and mysticism that goes beyond basic familiarity. He was a member of the Qādiriyya (Arabic: القادرية) order, notably popular amongst scholars in Damascus. Ibn Budayr's choice to join the Qādiriyya was heavily influenced by his teacher Aḥmad al-Sābiq (Arabic: أحمد السابق).

"The Daily Events of Damascus" Ibn Budayr's chronicle stands apart from other histories of the time because for its rare depiction of the lives of commoners. Historically, the 'ulamā (Arabic: علماء), a wealthy, educated class of religious scholars, controlled the dissemination of written knowledge in Islamic society. During the 18th century, the 'ulamā began shifting away from historical chronicles to focus on subjects such as law, poetry, and ṭabaqāt (Arabic: طبقات) literature. These transformations opened space for historical literature produced by non-elites.

Hawadith Damashq al Yawmiyya "Daily Events of Damascus" reports on experiences from the perspective of the common people. The chronicle casts the social dynamic of Damascus as a battle between the "tyrannical rich and an oppressed poor. Ibn Budayr documents the failure of the qādī (Arabic: قاضي) and Governor As'ad Pasha al-Azm (Arabic: أسعد باشا العظم) to protect the working class from violence and extortion. He implicates several ulamā in artificially driving up wheat prices by hoarding supplies. He also reports on a series of bread riots that occurred in the 1740s, which escalated into armed confrontations and forced the qādī to flee Damascus for several weeks.

In the early 2000s, allegedly un-edited manuscript was discovered at Chester Beaty Library in Dublin by Shahab Ahmed, a scholar of Islam at Harvard University. Prior to this discovery, historians have relied on a heavily edited version of Ibn Budayr's manuscript compiled by Muḥammad Sacīd al-Qāsimī, the father of the prominent 19th century Syrian Islamic scholar Jamal al-Din bin al-Qasimi (Arabic: جمال الدين القاسمي‎; 1866 – 1914).