On Thursday morning 23/12/2021, a Ph.D. thesis, entitled “Subh Al-Asha in the writing of Al-Ansha by Al-Qalaqshandi (821 AH-1418AD) as a source on the history of the Arabs before Islam (a critical and analytical study)”, was discussed at the Department of History at the College of Arts / University of Basrah.
The thesis submitted by the student Nidaa Khudair Jabr included four chapters. The first chapter discussed the study of the biography of al-Qalqashandi and his method in his book (Subh Al-Asha), the second chapter dealt with the religious life of the Arabs before Islam, the third chapter discussed the political life of the Arabs before Islam, and the fourth chapter touched on social life and economics among the Arabs before Islam.
The thesis aims to study the history of the Arabs before Islam through the book Subh Al-Asha in the writing of the creation. It is considered one of the difficult topics, as Al-Qalqashandi’s main goal was not to write about the history of the Arabs before Islam and singling out his book (Subh Al-Asha) to record the history of that historical era.
The thesis concluded that Al-Qalqashandi grew up loving science, scholars, and research, and was distinguished by the encyclopedic character in his culture, so this was evident in his book, Subh al-Asha, with the diversity of its historical material, civilizational systems, scientific resources, trends, and intellectual opinions.
The thesis recommended that the book (Subh Al-A’sha) of Al-Qalqashandi has scientific value and importance, as the book is an important historical document for many of the works mentioned or quoted by Al-Qalqashandi.
