Ibn abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Ibn abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi or al-Murrakushi (Full name: Abu abd Allah Muhammed ibn Muhammed ibn abd al-Malik al-Marrakushi Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن محمد بن عبد الملك المراكشي‎‎ ) (b. 5 July 1237 – September 1303) was a Moroccan scholar, historian, judge and biographer. He is the author of the famous book ‘Ad-Dayl wa Takmila’, a substantial collection of biographies of notable people from Morocco and al-Andalus. The book is composed of 9 volumes with approximately 700 pages each of which only 4 volumes reached us entirely (Volumes 1, 5, 6, 8 and parts of 2 and 4). It contains many intricate details, such as the exact pronunciation of names which isn’t always accurately rendered in the Arabic writing system.

In 1300, Ibn abd al-Malik left Marrakech following the court of the Marinid King Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr and settled in Mansourah, where the Marinids were besieging Tlemcen in an attempt to oust the Abd al-Wadid dynasty. He seems to have died there three years later in September 1303, though there were reports of him being at Aghmat only three months earlier.

Ibn abd al-Malik spent his life writing his biographical dictionary “ad-Dayl wa Takmila” which was completed only a few months before his death. The book was originally designed to complete the works of Ibn Bashkuwal and Ibn al-Faradi, but eventually surpassed them.

He had a son who settled in Málaga where he became a close friend of Ibn al-Khatib. The latter based much of his biographical book Al-Ihata on the works of Ibn abd al-Malik.