Al-Ḥabasha in Miṣr and the End of the World: Early Islamic Egyptian Apocalypse Narratives Related to Abyssinia

Abstract

Islamic narratives sources report little information on the relationship between Egypt and Abyssinia-called al-Ḥabasha in Arabic sources-in early Islam 2. According to the oldest Egyptian one, Futūḥ Miṣr wa akhbāruhā, written by Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam (d. 257/871), the Umayyad governor of Egypt, Maslama b. Mukhallad al-Anṣārī (47/668-62/682) sent an embassy to the master of Abyssinia (ṣāḥib al-Ḥabasha) 3 , while al-Kindī (d. 350/961), in his History of Governors of Egypt, relates an Egyptian expedition in Abyssinia in 150/767 against a Muslim Kharijite group 4. The topographical literature of Egypt, called al-Ḫiṭaṭ 5 , adds more information: al-Maqrīzī (d. 845/1442), according to al-Quḍā'ī (d. 454/1063), mentions Abyssinian elements in the army of ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ who conquered Egypt in 20/641 6. The presence of Abyssinians in the beginning of Islamic rule in Egypt seems confirmed by the toponymy of the new city of al-Fusṭāṭ: in the Southeast, a pond was called Birkat al-Ḥabash, the Pond of the Abyssinians, by the newcomers, which is a serious indication of Abyssinian groups living in the new capital of Egypt 7. 1 This paper is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 726206). 2 Ullendorff, "Ḥabash, Ḥabasha", 3. See also Cuoq, L'Islam en Ethiopie, des origines au XVIe siècle, 6. The term Ḥabash, used by Muslim historians and geographers, designates especially the population of Abyssinia. They often add the term land to speak about the country, arḍ al-Ḥabasha. One can note the elasticity of the term Ethiopia, used by historians to define the lands from South Egypt to the African Horn, including Nubia. On these questions,

Une tradition coranique égyptienne ? Le codex de ʿUqba b. ʿĀmir al-Ǧuhanī

“…L'on ne peut que spéculer sur ce qu'il entend par là. Ibn Yūnus appartenait à une famille d'élites savantes fusṭāṭiennes 24 et devait, de ce fait, être habitué aux types de calligraphie employés dans la copie du Coran 25 . Sa remarque viendrait-elle de son étonnement devant une écriture qui se singularisait par son aspect inhabituel ?…”