Âkâm al-Marjân (translation and evaluation)

This thesis is a Turkish translation and analysis of the work entitled Ākām al-Marjān fī Dhikr al-Madāʾin al-Mashhūra fī Kulli Makān by Isḥāq b. al-Ḥusayn. The study is based on manuscript H 104 preserved in the collection of the Ambrosiana Library in Milan. The complete Turkish translation of the Arabic text has been prepared on the basis of the critical edition published by Prof. Angela Codazzi in 1929. The first chapter consists of a comprehensive analysis of the work, while the second chapter presents its full translation. Within the framework of the historical development of Islamic geography, the study examines the place of the work in the geographical literature, its manuscript copies, editions, content, sources, and position within the schools of Islamic geography. The analysis demonstrates that Ākām al-Marjān substantially overlaps with Dhikr al-Aqālīm, leading to the conclusion that the two texts may represent differently titled or abridged versions of the same work. Compared to Dhikr al-Aqālīm, Ākām al-Marjān appears shorter, partially incomplete, and compilatory in nature. These deficiencies have been supplemented through reference to Dhikr al-Aqālīm. Although the exact date and place of composition remain uncertain, internal textual evidence suggests that the work was composed in al-Andalus or the Maghrib during the mid-fourth/tenth century. In particular, the detailed descriptions of Andalusian cities indicate the author's strong familiarity with the region. Rather than being a systematic geographical treatise in the classical sense, Ākām al-Marjān is a work based on descriptions of selected cities. Beginning with the sacred cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, the narrative extends across a vast geographical area including Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Iran, North Africa, al-Andalus, Europe, India, and the Turkic lands. It is evident that some of the city descriptions contained in Ākām al-Marjān are not based on direct observation, but were instead compiled through extensive use of geographers belonging to the Iraqi school, such as al-Khwārizmī, al-Yaʿqūbī, Ibn Khurdādhbih, and Ibn Rustah. Nevertheless, certain passages concerning al-Andalus, Egypt, and the Turkic lands contain original and valuable information. In this respect, the thesis aims both to introduce Ākām al-Marjān to Turkish scholarship and to contribute to the broader field of Islamic geographical literature.