Mohammed al-Ifrani

Mohammad al-Ifrani
Born	1669/1670 Marrakesh, Morocco
Died	c. 1742/1743 Marrakesh, Morocco
Occupation(s)	Historian, Biographer

Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ifrani al-Susi al-Marrakushi (Arabic: محمد الصغير الإفراني) (1669/1670–c. 1742/1743), called al-Saghir, was a Moroccan historian and biographer.

Biography

al-Ifrani was born in 1669/1670 in Marrakesh. His family was from the Ifran tribe, a Shilha Berber tribe of the Draa River basin in the Sous region. He began his studies in his hometown, where he followed the courses of the scholar, Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Mawasi as-Susi (d. 1718). Then he went to Fez to continue his studies in the al-Qarawiyyin, where he attended the lessons of scholars such as Ahmad ibn Abd el-Hayy al-Halabi and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Fasi.

Works

Some of his works are:

• Nuzhat al-hddi bi-akhbar muluk al-Qarn al-Hadi, a chronicle of the Saadid sultans of Morocco
• al-Maslak as-sahl fi sharh tawchih Ibn Sahl, a commentary on Tawshih or Muwashshah of the Andalusian poet, Ibn Sahl
• Safwat man intashar min akhbar sulaha' al-qarn al-addi 'ashar, a compilation of biographies of 17th-century Moroccan saints
• az-Zill al-warif fi mafakhir Mawlana Ismail ibn al-Sharif (or Rawdat at-tarif), a monograph on the Alaouite sultan of Morocco, Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif
• Durar al-hijal fi ma'athir sab'at rijal, a monograph on the Seven Saints of Marrakesh
• al-Mu'rib fi akhbar al-Maghrib, a general history of Morocco until his time

Sources

• Lévi-Provençal, Évariste (1922). Les historiens des Chorfa: essai sur la littérature historique et biographique au Maroc du XVIe au XXe siècle (in French). Paris: Émile Larose.
• Chadli, Abdellatif (1984). "al-Ifrani, Muhammad al-Saghir". In Toufiq, Ahmed; Hajji, Mohamed (eds.). Ma'lamat al-Maghrib (Encyclopedia of Morocco) (in Arabic). Vol. 2. al-Jamī‘a al-Maghribiyya li-l-Ta’līf wa-l-Tarjama wa-l-Nashr.