IFAO

Le traditionniste et historien Šams al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saḫāwī (831-902/1427-1497) écrivit à la fin de sa vie une longue autobiographie encore inédite. Contesté et amer, il n’hésite pas à y faire, sur plus de 640 pages, son propre éloge. Pour cela, il reprend la notice qu’il avait insérée auparavant dans son très célèbre dictionnaire biographique al-Ḍaw’ al-lāmiʿ. Le chapitre qu’il consacre à sa famille est ainsi l’occasion de montrer le chemin personnel qu’il a suivi pour devenir un savant exemplaire. Car ses origines familiales semblaient le destiner à un avenir de marchand. Mais ni son père, ni son édifiante tante Fāṭima ne l’empêcheront de consacrer son temps à l’étude encouragée par la toute proximité de la famille Bulqīnī et celle d’Ibn Ḥaǧar al-ʿAsqalānī. Un point d’analyse onomastique montre enfin comment le milieu familial a conduit Saḫāwī naturellement à celui des savants.

Mots-clés : Égypte – Le Caire – al-Saḫāwī – autobiographie – éloge de soi – famille – alliance matrimoniale – marchands – soufisme – onomastique – généalogie

The traditionist and historian Šams al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Saḫāwī (831-902/1427-1497) wrote at the end of his life a yet unpublished autobiography. Contested and bitter, he does not hesitate to do, over 640 pages, his own praise. For this, he uses the information he had previously inserted into his famous biographical dictionary al-Ḍaw’ al-lāmiʿ. The chapter devoted to his family is the opportunity for showing the personal path he followed to become an exemplary scholar. His family background was indeed leading him to be a future merchant. But neither his father nor his inspiring aunt Fāṭima prevent him from devoting his time to the study which was encouraged by the immediate vicinity of the Bulqīnī’s family and that of Ibn Ḥaǧar al-ʿAsqalānī. A short onomastic analysis finally shows how, naturally, his family led Saḫāwī towards the scholars circle.

Keywords : Egypt – Cairo – al-Saḫāwī – autobiography – self-praise – family – matrimonial alliance – merchants – sufism – onomastics – genealogy