Manifestations scientifiques
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Le séminaire de recherche de l'Ifao
Le mercredi 23 avril 2025 à 16h00 (heure du Caire), IFAO 
The oldest unpublished fragmentary parchment codex of Kitāb al-maghāzī by al-Wāqidī
Ahmed Nabil Maghraby
Langue : anglais.
The 4th session of the Séminaire de recherche de l’Ifao for this academic year 2024/2025 features Ahmed Nabil Maghraby (University of Sadat City and Ifao). It will be introduced and moderated by Abbès Zouache, director of studies at the Ifao.
The seminar is open to all interested participants, in person, subject to availability.
Abstract
The Book of the Prophet’s Military Campaigns (Kitāb al-Maghāzī), the seminal work of the renowned early Muslim historian al-Wāqidī (d. 207/822), is considered third in importance only to Maghāzī Sayidina Muḥammad of Mūsā ibn ʿUqba (d. 141/ 758) and Sīrat Ibn Isḥāq (d. 150/767) in the study of the prophet’s maghāzī and early Islamic history. This paper offers the unpublished fragmentary codex Pp. Inv. 22–29, currently housed in the Chester Beatty Arabic papyri collection in Ireland. This unique codex consists of eight fragmentary parchment folios of this work, preserving four distinct themes related to the Badr Battle. Based on palaeographical and textual analysis, it might date to the late 8th to early 9th century CE. In addition to offering invaluable early documentation of these themes of the Badr battle, it represents the earliest known surviving copy of the prophet’s maghāzī by al-Wāqidī and the oldest extant text of the maghāzī literature as a whole. This study aims to present this fragmentary manuscript, highlighting its textual significance and its broader contribution to the study of maghāzī and early Islamic historiography.
Ahmed Nabil Maghraby is a faculty member specializing in Arabic papyrology and the early Islamic history of Egypt, at the University of Sadat City, since 2019. Additionally, he is an associate researcher at the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) in Cairo, and previously, a Gaston Wiet Postdoctoral Fellow (2022–2024). He is an active member of the International Society for Arabic Papyrology. His doctoral dissertation at the University of Sadat City focused on the editing of the unpublished Arabic papyri corpus from Edfu, which is kept at the IFAO and the Louvre Museum. Ahmed is currently involved into international projects related to the Arabic documentation of Edfū. His current postdoctoral project focusing on the critical edition and study of the oldest unpublished parchment manuscript of Kitāb al-Maghāzī by al-Wāqidī. 
Le séminaire de recherche de l'Ifao
Le séminaire de recherche de l'Ifao est un lieu d'échange et de dialogue scientifique sur les recherches en cours sur l'Egypte, l'ensemble du Proche-Orient ou parfois les espaces plus vastes dans lesquels s'inscrit l'histoire égyptienne. Y sont présentées et discutées par un ou plusieurs intervenants les recherches menées par les membres de la communauté scientifique de l'Ifao, ainsi que par des chercheurs invités.
Le séminaire vise tout à la fois à exposer et confronter des savoirs, et à s'interroger sur des questions d'ordre méthodologique (appréhension du terrain, écriture, interdisciplinarité, humanités numériques, comparatisme, etc.).
Modalités : présentiel, distanciel ou mode hybride, le mercredi après-midi, de 16 à 18h (horaire susceptible d'être modifié en fonction de l'actualité).
Lieu : salle de conférence de l'Ifao.