The Nasri Bee’s Egyptian Journey A Travelogue from the Levant to Egypt

Description

This work is one of the most significant travel accounts by Mustafa al-Bakri al-Siddiqi al-Dimashqi—a prominent 18th-century Ottoman-era scholar, highly regarded for his erudition and status. As a founder of the Khalwati Sufi order, al-Bakri maintained extensive scholarly and literary connections with the intellectuals and writers of his time, driven by a profound intellectual curiosity and a passion for travel. Published here in a critical edition for the first time, this text serves as a vital contribution to the corpus of Arabic literature from the Ottoman period, filling a crucial gap in the field. It functions as a living document—a historical record of a specific era and a comprehensive repository of knowledge about the period, containing information rarely found in other sources.

The text sheds light on a vast array of countries, villages, cities, religious shrines, and historic mosques that al-Bakri visited in Egypt and the Holy Lands—some of which are otherwise unknown to us today. This contributes significantly to the development of a geographical lexicon for that era, offering insight into the conditions of these regions at the time.

The work encompasses unique literary gems—both prose and poetry—as well as *ijazat* (scholarly licenses), religious inquiries addressed by al-Bakri, and various supplications (*ad’iyah*) and litanies (*awrad*) that he composed and recorded. These elements render the travelogue an invaluable resource and an indispensable, rich source of information.

The account documents the religious, social, political, and literary landscape prevalent during the author’s lifetime—such as the widespread influence of Sufism, the diversity of its various orders, and the proliferation of shrines and sanctuaries dedicated to its saints. The editor of this work was awarded the Ibn Battuta Prize for Travel Literature—in the category of manuscript editing—in recognition of the scholarly and literary effort invested in editing and studying the text, as well as for clarifying its more obscure aspects, thereby making it accessible to Arab readers and enthusiasts of this literary genre in an elegant, well-presented edition.