al-Jabart, Abd al-Ramn Abd al-Ramn b. asan al-Jabart (1166–1240/1753–1825) was a Cairene scholar best known for his account of the French occupation of Egypt from 1213/1798 to 1216/1801 and for the hybrid chronicle-biographical compen- dium, Ajib al-thr f l-tarjim wa-l-akhbr (“The marvelous chronicles. Biographies and events”), that he compiled later in life. The Jabart family descended from Muslim scholars from the part of the Horn of Africa known as Jabart, corre- sponding roughly to present-day eastern Ethiopia, northwestern Somalia, and Dji- bouti. In his necrology of his father, Abd al-Ramn describes his “seventh grand- father” migrating to Cairo at the begin- ning of the tenth/sixteenth century. Even before relocating to Egypt, the family, by the chronicler’s account, pro- duced several scholarly luminaries. The historian’s father, asan (d. 1187/1774), was a leading jurist of the anaf school of law. In addition to anaf fqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and Qurnic exegesis, he mastered mathematics and astronomy. Expertise in these last two felds was quite rare by the mid-twelfth/eighteenth cen- tury. Abd al-Ramn apparently inher- ited his father’s collection of astronomical instruments. According to his son, he also read Ottoman Turkish and Persian and was esteemed by high Ottoman offcials, including Suln Muaf III (r. 1170–87/1757–74). asan al-Jabart fathered forty chil- dren, of whom only Abd al-Ramn survived to adulthood. The historian’s mother was probably the “white slave,” undoubtedly Georgian or Circassian, whom he describes in the necrology of his father. Abd al-Ramn al-Jabart was about twenty years old when his father died, leaving a fortune large enough to maintain his son for life. The son nev- ertheless remained an active member of the ulam (Muslim scholars), heading al-Azhar’s residential college (riwq) for students from Jabart and cultivating ties with Cairo’s leading scholars. He was initiated into the Qrabshiyya branch of the Khalwat f order by the emi- nent Shf jurist Muammad al-ifn (d. 1181/1767). Following his father’s death, however, al-Jabart’s chief mentors were Murta al-Zabd (1145–1205/1732–91), J