Ibn Abī Zar and Rawd al-Ḳirtas

This article is a survey of one of the most important local historical books of maghrib especially in Marinid’s period, entitled al- Anīs al-Mutrib bi Rawd al-Ḳirtās fī Akhbār Mulūk al-Maghrib wa Ta’rīkh Madīna Fās. This article is to recognize the real author’s identity, considering different views regarding this questionable subject, and also to represent method ofcomposition, the style of writing, the author’s resources and status of the work among the same historical writings of Marinid’s era by revising context of the book, and then comes to conclusion that ’Abulhasan b. Abdullā b. Abī Zar‘ was the author of at least the main part of the book or its draft. Since Marinids and Fez were brought under consideration, the work was imbued with genealogy and flattery. Whereas the author used to live at the age of Christian reconquest of Andalus, he recorded in a simple and fluent prose, valuable details of the event, especially the last wars between the Muslim and Christian in Marinid’s era. Finally it should be pointed that the author took advantage of coins, epigraphs, written sources and his eye observations well, to interpret the historical matters.