A Muslim Manual of War from the Fourteenth Century

Umar Ibn Ibrahim al-Awsi Al-Ansari, also known as Ibn al-'Adim, was a scholar and a civil servant in Egypt in the late fourteenth and earlu fifteenth centuries.  Before he died in 1408, he composed a manual on the art of warfare, called the Tafrij al-Kurun fi Tadbir al-Hurub.  This work is divided up into twenty books, which deal with various topics, such as the qualities of generals and troops, the use of deception to avoid war, precautions to be taken when marching and setting up camp, and how to conduct and defend against sieges.  The following three sections deal with conduct about battles.  The texts are republished in PDF versions.

Book Sixteen: About the description of the method of arraying the soldiers when they are mobilized for battle.

Book Seventeen: About what should be done while encountering the enemy and fighting him.

Book Eighteen: About what should be done while putting an enemy to rout.

These texts were first published in A Muslim Manual of War, edited and translated by George T. Scanlon (Cairo: The American University at Cairo Press, 1961).  We thank George T. Scanlon and The American University at Cairo Press for their permission to republish these sections.

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