Uqbar - Uqbar, Algeria As A Possible Source

Uqbar, Algeria As A Possible Source

It appears that there is or was an ‘Uqbâr in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the Fatimid ruler Ismâ‘îl al-Mansûr (died 953) pursued his Kharijite enemy Abu Yazid into "the massif of ‘Uḳbâr", the Djabal Ma‘âdid (popularly spelled 'Maadid'). The Djabal Ma‘âdid is in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, in the area where the following local dynasty had its citadel, the present ruin of Qal‘at Bani Hammad, a famous archaeological site that was excavated by the French early in the 20th century. The account of Ismâ‘îl al-Mansûr mentions his continued operations in the area of ‘Uqbâr until he "pacified the Zâb", the "fastnesses" (mountains) of which are mentioned several times in the account. This city, however, is notably more obscure, and is not mentioned in the standard medieval Arabic geographical texts, such as Ibn Khordadhbeh, al-Idrisi, or Yaqut al-Hamawi.

Borges may have found a reference to it in any number of places, one of the most likely being accounts of the excavations, of the Kharijites, or of the Ibadhis – considered by Sunnis, but not by themselves, to be Kharijite – who live in what is today called the M’zab, in the Pentapolis (five cities), some of the minarets of which look somewhat like obelisks with flattened tops. Borges's story makes reference to the "obelisks" of Uqbar.

The first edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam (1913–1936), the only one that would have been available to Borges, does not seem to have any references to Uqbar, or for that matter Ukbara. So it is unclear which source, if any, he could have used. The name could also conceivably have arisen from a misprint of the name of the better-known town of Sidi `Uqbah, or Sidi Okba, in the same area.