Friday, March 22, 2013

Ibn Hazm - Ibn Shaddad, Baha'al-Din


Ibn Hazm
Ibn Hazm.  Patronymic of an Andalusian family, several members of which played an important role during the Spanish Umayyad caliphate.  Apart from Abu Muhammad ‘Ali ibn Hazm, there are the latter’s father Abu ‘Umar (d. 1012); his elder brother Abu Bakr (989-1011); his son Abu Rafi‘ al-Fadl (d. 1086); and his cousin Abu‘l-Mughira (d. 1046), who was vizier to the petty kings of Saragossa.

Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm (sometimes with al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī as well) (November 7, 994 – August 15, 1064) was an Andalusian-Arab philosopher, litterateur, psychologist, historian, jurist and theologian born in Córdoba, present-day Spain. He was a leading proponent of the Zahiri school of Islamic thought and produced a reported 400 works of which only 40 still survive, covering a range of topics such as Islamic jurisprudence, logic, history, ethics, comparative religion, and theology, as well as The Ring of the Dove, on the art of love.

Ibn Hazm was born into a notable family. His grandfather Sa'id and his father Ahmad both held high positions in the court of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham II and were said to be of Persian descent. Other scholars, however, believe that Iberian converts adopted such genealogies to better identify with the Arabs. Some contend that there is evidence for a Christian Iberian family background of Ibn Hazm going back to Manta Lisham (near Sevilla).

Ibn Hazm served as a minister in the Umayyad government, under the Caliphs of Córdoba, and was known to have worked under Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, Hajib (Grand Vizier) to the last of the Ummayad caliphs, Hisham III. After the death of the grand vizier al-Muzaffar in 1008, however, the Caliphate of Cordoba became embroiled in a civil war that lasted until 1031 resulting in its collapse and the emergence of many smaller states called Taifas. Ibn Hazm's father died in 1012 and Ibn Hazm continued to support the Umayyads, for which he was frequently imprisoned. By 1031, Ibn Hazm retreated to his family estate at Manta Lisham and began to express his activist convictions in the literary form.

According to a saying of the period, "the tongue of Ibn Hazm was a twin brother to the sword of al-Hajjaj" (a famous 7th century general and governor of Iraq) and he became so frequently quoted that the phrase “Ibn Hazm said” became proverbial.

He opposed the allegorical interpretation of religious texts, preferring instead a grammatical and syntactical interpretation of the Qur'an. He granted cognitive legitimacy only to revelation and sensation and considered deductive reasoning insufficient in legal and religious matters. He did much to revitalize the Zahiri madhhab, which denied the legitimacy of legal rulings based upon qiyas (analogy) and focused upon the literal meanings of legal injunctions in the Qur'an and hadith. Many of his rulings differed from those of his Zahiri predecessors, and consequently Ibn Hazm's followers are sometimes described as comprising a distinct madhhab.

A list of the works by Ibn Hazm include the following:

    * Al Kitab al-Muhallā bi'l Athār (The Book Ornamented with traditions), the only existing book of his legal rulings
    * Ihkam Al Ahkam fi Usul al Ahkam, usul al fiqh.
    * Mukhtasar al-Muhalla li Ibn Hazm, an abridgment of Ibn Hazm's fiqh manual.
    * Ṭawq al-Ḥamāmah (The Dove's Necklace or The Ring of the Dove)

In classical Arabic literary tradition, the dove represented love, or romance, while the ring refers to a necklace. In essence, it is the "necklace of love". The book is meant to adorn one's love. It is inspired by 'ishq (defined by Hakim Bey as "crazed, hopeless passion"), and treats equally of desire both for males and females, but cautions the reader against breaking religious injunctions and praises remaining chaste.

Ibn Hazm also wrote more than ten books on medicine.

Among his translated works are:

    * Al-Akhlaq wa al-Siyar fi Mudawat al-Nufus (Morals and Right Conduct in the Healing of Souls") [9]
    * Maratib al-`Ulum ("The Categories of the Sciences")
    * Al-Mujalla
    * Al-Fisal fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal ("The Separator Concerning Religions, Heresies, and Sects"). [10]


Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali
Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali (Abu Muhammad ‘Ali ibn Hazm) (Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi) (Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm) (November 7, 994 – August 15, 1064). Andalusian poet, historian, jurist, philosopher and theologian.  Born at Cordoba, he was one of the greatest thinkers of Arab-Muslim civilization and one of greatest figures of eleventh century Hispano-Arab literature.  He made scholarly contributions as a psychologist and moralist, as a theoretician of language, as a jurist -- he is the most outstanding representative of the Zahiri school -- and as a historian of religious ideas.

Ibn Hazm was a grandson of a Spanish convert to Islam.  He was chief minister at Cordoba, but was forced to withdraw from public life by the odium that his bitter attacks on his theological opponents aroused.

Ibn Hazm was perhaps the greatest figure in eleventh century Hispano-Arab prose literature.  He began as a poet, but he is now best known for his book on chivalrous love, Tauq al-Hamama (“The Ring of the Dove” or “The Necklace of the Dove”) [Tawq al-hamamah – “The Ring of the Turtle Dove”].  Tauq al-Hamama is a vivid picture of life in Muslim Spain, describing some of the more intimate experiences of Ibn Hazm himself.

Ibn Hazm belonged to the Zahiri school of Islam.  This was a strict sect which interpreted the Qur‘an literally, and which recognized no precedent except that based either on the Qur‘an or on the well-attested customs of the Prophet.  Ibn Hazm did, however, write an important book on comparative religion, The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects, in which he examined and refuted the claims made by the various non-Muslim faiths.  In The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects, Ibn Hazm dealt at length with inconsistencies in the Old and New Testaments.  Ibn Hazm attacked many of the most revered authorities of Islam which led to his books being publicly burned in Seville.

Ibn Hazm was renowned for his analysis of language, logical precision, psychological and moral insight, and social cynicism.  He made distinctive contributions as a poet, historian of religions, philosopher, theologian, and jurist.  The school of law which he espoused, the Zahiri, was a minority tradition in Andalusia, where Malikite jurists prevailed.  To bolster the legitimacy of the Zahiri viewpoint, Ibn Hazm tried to redefine fiqh only on the basis of the Qur‘an and hadith (prophetic traditions), rejecting the enormous spate of legal decisions derived from consensus -- ijma -- and individual interpretation -- ijtihad.

Ibn Hazm’s Kitab al-fisal wa‘l-nihal is a brilliant, painstakingly accurate summation of different viewpoints, though the ideas of some opponents are occasionally dismissed with a disdain bordering on mockery and ridicule. 

Ibn Hazm sparked both admiration and condemnation after his death.  Among his admirers was the noted Sufi theorist, Ibn ‘Arabi.

A list of works by Ibn Hazm includes:

    * Al Kitab al-Muhallā bi'l Athār (The Book Ornamented with traditions), the only existing book of his legal rulings
    * Ihkam Al Ahkam fi Usul al Ahkam, usul al fiqh.
    * Mukhtasar al-Muhalla li Ibn Hazm, an abridgment of Ibn Hazm's fiqh manual
    * Ṭawq al-Ḥamāmah (The Dove's Necklace or The Ring of the Dove)

In classical Arabic literary tradition, the dove represented love, or romance, while the ring refers to a necklace. In essence, it is the "necklace of love". The book is meant to adorn one's love. It is inspired by 'ishq (defined by Hakim Bey as "crazed, hopeless passion"), and treats equally of desire both for males and females, but cautions the reader against breaking religious injunctions and praises remaining chaste.

Ibn Hazm also wrote more than ten books on medicine.

Among his translated works are:

    * Al-Akhlaq wa al-Siyar fi Mudawat al-Nufus (Morals and Right Conduct in the Healing of Souls")
    * Maratib al-`Ulum ("The Categories of the Sciences")
    * Al-Mujalla
    * Al-Fisal fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal ("The Separator Concerning Religions, Heresies, and Sects").



Abu Muhammad 'Ali ibn Hazm see Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali
Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi see Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm see Ibn Hazm, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali


Ibn Hijja
Ibn Hijja (1366-1434). One of the most famous poets and prose writers of the Mameluke period.  In 1389, he witnessed the great burning of Damascus during the siege by the Burji Mameluke Barquq.  This incident gave Ibn Hijja the theme for his first literary work.  His most valuable contribution is his collection of official letters, diplomas, and private correspondence written while he was working at the Mameluke chancery.


Ibn Hisham, Abu Muhammad
Ibn Hisham, Abu Muhammad (Abu Muhammad ibn Hisham) (Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Malik bin Hisham) (d. 833).  Scholar of Basra, best known for his work on the biography of the Prophet.  He edited the Life of the Prophet of Ibn Ishaq, which is not preserved as a single work.  Comparison with passages from Ibn Ishaq’s work, which have been preserved by others but which were omitted by Ibn Hisham, shows that the material omitted was not directly relevant to the Prophet’s career.

Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Malik bin Hisham, or Ibn Hisham, edited the biography of Muhammad written by Ibn Ishaq. Ibn Ishaq's work is lost and is now only known in the recensions of Ibn Hisham and al-Tabari. Ibn Hisham grew up in Basra, Iraq, but moved afterwards to Egypt, where he gained a name as a grammarian and student of language and history. His family was of Himyarite origin, though some narrators trace him to Mu'afir ibn Ya'far, while others say he is a Dhuhli.

The works of Ibn Hisham include:

    * As-Sirah an-Nabawiyyah
    * He also wrote a work on South Arabian antiquities: Kitab al-Tijan li ma'rifati muluk al-zaman (Book of Crowns in knowing kings of the age)
Abu Muhammad ibn Hisham see Ibn Hisham, Abu Muhammad
Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Malik bin Hisham see Ibn Hisham, Abu Muhammad


Ibn Hisham, Jamal al-Din
Ibn Hisham, Jamal al-Din (Jamal al-Din ibn Hisham) (1310-1360).  Jurist and grammarian from Cairo.  Ibn Khaldun recognized him as one of those very rare men who, in the history of Arabic grammar, have succeeded in mastering the whole of their subject.
Jamal al-Din ibn Hisham see Ibn Hisham, Jamal al-Din


Ibn Hubayra
Ibn Hubayra.  The name of two persons, ‘Umar ibn Hubayra and his son Yusuf ibn ‘Umar, who were both governors of Iraq under the Umayyads during the eighth century.  Yusuf was unable to defend the Umayyad cause against Abu Muslim, the leader of the ‘Abbasid movement in Khurasan.  He had to abandon Caliph Marwan II to his fate in 750.


'Umar ibn Hubayra see Ibn Hubayra.
Yusuf ibn 'Umar ibn Hubayra see Ibn Hubayra.


Ibn Hubayra, ‘Awn al-Din
Ibn Hubayra, ‘Awn al-Din (‘Awn al-Din ibn Hubayra) (Abu al-Muzzafar Awn ad-Din Yahya ibn Hubayra al-Shaybani) (1104/1106-1165).  Scholar from Baghdad.  He served for sixteen years as vizier under the ‘Abbasid Caliphs al-Muqtafi and al-Mustanjid.  He brought the influence of the last Saljuqs to an end and had a hand in the conquest of Fatimid Egypt by the Zangid Nur al-Din Mahmud.

Abu al-Muzzafar Awn ad-Din Yahya ibn Hubayra al-Shaybani was a 12th century Arab politician and jurist, who served as vizier under al-Muqtafi and his successor al-Mustanjid.

He was born in Dour, Iraq. He received a classical Arabic education, studying the Qur'an and Arabic linguistics, the basis for an understanding of the Qur'an, hadith, and fiqh. He was appointed as the chief of the treasury by caliph al-Muqtafi, and in 1149, he was appointed as the vizier of the caliphate. In 1165, Ibn Hubayra died of natural causes.



'Awn al-Din ibn Hubayra see Ibn Hubayra, ‘Awn al-Din
Abu al-Muzzafar Awn ad-Din Yahya ibn Hubayra al-Shaybani see Ibn Hubayra, ‘Awn al-Din


Ibn Hubaysh
Ibn Hubaysh (1110-1188).  Traditionist of Muslim Spain.  Among other works, he wrote an account of the victorious expedition under the Caliphs Abu Bakr, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab and ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan.


Ibn Hudhayl
Ibn Hudhayl.  Man of letters and a writer in Granada during the fourteenth century.  He wrote a treatise on the Holy War, aimed at convincing the Andalusian Muslims of the need to resume the profession of arms and to establish a cavalry worthy of their ancestors.  This work is of the greatest importance for the knowledge of the equestrian and military arts in medieval Islam.


Ibn ‘Idhari, Abu‘l-‘Abbas
Ibn ‘Idhari, Abu‘l-‘Abbas (Abu‘l-‘Abbas ibn ‘Idhari) (Abū al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Idhāri al-Marrākushi).  Historian from the Maghrib.  He left an account of the history of Ifriqiya from the conquest of Egypt in 640 to the capture of al-Mahdiyya by the Almohads in 1205.  The work is a basic source for the history of the Maghrib and of al-Andalus.

Abū al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Idhāri al-Marrākushi, who lived in the late 13th and the early 14th century, was the author of an important medieval text (Al-Bayan al-Mughrib) on the history of the Maghreb (Morocco and Algeria) and Iberia written in 1312.

Little is known about the life of this author, who was born in Al-Andalus and lived in Marrakech. His history of the Maghreb and Iberia is widely regarded among modern researchers as containing valuable information not found elsewhere, including extracts from older works now lost.

Abu'l-'Abbas ibn 'Idhari see Ibn ‘Idhari, Abu‘l-‘Abbas
Abū al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Idhāri al-Marrākushi  see Ibn ‘Idhari, Abu‘l-‘Abbas
Marrakushi, Abū al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Idhāri al-  see Ibn ‘Idhari, Abu‘l-‘Abbas


Ibn Idris, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Ibn Idris, Abu ‘Abd Allah (Abu ‘Abd Allah ibn Idris) (1784(?)-1847).  Vizier and man of letters in Morocco.  The renaissance of the official epistolary style is due to him.
Abu 'Abd Allah ibn Idris see Ibn Idris, Abu ‘Abd Allah


Ibn Idris, Abu‘l-‘Ala‘
Ibn Idris, Abu‘l-‘Ala‘ (Abu‘l-‘Ala‘ ibn Idris) (d. 1879).  Son of Abu ‘Abd Allah ibn Idris.  He was sent on a diplomatic mission to Napoleon III, of which he left an account.
Abu'l-'Ala' ibn Idris see Ibn Idris, Abu‘l-‘Ala‘

Ibn Idris, Ahmad
Ibn Idris, Ahmad (Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Laraishi al-Yamlahi al-Alami al-Idrisi al-Hasani) (1749/1750/1760-1837).  Moroccan Sufi and teacher and founder of the Idrisiyah tradition.  Despite his importance within nineteenth century Islamic history, very little is known of the life of Ibn Idris, and contemporary accounts are sparse.

Ibn Idris was born near Larache in Morocco into a family of Idrisi sharifs.  He studied for some thirty years at the Qarawyyin mosque/school in Fez.  Among his teachers there in the formal Islamic sciences was Muhammad ibn Suda (d. 1795), while his principal Sufi master within the Shadhiliyah tradition was ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Tazi (d. 1792).  Ibn Idris left Morocco in 1798 and spent the next thirty years in and around Mecca and Medina, also making several extended visits to Luxor in Upper Egypt.  He was in Mecca during its occupation by the Wahhabis (1803-1813), only leaving for Upper Egypt when the town was conquered by the Egyptians. 

In 1828, he was forced by the hostility of the Meccan ‘ulama‘ to leave the Hejaz, although the exact circumstances are unclear.  He moved to Yemen and after a period of travel along the coast came to Asir, where he settled in Sabya at the invitation of the local ruler.  He died and was buried at Sabya.

Ibn Idris’s importance lay in his role as a Sufi spiritual master (murshid) and teacher.  Apart from prayers, litanies, a few sermons, and letters, he wrote little himself.  His teachings are known mainly through the lecture notes and other writings of his principal students.  The main compilation of his teachings is Al-‘iqd al-nafis fi nazm jawahir al-tadris … Ahmad ibn Idris.

Previous scholars have regarded Ibn Idris as a leading figure of the “neo-Sufi” movement, described as a re-formulation of the Islamic mystical tradition in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by such figures as Ibn Idris and Ahmad al-Tijani (d. 1815), the founder of the Tijaniyah tariqah.  Some of the assumptions about the teachings of the neo-Sufis – that they rejected the teachings of Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240), especially his doctrine of wahdat al-wujud, and opposed “popular” Sufi practices like dancing and saint worship, or a revival of hadith studies – are questionable, especially as applied to Ibn Idris.  Nevertheless, neo-Sufism usefully describes the new orders inspired by figures like Ibn Idris that were to dominate much of Muslim Africa and elsewhere.

Doctrinally, Ibn Idris vehemently opposed the madhhabs and all forms of philosophy or reasoning.  The pursuit of chains of transmission and the like was useless.  The individual Muslim must rely on God alone to grant him an understanding of the Qur‘an and sunnah:  “Knowledge is acquired by learning, namely from God; he who fears Him will know Him, and, contrarily, he who does not fear Him, will not know Him” (Ibn Idris, Risalat al-radd ‘ala ahl al-ra‘y).  Ibn Idris was as much opposed to ijtihad as he was to taqlid.  His teaching was anti-authoritarian, emphasizing the individual believer’s duty to seek God, by whom he will be guided so long as he relies on taqwa (“godfearingness”).  Although Ibn Idris’s teaching may be regarded as “fundamentalist,” his mystical apprehension of his religion separated him sharply from those following the teachings of, for example, Ibn Taymiyah (d. 1328).

As a Sufi Ibn Idris stood foursquare within the orthodox Sufi tradition.  The object of the mystical path was union with God.  The assertion made by several scholars that he substituted a union with the spirit of the Prophet for the union with God seems without foundation.  The mystic on the path may come to meet the Prophet, from whom

he may receive direct revelation (wahy), the highest form of knowledge.  Both his prayers and other aspects of his teachings show considerable traces of the influence of Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240), a fact brought out by later commentators on his prayers.  Although the dhikr of the later Idrisiyah tradition is usually silent, Ibn Idris in Kunuz al-jawahir al-nuraniyah fi qawa‘id al-tariqah al-Shadhiliyah describes a dhikr of movement.

There is no evidence that Ibn Idris attempted to establish his own tariqah.  It was as a spiritual master that he exercised such extraordinary influence, establishing a tradition that was to spread to the Balkans and Istanbul, Syria, Cyrenaica and the central Sahara, Egypt, the Sudan, Somalia, and across to Indonesia and Malaysia.  His principal students included Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Sanusi (1787-1859), founder of the Sanusiyah; Muhammad ‘Uthman al-Mirghani (1793-1852), founder of the Khatmiyah (from which derived the breakaway Isma‘iliyah in the Sudan); Ibrahim al-Rashid (1813-1874), from whom stemmed the Rashidiyah, Salihiyah, and Dandarawiyah orders; and Muhammad al-Majdhub (d. 1832).  Also among his students were numerous lesser figures who established local schools, for example ‘Ali ‘Abd al-Haqq al-Qusi (1788-1877), an Egyptian who settled at Asyut, founded a school, and wrote extensively on the taqlid/ijtihad debate, and Ahmad al-Dufari, a Sudanese who taught Ibn Idris’s prayers to Muhammad Ahmad ibn ‘Abd Allah, the Sudanese Mahdi (d. 1885).  A second generation of students spread Ibn Idris’s teaching across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia, where his prayers were translated into Malay languages, as well as along the East African coast as far as Zanzibar.  It was only some forty years after his death that a son, ‘Abd al-‘Al (d. 1878), worked to establish a formal Ahmadiyah Idrisiyah tariqah.  This order has remained a local order in Upper Egypt and the northern Sudan. 


Ahmad ibn Idris see Ibn Idris, Ahmad


Ibn-i Isfandiyar
Ibn-i Isfandiyar. Thirteenth century Persian historian known for his History of Tabaristan.


Ibn ‘Iraq
Ibn ‘Iraq.  Astronomer and mathematician of the eleventh century.  He was the teacher of al-Biruni. 


Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad
Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad (Muhammad ibn Ishaq) (Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar) (c.704-767).  One of the main authorities on the biography of the Prophet.  His work, known as Life of the Prophet was edited by Ibn Hisham.

Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar is known as the author of the first complete biography -- the first complete sira -- of Muhammad.  Ibn Ishaq was born in Medina into a non-Arab Muslim family of Traditionists.  Ibn Ishaq collected traditions, stories, and poems about Muhammad from many sources and, though renowned for his knowledge, came itno conflict with more conservative authorities. 

In Baghdad, under the patronage of the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur, Ibn Ishaq wrote the biography of Muhammad as a school text for the prince al-Mahdi.  The work was modeled on the Bible, the history of the world from creation to Muhammad comprising the “Old Testament” portion, and the life of Muhammad comprising the “New Testament” portion.  Ibn Ishaq’s work portrays Muhammad as the new Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and particularly Jesus, among others, although it is reasonably historical for Muhammad’s Medinan career.  Abridged by Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq’s biography became the most popular biography of Muhammad in the Muslim world.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥaq ibn Yasār, or simply Ibn Isḥaq (meaning "the son of Isaac") was an Arab Muslim historian and hagiographer. He collected oral traditions that formed the basis of the first biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. This biography is usually called Sirat Rasul Allah ("Life of God's Messenger").

Ibn Isḥaq was born circa 704 C.C., in Medina. He was the grandson of a man, Yasār, who had been captured in one of Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaigns and taken to Medina as a slave. He became the slave of Ḳays b. Makhrama b. al-Muṭṭalib b. ʿAbd Manāf b. Ḳuṣayy and, having accepted Islam, was manumitted and became his mawlā , thus acquiring the nisba al-Muṭṭalibī. Yasār's three sons, Mūsā, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and Isḥāq, were all known as transmitters of akhbār, who collected and recounted tales of the past. Isḥāq married the daughter of another mawlā and from this marriage Ibn Isḥāq was born.

There are no details of his early life, but in view of the family nature of early akhbār and ḥadīth transmission, it was natural that he should follow in the footsteps of his father and uncles and become specialized in these branches of knowledge. In 737, he arrived in Alexandria and studied under Yazīd b. Abī Ḥabīb.  Ibn Isḥāq returned to Medina from Egypt, before finally travelling eastwards towards what is now ‘Irāq. There, the new Abbasid dynasty, having overthrown the Umayyad caliphs, was establishing a new capital at Baghdad. Ibn Isḥaq moved to the capital and likely found patrons in the new regime. He died in Baghdad around 767 C.C.

Ibn Isḥaq wrote several works, none of which survive. Apart from the Sīra an-nabawiyya he is credited with a Kitāb al-Ḵhulafāʾ, which al-Umawwī related to him and a book of Sunan.

His collection of traditions about the life of Muhammad also called Sīrat Nabawiyya or Sīrah Rasūl Allāh, survives mainly in two sources:

    * an edited copy, or recension, of his work by his student al-Bakka'i, as further edited by Ibn Hisham. Al-Bakka'i's work has perished and only Ibn Hisham's has survived, in copies.
    * an edited copy, or recension, prepared by his student Salamah ibn Fadl al-Ansari. This also has perished, and survives only in the copious extracts to be found in the volumimous works of historian al-Tabari's.
    * fragments of several other recensions.




Muhammad ibn Ishaq see Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad
Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar see Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad


Ibn ‘Iyad
Ibn ‘Iyad  (1083-1149).  Arab poet.


Ibn-i Yamin
Ibn-i Yamin (1287-1368).  Most important Persian poet of epigrams.  He was one of the earliest poets to write on the Shi‘a imams and the tragedy of Karbala‘.


Ibn Iyas
Ibn Iyas (Muhammad ibn Iyas) (b. June 1448 - d. after November 1522 or 1524).  Egyptian historian.  He has been recognized as a prime source for an account of the decline and fall of the Mameluke rule in Egypt and of the first years of the dominion of the Ottomans.

Muhammad ibn Iyas is one of the most important Egyptian historians. He was an eyewitness to the historical event of the Ottoman invasion of Egypt. He was one of the Mamelukes and was the author of a 6-volume history of Egypt, totalling over 3,000 pages. This work is entitled "Badai Alzuhur Fi Wakayi Alduhur"
Muhammad ibn Iyas see Ibn Iyas


Ibn Jama‘a
Ibn Jama‘a.  Shafi‘i family of the Mameluke period in Syria and Egypt. 


Ibn Jami‘
Ibn Jami‘ (Jumay‘) (d. 1198).  Jewish physician who entered the service of Saladin.  He wrote a compendium of medicine, and a commentary on Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
Jumay' see Ibn Jami‘


Ibn Jazla, Abu ‘Ali Yahya
Ibn Jazla, Abu ‘Ali Yahya (Abu ‘Ali Yahya ibn Jazla)  (Abu ali Yahya ibn Isa Ibn Jazla Al Baghdadi) (Ibn Jazlah) (d. 1100). Arab physician of Baghdad.  Of Christian origin, he embraced Islam and wrote several works, one of which was translated into Latin in 1280 by the Sicilian Jewish physician Faraj ibn Salim (Magister Farachi) under the title Tacuini aegritiudinum.

Abu ali Yahya ibn Isa Ibn Jazla Al Baghdadi, or Ibn Jazlah, Latinized as Buhahylyha Bingezla, was an 11th-century physician of Baghdad and author of an influential treatise on regimen that was translated into Latin in 1280 by the Sicilian Jewish physician Faraj ben Salem.

Ibn Jazla was born of Christian Nestorian parents at Baghdad. He converted to Islam in 1074. He died in 1100 while under the tutelage of Abu `Ali ibn Al-Walid Al-Maghribi.

His Taqwim al-Abdan fi Dadbir al-Insan (dispositio corporum de constittutione hominis, Tacuin agritudinum), as the name implies contains tables in which diseases are arranged like the stars in astronomical tables.

Ibn Jazla also wrote another work, Al-Minhaj fi Al-Adwiah Al-Murakkabah, (Methodology of Compound Drugs), which was translated by Jambolinus and was known in Latin translation as the Cibis et medicines simplicibus.

Late in life he wrote a treatise in praise of Islam and criticizing Christianity and Judaism.

Abu 'Ali Yahya ibn Jazla see Ibn Jazla, Abu ‘Ali Yahya
Abu ali Yahya ibn Isa Ibn Jazla Al Baghdadi see Ibn Jazla, Abu ‘Ali Yahya
Ibn Jazlah see Ibn Jazla, Abu ‘Ali Yahya
Buhahylyha Bingezla see Ibn Jazla, Abu ‘Ali Yahya
Bingezla, Buhahylyha  see Ibn Jazla, Abu ‘Ali Yahya


Ibn Jinni
Ibn Jinni (c. 913-1002).  Arab grammarian.  He founded the science of Arab etymology -- the study of the origin and history of words.


Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr (Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Jubayr al-Kinānī) (b. 1145, Valencia, Emirate of Balansiya [Valencia] — d. November 29, 1217, Alexandria, Egypt)(1145-1217).  Andalusian traveller and writer.  His journey to Mecca, executed between 1183 and 1185, brought him to Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Alexandria, Cairo, Jidda, Mecca, Medina, Kufa, Baghdad, Mosul, Aleppo and Damascus.  A second journey lasted from 1189 to 1191, but of this he left no account.  The Travel-book of the first journey is the first and one of the best of its kind.  It served as a model to many other pilgrims, and many later authors have borrowed from it.  The work has been translated into English, French and Italian.

Ibn Jubayr, in full Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Jubayr al-Kinānī, was the son of a civil servant. Ibn Jubayr became secretary to the Almohad governor of Granada, but he left that post for his pilgrimage, which was begun in 1183 and ended with his return to Granada in 1185. He wrote a lively account of this journey, Riḥlah.

Rihlah is a valuable source for the history of the time, containing memorable descriptions of his voyages across the Mediterranean in Genoese ships, his unhappy encounters with both Christian and Muslim customs collectors, the Cairo of Saladin, his trip up the Nile to Upper Egypt, and across the Red Sea to Jidda, Mecca, and Medina, and of his return by way of Iraq, Syria, and Sicily. Ibn Jubayr journeyed east twice more without recording his travels. The second trip lasted from 1189 to 1191. The third, begun in 1217, was ended by his death in Egypt.


Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Jubayr al-Kinānī see Ibn Jubayr
Kinani, Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Jubayr al- see Ibn Jubayr


Ibn Juljul
Ibn Juljul.  Arab physician from Cordoba.  Among other works, he wrote a history of physicians, probably one of the oldest collections of biographies on this subject in Arabic, and the earliest example of the use of Arabic translations from Latin.


Ibn Kathir, ‘Imad al-Din
Ibn Kathir, ‘Imad al-Din (‘Imad al-Din ibn Kathir) (Ismail ibn Kathir) ('Imad ad-Din Isma'il bin 'Umar bin Kathir al-Qurashi al-Busrawi) (c. 1300/1301-1373). Syrian historian and traditionist.  His history of Islam in fourteen volumes is one of the principal historical works of the Mameluke period.  He also wrote a monumental compilation of hadith, and was interested in jurisprudence.

Ismail ibn Kathir was an Islamic scholar and renowned commentator on the Qur'an.

His full name is 'Imad ad-Din Isma'il bin 'Umar bin Kathir al-Qurashi al-Busrawi. He was born in 1301 in Busra, Syria (hence al-Busrawi). He was taught by Ibn Taymiyya in Damascus, Syria and Abu al-Hajjaj al-Mizzi, (d. 1373), Fiqh with Ibn al-Firkah, Hadith with ‘Isa bin al-Mutim, Ahmed bin Abi-Talib (Ibn ash-Shahnah), Ibn al-Hajjar, the Hadith narrator of ash-Sham (modern day Syria and surrounding areas), Baha ad-Din al-Qasim bin Muzaffar bin ‘Asakir, Ibn ash-Shirazi, Ishaq bin Yahya Al-Ammuddi, aka; Afif ad-Din, the Zahriyyah Shaykh, and Muhammad bin Zarrad.

Upon completion of his studies he obtained his first official appointment in 1341, when he joined an inquisitorial commission formed to determine certain questions of heresy. Thereafter he received various semi-official appointments, culminating in June/July 1366 with a professorial position at the Great Mosque of Damascus.

Ibn Kathir wrote a famous commentary on the Qur'an named Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Adhim which linked certain Hadith, or sayings of Muhammad, and sayings of the sahaba to verses of the Qur'an. Tafsir Ibn Kathir is famous all over the Muslim world and among Muslims in the Western world, is one of the most widely used explanations of the Qu'ran today.

Ibn Kathir was renowned for his great memory regarding the sayings of Muhammad and the entire Qur'an. Ibn Kathir was also known as a qadi, a master scholar of history, and a mufassir (Qur'an commentator). Ibn Kathir saw himself as a Shafi'i scholar. This is indicated by two of his books, one of which was Tabaqaat ah-Shafai'ah, or The Categories of the Followers of Imam Shafi.

In later life, he became blind. He attributes his blindness to working late at night on the Musnad of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in an attempt to rearrange it topically rather than by narrator.

Ibn Kathir died in February 1373 in Damascus.

The works of Ibn Kathir include:

    * Tafsir ibn Kathir
    * The Beginning and the End (Arabic: Al Bidayah wa-Nihayah or Tarikh ibn Kathir)
    * Al-Sira Al-Nabawiyya (Ibn Kathir)
    * al-Baa'ith al-Hatheeth: an abridgement of the Muqaddimah by Ibn al-Salah in Hadith terminology
    * Tabaqaat ah-Shafi'iah
    * Talkhis al-Istighatha
    * Signs Before the Day of Judgement
    * Sins and their Punishments
    * Stories of The Prophets (Qasas ul Anbiya)

'Imad al-Din ibn Kathir see Ibn Kathir, ‘Imad al-Din
Ismail ibn Kathir see Ibn Kathir, ‘Imad al-Din
'Imad ad-Din Isma'il bin 'Umar bin Kathir al-Qurashi al-Busrawi see Ibn Kathir, ‘Imad al-Din


Ibn Kaysan
Ibn Kaysan (d. 911).  Arab grammarian of Baghdad.  He was a representative of the so-called eclectic school of Baghdad, refusing to take sides between the conflicting grammatical doctrines of Basra and Kufa.


Ibn Khafaja
Ibn Khafaja (1058-1139).  Andalusian poet.  He is best known as a poet of nature.

Ibn Khafaja(h) or Abu Ishaq Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Abu Al-Fath Ibn Khafajah (1058-1138/9) of Alzira was one of the most famous poets of Al-Andalus during the reign of the Almoravids. He was born in 1058 in Alzira near Valencia where he spent most of his life.

He developed nature poetry to a great level of sophistication. His poetry includes a few panegyrics, e.g. to Yusuf ibn Tashfin whom he praised out of thankfulness that he had saved Al-Andalus from chaos by retaking the region of Valencia from the Spaniards in 1109. During the occupation of the surroundings of Valencia by the Spaniards (ca. 1100) Ibn Khafaja had fled the city to North Africa. He remained umarried but had many friends. At the age of 64 he collected his poems and wrote introductions to them. He lived to be over eighty.

According to Khadra Jayyusi, Khafaja demonstrates, in some of his poems a revolutionary attitude to language, using a vocabulary of great originality, which she describes as "warm and sensuous, obsessed with human intimacy, turbulent and conscious of the violence of life around him in a war-ridden country, awed by nature and eternally mystified both by its beauty and by its permanence vis-avis human mutability."
Ibn Khalawayh
Ibn Khalawayh (d. 980).  Arab grammarian and man of letters.  Like Ibn Kaysan, he was, in grammatical doctrines, an eclectic between the Basrans and the Kufans.  .
Ibn Khaldun, ‘Abd al-Rahman
Ibn Khaldun, ‘Abd al-Rahman (‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun) (Abu Zayd Abd-ar-Rahman ibn Khaldun) (‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Khaldun) (Ibn Khaldoun) (Abū Zayd ‘Abdu r-Raḥman bin Muḥammad bin Khaldūn al-Hadrami) (May 27, 1332 - March 17, 1406).  Historian, sociologist and philosopher of Tunis.  He is one of the greatest intellects in the history of mankind.. 

Born on May 27, 1332, in Tunis (now in Tunisia), of a Spanish-Arab family, Ibn Khaldun held court positions in what are today Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and in Granada, Spain, and was twice imprisoned. Carefully educated, and having escaped the Black Death, he went to Fez in 1350, then the most brilliant capital of the Muslim West.  He was put in prison for two years for having changed his loyalty in the turbulent political situation of the day (around 1360).  His friendship with the vizier Ibn al-Khatib ensured him an honorable reception in Granada in 1362, from where he also came in contact with the Christian world. 

Abu ‘Abd Allah, the amir of Bougie (in Arabic, Bijaya), meanwhile had regained his amirate and appointed Ibn Khaldun as his chamberlain.  After the death on the battlefield of the amir, Ibn Khaldun handed over the town to the conqueror, Abu ‘Abd Allah’s cousin Abu‘l-‘Abbas, amir of Constantine, and entered his service.  But, in time, he resigned and went to Biskra where he attempted to lead the life of a man of letters.  However, not able to resist intrigue, he was continuously on the move, trying to back the winner although there was no winner in the Muslim West of the fourteenth century.  Over time, he came to be regarded with mixed feelings never entirely free from suspicion.  He left for Tlemcen, where the sultan once again wanted his services.  Pretending to accept, he fled to live in the castle of Ibn Salama (1375-1379), near the present-day Frenda in Algeria.

In 1375, he went into seclusion near modern Frenda, Algeria, taking four years to compose his monumental Muqaddimah, the introductory volume to his Kitab al-Ibar (Universal History). Ibn Khaldun’s fame rests primarily on his Muqaddimah -- his Introduction.  It was the author’s intention to write an introduction to the historian’s craft and present it as an encyclopedic synthesis of the methodological and cultural knowledge necessary to produce a truly scientific work.  The central point is the study of the symptoms of, and the nature of, the ills from which civilizations die.  His Moralistic Examples (from History) is important for the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, especially for the Muslim West and particularly for the Berbers.

The Kitab al-Ibar is a valuable guide to the history of Muslim North Africa and the Berbers.  Its six history volumes, however, are overshadowed by the immense significance of the Muqaddimah.  In it, Ibn Khaldun outlined a philosophy of history and theory of society that are unprecedented in ancient and medieval writing and that are closely reflected in modern sociology.  Societies, Ibn Khaldun believed, are held together by the power of social cohesiveness, which can be augmented by the unifying force of religion.  Social change and the rise and fall of societies follow laws that can be empirically discovered and that reflect climate and economic activity as well as other realities. 

In 1379, Ibn Khaldun returned to Tunis where he lived as a teacher and scholar.  However, enmity from Ibn ‘Arafa, the representative of the Maliki school in Hafsid Tunisia, made Ibn Khaldun decide to leave the Muslim West.  The sultan granted him permission for the pilgrimage, and in 1382, he left for Cairo.

In 1382, on pilgrimage to Mecca, Ibn Khaldun was offered a chair at the famous Islamic university of al-Azhar by the sultan of Cairo, who also appointed him judge (qadi) of the Maliki rite of Islam.   In Cairo, Ibn Khaldun taught at al-Azhar and was appointed Maliki chief judge, but intrigues forced him to resign.  After his pilgrimage, he was placed at the head of the khanqah of Baybars, the most important Sufi convent in Egypt. 

Appointed judge again, and dismissed after a year, in 1400, he was obliged to accompany the Burji Mameluke al-Nasir Faraj on his expedition to relieve Damascus, which was threatened by Timur.  Left in the besieged town, he played a role in its surrender to the feared conqueror.  Having witnessed the horrors of the burning and sacking of Damascus, he returned to Cairo where he was well received.  He died during his sixth office as judge.   He died on March 17, 1406.

Ibn Khaldun  is universally recognized as the founder and father of sociology and sciences of history.  He is best known for his famous Muqaddimah (Prolegomena).  Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad, generally known as Ibn Khaldun after a remote ancestor, was born in Tunis in 1332 to an upper class family that had migrated from Seville in Muslim Spain.  His ancestors were Yemenite Arabs who settled in Spain at the very beginning of Muslim rule in the eighth century.

During his formative years, Ibn Khaldun experienced his family’s active participation in the intellectual life of the city, and to a lesser degree, its political life.  He was accustomed to frequent visits to his family by the political and intellectual leaders of western Islamic states (i.e., North Africa and Spain), many of whom took refuge there.  Ibn Khaldun was educated at Tunis and Fez, and studied the Qur‘an, the Prophet Muhammad’s hadith and other branches of Islamic studies such as Dialectical theology and the shari‘a (Islamic Law of Jurisprudence, according to the Maliki School).  He also studied Arabic literature, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy.  While still in his teens, Ibn Khaldun entered the service of the Egyptian ruler Sultan Barquq.

Ibn Khaldun led a very active political life before he finally settled down to write his well-known masterpiece of history.  He worked for rulers in Tunis and Fez (in Morocco), Granada (in Muslim Spain) and Biaja (in North Africa).  In 1375, Ibn Khaldun crossed over to Muslim Spain (Granada) as a tired and embittered man solely for the reasons of escaping the turmoil in North Africa.  Unfortunately, because of his political past, the ruler of Granada expelled him.  He then went back to Algeria to spend four years in seclusion in Qalat ibn Salama, a small village.  It was in Qalat that he wrote  the Muqaddimah, the first volume of his world history that won him an immortal place among historians, sociologists and philosophers.  The uncertainty of his career continued because of unrest in North Africa.  Finally, he settled in Egypt where he spent his last twenty-four years.  Theere he lived a life of fame and respect, marked by his appointment as the Chief Malakite Judge.  He also lectured at the Al-Azhar University.

Ibn Khaldun had to move from one court to another, sometimes at his own will, but often forced to do so by plotting rivals or despotic rulers.  He learned much from his encounters with rulers, ambassadors, politicians and scholars from North Africa, Muslim Spain, Egypt and other parts of the Muslim world. 

Ibn Khaldun’s fame rests on the Muqaddimah which forms the first systematic treatise on the philosophy of history.   The Muqaddimah (Introduction) is a masterpiece in literature on philosophy of history and sociology.  In the Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun sees man as social animal, conditioned by his surroundings and the climate he lives in.   Man starts as a nomad of pure and simple manners, loyal to his tribe and eventually settles down to an urbanized, sedentary life.  This is both an advance and a regression, for although the arts and sciences can flourish only in urban communities, the townsman loses the virtues of the nomad, and his tribal spirit turns into national patriotism.  Nations become corrupted by luxury, and are eventually swept away by a ruder, more vigorous people.  As more and more men are contained within city walls, its ruler has to devote more and more attention to keeping the peace and maintaining justice; as his realm grows greater, it needs more and more the unifying force of religion. 

Events in North African history gave Ibn Khaldun the theory that a dynasty normally lasts four generations.  Ibn Khaldun concludes his Muqaddimah with an account of the various Muslim systems of government, and a short survey of the arts and sciences, of education, magic and literature, which constitutes a summary of the extent of knowledge at that time.

The main theme of the The Book of Examples, and the Muqaddimah, seeks to identify psychological, economic, environmental and social facts that contribute to the advancement of human civilization and the currents of history.  Ibn Khaldun analyzed the dynamics of group relationships and showed how group feelings, al-‘Asabiyya, produce the ascent of a new civilization and political power.  He identified an almost rhythmic repetition of the rise and fall in human civilization, and analyzed factors contributing to it. 

Ibn Khaldun’s revolutionary views have attracted the attention of Muslim scholars as well as many Western thinkers.  In his study of history, Ibn Khaldun was a pioneer in subjecting historical reports to the two basic criteria of reason and social and physical laws.  He pointed out the following four essential points in the study and analysis of historical reports: (1) relating events to each other through cause and effect, (2) drawing analogy between past and present, (3) taking into consideration the effect of the environment, and (4) taking into consideration the effect of inherited and economic conditions.

Ibn Khaldun pioneered the critical study of history.  He provided an analytical study of human civilization, its beginning, factors contributing to its development and the causes of decline.  Thus, he founded a new science: the science of social development or sociology, as we call it today.  Ibn Khaldun writes, “I have written on history a book in which I discussed the causes and effects of the development of states and civilizations, and I followed in arranging the material of the book an unfamiliar method, and I followed in writing it a strange and innovative way.”  By selecting his particular method of analysis, he created two new sciences: historiology and sociology simultaneously.

Ibn Khaldun argued that history is subject to universal laws and states the criterion for historical truth: The rule for distinguishing what is true from what is false in history is based on its possibility or impossibility: That is to say, we must examine human society and discriminate between the characteristics which are essential and inherent in its nature and those which are accidental and need not be taken into account, recognizing further those which cannot possibly belong to it.  If we do this, we have a rule for separating historical truth from error by means of demonstrative methods that admits of no doubt.  It is a genuine touchstone by which historians may verify whatever they relate. 

Ibn Khaldun remarked that the role of religion is in unifying the Arabs and bringing progress and development to their society.  He pointed out that injustice, despotism, and tyranny are clear signs of the downfall of the state.  Ibn Khaldun points out that metaphysical philosophy has one advantage only, which is to sharpen one’s wits.  He states that the knowledge of the metaphysical world particularly in matters of belief can only be derived from revelation.

Ibn Khaldun remarked that the role of religion is in unifying the Arabs and bringing progress and development to their society.  He pointed out that injustice, despotism, and tyranny are clear signs of the downfall of the state.  Ibn Khaldun points out that metaphysical philosophy has one advantage only, which is to sharpen one’s wits.  He states that the knowledge of the metaphysical world particularly in matters of belief can only be derived from revelation.

Ibn Khaldun was a pioneer in education.  He remarked that suppression and use of force are enemies to learning, and that they lead to laziness, lying and hypocrisy.  He also pointed out to the necessity of good models and practice for the command of good linguistic habits.  Ibn Khaldun lived in the beginning period of the decline of Muslim civilization.  This experience prompted him to spend most of his efforts on collecting, summarizing and memorization of the body of knowledge left by the ancestors.  He vehemently attacked those unhealthy practices that created stagnation and stifling of creativity by Muslim scholars. 

Ibn Khaldun emphasized the necessity of subjecting both social and historical phenomena to scientific and objective analysis.  He noted that those phenomena were not the outcome of chance, but were controlled by laws of their own, laws that had to be discovered and applied in the study of society, civilization and history.  He remarked that historians have committed errors in their study of historical events, due to three major factors: (1) Their ignorance of the natures of civilization and people; (2) their bias and prejudice; and (3) their blind acceptance of reports given by others.

Ibn Khaldun pointed out that true progress and development comes through correct understanding of history, and correct understanding can only be achieved by observing the following three main points.  First, a historian should not be in any way prejudiced for or against any one or any idea.  Second, he needs to conform and scrutinize the reported information.  One should learn all one could about the historians whose reports one hears or reads, and one should check their morals and trustworthiness before accepting their reports.  Finally, one should not limit history to the study of political and military news or to news about rulers and states.  For history should include the study of all social, religious, and economic conditions. 

The Muqaddimah was already recognized as an important work during the lifetime of Ibn Khaldun.  His other volumes on world history Kitab al-I‘bar deal with the history of Arabs, contemporary Muslim rulers, contemporary European rulers, ancient history of Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Islamic History, Egyptian history and North African history, especially that of Berbers and tribes living in the adjoining areas.  The last volume deals largely with the events of his own life and is known as Al-Tasrif.  As with his other books, it was also written from an analytical perspective and initiated a new tradition in the art of writing autobiography.  He also wrote a book on mathematics which is not extant.

Ibn Khaldun’s influence on the subject of history, philosophy of history, sociology, political science and education has remained paramount down to our times.  He is also recognized as the leader in the art of autobiography, a renovator in the fields of education and educational psychology and in Arabic writing stylistics.  His books have been translated into many languages, both in the East and the West, and have inspired subsequent development of these sciences.  Indeed, some commentators consider Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah as superior in scholarship to Machiavelli’s The Prince, a Renaissance classic written a century later.


'Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun see Ibn Khaldun, ‘Abd al-Rahman
Abu Zayd Abd-ar-Rahman ibn Khaldun see Ibn Khaldun, ‘Abd al-Rahman
'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Khaldun see Ibn Khaldun, ‘Abd al-Rahman
Ibn Khaldoun see Ibn Khaldun, ‘Abd al-Rahman
Abū Zayd ‘Abdu r-Raḥman bin Muḥammad bin Khaldūn Al-Hadrami see Ibn Khaldun, ‘Abd al-Rahman
Haldrami, Abū Zayd ‘Abdu r-Raḥman bin Muḥammad bin Khaldūn al- see Ibn Khaldun, ‘Abd al-Rahman
Ibn Khaldun, Abu Zakariyya‘
Ibn Khaldun, Abu Zakariyya‘ (Abu Zakariyya‘ ibn Khaldun) (1333-1378).  Brother of Ibn Khaldun.  He was a poet and man of letters.  He wrote a history of the kingdom of Tlemcen.
Abu Zakariyya' ibn Khaldun see Ibn Khaldun, Abu Zakariyya‘
Ibn Khallikan, Ahmad ibn Muhammad
Ibn Khallikan, Ahmad ibn Muhammad (Ahmad ibn Muhammed ibn Khallikan) (Abu-l ‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Khallikan) (September 22, 1211 – October 30, 1282). Arab biographer.  He wrote a famous biographical dictionary which contains only persons whose year of death he could ascertain.  He omitted on purpose the Companions of the Prophet, the transmitters of the second generation and all caliphs, because information about these persons was readily available.

Ahmad ibn Muhammed ibn Khallikan was born in Arbela (Syria).  He studied in Arbela and at Aleppo before going to Egypt where he became a deputy judge and professor.  In 1261, Ibn Khallikan was made chief judge at Damascus, but was dismissed after 10 years, and returned to his professorship in Egypt.  Ibn Khallikan was reappointed to Damascus in 1278, but was again dismissed shortly before his death.

Ibn Khallikan began his great work in 1256 and finished it in 1274.  Known as Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary, Khallikan’s work is more comprehensive than any other Arab biographical dictionary, for it includes entries relating to rulers, soldiers, scholars, judges, statesmen and poets, arranged in alphabetical order.  It is written in simple but elegant language, and is enriched by many anecdotes of Muslim life.

In their studies of the Prophet, Muslims attached great importance to the men who reported, directly or indirectly, his words and acts, and they collected biographical information concerning the notable men of Islam in their chronicles, adding the obituaries of those who had died in a certain year as an appendix to the annals of that year.  Often such information would be made into a separate biographical dictionary.  Such dictionaries were arranged on various principles; some dealt exclusively with poets, some with lawyers, some with grammarians, some with scholars; others would include all those who died in a particular century, or all those connected with particular cities.  Of such dictionaries, Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary stands above the rest.




Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khallikan see Ibn Khallikan, Ahmad ibn Muhammad
Abu-l ‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Khallikan see Ibn Khallikan, Ahmad ibn Muhammad
Ibn Khatima
Ibn Khatima (d. 1369).  Man of letters, a poet, historian and grammarian of al-Andalus. He was an intimate friend of Ibn al-Khatib.

When the Black Death bubonic plague reached al-Andalus in the 14th century, Ibn Khatima hypothesized that infectious diseases are caused by "minute bodies" which enter the human body and cause disease. 
Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili
Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili (1108-1179).  Philologian and traditionist of Seville.   He owes his fame to the catalogue of the works which he had read and of the teachers with whom he had studied.
Ibn Khayyat al-‘Usfuri
Ibn Khayyat al-‘Usfuri (Shabab) (Abū 'Amr Khalifa ibn Khayyat al Laythī al 'Usfurī) (c. 777 - 854).  Chronicler and genealogist.  His History is the oldest known complete Islamic survey of events and gives special attention to the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus and to the extension of the Islamic Empire.  In his Classes, he provides a biographical dictionary of early Islamic hadith, with special attention to the genealogy of tribes, groups and families.

Abū 'Amr Khalifa ibn Khayyat al Laythī al 'Usfurī was an Arab historian. His family were natives of Basra in Iraq. His grandfather was a noted muhaddith or traditionalist, and Khalifa became renowned for this also. Among the great Islamic scholars who were his pupils were Bukhari and Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

He is known to have written at least four works, of which two have survived. These are the Tabaqat (biographies) and Tarikh (history). The latter is valuable as being one of three of the earliest Arabic histories, but the full text was not known until an 11th-century copy was found in Rabat, Morocco in 1966 (published in 1967).

Shahab see Ibn Khayyat al-‘Usfuri
Abū 'Amr Khalifa ibn Khayyat al Laythī al 'Usfurī see Ibn Khayyat al-‘Usfuri
Ibn Khurradadhbih
Ibn Khurradadhbih (c.820-c.911).  One of the earliest geographical writers in Arabic.  Of Iranian origin, he was a familiar and friend of the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Mu‘tamid.  Among other works he wrote The Book of Itineraries and Kingdoms.
Ibn Killis
Ibn Killis (Yaqub ibn Killis) Yaqub ibn Yusuf ibn Killis) (930-991).  Fatimid vizier.  By origin a Jew, he embraced Islam in 967 and entered the service of al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, the last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty of Ifriqiya, whom he encouraged to conquer Egypt.  He was an able administrator and the Fatimid Caliph al-‘Aziz appointed him vizier in 977.  Under his tenure of office, the Fatimid Empire saw its greatest territorial expansion.

Yaqub ibn Killis was an Egyptian Vizier under the Fatimids (979-991). Yaqub ibn Yusuf ibn Killis was born in Baghdad in 930 in a Jewish family. After his family moved to Syria he came to Egypt in 943 and entered the service of the Regent Kafur. Soon he controlled the Egyptian state finances in his capacity as household and property administrator. Although he converted to Islam in 967, he fell out of favor with the successors of Kafur and was imprisoned. He was able, however, to purchase his freedom and went to Ifriqiya, where he put himself at the service of the Fatimid Caliph al-Muizz. After the Fatimid conquest of Egypt he returned there with the Caliph in 973.

He was then put in charge of the economy, where he was able to regularize the state finances. After the dismissal of Jawhar as-Siqilli in 979 Yaqub ibn Killis was appointed Vizier by al-Aziz, a position he held until his death in 991. He was a patron of culture and science.




Yaqub ibn Killis see Ibn Killis
Yaqub ibn Yusuf ibn Killis see Ibn Killis
Ibn Kullab
Ibn Kullab (d. 855(?)).  Theologian of Basra.  He was a foremost representative of a compromising theology during the period in which there was an Inquisition over the question of whether the Qur‘an had been created or not (in Arabic, mihna).
Ibn Ma‘ al-Sama‘, Abu Bakr ‘Ubada
Ibn Ma‘ al-Sama‘, Abu Bakr ‘Ubada (Abu Bakr ‘Ubada ibn Ma‘ al-Sama‘) (d. after 1030).  Andalusian poet.  He is famous as the author of the poetic genre known as muwashshahat.


Abu Bakr 'Ubada ibn Ma' al-Sama' see Ibn Ma‘ al-Sama‘, Abu Bakr ‘Ubada
Ibn Maja, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Ibn Maja, Abu ‘Abd Allah (Abu ‘Abd Allah ibn Maja) (Abū ˤAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Ribˤī al-Qazwīnī) (Ibn Majah) (824-887). Author of the last of the six canonical collections of hadith.  His work contains 4,000 hadith in about 150 chapters.  It was criticized because many of the hadith are weak.

Abū ˤAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Ribˤī al-Qazwīnī, commonly known as Ibn Mājah, was a medieval scholar of hadith. He compiled the last of Sunni Islam's six canonical hadith collections, Sunan Ibn Mājah.

Ibn Mājah was born in Qazwin, the modern-day Iranian province of Qazvin, in 824 to a family who were clients (mawla) of the Rabīˤah tribe. Mājah was the nickname of his father, and not that of his grandfather nor was it his mother's name, contrary to those claiming this.

He left his hometown to travel the Islamic world visiting Iraq, Makkah, the Levant and Egypt. He studied under Muḥammad ibn ˤAbdillāh ibn Numayr, Jabbārah ibn al-Maghlas, Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mundhir al-Ḥizāmī, ˤAbdullāh ibn Muˤāwiyah, Hishām ibn ˤAmmār, Muḥammad ibn Ramḥ, Dāwūd ibn Rashīd and others from their era.

Ibn Mājah died on approximately on or about February 19, 887. He died in Qazwin.

The following is a list of Ibn Mājah's works:

    * Sunan Ibn Mājah: one of the six canonical collections of hadith
    * Kitāb al-Tafsīr: a book of Qur'an exegesis
    * Kitāb al-Tārīkh: a book of history

The Sunan consists of 1,500 chapters and about 4,000 hadith.
Abu 'Abd Allah ibn Maja see Ibn Maja, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Abū ˤAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Ribˤī al-Qazwīnī  see Ibn Maja, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Ibn Majah see Ibn Maja, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Ibn Majid, Shihab al-Din
Ibn Majid, Shihab al-Din (Shihab al-Din ibn Majid) (Ahmad ibn Majid (1421-c.1500).  One of the greatest Arab navigators of the Middle Ages during the fifteenth century.  Improving the works of his father and grandfather, who were both “master of navigation,” Ibn Majid acquired during his lifetime the reputation of an expert navigator of the Indian Ocean.  He had studied the works of the three Arab navigators of the ‘Abbasid period Muhammad ibn Shadan, Shalib Aban and Layth ibn Kahlan, even though he was doubtful about the value of their writings.  In Arabic geographical writings of the Middle Ages, the description of the east coast of Africa usually stopped at Sofala because Arab ships did not sail beyond this point for fear of being wrecked by the strong currents and winds there.  Moreover, according to the Ptolemaic concept, the east coast of Africa, to the south of Sofala, turned towards the east instead of the west, and extended latitudinally as far east as China, leaving only a channel that connected the Indian Ocean with the Pacific, thus giving the Indian Ocean the shape of a lake.  Thus, the Arab geographers and cartographers drew maps which covered the whole of the southern hemisphere with land.

Ibn Majid was the first Arab navigator to describe in more positive terms the coast of Africa south of Sofala, although he conceived Africa as being much smaller than it actually is.  Ibn Majid’s contribution to geography lies mainly in the field of navigation.  His description of the Red Sea has never been surpassed or even equalled, apart from the inevitable errors in latitude.  He used sea charts and several instruments of navigation, but it is doubtful if he was the inventor of the compass.  On the other hand, he was fully aware of the several attempts made by the Portuguese to enter the Indian Ocean.  In his extant works, he does not record the fact of his having guided Vasco da Gama from Malinid to Calicut, but the fact is proved by the contemporary Arabic and Portuguese sources.

Ahmad ibn Mājid was an Arab navigator and cartographer born in 1421 in Julphar, which is now known as Ras Al Khaimah. This city makes up one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, but at that time it was classified as the coast of Oman. He was raised with a family famous for seafaring. At the age of 17 he was able to navigate ships. He was so famous that he was known as the first Arab seaman. The exact date is not known, but Ibn Majid probably died in 1500. He became famous in the West as the navigator who was associated with helping Vasco da Gama find his way from Africa to India. He was the author of nearly forty works of poetry and prose.

His most important work was Kitab al-Fawa’id fi Usul ‘Ilm al-Bahr wa ’l-Qawa’id (Book of Useful Information on the Principles and Rules of Navigation), written in 1490. It is a navigation encyclopedia, describing the history and basic principles of navigation, lunar mansions, rhumb lines, the difference between coastal and open-sea sailing, the locations of ports from East Africa to Indonesia, star positions, accounts of the monsoon and other seasonal winds, typhoons and other topics for professional navigators. He drew from his own experience and that of his father, also a famous navigator, and the lore of generations of Indian Ocean sailors.

Ibn Majid wrote several books on marine science and the movements of ships, which helped people of the Persian Gulf to reach the coasts of India, East Africa and other destinations. Among his many books on oceanography, the Fawa'dh fi-Usl Ilm al-Bahrwa-al-Qawaidah (The Book of the Benefits of the Principles of Seamanship) is considered as one of his best.

He grew very famous and was fondly called Shihan Al Dein (Sea's Lion) for his fearlessness, strength and experience as a sailor who excelled in the art of navigation.

Ahmad ibn Majid's efforts in the mid 15th century helped the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama in completing the first all water trade route between Europe and India by using an Arab map then unknown to European sailors.

Two of Ibn Majid's famous hand-written books are now prominent exhibits in the National Library in Paris.





Shihab al-Din ibn Majid see Ibn Majid, Shihab al-Din
Ahmad ibn Majid see Ibn Majid, Shihab al-Din
Shihan Al Dein  see Ibn Majid, Shihab al-Din
Sea's Lion see Ibn Majid, Shihab al-Din
Ibn Malik, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Ibn Malik, Abu ‘Abd Allah (Abu ‘Abd Allah ibn Malik) (Abū ʻAbd Allāh Djamāl Al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Malik) (Arabic: ابن مالك، محمد بن عبد الله‎) (1203 /1204 - 22 February 1274).  Arab grammarian of al-Andalus.  He owed his great reputation to his philological knowledge and because he versified Arabic grammar.

Ibn Mālik, Abū ʻAbd Allāh Djamāl Al-Dīn Muhammad was an Arab grammarian born in Jaén, Spain. After leaving Spain for the Near East, he became a Shāfi‘ī, and taught Arabic language and literature in Aleppo and Hamāt, before eventually settling in Damascus, where he began the most productive period of his life. He was a senior master at the Adiliyya Madrasa. His reputation in Arabic literature was cemented by his al-Khulāsa al-alfiyya (known also as simply Alfiyya), a versification of Arabic grammar, for which at least 43 commentaries have been written.

Abu 'Abd Allah ibn Malik see Ibn Malik, Abu ‘Abd Allah
Ibn Mammati
Ibn Mammati. Name of three highly placed officials of the same Coptic family from Asyut, who flourished under the later Fatimids and early Ayyubids.  They were (1) Abu‘l-Malih (d. c. 1100); (2) al-Muhadhdhab Abu‘l-Malih (d. 1182), who embraced Islam because of the imminent danger of an invasion of Egypt by the Crusaders under Amalric, the Latin king of Jerusalem, and the worsening of the situation of the Copts; and (3) al-As‘ad ibn Muhadhdhab (1147-1209), who versified the life of Saladin and the Kalila wa-Dimna, and wrote a work including a complete record of all Egyptian townships with their taxable acreage for the land tax.

Ibn Mammati wrote an account of the Egyptian government under the Ayyubid Sultan Salah Al-Din, the Kitâb Qawanin al-Dawawin (Statutes of the Councils of State).

F
Ibn Manda
Ibn Manda. Family of scholars of hadith and historians from Isfahan from the tenth through eleventh centuries.  The reputation of Yahya ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, a member of this family (1043-1118), is based on his History of Isfahan.
Ibn Mangli
Ibn Mangli.  Fourteenth century author of several works on the art of war and of a treatise on hunting.
Ibn Manzur
Ibn Manzur (Ibn Mukarrum) (Muhammad ibn Mukarram ibn Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Manzur al-Ansari al-Ifriqi al-Misri al-Khazradschi Jamaladin Abu al-Fadl) (June/July 1233- December 1311/January 1312).  Author of the famous dictionary called The Language of the Arabs.  The work is based on five earlier dictionaries and was used by Muhammad Murtada.

Ibn Manzur was an Arabic lexicographer and author of the Lisan al-Arab. His full name was: Muhammad ibn Mukarram ibn Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Manzur al-Ansari al-Ifriqi al-Misri al-Khazradschi Jamaladin Abu al-Fadl.

Ibn Manzur was born in 1233. He was a moderate Shi'a and traced his descendance back to Ruwayfiʿ b. Ṯābit al-Anṣārī, who became the Arabic governor of Tripoli in 668. Ibn Manzur was Qadi in Tripoli and spent his life as clerk in the Diwan al-Insha', an office that was responsible among other things for correspondence, archiving and copying.

Ibn Manzur studied philology. He dedicated most of his life to excerpts from works of historical philology. He is said to have left 500 volumes of this work. He died around the turn of the years 1311/1312 in Cairo.

The Lisan al-Arab was completed by Ibn Manzur in 1290. It is, along with the Taj al-Arus of Ibn Murtada (d. 1790/1791), the most common and comprehensive dictionary of the Arabic language. The decisive sources for it were the Tahdhīb al-Lugha of Azharī, the Muḥkam of Ibn Sidah, the Nihāya of al-Dhahabi and Jauhari's Ṣiḥāḥ as well as the glosses of the latter (Kitāb at-Tanbīh wa-l-Īḍāḥ) by Ibn Barrī. It follows the Ṣiḥāḥ in the arrangement of the roots: The headwords are not arranged by the alphabetical order of the radicals as usually done today in the study of Semitic languages, but according to the last radical - which makes finding rhyming endings significantly easier.

Some of Ibn Manzur's other works include:

    * Aḫbār Abī Nuwās, a bio-bibliography of the Arabic-Persian poet Abu Nuwas.
    * Muḫtaṣar taʾrīḫ madīnat Dimašq l-Ibn ʿAsākir, summary of the history of Damascus by Ibn 'Asakir.
    * Muḫtaṣar taʾrīḫ madīnat Baġdād li-s-Samʿānī, summary of the history of Baghdad by al-Samʿānī (d. January 1167).
    * Muḫtaṣar Ǧāmiʿ al-Mufradāt, summary of the treatise about remedies and edibles by al-Baiṭār.
    * Muḫtār al-aġānī fi-l-aḫbār wa-t-tahānī, a selection of songs.
    * Niṯār al-azhār fī l-layl wa-l-nahār, a short treatise on astronomy about day and night as well as the stars and zodiacs.
    * Taḏkirāt al-Labīb wa-nuzhat al-adīb, served al-Qalqaschandi as a source.

Ibn Mukarrum see Ibn Manzur
Muhammad ibn Mukarram ibn Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Manzur al-Ansari al-Ifriqi al-Misri al-Khazradschi Jamaladin Abu al-Fadl see Ibn Manzur
Ibn Mardanish
Ibn Mardanish (Muhammad ibn Mardanis)  (Rey Lobo) (Lope) (1124, in Peniscola - March 1172, in Murcia).  Spanish Muslim leader.  He made himself master of Valencia and Murcia and contended with the Almohads for the territories in the center of al-Andalus (Spain).

Muhammad ibn Mardanis, known by Christians as the King Lobo, was of Mozarabic origin and came to be king of all the eastern al-Andalus.

Rey Lobo see Ibn Mardanish
Lope see Ibn Mardanish
Muhammad ibn Mardanis  see Ibn Mardanish
Ibn Maryam, Muhammad ibn Muhammad
Ibn Maryam, Muhammad ibn Muhammad (Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Maryam) (d. 1605).  North African hagiographer.  He compiled a catalogue of local saints, mainly of Tlemcen.


Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Maryam see Ibn Maryam, Muhammad ibn Muhammad
Ibn Marzuq
Ibn Marzuq (in plural form, Maraziqa).  Family of clerics at Tlemcen, who in varying degrees made their mark in the religious, political and literary life of the Maghrib between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.  The best known of the Maraziqa is Shams al-Din Muhammad IV (1311-1379).

Maraziqa see Ibn Marzuq
Ibn Masarra
Ibn Masarra (Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Masarra ibn Najih al-Jabali)  (883-931).  Philosopher and mystic of Cordoba.  His work is connected with the doctrine of pseudo-Empedocles and was known to Ibn Hazm and Ibn al-‘Arabi.  The latter can be considered a member of Ibn Masarra’s school.

Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Masarra ibn Najih al-Jabali, was an Andalusi Muslim ascetic and scholar. He is often considered one of the first Sufis as well as one of the first philosophers in al-Andalus, though the character of his thought is still a matter of debate.

Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Masarra ibn Najih al-Jabali see Ibn Masarra
Ibn Masawayh
Ibn Masawayh (Mesue) (Yuhanna ibn Masawaih) (777-857).  Assyrian Physician.  He contributed to the translation of Greek scientific works but was known particularly in his capacity as court physician and as a specialist on diet.  His influential protectors were Nestorians, who did not abandon their religion when they were at the caliph’s court and kept in touch with Greek learning.  He wrote a collection of medical aphorisms and a sort of description of the seasons of the year, based on the twin theories of the humors and the qualities.  As late as the fifteenth century, he was held in high esteem in the West.

Yuhanna ibn Masawaih, also written Ibn Masawaih, Masawaiyh, and in Latin Mesue, Masuya, Mesue Major, Msuya, and Mesue the Elder was an Assyrian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur.

Born in 777 as the son of a pharmacist and physician from Gundishapur, Ibn Masawayh's father was Assyrian and his mother was Slavic.  He went to Baghdad and studied under Jabril ibn Bukhtishu. He wrote mostly in Syriac and Arabic.

Ibn Masawayh became director of a hospital in Baghdad. He composed medical treatises on a number of topics, including ophthalmology, fevers, headache, melancholia, diatetics, the testing of physicians, and medical aphorisms.

Masawayh became personal physician to four caliphs. He composed a considerable number of Arabic medical monographs, on topics including fevers, leprosy, melancholy, dietetics, eye diseases, and medical aphorisms.

It was reported that Ibn Masawayh regularly held an assembly of some sort, where he consulted with patients and discussed subjects with pupils. Ibn Masawayh apparently attracted considerable audiences, having acquired a reputation for repartee.

He was also the teacher of Hunain ibn Ishaq. He translated various Greek medical works into Syriac. Apes were supplied to him by the caliph al-Mu'tasim for dissection.

Many anatomical and medical writings are credited to him, notably the "Disorder of the Eye" (Daghal al-'ain), which is the earliest systematic treatise on ophthalmology extant in Arabic and the Aphorisms, the Latin translation of which was very popular in the Middle Ages.

He died in Samarra in 857.
Mesue see Ibn Masawayh
Yuhanna ibn Masawaih see Ibn Masawayh
Masuya see Ibn Masawayh
Mesue Major see Ibn Masawayh
Msuya see Ibn Masawayh
Mesue the Elder  see Ibn Masawayh
Ibn Mas‘ud
Ibn Mas‘ud (Abd-Allah ibn Mas'ud) (Abdullah ibn Masoud)   (d. 652).  Companion of the Prophet, and “reader” of the Qur‘an.  He received the Qur‘an directly from the Prophet and is thought to have been the first to have attempted reading it in public in Mecca, which earned him insults from some of the pagans.

Abd-Allah ibn Mas'ud was the sixth man who converted to Islam after Muhammad started preaching in Mecca. He was also one of the closest companions to Muhammad.

According to Muslim sources, Ibn Mas'ud was a child sheepherder working for Uqbah ibn Abu Mu'ayt. The Prophet Muhammad was passing by him with Abu Bakr when they asked Abd-Allah to give them some milk from one of the goats. He refused because they were not his goats to give away their milk. So Muhammad asked him if there was a goat that never gave milk and he touched it instantly. The goat produced milk, so they drank milk and Ibn Mas'ud asked Muhammad to teach him how to do this. Muhammad said to him "You have been taught."

It was not long before Ibn Mas'ud became a Muslim and offered to be in the service of the Prophet. The Prophet agreed and Ibn Mas'ud gave up tending sheep in exchange for looking after the needs of the Prophet. Ibn Mas'ud received a unique training in the household of Muhammad, and it was said of him, "He was the closest to the Prophet in character." It is also related that once, when a young Ibn Mas'ud recited the Qur'an in the Ka'aba, he was mercilessly beaten by the Quraish.

Ibn Mas'ud held administrative and diplomatic duties under the caliphs Umar ibn al-Khattab (r.634-644) and Uthman ibn Affan (d.656). Some of his well-known disciples in Kufa included Alqama ibn Qays al-Nakha'i, Aswad ibn Yazid and Masruq ibn al-Ajda'.

Ibn Mas'ud is especially important for traditions on the interpretation of the Quran, having been present for many revelations.


Abd-Allah ibn Mas'ud  see Ibn Mas‘ud
Abdullah ibn Masoud  see Ibn Mas‘ud
Ibn Maymun
Ibn Maymun (Moses Ben Maimon) (Abū ʿImran Mūsā ibn Maymūn ibn ʿUbayd Allāh) (Rambam) (Moshe ben Maimon) (Moses Maimonides) (Abu ‘Imran Musa ibn Maymun) (Rambam) (Musa ibn Maymun) (Abu 'Imran Musa bin 'Ubaidallah Maimun al-Qurtubi) (March 30, 1135, in Cordoba, Spain - December 13, 1204, in Egypt). Arabic name of the philosopher known today by the name of Maimonides.  Maimonides was a great codifier of Jewish law, rabbinic leader, physician, and philosopher of Judaism, who won the acknowledgment and respect of worldwide Jewry.  Maimonides' burial place in Tiberias is a pilgrimage site to this day.

Maimonides (Ibn Maymun) was a Jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician who was the foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism. His first major work, begun at age 23 and completed 10 years later, was a commentary on the Mishna, the collected Jewish oral laws. A monumental code of Jewish law followed in Hebrew, The Guide for the Perplexed in Arabic, and numerous other works, many of major importance. His contributions in religion, philosophy, and medicine have influenced Jewish and non-Jewish scholars alike.

Maimonides was born into a distinguished family in Córdoba (Cordova), Spain. The young Moses studied with his learned father, Maimon, and other masters and at an early age astonished his teachers by his remarkable depth and versatility. Before Moses reached his 13th birthday, his peaceful world was suddenly disturbed by the ravages of war and persecution.

As part of Islamic Spain, Córdoba had accorded its citizens full religious freedom. However, in 1148, the Islamic Mediterranean world was shaken by a revolutionary and fanatical Islamic sect, the Almohads (Arabic: al-Muwaḥḥidūn, “the Unitarians”), who captured Córdoba, leaving the Jewish community faced with the grim alternative of submitting to Islam or leaving the city. The Maimons temporized by practicing their Judaism in the privacy of their homes, while disguising their ways in public as far as possible to appear like Muslims. They remained in Córdoba for some 11 years, and Maimonides continued his education in Judaic studies as well as in the scientific disciplines in vogue at the time.

When the double life proved too irksome to maintain in Córdoba, the Maimon family finally left the city about 1159 to settle in Fez, Morocco. Although it was also under Almohad rule, Fez was presumably more promising than Córdoba because there the Maimons would be strangers, and their disguise would be more likely to go undetected. Moses continued his studies in his favorite subjects, rabbinics and Greek philosophy, and added medicine to them. However, Fez proved to be no more than a short respite. In 1165 Rabbi Judah ibn Shoshan, with whom Moses had studied, was arrested as a practicing Jew and was found guilty and then executed. This was a sign to the Maimon family to move again, this time to Palestine, which was in a depressed economic state and could not offer them the basis of a livelihood. After a few months they moved again, now to Egypt, settling in Fostat, near Cairo. There Jews were free to practice their faith openly, though any Jew who had once submitted to Islam courted death if he relapsed to Judaism. Moses himself was once accused of being a renegade Muslim, but he was able to prove that he had never really adopted the faith of Islam and so was exonerated.

Though Egypt was a haven from harassment and persecution, Moses was soon assailed by personal problems. His father died shortly after the family’s arrival in Egypt. His younger brother, David, a prosperous jewelry merchant on whom Moses leaned for support, died in a shipwreck, taking the entire family fortune with him, and Moses was left as the sole support of his family. He could not turn to the rabbinate because in those days the rabbinate was conceived of as a public service that did not offer its practitioners any remuneration. Pressed by economic necessity, Moses took advantage of his medical studies and became a practicing physician. His fame as a physician spread rapidly, and he soon became the court physician to the sultan Saladin, the famous Muslim military leader, and to his son al-Afḍal. He also continued a private practice and lectured before his fellow physicians at the state hospital. At the same time he became the leading member of the Jewish community, teaching in public and helping his people with various personal and communal problems.

Maimonides married late in life and was the father of a son, Abraham, who was to make his mark in his own right in the world of Jewish scholarship.

The writings of Maimonides were numerous and varied. His earliest work, composed in Arabic at the age of 16, was the Millot ha-Higgayon (“Treatise on Logical Terminology”), a study of various technical terms that were employed in logic and metaphysics. Another of his early works, also in Arabic, was the “"Essay on the Calendar"” (Hebrew title: Maʾamar haʿibur).

The first of Maimonides’ major works, begun at the age of 23, was his commentary on the Mishna, Kitāb al-Sirāj, also written in Arabic. The Mishna is a compendium of decisions in Jewish law that dates from earliest times to the 3rd century. Maimonides’ commentary clarified individual words and phrases, frequently citing relevant information in archaeology, theology, or science. Possibly the work’s most striking feature is a series of introductory essays dealing with general philosophic issues touched on in the Mishna. One of these essays summarizes the teachings of Judaism in a creed of Thirteen Articles of Faith.

He completed the commentary on the Mishna at the age of 33, after which he began his magnum opus, the code of Jewish law, on which he also labored for 10 years. Bearing the name of Mishne Torah (“The Torah Reviewed”) and written in a lucid Hebrew style, the code offers a brilliant systematization of all Jewish law and doctrine. He wrote two other works in Jewish law of lesser scope: the Sefer ha-mitzwot (Book of Precepts), a digest of law for the less sophisticated reader, written in Arabic; and the Hilkhot ha-Yerushalmi (“Laws of Jerusalem”), a digest of the laws in the Palestinian Talmud, written in Hebrew.

His next major work, which he began in 1176 and on which he labored for 15 years, was his classic in religious philosophy, the Dalālat al-ḥāʾirīn (The Guide for the Perplexed), later known under its Hebrew title as the Moreh nevukhim. A plea for what he called a more rational philosophy of Judaism, it constituted a major contribution to the accommodation between science, philosophy, and religion. It was written in Arabic and sent as a private communication to his favorite disciple, Joseph ibn Aknin. The work was translated into Hebrew in Maimonides’ lifetime and later into Latin and most European languages. It has exerted a marked influence on the history of religious thought.

Maimonides also wrote a number of minor works, occasional essays dealing with problems that faced the Jewish community, and he maintained an extensive correspondence with scholars, students, and community leaders. Among his minor works those considered to be most important are Iggert Teman (Epistle to Yemen), Iggeret ha-shemad or Maʾamar Qiddush ha-Shem (“Letter on Apostasy”), and Iggeret le-qahal Marsilia (“Letter on Astrology,” or, literally, “Letter to the Community of Marseille”). He also wrote a number of works dealing with medicine, including a popular miscellany of health rules, which he dedicated to the sultan, al-Afḍal.

Maimonides complained often that the pressures of his many duties robbed him of peace and undermined his health. He died in 1204 and was buried in Tiberias, in the Holy Land, where his grave continues to be a shrine drawing a constant stream of pious pilgrims.

Maimonides’ advanced views aroused opposition during his lifetime and after his death. In 1233 one zealot, Rabbi Solomon of Montpellier, in southern France, instigated the church authorities to burn The Guide for the Perplexed as a dangerously heretical book. However, the controversy abated after some time, and Maimonides came to be recognized as a pillar of the traditional
faith—his creed became part of the orthodox liturgy—as well as the greatest of the Jewish philosophers.

It is misleading to list his achievements in law and philosophy separately, for the interpenetration of these two domains across his entire literary output reflects Maimonides‘ fundamental perception of Judaism as the philosophically informed society par excellence.  Even in his own lifetime, both the literary method and the ideational content of Maimonides‘ integrated presentation of Jewish practice and belief provoked considerable opposition and strife.  The subsequent development of medieval Jewish philosophy almost entirely revolves around the views of Maimonides, either for or against.  Despite the controversy surrounding his views, Jews universally revered Maimonides.

Maimonides’ epoch-making influence on Judaism extended also to the larger world. His philosophic work, translated into Latin, influenced the great medieval Scholastic writers, and even later thinkers, such as Benedict de Spinoza and G.W. Leibniz, found in his work a source for some of their ideas. His medical writings constitute a significant chapter in the history of medical science.


Moses Ben Maimon see Ibn Maymun
Maimonides see Ibn Maymun
Abū ʿImran Mūsā ibn Maymūn ibn ʿUbayd Allāh see Ibn Maymun
Rambam see Ibn Maymun
Musa ibn Maymun see Ibn Maymun
Abu 'Imran Musa bin 'Ubaidallah Maimun al-Qurtubi see Ibn Maymun
Ibn Miqsam
Ibn Miqsam (878-965).  One of the most learned experts in the “reading” of the Qur‘an.
Ibn Misjah
Ibn Misjah.  One of the greatest singers of the early Hijaz school of Arabic music from the eighth century.
Ibn Muflih
Ibn Muflih.  Family of Hanbali jurisconsults who can be traced from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries.

Shams al-Din ibn. Muflih (d. 1361) was one of the leading authorities in Hanbali Law who received his tutelage amongst several prominent Hanbali figures, including Ibn Taymiyah. He gave particular attention to the juristic preferences of Ibn Taymiyah, and included them in his voluminous and renowned masterpiece on Hanbali jurisprudence known as al-Furu’.


Shams al-Din ibn Muflih see Ibn Muflih.
Ibn Mujahid
Ibn Mujahid (859-936). “Reader” of the Qur‘an.  He was influential in persuading the authorities to proscribe the Qur‘an versions of the Prophet’s son-in-law ‘Ali, Ibn Mas‘ud, Ibn Shanabudh and Ubayy ibn Ka‘b.  Seven “readers” were recognized by him as authorities for the “reading” of the Qur‘an.
Ibn Muljam, ‘Abd al-Rahman
Ibn Muljam, ‘Abd al-Rahman (‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam). Kharijite who murdered Caliph ‘Ali in 661.
'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam see Ibn Muljam, ‘Abd al-Rahman
Ibn Munadir
Ibn Munadir (d. c. 813). Satirical poet of Aden.  He also wrote panegyrics (eulogies) of the Barmakids.
Ibn Muqla
Ibn Muqla (Ibn Muqlah) (885 - July 20, 940). Vizier of the ‘Abbasid period and a famous calligrapher.

 
Ibn Muqlah see Ibn Muqla
Ibn Muyassar
Ibn Muyassar (1231-1278).  Egyptian historian.  His Annals of Egypt cover the years 1047 to 1158, while two extracts exist for the years 973 to 976 and 991 to 997.
Ibn Naqiya
Ibn Naqiya (1020-1092).  Poet and man of letters of Baghdad.  Among other works, he wrote a collection of Sessions which reflect an attitude of denigration and sarcasm.
Ibn Nubata, Abu Bakr
Ibn Nubata, Abu Bakr (Abu Bakr ibn Nubata) (Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Nubāta Fariqi al-Ḥuḏāqī al-Misri) (Nubata ibn al-Misri) (1287, in Cairo - January/February 1366, in Cairo).  Poet and prose writer.  He was the favorite poet of the Ayyubid ruler al-Malik al-Mu‘ayyad Abu‘l-Fida‘ in Hamat.

Ibn Nubata Ibn al-Misri was an Arab poet. He is known primarily for his poetry, but he also wrote prose. Most of his works are still not or not critically edited. Research on Ibn Nubata's work is still in its infancy.

Ibn Nubata was the son of a Hadith master. Already in his youth he was interested in poetry and began to write short poems. In 1316, he left Cairo and went to Damascus. There, his stay was interrupted by short stays in Hama and Aleppo. In 1360, the Sultan summoned him back to an-Nasir al-Hasan in Cairo. Ibn Nubata died there in January or February 1366.

Abu Bakr ibn Nubata see Ibn Nubata, Abu Bakr
Nubata ibn al-Misri see Ibn Nubata, Abu Bakr
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Nubāta Fariqi al-Ḥuḏāqī al-Misri see Ibn Nubata, Abu Bakr
Ibn Nubata, Abu Yahya
Ibn Nubata, Abu Yahya (Abu Yahya ibn Nubata) (d. 984).   Preacher at the court of the Hamdanid Sayf al-Dawla ‘Ali I.  His sermons, written to exhort the population to support the ruler in the war against the Byzantines, aroused great enthusiasm.


Abu Yahya ibn Nubata see Ibn Nubata, Abu Yahya
Ibn Qalaqis
Ibn Qalaqis (1137-1172).  Arab poet, author and letter-writer of Alexandria.  He visited Aden, Zabid and ‘Aydhab and wrote a description of his travels in Sicily.
Ibn Qasi, Abu‘l-Qasim
Ibn Qasi, Abu‘l-Qasim (Abu‘l-Qasim ibn Qasi) (d. 1151).  Rebel in the Algarve.  He created a fragile kingdom, but when hard-pressed, approached the Almohads who landed at Cadiz in 1146 and caused his fall as well as that of the Almoravids. 


Abu'l-Qasim ibn Qasi see Ibn Qasi, Abu‘l-Qasim
Ibn Qays al-Ruqayyat, ‘Ubayd Allah
Ibn Qays al-Ruqayyat, ‘Ubayd Allah (‘Ubayd Allah ibn Qays al-Ruqayyat).  Arab poet of the Umayyad period.  His verses were set to music by the great singers of Medina and later by those at the court of the ‘Abbasids.
'Ubayd Allah ibn Qays al-Ruqayyat see Ibn Qays al-Ruqayyat, ‘Ubayd Allah
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (Ibn al-Qayyim) (February 4, 1292-1350).  Hanbali theologian and jurisconsult of Damascus.  He was the most famous pupil of Ibn Taymiyya but, unlike his master, was much more strongly influenced by Sufism.  He also was less of a polemicist and much more a preacher, and a writer of great talent.  He is still today an author very highly esteemed among the Wahhabiyya, the Salafiyya and in many circles of North African Islam.

Ibn al-Qayyim was a famous Sunni Islamic jurist, commentator on the Qur'an, astronomer, chemist, philosopher, psychologist, scientist and theologian. Although he is commonly referred to as "the scholar of the heart," given his extensive works pertaining to human behavior and ethics, Ibn al-Qayyim's scholarship focused on the sciences of Hadith and Fiqh.

Ibn al-Qayyim was born in the village of Izra' in Hauran, near Damascus, Syria. There is little known of his childhood except that he received a comprehensive Islamic education thanks to his father. From an early age, he set about acquiring knowledge of the Islamic sciences from the scholars of his time. He studied under his father who was a principal at the Madrasa al-Jawziyya, one of the few centers devoted to Hanbalite fiqh in Damascus, and thereafter pursued his quest for knowledge studying the works and teachings of scholars known in his time. His schooling centered around Islamic jurisprudence, theology, and the science of prophetic traditions.

Ibn al-Qayyim's teachers included his father, Abu Bakr, Shihaab al-'Abir, Taqiyyud-Deen Sulaymaan, Safiyyud-Deen al-Hindee, Ismaa'eel Ibn Muhammad al-Harraanee. However, the most notable of his teachers was Shaykhul-lslaam Ibn Taymiyyah, whom he accompanied and studied under for sixteen years.

Ibn al-Qayyim ultimately joined the study circle of the Muslim scholar Sheikh ul-Islam Taqiyyu-Deen Ahmad Ibn Taymiyah (1263-1328), who kept him in his company as his closest student, disciple and his successor. Ibn al-Qayyim was fervent in his devotion to Islam, and he was a loyal student and disciple of Ibn Taymiyah. He defended Ibn Taymiyyah's religious opinions and approaches, he compiled and edited most of his works, and taught the same.

Because of their views, both the teacher and the student were persecuted, tortured by tyrannical rulers, and humiliated in public by the local authorities, as they were imprisoned in a single cell in the central prison of Damascus, known today as al-Qala.

When Ibn Taymiyyah died, Ibn al-Qayyim was freed and subsequently furthered his studies, holding study circles and classes. He taught Islamic Jurisprudence at al-Sadriyya school in Damascus, before he held the position of the Imam of the Jawziyyah school. Most of his writings were compilations, although he authored several books and manuscripts with his own handwriting which are preserved in the central Library of Damascus.

Among the renowned Muslim scholars who studied under him, include Ibn 'Abd al-Haadi, al-Fayruz Aabadi, Ibn Rajab, Ibn Kathir, and others who frequented his circles.

Ibn al-Qayyim catered to all the branches of Islamic science, and was particularly known and commended for his commentaries.

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah was an avid and a resolute worshipper. He devoted long hours to his supererogatory nightly prayers, and was in a constant state of remembrance (dhikr), as he was known for his extended prostrations. During Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah's imprisonment in al-Qal'a prison in Damascus, he was constantly reading the Qur'an, and studying its meanings. Ibn Rajab noted that during that period of seclusion, he gained extensive spiritual success, as well as he developed a great analytical wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the prophetic traditions.

Upon his release, he performed the pilgrimage to Makkah several times, and sometimes he stayed in Makkah for a prolonged period of devotion and circumambulation of the holy Ka'ba.

Ibn al-Qayyim died at the age of sixty, on or about September 23, 1350, and was buried besides his father at al-Saghīr Cemetery.

Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah's contributions to the Islamic library are extensive, and they particularly deal with the Qur'anic commentaries, and understanding and analysis of the prophetic traditions (Fiqh-us Sunnah):

    * Zad al-Ma'ad (Provision of the hereafter)
    * Al-Waabil Sayyib minal kalim tayyib - a commentary on hadith about Prophet Yahya ibn Zakariyya.
    * I'laam ul Muwaqqi'een 'an Rabb il 'Aalameen
    * Tahthib Sunan Abi Da'ud
    * Madaarij Saalikeen which is a rearrangement of the book by Shaikh Abdullah al-Ansari, Manazil-u Sa'ireen (Stations of the Seekers);
    * Tafsir Mu'awwadhatain (Tafsir of Surah Falaq and Nas);
    * Fawā'id
    * Ad-Dā'i wa Dawā also known as Al Jawābul kāfi liman sa'ala 'an Dawā'i Shaafi
    * Haadi Arwah ila biladil Afrah
    * Uddatu Sabirin wa Dhakhiratu Shakirin
    * Ighadatu lahfan fi masayid shaytan
    * Rawdhatul Muhibbīn
    * Ahkām ahl al-dhimma"
    * Tuhfatul Mawdud bi Ahkam al-Mawlud
    * Miftah Dar As-Sa'adah
    * Jala al-afham fi fadhl salati ala khayral anam
    * Al-Manar al-Munif
    * Al-Tibb al-Nabawiya - a book on Prophetic Medicine (available in English as "The Prophetic Medicine", or as "Healing with the Medicine of the Prophet" (sal allahu `alayhi wa salim)
    * Al-Furusiyya

Amongst his most prominent students were: Ibn Kathir (d. c. 1373), Al-Dhahabi (d. c. 1347), Ibn Rajab (d. c. 1393) and Ibn Abdul-Haadee (d. c. 1343), as well as two of his sons, Ibraaheem and Sharafud-Deen Abdullaah.
Ibn Qutayba
Ibn Qutayba (Ibn Qutaybah) (Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullaah bin Muslim Ibn Qutaybah Ad-Dinawaree)  (828-889).  One of the great Sunni polygraphs, being both a theologian and a man of letters.  The some sixteen authentic works of Ibn Qutayba show the influence of a number of teachers in all fields of extant scholarship.  He also borrowed from existing, and remarkably faithful, translations of the Torah and the Gospels.  In his theological works, he put his literary talents at the service of the restoration of Sunnism, undertaken by the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil after the latter had put an end to the disputation
whether the Qur‘an was created or not (in Arabic, mihna).  He also wrote two chronologically arranged anthologies, one on poetic themes and the other on the poets themselves.

Ibn Qutaybah was born in Kufa in what is now modern day Iraq. He was of Iranian descent. His father was from Merv. Having studied tradition and philology he became qadi in Dinawar, and afterwards a teacher in Baghdad, where he died. He was the first representative of the eclectic school of Baghdad philologists that succeeded the schools of Kufa and Basra. Throughout his life of warfare, Qutaybah succeeded in the capture of Bhari and Samarqand. Throughout the distance of over 3000 km towards Sammarqand, Qutayba and his army consisting of 30,000 soldiers and cavalry fought more than 20 battles and won all of them.

Ibn Qutaybah was viewed by Sunni Muslims as a hadith master, foremost philologist, linguist, and man of letters.

Some of the works attributed to Ibn Qutaybah are:

    * Gharīb al-Qur’ān also known as Mushkil al-Qur’ān.
    * The Interpretation of Conflicting Narrations (Arabic: Ta’wīl Mukhtalif al-Hadīth)
    * Adab al-Kitāb.
    * al-Akhbār al-T.iwāl.
    * al-Amwāl.
    * al-Anwā’.
    * al-‘Arab wa ‘Ulūmuhā, on Arab intellectual history.
    * al-Ashriba, on alcoholic beverages.
    * Dalā’il al-Nubuwwa or A‘lām al-Nubuwwa, on the proofs of Prophethood.
    * Fad.l al-‘Arab ‘alā al-‘Ajam, in praise of the Arabs.
    * I‘rāb al-Qur’ān, a philological commentary.
    * al-Ikhtilāf fī al-Lafz. wa al-Radd ‘alā al-Jahmiyya wal-Mushabbiha, a refutation of both the allegorizers and the anthropomorphists. This slim volume received editions in Egypt.
    * al-Ishtiqāq.
    * Is.lāh. Ghalat. Abī ‘Ubayd, corrections on al-Qāsim ibn Salām’s Gharīb al-H.adīth.
    * Jāmi‘ al-Fiqh, on jurisprudence.
    * Jāmi‘ al-Nah.w al-Kabīr and Jāmi‘ al-Nah.w al-S.aghīr.
    * al-Jarāthīm, on linguistics.
    * al-Jawābāt al-H.ādira.
    * al-Ma‘ānī al-Kabīr.
    * al-Ma‘ārif, a slim volume that manages to cover topics from the beginning of creation and facts about the Jāhiliyya to the names of the Companions and famous jurists and hadīth masters.
    * al-Masā’il wal-Ajwiba.
    * al-Maysar wal-Qidāh, on dice and lots.
    * al-Na‘m wal-Bahā’im, on cattle and livestock.
    * al-Nabāt,on botany.
    * al-Qirā’āt, on the canonical readings.
    * al-Radd ‘alā al-Qā’il bi Khalq al-Qur’ān, against those who assert the createdness of the Qur’an.
    * al-Radd ‘alā al-Shu‘aybiyya, a refutation of a sub-sect of the ‘Ajārida ‘At.awiyya, itself a sub-sect of the Khawārij.
    * al-Rah.l wal-Manzil.
    * Ta‘bīr al-Ru’yā, on the interpretation of dreams.
    * Talqīn al-Muta‘allim min al-Nah, on grammar.
    * ‘Uyūn al-Akhbār, on history.
    * ‘Uyūn al-Shi‘r, on poetry.
    * al-Shi‘r wal-Shu‘arā’

Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullaah bin Muslim Ibn Qutaybah Ad-Dinawaree  see Ibn Qutayba
Ibn Qutaybah see Ibn Qutayba
Ibn Quzman
Ibn Quzman.  Name of a Cordoban family, of which the following five men of letters are worthy of mention: (1) Abu‘l-Asbagh, a poet of the tenth century; (2) Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Akbar (d. 1114) , a famous stylist and poet; (3) Abu Marwan ibn Abi Bakr (d. 1169), a scholar and jurist; (4) Abu‘l-Husayn ibn Abi Marwan (d. 1196), a jurist and poet; and (5) Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Asghar (d. 1160),  the famous poet of the popular Arabic poem in strophic form, called zajal, which is written only in the Arabic dialect of Spain.

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Quzman (Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Asghar) was born in 1078 in Cordoba and died in 1160 also in Cordoba. He is one of the most famous poets of al-Andalus and he is also considered to be one of its most original. He is the author of classical poetry, but above all of zéjeles. Characteristic of the zejel is its colloquial language, as well as a typical rhyming scheme: aaab cccb dddb where b rhymes with a constantly recurring refrain of one or two lines. The zejel can be seen as a form of the muwashshah.

The life-style of Ibn Quzman was similar to that of troubadours. His approach to life as expressed in his melodious poems, together with their mixed idiom (occasionally using words of the Romance languages), shows a resemblance to the later vernacular troubadour poetry of France.
Ibn Ra‘iq
Ibn Ra‘iq (Muhammad ibn Ra‘iq) (d. 942).  First commander-in-chief of the army of the ‘Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad.
Muhammad ibn Ra'iq see Ibn Ra‘iq
Ibn Rashiq, Abu ‘Ali Hasan
Ibn Rashiq, Abu ‘Ali Hasan (Abu ‘Ali Hasan ibn Rashiq) (1000-1063).  One of the most illustrious men of letters of Ifriqiya.  His poetry is characterized by its conscious artistic elegance.
Abu 'Ali Hasan ibn Rashiq see Ibn Rashiq, Abu ‘Ali Hasan
Ibn Ridwan
Ibn Ridwan (Abu'l Hasan Ali ibn Ridwan Al-Misri) (998-1061). Renowned physician, medical author and polemicist of Egypt.  His commentaries on Ptolemy and Galen were translated into Latin, Turkish and Hebrew.  Another work of his contains important information on the transmission of Greek science to the Arabs.

Abu'l Hasan Ali ibn Ridwan Al-Misri (c. 988–c. 1061) was an Egyptian Muslim physician, astrologer and astronomer who was born in Giza. He was a commentator on ancient Greek medicine, and in particular on Galen. His commentary on Galen's Ars Parva was translated by Gerardo Cremonese. However, he is better known for providing the most detailed description of the supernova now known as SN 1006, the brightest steller event in recorded history, which he observed in the year 1006. This was written in a commentary on Ptolemy's work Tetrabiblos.

Ibn Ridwan was later cited by European authors as Haly, or Haly Abenrudian. He also contributed to the theory of induction. He engaged in a celebrated polemic against another physician, Ibn Butlan of Baghdad.

The works attributed to Ibn Ridwan include:

    * a commentary on Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos (the pseudo-Ptolemaic Centiloquy and its commentary, which is sometimes attributed to Ali, is actually the work of Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn al-Daya)
    * De revolutionibus nativitatum (The Revolutions of Nativities)
    * Tractatus de cometarum significationibus per xii signa zodiaci (Treatise on the Significations of Comets in the twelve Signs of the Zodiac)

Abu'l Hasan Ali ibn Ridwan Al-Misri see Ibn Ridwan
Ibn Rushd, Abu‘l-Walid Muhammad
Ibn Rushd, Abu‘l-Walid Muhammad  (Abu‘l-Walid Muhammad ibn Rushd) (Abul-Waleed Muhammad ibn Rushd) (Averroes) (1126 - December 10, 1198).  Muslim philosopher, physician, Maliki jurist, and Ash'ari theologian. . 

Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd, better known just as Ibn Rushd, and in European literature as Averroes, was an Andalusian-Arab Muslim polymath: a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics, physics and celestial mechanics. He was born in Córdoba, Al Andalus, modern day Spain, and died in Marrakech, modern day Morocco. His school of philosophy is known as Averroism. He has been described as the founding father of secular thought in Western Europe.

Ibn Rushd was born in Cordoba, Spain, and would spend all of his life in Muslim Spain.  His father, a judge in Cordoba, instructed Ibn Rushd in Muslim jurisprudence.  In his native city, he also studied theology, philosophy, and mathematics under the Arab philosopher Ibn Tufayl (d.1185) and medicine under the Arab physician Avenzoar (c.1090-1162). 

Ibn Rushd was appointed judge in Seville in 1169 and in Cordoba in 1171.  In 1182, he succeeded Ibn Tufayl and became chief physician to Abu Yaqub Yusuf, the Almohad caliph of Morocco and Muslim Spain (Andalusia).  During the reign of Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur (1184-1199), Ibn Rushd was exiled (in 1195) because of his view that reason takes precedence over religion.  He was restored to favor shortly before his death. He died in Marrakesh, from where his body was later brought to Cordoba. 

Ibn Rushd’s fields of study were the Qur’anic sciences and the natural sciences, including physics, medicine, biology and astronomy, as well as theology and philosophy.  Only a small number of his works in Arabic survive, the majority having been preserved in Latin and Hebrew translations. 

Ibn Rushd held that metaphysical truths can be expressed in two ways: through philosophy, as represented by the views of Aristotle, and through religion, which is truth presented in a form that the ordinary person can understand.  Although Ibn Rushd did not actually propound the existence of two kinds of truth, philosophical and religious, his view was interpreted in that way by Christian thinkers, who called it the theory of “double truth.” 

Ibn Rushd rejected the concept of a creation of the world in the history of time.  Instead, he maintained that the world has no beginning.  God is the “prime mover,” the self-moved force that stimulates all motion, who transforms the potential into the actual. The individual human soul emanates from the one universal soul. 

Ibn Rushd’s extensive commentaries on the works of Aristotle were translated into Latin and Hebrew and greatly influenced the Scholastic school of philosophy in medieval Europe and medieval Jewish philosophy.  Ibn Rushd’s main independent work was Tahafut al-Tahafut (Incoherence of the Incoherence), a rebuttal of the attack on Neo-platonic and Aristotelian philosophy by the Islamic theologian al-Ghazzali.

In his philosophical works, Ibn Rushd attacked both Ibn Sina’s and al-Ghazzali’s solutions to major problems.  Ibn Rushd’s most notable achievement, the Tahabfut al-Tahafut, was a commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics.  Ibn Rushd was unmatched in his faithfulness to Aristotle’s original text.  Many of his writings have been preserved in Latin and Hebrew as well as Arabic. 

Ibn Rushd, a noted Spanish-Arab physician and astronomer as well as being a philosopher and jurist, also wrote books on medicine, astronomy, law, and grammar.  He was one of the most influential thinkers of the period which has come to be known as the Middle Ages.    

Ibn Rushd came from a family of Islamic legal scholars; his grandfather Abu Al-Walid Muhammad (d. 1126) was chief judge of Córdoba under the Almoravid dynasty. His father, Abu Al-Qasim Ahmad, held the same position until the coming of the Almohad dynasty in 1146.

Ibn Rushd began his career with the help of Ibn Tufail ("Aben Tofail" to the West), the author of Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and philosophic vizier of Almohad amir Abu Yaqub Yusuf. It was Ibn Tufail who introduced him to the court and to Ibn Zuhr ("Avenzoar" to the West), the great Muslim physician, who became Ibn Rushd's teacher and friend. Ibn Rushd later reported how it was also Ibn Tufail who inspired him to write his famous Aristotelian commentaries.

Ibn Rushd was also a student of Ibn Bajjah ("Avempace" to the West), another famous Islamic philosopher who greatly influenced his own Averroist thought. However, while the thought of his mentors Ibn Tufail and Ibn Bajjah were mystic to an extent, the thought of Ibn Rushd was purely rationalist. Together, the three men are considered the greatest Andalusian philosophers.

In 1160, Ibn Rushd was made Qadi (judge) of Seville and he served in many court appointments in Seville, Cordoba, and Morocco during his career. At the end of the 12th century, following the Almohads conquest of Al-Andalus, his political career was ended. Ibn Rushd's strictly rationalist views which collided with the more orthodox views of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur led to him banishing Ibn Rushd though he had previously appointed him as his personal physician. Ibn Rushd was not reinstated until shortly before his death. He devoted the rest of his life to his philosophical writings.

Ibn Rushd's works were spread over 20,000 pages covering a variety of different subjects, including early Islamic philosophy, logic in Islamic philosophy, Arabic medicine, Arabic mathematics, Arabic astronomy, Arabic grammar, Islamic theology, Sharia (Islamic law), and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). In particular, his most important works dealt with Islamic philosophy, medicine and Fiqh. He wrote at least 67 original works, which included 28 works on philosophy, 20 on medicine, 8 on law, 5 on theology, and 4 on grammar, in addition to his commentaries on most of Aristotle's works and his commentary on Plato's The Republic.

He wrote commentaries on most of the surviving works of Aristotle. These were not based on primary sources (it is not known whether Ibn Rushd knew Greek), but rather on Arabic translations. There were three levels of commentary: the Jami, the Talkhis and the Tafsir which are, respectively, a simplified overview, an intermediate commentary with more critical material, and an advanced study of Aristotelian thought in a Muslim context. The terms are taken from
the names of different types of commentary on the Qur'an. It is not known whether he wrote commentaries of all three types on all the works. In most cases only one or two commentaries survive.

Ibn Rushd did not have access to any text of Aristotle's Politics. As a substitute for this, he commented on Plato's The Republic, arguing that the ideal state there described was the same as the original constitution of the Arab Caliphate, as well as the Almohad state of Ibn Tumart.
 
Ibn Rushd's most important original philosophical work was The Incoherence of the Incoherence (Tahafut al-tahafut), in which he defended Aristotelian philosophy against al-Ghazali's claims in The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-falasifa). Al-Ghazali argued that Aristotelianism, especially as presented in the writings of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), was self-contradictory and an affront to the teachings of Islam. Ibn Rushd's rebuttal was two-pronged.  He contended both that al-Ghazali's arguments were mistaken and that, in any case, the system of Ibn Sina was a distortion of genuine Aristotelianism so that al-Ghazali was aiming at the wrong target. Other works were the Fasl al-Maqal, which argued for the legality of philosophical investigation under Islamic law, and the Kitab al-Kashf, which argued against the proofs of Islam advanced by the Ash'arite school and discussed what proofs, on the popular level, should be used instead.

Ibn Rushd was also a highly-regarded legal scholar of the Maliki school. Perhaps his best-known work in this field is Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid, a textbook of Maliki doctrine in a comparative framework.

In medicine, Ibn Rushd wrote a medical encyclopedia called Kulliyat ("Generalities", i.e. general medicine), known in its Latin translation as Colliget. He also made a compilation of the works of Galen (129-200) and wrote a commentary on The Law of Medicine (Qanun fi 't-tibb) of Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980-1037).

Jacob Anatoli translated several of the works of Averroes from Arabic into Hebrew in the 1200s. Many of them were later translated from Hebrew into Latin by Jacob Mantino and Abraham de Balmes. Other works were translated directly from Arabic into Latin by Michael Scot. Many of his works in logic and metaphysics have been permanently lost, while others, including some of the longer Aristotelian commentaries, have only survived in Latin or Hebrew translation, not in the original Arabic. The fullest version of his works is in Latin, and forms part of the multi-volume Juntine edition of Aristotle published in Venice 1562-1574.
 
According to Ibn Rushd, there is no conflict between religion and philosophy, rather that they are different ways of reaching the same truth. He believed in the eternity of the universe. He also held that the soul is divided into two parts, one individual and one divine; while the individual soul is not eternal, all humans at the basic level share one and the same divine soul. Ibn Rushd has two kinds of Knowledge of Truth. The first being his knowledge of truth of religion being based in faith and thus could not be tested, nor did it require training to understand. The second knowledge of truth is philosophy, which was reserved for an elite few who had the intellectual capacity to undertake this study.

The concept of "existence precedes essence", a key foundational concept of existentialism, can also be found in the works of Ibn Rushd, as a reaction to Ibn Sina's concept of "essence precedes existence". Ibn Rushd's most famous original philosophical work was The Incoherence of the Incoherence, a rebuttal to Al-Ghazali's The Incoherence of the Philosophers. In medieval Europe, his school of philosophy known as Averroism exerted a strong influence on Christian philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas and Jewish philosophers such as Gersonides and Maimonides.

At the age of 25, Ibn Rushd conducted astronomical observations near Marrakech, Morocco, during which he discovered a previously unobserved star.

In astronomical theory, Ibn Rushd rejected the eccentric deferents introduced by Ptolemy. He rejected the Ptolemaic model and instead argued for a strictly concentric model of the universe. Ibn Rushd also argued that the Moon is opaque and obscure, and has some parts which are thicker than others, with the thicker parts receiving more light from the Sun than the thinner parts of the Moon. He also gave one of the first descriptions on sunspots.

As a Qadi (judge), Ibn Rushd wrote the Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtasid, a Maliki legal treatise dealing with Sharia (law) and Fiqh (jurisprudence) which, according to Al-Dhahabi in the 13th century, was considered the best treatise ever written on the subject. Ibn Rushd's summary of the opinions (fatwa) of previous Islamic jurists on a variety of issues has continued to influence Islamic scholars to the present day, notably Javed Ahmad Ghamidi. Ibn Rushd also claimed that women in Islam were equal to men in all respects and possessed equal capacities to shine in peace and in war.

Ibn Rushd discussed Islamic economic jurisprudence, particularly the concept of Riba (usury). He reported that Ibn ‘Abbas, a sahaba (companion) of Muhammad, did not accept Riba al-Fadl (interest in excess) because, according to him, the Prophet Muhammad had clarified that there was no Riba except in credit. He also discussed the role of Islamic criminal jurisprudence in the Islamic dietary laws in regards to the consumption of alcohol. He stated that physical punishment for alcoholic consumption was not originally established as part of the Sharia in Muhammad's time but was later decided by the Shura (consultive council) of the Rashidun Caliphate.

In his Islamic philosophy of law, Ibn Rushd also discussed the concept of natural law. In his treatise on Justice and Jihad and his commentary on Plato's Republic, he writes that the human mind can know of the unlawfulness of killing and stealing and thus of the five maqasid or higher intents of the Islamic Sharia or to protect religion, life, property, offspring, and reason. The concept of natural law entered the mainstream of Western culture through his Aristotelian commentaries, influencing the subsequent Averroist movement and the writings of Thomas Aquinas.

Ibn Rushd was the last major Muslim logician from Al-Andalus. He is known for writing the most elaborate commentaries on Aristotelian logic.

As a physician, Ibn Rushd wrote twenty treatises on Arabic medicine, including a seven-volume medical encyclopedia entitled Kitābu’l Kulliyāt fī al-Tibb (General Rules of Medicine), better known as Colliget in Latin. This encyclopedic work was completed at some time before 1162 and elaborated on physiology, general pathology, diagnosis, medical material, hygiene and general therapeutics. He argued that no one can suffer from smallpox twice, and fully understood the function of the retina. However, his Colliget was largely overshadowed by the earlier medical encyclopedias, Continents by Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi (Rhazes) and The Canon of Medicine by Ibn Sina (Avicenna). As a result, Ibn Rushd's fame as a physician was eclipsed by his own fame as a philosopher. His Kulliyāt was translated into Latin by the Jewish translator Bonacosa in the late 13th century and again by Syphorien Champier in circa 1537, and it was also translated into Hebrew twice. It has been noted that the prototypes for the physician-philosophers that predominated in Spain were Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes).

Ibn Rushd discussed the topic of human dissection and autopsy. Although he never undertook human dissection, he was aware of it being carried out by some of his contemporaries, such as Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), and appears to have supported the practice.

In urology, Ibn Rushd identified the issues of sexual dysfunction and erectile dysfunction, and was among the first to prescribe medication for the treatment of these problems. He used several methods of therapy for this issue, including the single drug method where a tested drug is prescribed, and a combination method of either a drug or food. Most of these drugs were oral medication, though a few patients were also treated through topical or transurethral means.

In neurology and neuroscience, Ibn Rushd suggested the existence of Parkinson's disease, and in ophthalmology and optics, he was the first to attribute photoreceptor properties to the retina. In his Colliget, he was also the first to suggest that the principal organ of sight might be the arachnoid membrane (aranea). His work led to much discussion in 16th century Europe over whether the principal organ of sight is the traditional Galenic crystalline humor or the Averroist aranea, which in turn led to the discovery that the retina is the principal organ of sight.

As an Arabic music theorist, Ibn Rushd contributed to music theory with his commentary on Aristotle's On the Soul, where Ibn Rushd dealt perspicuously with the theory of sound. This text was translated into Latin by Michael Scot (d. 1232).

In Ibn Rushd's commentary on Aristotle's Physics, he commented on the theory of motion proposed by Ibn Bajjah (Avempace), and also made his own contributions to physics, particularly mechanics. Ibn Rushd was the first to define and measure force as the rate at which work is done in changing the kinetic condition of a material body and the first to correctly argue that the effect and measure of force is change in the kinetic condition of a materially resistant mass. It seems he was also the first to introduce the notion that bodies have a (non-gravitational) inherent resistance to motion into physics, subsequently first dubbed "inertia" by Kepler.

For Ibn Rushd, the human soul is a separate substance ontologically identical with the active intellect, and when this active intellect is embodied in an individual human it is the material intellect. The material intellect is analogous to prime matter, in that it is pure potentiality able to receive universal forms. As such, the human mind is a composite of the material intellect and the passive intellect, which is the third element of the intellect. The passive intellect is identified with the imagination, which is the sense-connected finite and passive faculty that receives particular sensual forms. When the material intellect is actualized by information received, it is described as the speculative (habitual) intellect. As the speculative intellect moves towards perfection, having the active intellect as an object of thought, it becomes the acquired intellect. In that, it is aided by the active intellect, perceived in the way Aristotle had taught, to acquire intelligible thoughts. The idea of the soul's perfection occurring through having the active intellect as a greater object of thought is introduced elsewhere, and its application to religious doctrine is seen. In the Tahafut, Ibn Rushd speaks of the soul as a faculty that comes to resemble the focus of its intention, and when its attention focuses more upon eternal and universal knowledge, it becomes more like the eternal and universal. As such, when the soul perfects itself, it becomes like our intellect.

Ibn Rushd succeeded in providing an explanation of the human soul and intellect that did not involve an immediate transcendent agent. This opposed the explanations found among the Neoplatonists, allowing a further argument for rejecting of Neoplatonic emanation theories.

Ibn Rushd is most famous for his translations and commentaries of Aristotle's works, which had been mostly forgotten in the West. Before 1150, only a few translated works of Aristotle existed in Latin Europe, and they were not studied much or given much credence by monastic scholars. It was through the Latin translations of Ibn Rushd's work beginning in the 12th century that the legacy of Aristotle became more widely known in the medieval West.

In medieval Europe, Ibn Rushd's school of philosophy, known as Averroism, exerted a strong influence on Christian philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas and Jewish philosophers such as Gersonides and Maimonides (Ibn Maymun). Despite negative reactions from Jewish Talmudists and the Christian clergy, Ibn Rushd's writings were taught at the University of Paris and other medieval universities, and Averroism remained the dominant school of thought in Europe through to the 16th century.

Ibn Rushd's argument in The Decisive Treatise provided a justification for the emancipation of science and philosophy from official Ash'ari theology.  Accordingly, Averroism has been regarded as a precursor to modern secularism, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) has been described as one of the founding fathers of secular thought in Western Europe.

Ibn Rushd's work on Aristotle spans almost three decades, and he wrote commentaries on almost all of Aristotle's work except for Aristotle's Politics, to which he did not have access. Ibn Rushd greatly influenced philosophy in the Islamic world. His death coincides with a change in the culture of Al-Andalus. In his work Fasl al-Maqāl (translated as The Decisive Treatise), he stresses the importance of analytical thinking as a prerequisite to interpret the Qur'an. This is in contrast to orthodox Ash'ari theology, where the emphasis is less on analytical thinking but on extensive knowledge of sources other than the Qur'an, i.e. the hadith.

Hebrew translations of his work also had a lasting impact on Jewish philosophy, in particular Gersonides, who wrote supercommentaries on many of the works. In the Christian world, his ideas were assimilated by Siger of Brabant and Thomas Aquinas and others (especially in the University of Paris) within the Christian scholastic tradition which valued Aristotelian logic. Famous scholastics such as Aquinas believed Ibn Rushd to be so important they did not refer to him by name, simply calling him "The Commentator" and calling Aristotle "The Philosopher." Averroes's treatise on Plato's Republic has played a major role in both the transmission and the adaptation of the Platonic tradition in the West. It has been a primary source in medieval political philosophy. On the other hand Ibn Rushd was feared by many Christian theologians who accused him of advocating a "double truth" and denying orthodox doctrines such as individual immortality, and an underground mythology grew up stigmatising Ibn Rushd as the ultimate unbeliever. However, these accusations were largely based on misunderstandings of his work.

The asteroid "8318 Averroes" was named in his honor.

Abu'l-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd see Ibn Rushd, Abu‘l-Walid Muhammad
Abu'l-Walid Muhammad ibn Rushd see Ibn Rushd, Abu‘l-Walid Muhammad
Abul-Waleed Muhammad ibn Rushd see Ibn Rushd, Abu‘l-Walid Muhammad
Averroes see Ibn Rushd, Abu‘l-Walid Muhammad
Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd see Ibn Rushd, Abu‘l-Walid Muhammad
Ibn Rusta
Ibn Rusta (Ibn Rustah) (Ahmad ebn Roste Esfahani) (d. 912).  Historian and geographer from Isfahan.  The one volume which is left of what must have been a very voluminous work may be defined as a short encyclopedia of historical and geographical knowledge.

Ibn Rustah was a 10th century Persian explorer and geographer born in Rosta district, Isfahan, Persia. He wrote a geographical compendium. The information on his home town of Isfahan is especially extensive and valuable. Ibn Rustah states that, while for other lands he had to depend on second-hand reports, often acquired with great difficulty and with no means of checking their veracity, for Isfahan he could use his own experience and observations or statements from others known to be reliable. Thus we have a description of the twenty districts (rostaqs) of Isfahan containing details not found in other geographers' works. Concerning the town itself, it is described as being perfectly circular in shape, with a circumference of half a farsang, walls defended by a hundred towers, and four gates.

Ibn Rustah's information on the non-Islamic peoples of Europe and Inner Asia makes him a useful source for these obscure regions and for the prehistory of the Turks and other steppe peoples. He was even aware of the existence of the British Isles and of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England.

Ibn Rustah travelled to Novgorod with the Rus', and compiled books relating his own travels, as well as second-hand knowledge of the Khazars, Magyars, Slavs, Bulgars, and other peoples.

Ibn Rustah see Ibn Rusta
Ahmad ebn Roste Esfahani see Ibn Rusta
Ibn Sab‘in
Ibn Sab‘in (Ibn Dara) (Abu Mohammed Abd el-Hakh Ibn Sabin) (1217-1269).  Philosopher and Sufi of Murcia, Spain.  His life consisted of controversies, quarrels and persecutions. 

Abu Mohammed Abd el-Hakh Ibn Sabin was a Sufi philosopher. He was born in 1217 in Spain and lived in Ceuta. He was known for his replies to questions sent to him by Frederick II, ruler of Sicily. He died in 1269 in Mecca. He was also known for his knowledge of religions (Judaism, Christianity and even Hinduism and Zoroastrianism) and the "hidden sciences."
Ibn Dara see Ibn Sab‘in
Abu Mohammed Abd el-Hakh Ibn Sabin see Ibn Sab‘in
Ibn Sa‘d
Ibn Sa‘d (Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Mani' al-Baghdadi) (Katib ul-Waqidi - "the scribe of Waqidi") (784-845).  Traditionist of Basra.  The fame of this secretary to al-Waqidi is based on his Book of the Classes, which provides information on some 4,250 persons who, from the beginning of Islam down to the author’s time, had played a role as transmitters of traditions about the Prophet’s sayings and doings.

Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Mani' al-Baghdadi or Ibn Sa'd, often called Katib ul-Waqidi, the scribe of Waqidi was born in the year 784. He was a Sunni Muslim scholar of Islam and an Arabian biographer. He received his training in the tradition from Al-Waqidi and other celebrated teachers. He lived for the most part in Baghdad, and had the reputation of being both trustworthy and accurate in his writings, which, in consequence, were much used by later writers.

Ibn Sa`d was from Basra, Iraq, then lived in Baghdad in the 9th century. He is said to have died in Baghdad and was buried in the cemetery of the Syrian gate.

Ibn Sa'd's book The Major Classes (Arabic: Kitab Tabaqat Al-Kubra) is a compendium of biographical information about famous Islamic personalities. It is eight volumes long. This work contains the lives of Muhammad, his Companions and Helpers, including those who fought at the Battle of Badr as a special class, and of the following generation, the Followers, who received their traditions from the Companions. Ibn Sa'd's authorship of this work is attested in a postscript to the book added by a later writer. In this notice he is described as a "client of al-Husayn ibn `Abdullah of the `Abbasid family".

The contents of The Major Classes consists of the following:

    * Books 1 and 2 contain a sirat of Muhammad.
    * Books 3 and 4 contain biographical profiles of companions of the Muhammed.
    * Books 5, 6 and 7 contain biographical profiles of later Islamic scholars.
    * Book 8 contains biographical profiles of Islamic women.

Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Mani' al-Baghdadi see Ibn Sa‘d
Katib ul-Waqidi see Ibn Sa‘d
The Scribe of Waqidi see Ibn Sa‘d
Ibn Sahl al-Isra‘ili
Ibn Sahl al-Isra‘ili (1212-1251).  Poet of Seville.  The poems of this convert from Judaism to Islam belong to the finest specimens of Andalusian poetry.
Ibn Sara
Ibn Sara (d. 1123).  Islamic poet.
Ibn Sarabiyun
Ibn Sarabiyun (Ibn Suhrab).  Geographer of Persian origin of the tenth century.  In his Book of the Marvels of the Seven Climates, mainly based on Abu Ja‘far al-Khwarazmi’s Configuration of the Earth, he describes in detail the technique of constructing a map on a cylindrical projection.
Ibn Suhrab see Ibn Sarabiyun
Ibn Sa‘ud, Abdul Aziz
Ibn Sa‘ud, Abdul Aziz (Abdul Aziz ibn Sa‘ud) (ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Fayṣal ibn Turkī ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad Āl Saʿūd)  (1879, in Riyadh, Arabia - November 9, 1953, Al-Ta'if, Saudi Arabia).  King of Saudi Arabia (r.1932-1953).  A grandson of Faisal (d. 1867), sultan of Najd in central Arabia, Ibn Sa‘ud was leader of the Wahhabis, a fundamentalist Muslim sect. 

Ibn Saʿūd was a tribal and Muslim religious leader who formed the modern state of Saudi Arabia and initiated the exploitation of its oil.

The Saʿūds ruled much of Arabia from 1780 to 1880; but, while Ibn Saʿūd was still an infant, his family, driven out by their rivals, the Rashīds, became penniless exiles in Kuwait. In 1901 Ibn Saʿūd, then 21, set out from Kuwait with 40 camelmen in a bold attempt to regain his family’s lands.

Reaching their old family capital, Riyadh, the little group slipped into the town by night (January 1902). The Rashīdī governor slept in the castle but came out every morning after dawn. Ibn Saʿūd lay hidden until the governor emerged. Then, rushing forward with his men, he killed him and seized the castle. This exploit roused the former supporters of his dynasty. They rallied to so magnetic a leader, and in two years of raids and skirmishes Ibn Saʿūd reconquered half of central Arabia.

Ibn Rashīd, however, appealed for help to the Turks, who sent troops; Ibn Saʿūd suffered a defeat at their hands on June 15, 1904. But he was not driven from central Arabia and soon reconstituted his forces, the years 1907 to 1912 being passed in desultory fighting. The Turks eventually left, unable to supply their troops.

Ibn Saʿūd decided, in the years before World War I, to revive his dynasty’s support for Wahhābism, an extremist Muslim puritan sect. Ibn Saʿūd was in fact a devoted puritan Muslim—to him the Qurʾān was literally the word of God, and his life was regulated by it. Yet he was also aware that religious fanaticism could serve his ambition, and he deliberately fostered it, founding a militantly religious tribal organization known as the Ikhwān (Brethren). This fanatical brotherhood encouraged his followers to fight and to massacre their Arab rivals, and it helped him to bring many nomadic tribesmen under more immediate control.

He was able to persuade the religious leaders to declare it a religious duty of all Wahhābīs to abandon nomadism and to build houses at the desert wells. Thus settled, they could more easily be levied into his army. But the scheme was unrealistic: nomads who sold their flocks were often unable to cultivate and were reduced to penury. The destitution of the more fanatical tribes, however, made them more eager to raid, and Ibn Saʿūd was not slow to suggest that they plunder the subjects of Ibn Rashīd.

During World War I, Ibn Saʿūd entered into a treaty with the British (December 1915), accepting protectorate status and agreeing to make war against Ibn Rashīd, who was being supported by the Turks. But despite British arms and a subsidy of £5,000 a month from the British government (which continued until 1924) he was inactive until 1920, arguing that his subsidy was insufficient. During 1920–22, however, he marched against Ibn Rashīd and extinguished Rashīdī rule, doubling his own territory but without significantly increasing his meager revenue.

Ibn Saʿūd now ruled central Arabia except for the Hejaz region along the Red Sea. This was the territory of Sharīf Ḥusayn of Mecca, who had become king of the Hejaz during the war and who declared himself caliph (head of the Muslim community) in 1924. Sharīf Ḥusayn’s son ʿAbd Allāh had become ruler of Transjordan in 1921, and another son, Fayṣal, king of Iraq. Ibn Saʿūd, fearing encirclement by this rival dynasty, decided to invade the Hejaz. He was then at the height of his powers; his strong personality and extraordinary charm had won the devotion of all his subjects. A skillful politician, he worked closely with the religious leaders, who always supported him. Relying on the Ikhwān to eliminate his Arab rivals, he sent them to raid his neighbors, then cabled the British, whose imperial interests were involved, that the raid was against his orders. In 1924, the Ikhwān took Mecca, and the Hejaz was added to his dominions.

At this point, there were no more rivals whom Ibn Saʿūd could conquer, for those remaining had treaties with Britain. But the Ikhwān had been taught that all non-Wahhābī Muslims were infidels. When Ibn Saʿūd forbade further raiding, they charged him with treachery, quoting his own words against him. In 1927 they invaded Iraq against his wishes. They were repulsed by British aircraft, but Ibn Saʿūd’s authority over them had vanished, and on March 29, 1929, the Ikhwān, the fanatics whom he himself had trained, were crushed by Ibn Saʿūd himself at the Battle of Sibilla.

This battle opened a new era; thereafter Ibn Saʿūd’s task was government, not conquest. In 1932 he formally unified his domains into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. An absolute monarch, he had no regular civil service or professional administrators. All decisions were made by him or by those he personally delegated for a particular task. There was little money, and he himself was not interested in finance. In May 1933 Ibn Saʿūd signed his first agreement with an American oil company. Not until March 1938 did the company strike oil, and work virtually ceased during World War II, so that Ibn Saʿūd was again nearly penniless.

Saudi Arabia took no part in the war, but toward its end the exploitation of oil was resumed. By 1950 Ibn Saʿūd had received a total of about $200,000. Three years later, he was getting some $2,500,000 a week. The effect was disastrous on the country and on Ibn Saʿūd. He had no idea of what to do with all the money, and he watched helplessly the triumph of everything he hated. His austere religious views were offended. The secluded, penurious, hard, but idealistic, life of Arabia was vanishing. Such vast sums of money drew half the swindlers in the Middle East to this puritan religious sanctum. Ibn Saʿūd was unable to cope with financial adventurers. His last years were marked by severe physical and emotional deterioration. He died at Al-Ṭāʾif in 1953.

Abdul Aziz ibn Sa'ud see Ibn Sa‘ud, Abdul Aziz
ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Fayṣal ibn Turkī ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad Āl Saʿūd  see Ibn Sa‘ud, Abdul Aziz
Ibn Sayyid al-Nas
Ibn Sayyid al-Nas (1273-1334).  Biographer of the Prophet.  His biography makes use of a number of sources now lost or imperfectly known.  However, it was eminently successful in its time.
Ibn Shaddad, Abu Muhammad
Ibn Shaddad, Abu Muhammad (Abu Muhammad ibn Shaddad). Twelfth century chronicler of Zirid descent.  His history of the Maghrib, now lost, was used by well-known Arab historians. 
Abu Muhammad ibn Shaddad see Ibn Shaddad, Abu Muhammad
Ibn Shaddad, Baha‘al-Din
Ibn Shaddad, Baha‘al-Din (Baha‘al-Din ibn Shaddad) (Bahā' ad-Dīn Yusuf ibn Rafi ibn Shaddād) (March 7, 1145 - November 8, 1234).  Biographer of Saladin.  From 1188 until Saladin’s death in 1193, he was in constant attendance of the Ayyubid ruler.  His Biography of Saladin is considered to be without parallel in the historical literature of medieval Islam.

Bahā' ad-Dīn Yusuf ibn Rafi ibn Shaddād (the honorific title "Bahā' al-Dīn" means "splendour of the faith") was a 12th-century Muslim jurist and scholar, an Arabian historian of great note, notable for writing a biography of Saladin whom he knew well.

Ibn Shaddād was born in Mosul on March 7, 1145.  In Mosul, he studied the Qur'an, hadith, and Muslim law before moving to the Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad where he rapidly became mu'id ("assistant professor").  About 1173, he returned to Mosul as mudarris ("professor"). In 1188, returning from Hajj, ibn Shaddād was summoned by Saladin who had read and been impressed by his writings.  He was "permanently enrolled" in the service of Saladin, who appointed him qadi al-'askar ("judge of the army"). In this capacity, he was an eye witness at the Siege of Acre and the Battle of Arsuf and provided "a vivid chronicle of the Third Crusade". Saladin and ibn Shaddād soon became close friends and the sultan appointed him to several high administrative and judicial offices. Ibn Shaddād remained an intimate and trusted friend of Saladin, "seldom absent for any length of time", as well as one of his main advisers for the rest of the sultan's life. After Saladin's death, ibn Shaddād was appointed qadi ("judge") of Aleppo. He died in Aleppo on November 8, 1234.

Ibn Shaddād's best-known work is his biography of Saladin, which is based for the most part on personal observation and provides a complete portrait as Muslims saw Saladin. Published in English as The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, the Arab title (al-Nawādir al-Sultaniyya wa'l-Maḥāsin al-Yūsufiyya) translates as "Sultany Anecdotes and Josephly Virtues".  Ibn Shaddād also wrote several works on the practical application of Islamic law: The Refuge of Judges from the Ambiguity of Judgements, The Proofs of Judgments, and The Epitome, as well as a monograph entitled The Virtues of the Jihad. Much of the information known about Ibn Shaddād derives from Ibn Khallikan's contemporary Biographical Dictionary (Wafāyāt al-a'yān, literally "Obituaries of Eminent Men").

Ibn Shaddād was contemporary to the events he writes and it makes his history particularly valuable.

Baha'al-Din ibn Shaddad see Ibn Shaddad, Baha‘al-Din
Bahā' ad-Dīn Yusuf ibn Rafi ibn Shaddād see Ibn Shaddad, Baha‘al-Din







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