Monday, March 20, 2023

2023: Ibn Babawayh - Ibn Durayd



Ibn Babawayh, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad
Ibn Babawayh, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad (Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Babawayh) (Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Babawaih al-Qummi) (Al-Shaykh al-Saduq) (918/923-991).  Known as al-Shaykh al-Saduq, he is regarded among the Twelver Shi‘a as one of their foremost doctors and traditionists.  He was a prolific author.

Al-Shaykh al-Saduq is the title given to Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Babawaih al-Qummi. He was the leading traditionist of his time (4th Century A.H.) and one of the most outstanding traditionists of Shi'ite Islam. He earned the title of al-Shaykh al-Saduq on account of his great learning and his reputation for truthfulness. It is a title which he also shared with his father.

Al-Shaykh al-Saduq's father, al-Shaykh 'Ali was a leading figure among the scholars of Qom. By the father's time, the family was established as strong adherents of Shi'ite Islam. However, it is not known how early the family entered into Islam. Al-Shaykh al-Saduq is sometimes known as Ibn Babawayh. This is the family name and indicates the Persian origin of the family, as Babawayh is an Arabicized version of the Persian form Babuyah.

The date of al-Shaykh al-Saduq's birth is not known exactly. However, an interesting story surrounds the circumstances of it. When his father was in Iraq, it is said that he met Abul Qasim al-Husayn ibn Rawh, the third agent of the Hidden Imam. During their meeting he asked the latter several questions. Later he wrote to al-Husayn ibn Rawh asking him to take a letter to the Hidden Imam. In this letter he asked for a son. Al-Husayn sent back an answer telling him that they (the Hidden Imam and al-Husayn) had prayed to God to ask Him to grant the request and he would be rewarded with two sons. Another version of the story says three sons. The elder, or eldest, of these sons was al-Shaykh al-Saduq.

On the basis of this story, early Shi'ite scholars have placed his birth after the year 305 A.H./918 probably 306 A.H./919. For al-Husayn ibn Rawh was the agent of the Hidden Imam from 305 A.H./918 until his death in 326 A.H./937. Al-Shaykh al-Saduq was born and grew up in Qom. He was educated by his father and came into close contact with all the leading scholars of Shi'ite Islam in Qom and studied under many of them.

Qom was one of the centers of the study of Shi'ite traditions and it was this form of religious learning which held great influence over al-Shaykh al-Saduq. He travelled widely visiting many cities in search of traditions and as a result the number of scholars whom he learned traditions from was considerable.

The importance of traditions is emphasized by al-Shaykh al-Saduq and he quotes traditions against speculative theology. His works reflect this interest in traditions and nearly all of them take the form of compilations of traditions. However, he did write a creed of Shi'ite Islam al-I'tiqadat. His pupil, the eminent theologian al-Shaykh al-Mufid, wrote a correction of this creed Tashih al-i'tiqad where he criticizes him on several points.

The number of al-Shaykh al-Saduq's works is considerable. Many of the works of al-Shaykh al-Saduq have been lost but a considerable number survive and have been published. There are also other works not yet published but extant in manuscript form. During his life, al-Shaykh al-Saduq devoted most of his energy to the collection and compilation of traditions. He was also a great teacher of tradition. During the last years of his life al Shaykh' al-Saduq lived in Ray. He had been invited there by the Buyid Rukn al-Dawla. He seems to have been well-treated and honored there by Rukn al-Dawla and took part in many discussions with him. However, his teaching was eventually restricted by the Buyid Wazir Ibn 'Abbad. The attack appears to have been aimed at traditions, for several Sunni traditionists also suffered similar restrictions at the hands of Ibn 'Abbad.

Al-Shaykh al-Saduq died in Ray in 381 A.H./991 and he was buried there. He left behind him many collections of traditions which are considered to be of great importance.

Al-Shaykh al-Saduq's most noted work is Man la yahduruhu al-faqih. This work is included in the four major books of the traditions of Shi'ite Islam. Despite the fact that many of his other works are extremely important, this book is regarded as his most important work. However, some authorities maintain that there were five major books of traditions and they include another of al-Shaykh al-Saduq's works, Madinat al-'ilm, in this number. Al-Tusi mentions that the latter work was bigger than Man la yahduruhu al-faqih. It appears that this book is no longer existent. It seems to have been concerned with usual al-din (the principles of religion) rather than the furu', which are the practical regulations for carrying out the shari'a (Islamic law).

As its title implies Man la yahduruhu al faqih was concerned with furu'. The title has be translated to be "Every man his own lawyer". In his introduction to the book, al-Shaykh al-Saduq explains the circumstances of its composition and the reason for its title. When he was at Ilaq near Balkh, he met Sharif al-Din Abu 'Abd Allah known as Ni'mah whose full name was Muhammad ibn Al-Husayn ibn Al-Husayn ibn Ishaq ibn Musa ibn Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib. He was delighted with his discourses with him and his gentleness, kindness, dignity and interest in religion. He brought a book compiled by Muhammad ibn Zakaria al-Razi entitled Man la yahduruhu al-Tabib or "Every man his own doctor" to the attention of al-Shaykh al-Saduq. He, then, asked him to compile a book on Fiqh (jurisprudence), al-halal wa al-haram (the permitted and prohibited), al-shara-i' wa-'l-ahkam (revealed law and (ordinary) laws) which would draw on all the works which the Shaykh had composed on the subject. This book would be called Man la yahduruhu al-faqih and would function as a work of reference.

In fact, the work represents a definitive synopsis of all the traditions which al-Shaykh al-Saduq had collected and included in individual books on specific legal subjects. In the lists of books of al-Shaykh al-Saduq, individual works are attributed to him on every subject of the furu'; examples are such works as Kitab al-nikah ("Book of Marriage") or Kitab al-hajj ("Book of the Pilgrimage"). That this was the intention of both the author and the learned member of Ahl al-bait is emphasized by the author when he says that Sharif al-Din had asked him for this work despite the fact that he had copied or heard from him the traditions of 145 books.

Another element in the work that stresses that it was conceived as a reference book to help ordinary Shi'ites in the practice of the legal requirements of Islam is the general absence of the Isnads or traditions. The isnads - or the chain of authorities by which the tradition had been received from the Prophet or one of the Imams - was, and is, an all-important feature of the science of traditions. Therefore, this book was not meant to be a work for scholars, who would want to check the authorities. Scholars could check the isnads in the numerous individual studies compiled by al-Shaykh al-Saduq. This book was a summary of the study of legal traditions by one of the great scholars of traditions.

Al-Shaykh al-Saduq also gives an account of some of the earlier works which he referred to. These works were the books of Hariz ibn 'Abd Allah al-Sijistani - who died during the life time of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq; the book of 'Ubaid Allah ibn 'Ali al-Halabi - who was also a contemporary of Imam Ja'far; the books of Ali ibn Mahziyar - who took traditions from Imam 'Ali al-Rida, Imam Muhammad al-Jawad and Imam al-Hadi; the books of al-Husayn ibn Sa'id - who also heard traditions from those three Imams; the Nawadir of Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Isa - who died in 297 A.H./909 and also heard traditions from those three Imams; the Kitab nawadir al-hikma of Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn 'Imran al-Ash'ari; Kitab al-rahma of Sa'd ibn 'Abd Allah - who died in 299 A.H./911 or 301 A.H./913; the Jami' of Muhammad ibn al-Hasan - who was one of the teachers of the Shaykh and died in 343 A.H./954; the Nawadir of Muhammad b. Abi 'Umayr - who died in 218 A.H./833; the Kitab al-Mahasin of Ahmad ibn Abi 'Abd Allah al-Barqi (i.e. Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Barqi) who died in 274 A.H./887 or 280 A.H./893; and the Risala which his father had written to him. The Shaikh goes on to mention that he also consulted many other works whose names occur in the book-lists. This inclusion of the list of some of the works consulted is useful evidence that the works of both al-Shaykh al-Saduq and his predecessor, al-Kulayni, who compiled the first of the four major books of Shi'ite traditions, al-Kafi, represent the culmination of works of traditions which had been compiled in a continuous process from the earliest times and at least from the time of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq.

In addition to these references, which the author gives in his introduction, he frequently refers to his own works during the course of the book.

Another feature of the work is the method used by the author. He does not leave the traditions to speak for themselves but frequently draws rules from the traditions or explains their meaning. In a summary of the various traditions on the pilgrimage, he gives a long outline of all the rituals which should be performed by the faithful with very few traditions intervening in his outline.

The book covers most of the points concerned with the furu' (practices) of fiqh jurisprudence. It is not arranged in chapters (kutub) but in smaller sections (abwab), with the various categories such as fasting and pilgrimage following closely after each other. As indicated, its lack of isnads and al-Shaykh al-Saduq's own explanations make it an extremely useful compendium of law for ordinary Shi'ite Muslims of the period.

The book, as one of the four major works of traditions, has had many commentaries written on it. Among the significant Shi'ite writers who have written such commentaries are al-Sayyid Ahmad b. Zain al-'Abidin al-'Alawi al-'Amili (died 1060 A.H./1650) and Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi al-Awwal (died 1070 A H./1660).

Other works of al-Shaykh al-Saduq include:

1. Kamal al-din wa tamam al-ni'mah ( the perfection of the religion and the end of the blessings) which is about Imam Zaman, including questions and answers about the Occultation to the non-believers.

2. Ma'ani al-Akhbar in which al-Shaykh al-Saduq explains the shades of the complexities and the problems of interpretations of traditions and the Quranic verses.

3. Uyun Akhbar al-Rida which was dedicated to Sahib ibn-e Ebad, the wise minister of Alle buyeh dynasty, including some of Imam Rida's traditions.

4. al-Khisal which is about moral instructions, points of scientific, historical and legal origins which had been organized according to the numerical hierarchies.

5. Aamali (Majalis)(sessions), a book in which his students had collected all of his speeches and lessons.

6. Ilal al-shara'i (the cause of the situations) which includes the reasons behind the Philosophy of the Islamic ordinances.

Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Babawayh see Ibn Babawayh, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad
Saduq, al- see Ibn Babawayh, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad
Al-Shaykh al-Saduq see Ibn Babawayh, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Babawaih al-Qummi see Ibn Babawayh, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad
Ibn Babawaih see Ibn Babawayh, Abu Ja‘far Muhammad

Ibn Badis
Ibn Badis (Al- Muʻizz ibn Bādīs) (Arabic:  المعز بن باديس‎); 1008–1062) was the fourth ruler of the Zirids in Ifriqiya, reigning from 1016 to 1062.
Al-Muizz ascended the throne as a minor following the death of his father Badis ibn Mansur,  with his aunt acting as regent. In 1016 there was a bloody revolt in Ifriqiya in which the Fatimid residence Al-Mansuriya was completely destroyed and 20,000 Shiites were massacred. The unrest forced a ceasefire in the conflict with the Hammadids of Algeria, and their independence was finally recognized in 1018.
Al-Muizz took over the government in 1022 following the overthrow of his aunt. The relationship with the Fatimids was strained, when in 1027 they supported a revolt of the Zanatas in Tripolitania which resulted in permanent loss of control of the region. His son Abdallah shortly ruled Sicily in 1038-1040, after intervening with a Zirid army in the civil war that broke out in the island.
The political turmoil notwithstanding, the general economic well-being initially made possible an extensive building program. However, the kingdom found itself in economic crisis in the 1040s, reflected in currency devaluation, epidemic and famine. This may have been related to the high level of tribute which the Zirids were compelled to pay annually to the Fatimids (one million gold dinars a year).
When al-Muizz (under the influence of Sunni jurists in Kairouan, growing Sunni public pressure in his realm and a violent backlash against the Shi'ite minority) recognized the Abbasids in Baghdad as rightful Caliphs in 1045 and adopted Sunni orthodoxy, the break with the Fatimids was complete. He even denounced the Fatimids and their followers as heretics in newly minted coinage.
The Fatimids then deported the Bedouin tribes of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym fromEgypt to Ifriqiya. The invasion of the Bedouin (1051–1052) led to great hardship after the defeat at Jabal Haydaran, severely impacting agriculture in Ifriqiya. The conquest of Kairouan in 1057 resulted in further anarchy. The Zirids lost control over the hinterland and were only able to retain the coastal areas, the capital being moved to Mahdia. With the growth of Bedouin Emirates and the continuing insecurity inland, the economy of Ifriqiya looked increasingly towards the Mediterranean, with the result the coastal cities grew in importance through maritime trade and piracy.
Al-Muizz was succeeded by his son Tamim ibn Muizz. 
Al-Muizz ibn Badis is usually thought to be the author of the famous Kitab `umdat al-kuttab wa `uddat dhawi al-albab (Staff of the Scribes). It is divided in twelve chapters.  Al-Muizz wrote on (amongst others) on the excellence of the pen, on the preparation of types of inks, the preparation of colored inks, metallic inks (including ones prepared from silver filings and alcohol), the coloring of dyes and mixtures, secret writing, the making of paper and the Arabic gum and glue. 

Ibn Badis, ‘Abd al-Hamid
Ibn Badis, ‘Abd al-Hamid (‘Abd al-Hamid ibn Badis) (Abdelhamid Ben Badis) (Ben Badis) (December 4, 1889 - April 16, 1940).   Founder of an orthodox reformist movement in Algeria.  He founded a newspaper and a monthly review which, from 1930 onwards, propagated reform and nationalism, strongly tinged with Arabism, and attacked marabout societies and gallicization.

‘Abd al-Hamid ibn Badis was born in Constantine, Algeria, to a prominent Berber family renowned for its scholarship, wealth, and influence.  Ibn Badis received an Islamic education and in 1908 attended the famous Zaytunah Mosque in Tunis.  There, he was educated by scholars who had been influenced by the teachings of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (d. 1897) and Muhammad ‘Abduh (d. 1905) and introduced Ibn Badis to the reformist ideas of the Salafiyah movement.  After obtaining the degree of ‘alim (scholar of religion), Ibn Badis returned in 1913 to Algeria and, until his death in 1940, devoted his entire career to teaching, reforming Islam, and defining the Arab and Islamic basis of Algerian nationalism.

The French colonial administration had closed down many centers of Arab and Islamic education, appropriated the financial institutions that backed them, restricted the teaching of Arabic and the Qur‘an, and spread French schooling and culture.  It also encouraged missionary activities and supported the mystical Sufi orders, which disseminated acquiescent attitudes among the Algerians.  To quell the disorienting effects of French policies and the advocates of assimilation (evolues), Ibn Badis initiated a reform movement that sought to assert the national identity of Algeria, defend the cultural integrity of its people, and prepare them for eventual independence from France.  In 1925, he founded a weekly paper, Al-muntaqid (The Critic), in which he disseminated Salafi ideas and attacked the “un-Islamic” practices of the Sufi orders.  Al-muntaqid was banned after eighteen issues, and Ibn Badis replaced it with Al-shihab (The Meteor), in which he maintained a more moderate tone.

In 1931, Ibn Badis and other religious scholars formed the Association of Algerian ‘Ulama‘, which he headed and which promoted the Arab and Islamic roots of the Algerian nation, the reform and revival of Islam, and criticism of the Sufi orders and the assimilationists.  The Association demanded religious freedom, restoration of the hubus (religious endowment, waqf) properties, and recognition of Arabic as the national language.  It opened hundreds of free schools and mosques to teach Arabic, Islam, and modern subjects, published its own papers to spread religious, cultural, and social reform, campaigned against the marabouts‘ (local venerated men) corrupt practices, and sent delegations to France and opened branches to involve Algerian residents there.  In 1938, the Association issued a formal fatwa (legal opinion), which declared naturalized Algerians to be non-Muslims.  Its activities disturbed the French administration, which tried to restrict the activities of its members.

Ibn Badis perceived his mission as “not to produce books, but educated people.”  His thought is discernible in the numerous articles that he wrote and in his interpretation of the Qur‘an.  He shared many viewpoints of the Salafiyah movement, blaming the deterioration of the Muslims on internal weakness, disunity, despotism, and the spread of non-Islamic practices.

Ibn Badis stressed education to purify Islam from popular accretions and improve the condition of the individual as a step toward reviving the entire society.  He offered a modernist interpretation of the Qur‘an and emphasized reasoning and free will.  His major contribution lies in linking reform and education with the promotion of an Algerian nationalism.  He identified Islam, Arabism, and nationalism as the three components of the Algerian national character.

Ibn Badis and the Algerian ‘Ulama‘ laid the foundation for the national identity of the Algerian people.  Throughout the Algerian war against France (1954-1962), the Association aligned with the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), and was later represented in the provisional government of the Algerian Republic after independence.

On April 16, 1940, Ibn Badis died in his birthplace of Constantine. He was buried in the presence of 20,000 people and his funeral took the aspect of a gigantic humanistic demonstration; anti-colonialist and democratic; the very principles practiced in the life of this Algerian hero.



'Abd al-Hamid ibn Badis see Ibn Badis, ‘Abd al-Hamid
Abdelhamid Ben Badis see Ibn Badis, ‘Abd al-Hamid
Ben Badis see Ibn Badis, ‘Abd al-Hamid


Ibn Bajja, Abu Bakr Muhammad
Ibn Bajja, Abu Bakr Muhammad (Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Bajja) (Abū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh) (d. 1138). Muslim philosopher and vizier at Saragossa, Spain, known in the West as Avempace.

Abū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh, known as Ibn Bājjah, was an Andalusian-Arab Muslim polymath: an astronomer, logician, musician, philosopher, physician, physicist, psychologist, poet and scientist. He was known in the West by his Latinized name, Avempace. He was born in Zaragoza in what is today Spain and died in Fes, Morocco in 1138. Avempace worked as vizier for Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim Ibn Tîfilwît, the Almoravid governor of Zaragoza. Avempace also wrote poems (panegyrics and 'muwasshahat') for him, and they both enjoyed music and wine. Avempace joined in poetic competitions with the poet al-Tutili. He later worked, for some twenty years, as the vizier of Yahyà ibn Yûsuf Ibn Tashfin, another brother of the Almoravid Sultan Yusuf Ibn Tashfin (died 1143) in Morocco.

Ibn Bajja's philosophic ideas had a clear effect on Ibn Rushd and Albertus Magnus. Most of his writings and book were not completed (or well organized) because of his early death. He had a vast knowledge of medicine, mathematics and astronomy. His main contribution to Islamic philosophy is his idea on soul phenomenology, but unfortunately was not completed.

His beloved expressions were Gharib and Mutawahhid, two approved and popular expressions of Islamic Gnostics.

Though many of his works have not survived, his theories on astronomy and physics were preserved by Ibn Maymun (Maimonides) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) respectively, which had a subsequent influence on later astronomers and physicists in the Islamic civilization and Renaissance Europe, including Galileo Galilei.

In his commentary on Aristotle's Meteorology, Ibn Bajjah presented his own theory on the Milky Way galaxy. Aristotle believed the Milky Way to be caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of some stars which were large, numerous and close together" and that the ignition takes place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the region of the world which is continuous with the heavenly motions. On the other hand, Aristotle's Arabic commentator Ibn al-Bitriq considered the Milky Way to be a phenomenon exclusively of the heavenly spheres, not of the upper part of the atmosphere and that the light of those stars makes a visible patch because they are so close. Ibn Bajjah's view differed from both, as he considered the Milky Way to be a phenomenon both of the spheres above the moon and of the sublunar region.

Ibn Bajjah had also observed the transit of Venus and transit of Mercury. He observed them as the two planets as black spots on the face of the Sun, evidently due to the transit of Venus and/or Mercury. In the 13th century, the Maragha astronomer Qotb al-Din Shirazi referred to Ibn Bajjah's observation and identified it as the transit of Venus and Mercury.

In Islamic physics, Ibn Bajjah's law of motion was equivalent to the principle that uniform motion implies absence of action by a force. This principle would later form the basis of modern mechanics and have a subsequent influence on the classical mechanics of physicists such as Galileo Galilei. Ibn Bajjah's definition of velocity was also equivalent to Galileo's definition of velocity:

    Velocity = Motive Power - Material Resistance

where the motive power is measured by the specific gravity of the mobile body and the material resistance is the resisting medium whose resistive power is measured by its specific gravity.

Ibn Bajjah was also the first to state that there is always a reaction force for every force exerted, a precursor to Gottfried Leibniz's idea of force which underlies Newton's third law of motion or law of reciprocal actions.

Ibn Bajjah also had an influence on Thomas Aquinas' analysis of motion.

In Islamic psychology, Ibn Bajjah based his psychological studies on physics. In his essay, Recognition of the Active Intelligence, Ibn Bajjah wrote that active intelligence is the most important ability of human beings, and he wrote many other essays on sensations and imaginations. He concluded that knowledge cannot be acquired by senses alone but by Active Intelligence, which is the governing intelligence of nature. He begins his discussion of the soul with the definition that bodies are composed of matter and form and intelligence is the most important part of man—sound knowledge is obtained through intelligence, which alone enables one to attain prosperity and build character. He viewed the unity of the rational soul as the principle of the individual identity, and that by its contact with the Active Intelligence, it becomes one of those lights that gives glory to God. His definition of freedom is that when one can think and act rationally. He also writes that the aim of life should be to seek spiritual knowledge and make contact with Active Intelligence and thus with the Divine.


Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Bajja see Ibn Bajja, Abu Bakr Muhammad
Avempace see Ibn Bajja, Abu Bakr Muhammad
Abū-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sāyigh  see Ibn Bajja, Abu Bakr Muhammad
Ibn Bajjah see Ibn Bajja, Abu Bakr Muhammad


Ibn Banna‘ al-Marrakushi
Ibn Banna‘ al-Marrakushi (Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi al-Azdi) (Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi) (December 29, 1256 – c. 1321).  Versatile Moroccan scholar of mathematics, astronomy, astrology and occult sciences.  His knowledge was highly esteemed by Ibn Khaldun.

Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi al-Azdi, also known as Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi, was an Arab mathematician and astronomer. The crater Al-Marrakushi on the Moon is named after him.

Ibn al-Banna, the son of an architect, was born in Marrakesh in 1256. Having learned basic mathematical and geometrical skills he proceeded to translate Euclid's Elements into Arabic.

Ibn al-Banna wrote between 51 to 74 treatises, encompassing such varied topics as algebra, astronomy, linguistics, rhetoric, and logic. One of his works, called Talkhis amal al-hisab (Summary of arithmetical operations), includes topics such as fractions, sums of squares and cubes etc. Another, called Tanbih al-Albab, covers topics related to:

    * calculations regarding the drop in irrigation canal levels,
    * arithmetical explanation of the Muslim laws of inheritance
    * determination of the hour of the Asr prayer,
    * explanation of frauds linked to instruments of measurement,
    * enumeration of delayed prayers which have to be said in a precise order,and
    * calculation of legal tax in the case of a delayed payment

Yet another work by Ibn al-Banna was Raf al-Hijab (Lifting the Veil) which included topics such as computing square roots of a number and theory of continued fractions. This work was also the first mathematical work since Brahmagupta to use an algebraic notation, which was then further developed by his successor Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī two centuries later.
Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi al-Azdi see Ibn Banna‘ al-Marrakushi
Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi see Ibn Banna‘ al-Marrakushi


Ibn Baraka
Ibn Baraka.  Ibadi author from Oman of the tenth century.  He wrote several historical and juridical works, among them a book on the state of Oman in the time of the Imam al-Salt ibn Malik of the ninth century.


Ibn Barrajan
Ibn Barrajan.  Andalusian mystic theologian who taught in Seville during the twelfth century.  In Marrakesh, he is still known by the name Sidi Berrijal (Sidi Abu‘l-Rijal).
Sidi Berrijal see Ibn Barrajan.
Berrijal, Sidi  see Ibn Barrajan.
Sidi Abu'l-Rijal see Ibn Barrajan.
Abu'l-Rijal, Sidi see Ibn Barrajan.


Ibn Barri, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah
Ibn Barri, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah (Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah ibn Barri) (1106-1187).  Arab grammarian of Egypt.  He was said to have the greatest knowledge of his generation of Arabic grammar and vocabulary.


Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah ibn Barri see Ibn Barri, Abu Muhammad ‘Abd Allah


Ibn Bashkuwal, Abu‘l-Qasim
Ibn Bashkuwal, Abu‘l-Qasim (Abu‘l-Qasim ibn Bashkuwal) (1101-1183).  Andalusian scholar.  In his The Continuation he continued the History of the Scholars of al-Andalus by Ibn al-Faradi (d. 1013), and gathered 1400 biographies of men of letters. 

Ibn Bashkuwal supplemented al-Farazi's work Tarikh Ulma-al Andalus (which is now extant) in 1139 and named it Al Silah fi Tarikh Aimmat al-Andalus. This is one of the two surviving works of Ibn-Bashkuwal, who was credited with some fifty works.

Ibn Bashkuwal was born at Cordoba.

 
Abu'l-Qasim ibn Bashkuwal see Ibn Bashkuwal, Abu‘l-Qasim


Ibn Bassam al-Shantarini
Ibn Bassam al-Shantarini (d. 1147).  Andalusian poet, a native of Santarem.  He owes his fame to an anthology compiled with a sound judgment on the quality of the works collected.

Ibn Bassam (Ibn Bassam Al-Shantarini), was a poet and historian from al-Andalus. He was born in Santarém (altern. spelling Shantarin or Xantarin) and died in 1147. Especially well-known is his anthology "Dhakhira fî mahâsin ahl al-Gazira" (The Treasury concerning the Merits of the People of Iberia) one of the most important sources of information in the field of history, literature and culture of the Almoravid dynasty. It was edited in eight volumes by Ihsan Abbas, written in rhymed prose, many of its biographies are contemporary and filled out with details taken from the Kitab al-Matin of Ibn Hayyan. The parts taken from that book are easily distinguishable, because Ibn Bassam prefixes the words qala Ibn Hayyan ("Ibn Hayyan says") and concludes the extract with intaha kalam Ibn Hayyan ("here ends lbn Hayyan's words").


Ibn Batta
Ibn Batta (al-‘Ukbari) (917-997).  Hanbali theologian and jurisconsult in Baghdad.  He is an example of the Sunni opposition to the Buyid regime and, to a lesser degree, to Mu‘tazilism and philosophy.
'Ukbari, al- see Ibn Batta


Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta (Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Battuta) (Ibn Batuta) (Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta) (February 24, 1304–1368/1369/1377).  One of the world’s most renowned travellers and authors of travel books.  Between 1325 and 1353, his journeys brought him from his native Tangiers to Egypt, Syria, Mecca, Iraq, the Red Sea and Yemen, Oman, Istanbul, Transoxiana, Afghanistan, the Indus, the Maldives, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Bengal, Sumatra and the Chinese port of Zaytun (Ts‘uan-chou), Sardinia, Granada, and across the Sahara to the country of the Niger. 

His “Travel-book” -- his Rihlah (Travels) --  is in fact a description of the then known world, and was translated into many languages.   Ibn Battuta’s Rihlah (Travels), which was finished in 1357, is thus an important source for the history and geography of the medieval Muslim world. 

Ibn Battuta was a Berber born in Tangiers into a family of lawyers.  His full name was Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Battuta.  Beginning with his first journey in 1325, a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, he covered some 120,000 kilometers (some 75,000 miles), extending from Spain in the West to China in the East, from Timbuktu, in West Africa, to the Steppes of Russia.  His book -- his Rihlah -- includes descriptions of the Byzantine court of Constantinople and the Black Death of Baghdad (c.1348).

At the age of 21 (in 1325), Ibn Battuta began his travels when he went on the pilgrimage (the hajj) to Mecca to fulfill his religious obligation and to add to his qualifications as a lawyer by consulting the scholars he met.  While at Mecca, he was seized by a desire for further travel, and for the next 25 years he wandered from Constantinople to China, and from the Crimea to the Maldive Islands.  During his first pilgrimage to Mecca he vowed never, so far as possible, to cover a second time any road that he had once traveled, and he certainly journeyed more extensively than any other recorded medieval traveler.

In 1331, he sailed down the east African coast, at least as far south as Kilwa.  His description of that region is the only extant first-hand account between the anonymous Periplus of the Erythraean Sea of the first century of the Christian calendar and Portuguese records of the early sixteenth century. 

On his third journey, Ibn Battuta spent two or three years in Mecca.  His interest began to turn from piety alone to an ethnographic interest in the cultures and peoples he saw.  He then traveled overland in North Africa and Syria, exploring Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Asia Minor.  With the assistance of various Muslim sultans and religious authorities, he made a journey by way of Constantinople (in the retinue of the khan of the Golden Horde) and Samarkand to India, where he resided almost eight years at the court of the sultan of Delhi, Muhammad ibn Tughluq, who deputed Ibn Battuta to China as one of his ambassadors in 1342. 

In all, Ibn Battuta’s third journey was an adventurous journey.  He was delayed in Calicut, the Maldive Islands, the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, Bengal, Assam, and Sumatra, landing finally in Zayton (Quanzhou, in Fujian), and then journeying to Beijing.  Ibn Battuta’s stay in China was relatively short.

During this journey, Ibn Battuta served as a judge in India, and served again as a judge, for 18 months, in the Maldive Islands, where he objected to the women’s scanty dress, which did not conform to Muslim standards.   Ibn Battuta was interested in all that he saw, but he seems to have been remarkably casual in practical matters.  In one place, he married a wife who bore him a daughter, but wanderlust soon possessed him again and he set off leaving wife and child behind. 

In 1347, he returned to the West by way of Sumatra and the Malabar coast, arriving in Tangier around 1350.  Later he went to Spain and traveled in West Africa.

During his last great journey in 1353, Ibn Battuta visited West Africa, leaving a vivid description of the Mali Empire.  At this professedly Muslim court, he saw the king present a delegation of visiting cannibals with an attractive young girl, who was promptly cut up and publicly eaten by the guests. 

Ibn Battuta retired to Fez in 1354 to put together the narrative of his travels.  His contemporaries regarded him as a romancer, but his reports, where they can be verified, are accurate.  Ibn Battuta dictated his travels to Ibn Juzayy, who put the work into literary style.  Ibn Battuta often conflated his experiences into a somewhat artificial itinerary.  The full text of his work was rediscovered in North Africa in the early nineteenth century. 

Between 1325 and 1354, Ibn Battuta visited and described in detail virtually every known Muslim region of the world, from Southern Spain and West Africa, to East Africa, Russia, India and China.  Ibn Battuta’s glowing description of India was treated with skepticism by contemporaneous Arabs but is, on the whole, borne out by comparison with works by Indian historians.  His account of his travels in China is not as detailed as much as the rest of his work, perhaps because he viewed his experiences in China as outside the cultural and social history of Islam. 

After returning home from his travels in 1354 and at the instigation of the Sultan of Morocco, Abu Inan Faris, Ibn Battuta dictated an account of his journeys to Ibn Juzayy, a scholar whom he had met previously in Granada. The account, recorded by Ibn Juzayy and interspersed with the latter's own comments, is the only source of information on his adventures. The title of the manuscript may be translated as A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling but is often simply referred to as the Rihla, or "The Journey".

After the completion of the Rihla in 1355, little is known about Ibn Battuta's life. He was appointed a judge in Morocco and died in 1368 or 1369 or 1377.


Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Battuta see Ibn Battuta
Ibn Batuta see Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta see Ibn Battuta


Ibn Bazzaz al-Ardabili
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Ibn Bibi, al-Husayn ibn Muhammad
Ibn Bibi, al-Husayn ibn Muhammad (al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Bibi).  Historian of the Saljuqs of Rum in the thirteenth century.  His work, written in Persian and covering the period from 1192 until 1280, can be classed as memoirs in that he handed down what he himself had heard and seen at the court of the Rum Saljuqs.

Ibn Bibi is author of the primary source for the history of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rum during the 13th century. He served as head of the chancellery of the Sultanate in Konya and reported on contemporary events.

Ibn Bibi’s father, a native of Gorgan, lived for a time at the court of the Jalal al-Din Kwarezmshah and later worked at the Seljuq chancellery. His mother was a famous astrologer from Nishapur invited to Konya by Kayqubad I. The family was part of an exodus of Persian intellectuals from Mongol-dominated Iran.

Ibn Bibi’s memoir is written in Persian and covers the period between 1192 and 1280. A single manuscript, produced for Kaykhusraw III, survives in Istanbul. An abridged Persian version called Mukhtaṣar was produced during the author's lifetime in 1284-85. An Ottoman Turkish adaptation, sometimes called the Seljukname, is included in the Oğuzname of the early 15th century court historian Yazicioğlu Ali. Several manuscripts of the latter survive in Ankara, Berlin, Istanbul, Leiden, St Petersburg, Moscow, and Paris.

Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Bibi, al- see Ibn Bibi, al-Husayn ibn Muhammad


Ibn Burd
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Ibn Butlan was an Iraqi Christian physician. He wrote the Taqwim al-Sihhah (The maintenance of health). The work treated matters of hygiene, dietetics, and exercise. It emphasized the benefits of regular attention to personal physical and mental well-being. The continued popularity and publication of this medieval text of Middle Eastern origin into the sixteenth century is thought to demonstrate the influence that Arabic culture had on early modern Europe.


Ibn Daniyal
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Ibn Darraj al-Qastalli
Ibn Darraj al-Qastalli (958-1030).  Andalusian poet of Berber origin.  He is considered one of the greatest poets of Muslim Spain and the main representative of the golden age of Arabo-Andalusian poetry.


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Ibn Dirham
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Ibn Durayd
Ibn Durayd (837-933).  Arab philologist and lexicographer.  He wrote a monumental work called al-Jamhara, in which he included a large number of loanwords, tracing as far as possible their origins.


 

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