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, ‘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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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).
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).
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
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
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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