Abu al-Fida

infobox philosopher
region = Damascus scholar
era = Medieval era
color = #B0C4DE
fullname = Abu Al-fida' Isma'il Ibn 'ali
death = AH|732|1331|+
influences = Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i

Abu al-Fida ( _ar. أبو الفداء) or Abul Fida Ismail Hamvi (fully Abu Al-fida' Isma'il Ibn 'ali ibn Mahmud Al-malik Al-mu'ayyad 'imad Ad-din, (also transliterated Abulfeda, Abu Alfida, and other ways)) (November 1273 – October 27, 1331) was an Arab historian, geographer, and local sultan. Abulfeda crater, on the Moon, is named after him.

Life

Abulfeda was born in Damascus, where his father Malik ul-Afdal, brother of the prince of Hamah, had fled from the Mongols. He was a descendant of Ayyub, the father of Saladin.

In his boyhood he devoted himself to the study of the "Qur'an" and the sciences, but from his twelfth year was almost constantly engaged in military expeditions, chiefly against the crusaders.

In 1285 he was present at the assault of a stronghold of the Knights of St. John, and took part in the sieges of Tripoli, Acre and Qal'at ar-Rum. In 1298 he entered the service of the Mamluk Sultan Malik al-Nasir and after twelve years was invested by him with the governorship of Hama. In 1312 he became prince with the title Malik us-Salhn, and in 1320 received the hereditary rank of "sultan" with the title Malik ul-Mu'ayyad.

For more than twenty years all together he reigned in tranquillity and splendour, devoting himself to the duties of government and to the composition of the works to which he is chiefly indebted for his fame. He was a munificent patron of men of letters, who came in large numbers to his court. He died in 1331.

Works

*"The Concise History of Humanity or Chronicles" (Arabic: "Tarikhu 'l-mukhtasar fi Akhbari 'l-bashar") - "Tarikh Abu al-Fida" (History of Abu al-Fida, his chief historical work is "An Abridgment of the History at the Human Race," in the form of annals extending from the creation of the world to the year 1329 (Constantinople, 2 vols. 1869). His "Geography" is, like much of the history, founded on the works of his predecessors, including the works of Ptolemy and Muhammad al-Idrisi. A long introduction on various geographical matters is followed by twenty-eight sections dealing in tabular form with the chief towns of the world. After each name are given the longitude, latitude, climate, spelling, and then observations generally taken from earlier authors. Parts of the work were published and translated as early as 1650 in Europe.
*"A Sketch of the Countries" (Arabic: "Taqwim al-Buldan")
*A book about medicine named "Kunash"

External links

*http://www.salaam.co.uk/knowledge/biography/viewentry.php?id=153
*http://www.renaissance.com.pk/myletfor95.html
*http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?TaxonomyTypeID=25&TaxonomySubTypeID=-1&TaxonomyThirdLevelID=-1&ArticleID=505

References

*1911