Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari(Arabic:شهاب الدين أبو العبّاس أحمد بن فضل الله العمري,romanized:Shihāb al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Faḍlallāh al-ʿUmarī), commonly known asIbn Fadlallah al-UmariorIbn Faḍl Allāh al-‘Umārī(1301 – 1349) was anArabhistorianborn inDamascus.[1]His major works includeat-Taʾrīf bi-al-muṣṭalaḥ ash-sharīf,on the subject of theMamlukadministration, andMasālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār,an encyclopedic collection of related information.[1]The latter was translated into French byMaurice Gaudefroy-Demombynesin 1927.
Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari | |
|---|---|
| Born | Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Fadlallah al-Umari 12 June 1301 |
| Died | 1 March 1349 Damascus, Mamluk Sultanate |
| Nationality | Arab |
| Occupation(s) | Historian, Geographer, Bureaucrat |
| Academic background | |
| Influences | Ibn Taymiyya |
| Academic work | |
| Era | Mamluk Sultanate |
| Notable works | Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār,at-Taʾrīf bi-al-muṣṭalaḥ ash-sharīf |
A student ofIbn Taymiyya,[2]Ibn Fadlallah visitedCairoshortly after theMalianMansaKankan Musa I's pilgrimage toMecca,and his writings are one of the primary sources for this legendaryhajj.He recorded that the Mansa dispensed so much gold that its value fell inEgyptfor a decade afterward, a story that is often repeated in describing the wealth of the Mali Empire.[3]
He recorded Kankan Musa's stories of the previousmansa;Kankan Musa claimed that the previous ruler had abdicated the throne to journey to a land across the ocean, leading contemporaryMalianhistorian Gaoussou Diawara to theorize thatAbu Bakr IIreached the Americas years beforeChristopher Columbus.[4]
Gaudefroy-Demombynes believed that al-Umari wrote theMasalik al-Absarbetween 1342 and 1349, but internal evidence suggests that at least the chapter on Egypt and Syria and the section covering the Mali Empire were written in 1337-1338.[5][6]
In March 1339, al-Umari was arrested following an altercation with the sultan, but al-Umari's father persuaded the sultan to spare him, and he was sentenced to house arrest. He subsequently had further conflict with the sultan and was imprisoned, but released in October. He subsequently moved to Damascus, and worked as a secretary there from August 1340 to May or June 1343.[5]
Works
editReferences
edit- ^ab"Al-ʿUmarī - Syrian scholar".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved4 September2020.
- ^Mehdi Berriah (2020)."The Mamluk Sultanate and the Mamluks seen by Ibn Taymiyya: between Praise and Criticism".Arabian Humanities(14).doi:10.4000/cy.6491.ISSN2308-6122.OCLC8930826072.Archivedfrom the original on 9 March 2021.Retrieved21 July2021.
- ^Kingdom of Mali Primary Sources,Boston University: African Studies Center. Accessed 1 November 2022.
- ^World map of the geographers of the Caliph Al-Maʼmūn (reigned 813-833 A.D.).Frankfurt: Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften. 1990.LCCN91682448.OCLC24107059.Retrieved21 July2021.
- ^abHolt, P. M. (1987)."Ayman Fu'ad Sayyid: Masālik alabṣar fī Mamālik al-amsār d'Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-'Umarī Šihāb al-Din Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā b. Faḍl Allāh, m. 749/1349. (Textes Arabes et Etudes Islamiques, Tom. xxiii.) x, 203 pp., 48 pp., 6 Plates. Le Caire: Institut Francais d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 1958".Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.50(1): 136–137.doi:10.1017/S0041977X00053350.ISSN1474-0699.
- ^Levtzion, N.; Hopkins, J. F. P. (2000).Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African history.Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers.ISBN978-1-55876-241-1.
- ^"Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar: l'Egypte, la Syrie, le Higaz at le Yemen / Ibn Fadl Allah al-'Umari Ahmad ibn Yahya edite et presente par Ayman Fu'ad Sayyid"(in French). Cairo. 1885.
- ^Cited in:Vallet, Éric (16 October 2015). "Chapitre 3. Le fisc d'Aden, percepteur, acheteur et vendeur".L'Arabie Marchande. État et commerce sous les sultans rasūlides du Yémen (626-858/1229-1454).Bibliothèque historique des pays d’Islam (in French). Paris: Éditions de la Sorbonne. p. 870.doi:10.4000/books.psorbonne.2441.ISBN9782859448714.OCLC960808924.Archivedfrom the original on 22 September 2017.Retrieved21 July2021.
- ^Ibn Faḍl Allāh Al‑ʿUmarī, Masālik al‑abṣār fī mamālik al‑amṣār, ed. Muḥammad ʿAbd al‑Qādir Kharīsāt et al., al‑ʿAyn, Zayd Center for Heritage and History, 2001–2004, 25 vols. As cited in:Mehdi Berriah (2020)."The Mamluk Sultanate and the Mamluks seen by Ibn Taymiyya: between Praise and Criticism".Arabian Humanities(14).doi:10.4000/cy.6491.ISSN2308-6122.OCLC8930826072.Archivedfrom the original on 9 March 2021.Retrieved21 July2021.
- ^D.S. Richards (6 January 2017).Egypt and Syria in the Early Mamluk Period: An Extract from Ibn Faḍl Allāh Al-'Umarī's Masālik Al-Abṣār Fī Mamālik Al-Amṣā.Taylor & Francis. p. 115.ISBN9781315458809.OCLC1257806554.
External links
edit- Shihab al-Umari(1932)."A medieval Arabic description of the Haram of Jerusalem".Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine.1:44–51.
- Shihab al-Umari(1932)."A medieval Arabic description of the Haram of Jerusalem".Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine.1:74–85.