Ajay Kumar at 21:24, 29 August 2023

2023-08-29T21:24:49Z

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{{short description|Kurdish historian, geographer and leader}}
{{for|the lunar crater|Abulfeda (crater)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region =
| era =
| image = أبوالفداء.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| name = Abulfeda
| other_names =
| birth_name = {{lang|ar| إسماعيل بن علي بن محمود بن محمد بن عمر بن شاهنشاه بن أيوب بن شادي بن مروان}}
| birth_date = November 1273
| birth_place = [[Damascus]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1331|10|27|1273|11|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Hama]]
| school_tradition =
| main_interests =
| notable_ideas =
| institutions =
| influences = [[Muhammad ibn Idris Al-Shafiʽi]]
| influenced =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
|children=[[Al-Afdal Muhammad]]}}

'''Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī b. Maḥmūd b. Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. Shāhanshāh b. Ayyūb b. Shādī b. Marwān'''<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia Islamica|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-islamica/abu-al-fida-COM_0065}}</ref> ({{lang-ar|إسماعيل بن علي بن محمود بن محمد بن عمر بن شاهنشاه بن أيوب بن شادي بن مروان}}), better known as '''Abū al-Fidāʾ''' or '''Abulfeda''' ({{lang-ar|أبو الفداء}}; November 1273{{snd}}27 October 1331),<ref>Gibbs (1986), p. 119</ref> was a [[Mamluk Sultanate|Mamluk]]-era [[Kurds|Kurdish]] geographer, historian, [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] prince and local governor of [[Hama]].<ref>[{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=raKRY3KQspsC |page=7 }} Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, (edited by) Helaine Selin, pp. 7–8, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, 1997]
[http://www.idref.fr/026676869 Identifiants et Référentiels Sudoc Pour L'Enseignement Supérieur et la Recherche – Abū al-Fidā (1273–1331)] {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

The crater [[Abulfeda (crater)|Abulfeda]] on the [[Moon]] is named after him.

==Life==
Abu'l-Fida was born in [[Damascus]],<ref>[[Chambers Biographical Dictionary]], {{ISBN|0-550-18022-2}}, page 5</ref> where his father Malik ul-Afdal, brother of Emir [[Al-Mansur Muhammad II]] of [[Hama]], had fled from the [[Mongols]]. Abu'l-Fida was an [[Ayyubid]] prince, thus of [[Kurds|Kurdish]] origin.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Moslem World |date=1922 |publisher=Nile Mission Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5A1R_wSUtTYC&dq=abu%27l+fida+kurdish&pg=RA1-PA96 |access-date=5 December 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

In his boyhood he devoted himself to the study of the [[Qur'an]] and the sciences, but from his twelfth year onward, he was almost constantly engaged in military expeditions, chiefly against the [[Crusaders]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Abulfeda|volume=1|page=80}}</ref>

In 1285 he was present at the attack on a stronghold of the [[Knights of St. John]], and took part in the sieges of [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]], [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] and [[Qal'at ar-Rum]]. In 1298 he entered the service of the [[Mamluk Sultanate|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'''.<ref name="EB1911"/>

He died in 1331.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Works==
===Geography===

''Taqwim al-Buldan'' ("A Sketch of the Countries") 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]].<ref name="EB1911"/> In his works Abu'l-Fida correctly mentions the latitude and longitude of the city of [[Quanzhou]] in [[China]].<ref>{{Google books |id=7PbG1H_-h0cC |page=211 |title=The Travels of Ibn Batūta: With Notes, Illustrative of the History }}</ref>

The book also contains the first known explanation of the circumnavigator's paradox. Abu'l-Fida wrote that a person who completed a westward [[circumnavigation]] of the world would count one fewer day than a stationary observer, since he was traveling in the same direction as the apparent motion of the sun in the sky. A person traveling eastward would count one more day than a stationary observer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gunn |first1=Geoffrey C. |title=Overcoming Ptolemy: The Revelation of an Asian World Region |publisher=Lexington Books |location=Lanham, Maryland |isbn=9781498590143 |pages=47–48}}</ref> This phenomenon was confirmed two centuries later, when the [[Magellan expedition|Magellan–Elcano expedition]] (1519–1522) completed the first circumnavigation. After sailing westward around the world from Spain, the expedition called at [[Cape Verde]] for supplies on Wednesday, 9 July 1522 (ship's time). However, the locals told them that it was actually Thursday, 10 July 1522.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Winfree |first1=Arthur T. |title=The Geometry of Biological Time |edition=2nd |date=2001 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4757-3484-3 |page=10 |language=en}}</ref>

===History===
His ''Concise History of Humanity'' ({{lang-ar|المختصر في أخبار البشر }} ''Tarikh al-Mukhtasar fi Akhbar al-Bashar'', also ''An Abridgment of the History at the Human Race'', or ''History of Abu al-Fida'' '''تاريخ أبى الفداء''') was written between 1315 and 1329 as a continuation of ''[[The Complete History]]'' by [[Ali ibn al-Athir]] (c. 1231). It is in the form of [[annals]] extending from the creation of the world to the year 1329.<ref>Helaine Selin, ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Westen Cultures'' (1997), p. 7.</ref>

It is divided into two parts, one covering the history of [[pre-Islamic Arabia]] and the other the [[history of Islam]] until 1329. It was kept up to date by other Arab historians, by [[Ibn al-Wardi]] until 1348, and by [[Ibn al-Shihna]] until 1403. It was translated into [[Latin]],<ref>Henricus Orthobius Fleischer, ''Abulfedae historia anteislamica, arabice: E duobus codicibus bibliothecae regiae Parisiensis, 101 et 615'', F.C.W. Vogel (1831).</ref> [[French language|French]] and [[English language|English]] and was the main work of Muslim historiography used by 18th-century [[Oriental studies|orientalists]] including [[Jean Gagnier]] (1670–1740) and [[Johann Jakob Reiske]] (1754).

==See also==
* [[List of Muslim historians]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

=== General sources ===
* {{cite book | last=Gibb | first=H. A. R. | author-link=Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb | date=1986 | chapter=Abu'l Fidā | title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume 1: A-B | publisher=Brill | place=Leiden | pages=118–119 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/EncyclopaediaDictionaryIslamMuslimWorldEtcGibbKramerScholars.13/01.EncycIslam.NewEdPrepNumLeadOrient.EdEdComCon.Gibb.Kramersetc.UndPatIUA.v1.A-B.PhotRepr.Leid.EJBrill.1960.1986.#page/n136/mode/1up }}
* ''Studies on Abul-Fida' al-Ḥamawi (1273–1331 A.D.)'' by Farid Ibn Faghül, Carl Ehrig-Eggert, E. Neubauer. Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science (Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften) at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1992.
* ''Encyclopedie de l'Islam'', 2nd ed. E.J. Brill, Leiden and G.P. Maisonneuve, Paris, 1960. {{in lang|fr}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | last=de Slane | first=Baron | author-link=William McGuckin de Slane | date=1872 | chapter=Autobiographie d'Abou 'L-Fedā: Extraite de sa chronicle | title=Recueil des Historiens des Croisades: Historiens Orientaux. | volume=1 | publisher=Imprimerie Nationale | place=Paris | pages=166–186, 745–751 | language=fr | chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/recueildeshistor01acad#page/166/mode/1up }} 

==External links==
* {{cite encyclopedia | last = Vernet | first = J. | title=Abu'l-Fidāʾ Ismāʿīl Ibn ʿAlī Ibn Maḥmūd Ibn ... Ayyūb, ʿImād Al-Dīn| encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography|Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] | publisher = Encyclopedia.com | orig-year=1970–80 | date = 2008|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830900027.html }}
* [https://archive.org/details/abulfedaetabula00alfgoog Abulfedae tabulae quaedam geographicae, nunc primum Arab. ed., Lat. vertit, notis illustr. H.F ... (1835)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020706072646/http://www.salaam.co.uk/knowledge/biography/viewentry.php?id=153 Abul Fida Ismail Ibn Hamwi] at the Salaam Biographical Dictionary
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060613024309/http://www.renaissance.com.pk/myletfor95.html Tabari]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140202235518/http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?TaxonomyTypeID=25&TaxonomySubTypeID=-1&TaxonomyThirdLevelID=-1&ArticleID=505 The Scholars of Hama]

{{Ayyubid dynasty}}
{{Historians of Islam}}
{{Islamic geography}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1273 births]]
[[Category:1331 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century Kurdish people]]
[[Category:14th-century Kurdish people]]
[[Category:14th-century Arabic writers]]
[[Category:14th-century geographers]]
[[Category:14th-century Ayyubid rulers]]
[[Category:14th-century Syrian historians]]
[[Category:Ayyubid emirs of Hama]]
[[Category:Geographers of the medieval Islamic world]]
[[Category:Kurdish scientists]]
[[Category:Kurdish historians]]
[[Category:Kurdish geographers]]
[[Category:Kurdish scholars]]
[[Category:Historians from the Mamluk Sultanate]]
[[Category:Writers from Damascus]]

Abulfeda - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 21:24, 29 August 2023