Abu al-Fath Jamal al-Din Yusuf bin Yaqoub bin Muhammad (Arabic: أبو الفتح جمال الدين يوسف بن يعقوب ابن محمد), better known as Ibn al-Mujawir (1205–1292) was a traveller and businessman of uncertain origin, perhaps from Khurasan. He is known for his travelogue Tarikh al-Mustabsir or Tarikh al-Mustansir (Chronicle of an intelligent observer), a travel chronicle describing cities, commerce, local dynasties and social mores of the southern Arabian Peninsula. The chronicle is an important source for the economic history and popular life of the southern areas of the Arabian Peninsula and the isle of Socotra in the early 13th century.[1][better source needed]
Ibn al-Mujawir | |
|---|---|
| أبو الفتح جمال الدين يوسف بن يعقوب ابن محمد | |
| Born | 1205 |
| Died | 1292 |
| Occupation(s) | Geographer, Traveler, businessman |
| Notable work | Tarikh al-Mustansir |
He travelled from Mecca south through the Red Sea, and along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula to the Persian Gulf. In Aden, at that time at the beginning of its medieval prosperity under the Ayyubids, he observed the activities of the port to report on its administration, taxes, markets, customs, currency, weights and measures. His route then continued along the southern coast of Arabia, where he described the historical connections of the Gulf of Aden to India adapting the Indian epic of the Ramayana.[2]
He described the habits of the people: buildings, dress, agriculture, food and history. He also had an ear for their manners, tales and myths.[3] He described maritime contacts between Madagascar, the East African coast, Aden and Siraf, the Persian golf port.[4] He mapped cities in the style of the Balkhi school.[5]
Notes and references
edit- ^ "Tâ'rîkh al-mustabṣir - Chronicle of an observer". uk.drouot.com. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
- ^ Menon, G ShreeKumar (7 August 2018). "Ibn Al Mujawir's Hanuman Tunnel". Mangalore Today. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
- ^ Reese, Scott Steven (2018). Imperial Muslims: Islam, community and authority in the Indian Ocean, 1839-1937. Edinburgh. pp. 17–24. ISBN 978-0-7486-9766-3. OCLC 1028048593.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Tolmacheva, Marina (1980). "On the Arab System of Nautical Orientation". Arabica. 27 (2). Brill: 180–192. doi:10.1163/157005880X00051. JSTOR 4056515.
- ^ Tim Mackintosh-Smith (January–April 2009), "Review article: Ibn al-Mujawir", Bibliotheca Orientalis (book review), vol. LXVI, no. 1–2, retrieved 2023-01-20
Reviewed work: Oscar Löfgren's (2008). G. Rex Smith (ed.). A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia: Ibn al-Mujawir's Tarikh al-Mustabsir. London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0904180-91-6. ISSN 0072-9396.
Further reading
edit- G. Rex Smith, A Traveller in Thirteenth-Century Arabia / Ibn al-Mujawir's Tarikh al-Mustabsir, 2022, ISBN 9781032293240.
- Shahla Bakhtiari, The Theoretical Approach of Ibn al-Mujawir in Tarikh al-Mustabsir, Teheran, 2020.