Ibn al-Adim explained

Ibn al-Adim
Birth Date:1192
Birth Place:Aleppo, Syria
Death Date:1262
Death Place:Cairo, Egypt
Occupation:Historian, Biographer, Diplomat
Notable Works:Bughyat al-Talab fī Tārīkh Ḥalab, Zubdat al-Halab fi ta'arikh Halab
Era:Ayyubid period
Main Interests:History, Biography

Kamāl al-Dīn Abū ʾl-Ḳāsim ʿUmar ibn Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allāh Ibn al-ʿAdīm (1192–1262;) was an Arab[1] biographer and historian from Aleppo.[2] He is best known for his work Bughyat al-Talab fī Tārīkh Ḥalab (; Everything Desirable about the History of Aleppo), a multi-volume collection of biographies of famous men from Aleppo, introduced with a volume on the geography and traditions of the region. It is saved in part in manuscripts in the library of sultan Ahmed III in Topkapi Palace. He also published a chronicle version of the work, Zubdat al-Halab fi ta'arikh Halab (; The Cream of the History of Aleppo), a copy of which reached the library of Jean-Baptiste Colbert and then the Bibliothèque nationale de France,[3] and selections of which were published with Latin translation by Georg Freytag in 1819. His historical sources are various, some oral and some written, and two of the more famous are Usama ibn Munqidh and Ibn al-Qalanisi (Lewis 1952). Another work is a guide for the making of perfumes, Kitab al-Wuslat (or Wasilat) ila al-Habib fi Wasf al-Tayibat wal-tibb (الوصلة إلى الحبيب في وصف الطيّبات والطيب) (Houtsma 1927). He is an important source of knowledge on the Syrian Assassins, first analyzed by Silvester de Sacy (Lewis 1952).

Numerous Ayyubid rulers entrusted Ibn al-Adim as a diplomatic ambassador. On his last mission in 1260, he was sent to Egypt seeking military assistance against the Mongols.[4]

References

Notes and References

  1. John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: The Apogee, (Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1992), 342.
  2. Farhad Daftary, The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines, (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 309.
  3. Web site: Consultation. 2021-02-07. archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr.
  4. Ibn al-Adim, David Morray, Medieval Islamic Civilization:An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, ed. Josef W. Meri, (Routledge, 2006), 342.