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'Aja'ib Al-makhluqat Wa-ghara'ib Al-mawjudat
''Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat'' () or ''The Wonders of Creatures and the Marvels of Creation'' is an important work of paradoxography and cosmography by Zakariya al-Qazwini, who was born in Qazwin in 1203 shortly before the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire. Background to the work Qazwini's ''Aja'ib al-Makhluqat'' was criticized for being less than original. Substantial parts of his work are derivative of Yaqut al-Hamawi's ''Mu'jam al-Buldan''. Qazwini mentions fifty names as his sources, the most important of whom are old geographers and historians such as Istakhri, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, al-Masudi, Ibn Hawqal, al-Biruni, Ibn al-Athir, al-Maqdisi, and al-Razi. Even though Qazwini's work is a compilation of known and unknown sources, it influenced later works of Islamic cosmology and Islamic geography through its style and language. Qazwini's cosmography is not pure science but was intended to entertain its readers by enriching scientific explanations with st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Zakariya Al-Qazwini
Zakariyya' al-Qazwini ( , ), also known as Qazvini (), (born in Qazvin, Iran, and died 1283), was a Cosmography, cosmographer and Geography in medieval Islam, geographer. He belonged to a family of jurists originally descended from Anas bin Malik (a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) which had been well established in Qazvin long before al-Qazwini was born. His most famous work is the Aja'ib al-Makhluqat, (), a seminal work in cosmography. He is also the author of the geographical dictionary (). Career Born in Qazvin to a Persianized family of Arab ancestry, al-Qazwini served as a legal expert and judge in several localities in Iran. He traveled around in Mesopotamia and the Levant, and finally entered the circle patronized by the Ilkhanid governor of Baghdad, Ata-Malik Juvayni (d. 1283 CE). It was to the latter that al-Qazwini dedicated his famous cosmography titled Aja'ib al-Makhluqat, (). This treatise, frequently illustrated, was immensely popular and is preser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
