Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī (; ) was a chronicler from Mayyafariqin, present-day Silvan. His major work, ''Ta'rikh Mayyafariqin wa-Amid'' ("the history of Mayyafariqin and Amid"), is written in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. His ethnic origins are not clearly known. Early in his life, ibn al-Azraq was a trading agent for the

Artuqid The Artuqid dynasty (alternatively Artukid, Ortoqid, or Ortokid; Old Anatolian Turkish: , , pl. ; ; ) was established in 1102 as a Turkish Anatolian Beylik (Principality) of the Seljuk Empire. It formed a Turkoman dynasty rooted in the Oghuz ...

ruler

Husam al-Din Timurtash Husam al-Din Timurtash (; ; – 1154) was an Artuqid emir of Mardin (1122–1154) and ruler of Aleppo (1124–1125). Biography Early career The main sources of his reign were the chronicle of Ibn al-Azraq al-Fariqi and Ibn al-Athir, in addi ...

, son of

Ilghazi Najm al-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq (; died November 8, 1122) was the Turkoman Artukid ruler of Mardin from 1107 to 1122. He was born into the Oghuz tribe of Döğer. Biography His father Artuk Bey was the founder of the Artukid dynasty, and had ...

. During one of his stays in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, c. 1140, he was educated by leading Muslim scholars for six months. From 1153 to 1154, he was at the court of King

Demetrius I of Georgia Demetrius is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning "devoted to goddess Demeter". Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, Dimitri, Dimitrie, Dimitar, Dumitru, Demitri, D ...

, as his secretary. In his works, ibn al-Azraq specifically mentions the Christian king's benevolent treatment of Muslims. He was again in the

Kingdom of Georgia The Kingdom of Georgia (), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a Middle Ages, medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in Anno Domini, AD. It reached Georgian Golden Age, its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign ...

in 1162 or 1163, before becoming ''mutaqalli ishraf al-waqf'', that is, custodian of

waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...

(charitable endowment), in Mayyafariqin in 1166 or 1167. A year later, he served in the same position in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

for two years. He then returned to his native city. The year of his death is not certain. His work is a chronicle chiefly focused on Mayyafariqin and Amid in the

Diyar Bakr Diyar Bakr () is the medieval Arabic name of the northernmost of the three provinces of the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being Diyar Mudar and Diyar Rabi'a. According to the medieval geographer al-Baladhuri, all three provinces were ...

region, but contains important details about the geography and history of the neighboring regions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibn al-Azraq 1110s births 1170s deaths People from Silvan, Turkey 12th-century historians of the medieval Islamic world