Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari (), commonly known as Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari or Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-‘Umārī (1301 – 1349) was an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

born 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 ...

. His major works include ''at-Taʾrīf bi-al-muṣṭalaḥ ash-sharīf'', on the subject of the

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

administration, and ''Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār'', an encyclopedic collection of related information. The latter was translated into French by

Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes (15 December 1862 – 12 August 1957) was a French Arabist, a specialist in Islam and the history of religions. His best known works are his historical and religious studies on Hajj and Muslim institutions. He also tr ...

in 1927. A student of

Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim schola ...

, Ibn Fadlallah visited

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

shortly after the Malian '' Mansa'' Kankan Musa I's pilgrimage to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

, and his writings are one of the primary sources for this legendary ''

hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

''. He recorded that the Mansa dispensed so much gold that its value fell in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

for a decade afterward, a story that is often repeated in describing the wealth of the Mali Empire. He recorded Kankan Musa's stories of the previous ''mansa''; Kankan Musa claimed that the previous ruler had abdicated the throne to journey to a land across the ocean, leading contemporary

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

an historian Gaoussou Diawara to theorize that Abu Bakr II reached the Americas years before

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

. Gaudefroy-Demombynes believed that al-Umari wrote the ''Masalik al-Absar'' between 1342 and 1349, but internal evidence suggests that at least the chapter on Egypt and Syria and the section covering the Mali Empire were written in 1337-1338. In March 1339, al-Umari was arrested following an altercation with the sultan, but al-Umari's father persuaded the sultan to spare him, and he was sentenced to house arrest. He subsequently had further conflict with the sultan and was imprisoned, but released in October. He subsequently moved to Damascus, and worked as a secretary there from August 1340 to May or June 1343.

Works

* Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-‘Umārī, ''Masālik al-abṣār'', éd. Sayyid

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Umari 1301 births 1349 deaths 14th-century people from the Mamluk Sultanate 14th-century Syrian historians Historians from the Mamluk Sultanate Arabs from the Mamluk Sultanate