Abu Hamid al-Gharnati

Abū Ḥāmid al-Gharnāṭī (Arabic: أبو حامد الغرناطي‎; full name: Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sulaymān ibn Rabīʿ al-Māzinī al-Qaysī; c. 1080 – 1170) was an Arab traveler, geographer, and writer from Granada, Al-Andalus.[1] who travelled around eastern and central Europe, and wrote about his travels in an Arabic travelogue, Tuhfat al-Albab ("Gift of Hearts").[2] He also wrote about spectacular places and things in al-Mu’rib ‘an ba’d ‘aja’ib al-Maghreb (Praise of Some of the Wonders of North Africa), works that combine geographical description, ethnographic observation, and accounts of marvels.[3] He established a genre of books of wonder in Arabic. Many of the things he saw and wrote about were embellished with fantastic details.

Biography

His nisbas al-Māzinī and al-Qaysī connect him with Arab tribal lineages associated with the wider Qays confederation.[4] Al-Gharnati's family is thought to have fled Granada to escape the reign of the Almoravid emir Yusuf ibn Tashfin. He travelled from Iberia to Egypt and Syria in 1106, reaching Alexandria in 1115 via Sardinia and Sicily, writing about Mount Etna. He moved to Baghdad in 1123. He lived with the Volga Bulgarians from 1131 to 1150 and travelled to Hungary, where he worked as an advisor in the court of King Géza II. He moved through Kiev to Baghdad in 1154 and lived in Mosul from 1161, Aleppo from 1165, and finally Damascus from 1169. He wrote about places such as Mount Etna during journeys through Sicily and the central Mediterranean. [1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Abū Ḥāmid al-Gharnāṭī". Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed. Brill Publishers. Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad b. Sulaymān b. al-Rabīʿ al-Māzinī al-Qaysī, known as al-Gharnāṭī, a traveller from al-Andalus.
  2. ^ Norris, H. T. (1994). "From Asia to Africa: The 'Tuḥfat al-Albāb' by Abū Ḥāmid al-Gharnāṭī (473/1080-565/1169) as a Source for the Chronology and Content of the 'Sīrat 'Antar B. Shaddād'". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 57 (1): 174–183. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00028214. ISSN 0041-977X. JSTOR 619504.
  3. ^ The Book of Gifts and Rarities. Harvard University Press. Abū Ḥāmid al-Gharnāṭī, the Andalusian traveller and geographer, recorded his journeys in Tuḥfat al-Albāb.
  4. ^ The Formation of al-Andalus, Part 2. Brill Publishers. Among the Qaysis, the Banū Rabīʿ counted among their members Abū Ḥāmid al-Gharnāṭī.
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