Name: al-Muqaddasi resolves to compose Ahsan al-Taqasim at Shiraz, 375/985
Start: 0985

Overview

At Shiraz in 375/985 al-Muqaddasi took the decision to compose Ahsan al-Taqasim, at a time when, by his own account, he had passed — by how much? — the age of forty ¹.

The project

Al-Muqaddasi intended to found a new science of geography describing the whole domain of Islam, surpassing his predecessors, useful to travellers, scholars and chiefs ¹.

al-Muqaddasi al-Bashshari

Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Muqaddasi (al-Bishshari, d. c. 380 AH) — the geographer who compiled Ahsan al-Taqasim after travelling through the climes and pacing them in farsakhs. He spent over ten thousand dirhams on his journeys, fought and kept ribat on the frontier, and left the caravan routes to inspect every town, boasting that he did not compile his book at ease or on hearsay. His life is known only through his own work: two pilgrimages in 356 and 367, a journey to Aleppo, a visit to Khurasan in 374, then the decision to compose the book at Shiraz in 375, past the age of forty.

al-Muqaddasi resolves to compose Ahsan al-Taqasim at Shiraz, 375/985

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al-Muqaddasi al-Bashshari