The Life and Works of Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Mas'udi (871-957 CE)
This document is based on descriptions given in:
The Salaam Knowledge Database entry on al-Masudi
A
biographical article on al-Masudi
Shariff, MM - A History of Muslim Philosophy, Volume 2 (Otto Harrassowitz,
Wiesbaden, 1966),
p. 1255-1256
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Biography
Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Masudi was an Arab historian and one of the most versatile and original authors in the age of efflorescence of Muslim civilisation. Among the intelligent globe-trotters and geographers of the eastern lands of Islam, often designated as the Muslim Pliny, al-Masudi deserves pride of place. He was born in Baghdad, a descendant of Abd Allah ibn Masud, a prominent companion of the Prophet. Al-Masudi was apparently a Mutazilite Arab.
Masudi's time seems to have been an age of great travellers.
His contemporary, Ibn Hawqal (fl. c. 332-367 H / 943-977 CE), completed a travel
of 30 years which excited his interest in geography. Ibn Hawkal's meeting with
the celebrated geographer al-Istakhri was significant, as at the latter's
request he re-wrote his geography and revised the accompanying maps. Ibn Hawqal
called this improved version the Book of Roads and Provinces, and added maps of
each country to this remarkable treatise.
Masudi acquired his knowledge through painstaking study of the existing sources
as well as through extensive travels. Al-Masudi satisfied his immense curiosity
about the world and supplemented and corrected the information he had gained
from his wide reading through personal observation, conversations with people of
all walks of life, and reports of other travellers.
He was equally competent in the religious and the rational fields of learning. His keen interest and open-mindedness in respect to foreign peoples and religions reflect the cosmopolitan spirit of the age.
Travels
Numerous notices in
al-Masudi's extant works indicate that he travelled extensively. He explored
distant lands – Spain, Russia, Syria, Iran, India, Ceylon, Indo-China and China,
and proceeded via Madagascar, Zanzibar and Oman to Basra and here he completed
his Meadows of Gold, the book that made him famous.
During the last period of his life al-Masudi lived mostly in al-Fustat (Old
Cairo), Egypt, where his first recorded visit was in 942. He visited Antioch in
943 and settled in Damascus in 945. He travelled to Upper Egypt as far as Nubia.
He died in al-Fustat in September / October, 346 H / 957 CE.
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Influences upon Mas'udi
Masudi met scholars of repute and also common folk possessing practical knowledge.
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Bibliography of Mas'udi
Although the titles of over 30 works by al-Masudi are known,
only 2 or 3 authentic works still exist.
- Muruj al-Zaman
Written in Cairo, this is his 2nd extensive work, comprising 30 volumes. In this
book he has described in detail the geography and history of the countries that
he had visited, and of the world in general, from creation to 947 CE. Only 1
volume of the 30 is preserved in Vienna.
This universal work and an abridged version of it are lost, but an abridged
version of the latter abridged version became al-Masudi's most famous work - al-Muruj
al-Dhahab.
- Muruj al-Dhahab (Meadows of Gold)
An epitome of al-Muruj al-Zaman.
A French version of this work was published between 1861 and 1877. The beginning
17 chapters were translated into English by Aloys Sprenger in
a book now published by Antioch Gate.
- Kitab al-Tanbih wa al-Ishraf
Written shortly before his death as a summary of his literary
activity. Though shorter than the Meadows of Gold and similar in subject matter,
it contains much independent information. It contains a summary of his earlier
book as well as an errata. Furthermore, he made a systematic study of history
against a perspective of geography, sociology, anthropology and ecology.
- Kitab al-Ausat
A sort of supplement to the Meadows of Gold. Here, al-Masudi compiled historical events chronologically and this last book was completed the year when he died. This book is preserved at the Bodleian Library, Oxford (England).