Al-Masudi

Al-Mas‘udi (Arabic: أبو الحسن علي بن الحسين بن علي المسعودي‎, Abu al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Masʿūdī; c. 896–956) was an Arab historian and geographer. He is sometimes referred to as the Herodotus of the Arabs. Al-Mas‘udi was one of the first to combine history and scientific geography in a large-scale work, The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems (Arabic: مروج الذهب ومعادن الجواهر‎, Muruj adh-dhahab wa ma'adin al-jawhar), a world history.

Birth, travels and literary output

Al-Mas‘udi states that he was born in Baghdad and that he was a descendant of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad. However, little else is known about his early years. He mentions his association with many scholars in the lands through which he travelled. However, most of what is known of him comes from his own works. Although Ahamd Shboul questions the full extent of al-Mas‘udi's travels, even his more conservative estimation is impressive:

Other writers include Sri Lanka and China among his travels. Lunde and Stone in the introduction to their English translation state that al-Mas‘udi received much information on China from Abu Zaid al-Sirafi whom he met on the coast of the Persian Gulf. In Syria al-Mas‘udi met Leo of Tripoli. Leo was a Byzantine admiral who converted to Islam. From him the historian received much of his information about Byzantium. He spent his last years in Syria and Egypt. In Egypt he found a copy of a Frankish king list from Clovis to Louis IV that had been written by an Andalusian bishop.