Al-Idrisi (Abu Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Muhammad
Ibn Abdallah Ibn Idris al-Qurtubi al-Hasani) was born in 1099 at Centa,
Morocco. He was a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad. He studied at
Cordoba, Spain, and after many travels spent his life in the service of the
Norman King, Roger II of Sicily. Perhaps because of his service to a Christian
king he was generally ignored by Muslim historians and biographers.
Prior to
Roger II's death in 1154 al-Idrisi constructed a celestial globe and a circular
world map of pure silver. The map shown on
this stamp portrays the world map. South is at the top of the map, and,
with the map turned upside down, the Mediterranean Sea, Europe, Asia, and
Africa are easily identified. The Arabian peninsula is in the center of the
map.
Earli
life
Al-Idrisi
traced his descent through long line of Princes, Caliphs and Sufi leaders, to The Prophet Muhammad. His immediate forebears, the Hammudids (1016–1058), were an offshoot of the Idrisids (789-985).
Al-Idrisi was
born in Ceuta, where his great-grandfather had fled after the fall of Málaga in Al-Andalus (1057). He
spent much of his early life travelling through North Africa, and Spain and seems to
have acquired a detail information on both regions. He visited Anatolia when he was
barely 16. He is known to have studied in Córdoba, and later
taught in Constantine, Algeria.
Apparently his travels took him to many parts of Europe including Portugal, the Pyrenees, the French Atlantic coast, Hungary, and Jórvík also known asYork, in England.
MORE ABOUT AL-IDRIS
Al-Idrisi is best known in the
West as the geographer who made a silver globe for King Roger II of Sicily. On
a 400 kilogram ball of silver, he meticulously recorded the seven continents
with trade routes, lakes and rivers, major cities, plains and mountains. He
included such information as distance, length and height as appropriate. The
globe was accompanied by his book, Al-Kitab al-Rujari (Roger's Book). He also
made a second representation of the known world on a disc.
Like Muslim geographers before
him, Al-Idrisi traveled many distant places, including Europe, to gather
geographical data. The Muslim geographers had already made accurate
measurements of the earth's surface, and several maps of the whole world were
available. Al-Idrisi combined this available knowledge with his own findings to
create comprehensive information for all parts of the known world. As his fame
spread, he gained the attention of European sea navigators and military
planners and eventually that of Roger II, the Norman King of Sicily, who
invited him to produce an up-to-date world map. Al-Idrisi was better known than other Muslim geographers because
ships and navigators from the North Sea, Atlantic, and Mediterranean frequented
Sicily which was under Muslim rule before King Roger. Muslim works were freely
available for transmission to Europe through Latin West. Al-Idrisi's book
'Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq,'(The Delight of Him Who Desires to
Journey Through The Climates) is a geographical encyclopedia containing
detailed maps and information on European countries, Africa, and Asia. He later
compiled a more comprehensive encyclopedia, entitled 'Rawd-Unnas wa-Nuzhat
al-Nafs' (Pleasure of Men and Delight of Souls). Al-Idrisi's knowledge of the
Niger above Timbuktu, the Sudan, and of the head waters of the Nile was
remarkable for its accuracy.Several of his books were translated into Latin and
his books on geography were popular for several centuries. One translation,
published in 1619 in Rome, was an abridged edition and the translator did not
credit Al-Idrisi. Although Europe took several centuries to make use of his
globe and world map, Christopher Columbus used a map originally taken from
Al-Idrisi's work.
Al-Idrisi also made major
contributions in the science of medicinal plants and wrote several books, the
most popular entitled 'Kitab al-Jami-li-Sifat Ashtat al-Nabatat.' He reviewed
and synthesized all literature on the subject and associated drugs available to
him from Muslim scientists with those from his own research and travels. He
contributed this material to the subject of botany with emphasis on medicinal
plants, describing the names of the drugs in several languages including
Berber, Syriac, Persian, Hindi, Greek, and Latin. Al-Idrisi also called on
knowledge gained through travels to write on zoology and fauna.
STATUE OF AL IDRISI
IN CEUTA, MOROCCO
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