Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khalkān[a][2] (Arabic: أحمد بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أبي بكر ابن خلكان; 1211 – 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a 13th century Shafi'i Islamic scholar who compiled the celebrated biographical encyclopedia of Muslim scholars and important men in Muslim history, Wafayāt al-Aʿyān wa-Anbāʾ Abnāʾ az-Zamān ('Deaths of Eminent Men and History of the Sons of the Epoch').[3]
Life and family
Ibn Khallikān was born in Erbil on September 22, 1211 (11 Rabī’ al-Thānī, 608).his surname is the plural of the word "people" in the Kurdish language.according to some sources,he told his son, who was named Musa, that their clan is called "Zarzary".although there is also a village with his last name in the south of Kurdistan.it is also possible that his family's ancestry may have held positions in one of the Kurdish governments.in addition, if other families are mentioned in some sources, they were also of Kurdish descent origin, but there are different issues in historiography.
His primary studies took him from Arbil, to Aleppo and to Damascus,[6] before he took up jurisprudence in Mosul and then in Cairo, where he settled.[7] He gained prominence as a jurist, theologian and grammarian.[7] An early biographer described him as "a pious man, virtuous, and learned; amiable in temper, in conversation serious and instructive. His exterior was highly prepossessing, his countenance handsome and his manners engaging."[8]
He married in 1252[7] and was assistant to the chief judge in Egypt until 1261, when he assumed the position of chief judge in Damascus.[6] He lost this position in 1271 and returned to Egypt, where he taught until being reinstated as judge in Damascus in 1278.[6] He retired in 1281[7] and died in Damascus on October 30, 1282 (Saturday, 26th of Rajab 681).[6]
Deaths of Eminent Men and the Sons of the Epoch
Beginning in 1256, Deaths of Eminent Men and the Sons of the Epoch,[6][9] an eight-volume biographical reference dictionary of Islamic scholarship and literature was completed in 1274.[6] Khallikān documented the lives of notable cultural figures, the celebrated writers, scientists, religious and legal scholars. Complementary to the popular religio-political biographies of the Prophet Muhammad and of the caliphs, it is primarily a literary work.[6] An English translation by William McGuckin de Slane, in four volumes, published between 1801–1878, runs to over 2,700 pages.[10][7] The British scholar Reynold A. Nicholson called it the "best general biography ever written".[8]
References
Lewis, B.; Menage, V.L.; Pellat, Ch.; Schacht, J. (1986) [1st pub. 1971]. Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. III (H-Iram) (New ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 832. ISBN 978-9004081185.
J.W., Fück. "Ibn Khallikan". Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_3248.
"Ibn Khallikan".Frye, R. N.; Fisher, William Bayne; Frye, Richard Nelson; Avery, Peter; Boyle, John Andrew; Gershevitch, Ilya; Jackson, Peter (1975-06-26). The Cambridge History of Iran. ISBN 9780521200936.
"Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, Volumes 1 and 2". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
"Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Ibn Khallikān". 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
"Ibn Khallikan". Humanistic Texts.org. Archived from the original on October 20, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
Ludwig W. Adamec (2009), Historical Dictionary of Islam, p.139. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810861615.
Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-anbāʾ abnāʾ az-zamān
Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary
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