Ibn al-Mustawfi

Statue of Ibn Al-Mustawfi in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

Mubarak Ibn Ahmad Sharaf al-Din Ibn al-Mustawfi al-Lakhmi al-Irbili[1][2] (Arabic: مبارك بن أحمد شرف الدين اللخمي الإربيلي, b. 1169 – d. 1239), a famous Muslim historian of Erbil, who was born in the ancient citadel of Erbil. He wrote in several areas, history, literature and language. His masterpiece is a four volumes book on the history of Erbil.[3][4]

Biography

Al-Mustawfi was born in the citadel of Erbil and grew up in the house of leadership and science. His father and uncle were his teachers when he began his education, and his father encouraged him to go to the scholars of Erbil to continue his education. He studied rhetoric and learned everything related to it. He was also interested in language and literature.

Al-Mustawfi was a poet and minister in Erbil, the vizier of Muzaffar ad-Din Gökböri, the governor of Erbil in the reign of Sultan Saladin, and subsequently the independent ruler of Erbil.[5]

In the year 1236, after the death of Gökböri, Ibn al-Mustawfi moved to Mosul following the Mongol sacking of Erbil, and lived there until his death in 1239.

List of works

• Tārīkh Irbil: al-musammā Nabāhat al-balad al-Khāmil bi-man waradahu min al-amāthil, four volumes.[6]
• Kitab al-Nizam fi shi'ar al-Mutanabbi wa abi Tammam, ten volumes.
• Kitab ithbat al-muhasaal fi nisbet abyat al-mufasaal, two volumes.
• Kitab sr al-Sanaah
• Kitab aba qimash, a collection a lot of literature and anecdotes.
• Kitab Ahkam al-Nijoom
• He also wrote a collection of poems.

[7][8][9]

References

1. Al-Dhahabi. "Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'" (in Arabic). p. 49.
2. Shafiq, Muna. "Reading in Ibn al-Mustawfi letters" (in Arabic).
3. Ibn al-Mustawfī, Sharaf al-Dīn Abū'l-Barakāt Ahmad. Tārīkh Irbil: al-musammā Nabāhat al-balad al-Khāmil bi-man waradahu min al-amāthil. Edited by Sāmī ibn al-Sayyid Khammās al-Saqqār. 2 vols. Baghdad: Dār al-Rashīd li'l-Nashr 1980.
4. Muhamad, Farhang Muzaffar; Al-Banna, Juan Ibrahim (2015). "Cultural and political impact on modern Kurdish poetry in Erbil" (PDF). Przegląd Narodowościowy – Review of Nationalities. 4. University of Zielona Góra: 220.
5. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 'Begteginids': Encyclopaedia of Islam [spelling not a typo or incorrect], Second Edition First published online: 2012, P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Brill, Leiden, Online version: section on the Begteginids [1] First published online: 2012. First print edition (1960-2007): ISBN 9789004161214
6. Ibn al-Mustawfī, Sharaf al-Dīn Abū al-Barakāt; Ṣaqqār, Sāmī ibn al-Sayyid Khammās (1980). Tārīkh Irbil, al-musammá, Nabāhat al-balad al-khāmil bi-man waradahu min al-amāthil. Silsilat kutub al-turāth. Baghdād: Dār al-Rashīd lil-Nashr : Wizārat al-Thaqāfah wa-al-Iʻlām, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻIrāqīyah : Tawzīʻ al-Dār al-Waṭanīyah lil-Tawzīʻ wa-al-Iʻlān.
7. Ibn Khallikan (1 January 2013). Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, Volume 1. Cosimo, Inc. pp. 389–. ISBN 978-1-61640-333-1.
8. Julie Scott Meisami; Paul Starkey (1998). Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Volume 1. Taylor & Francis. pp. 314–. ISBN 978-0-415-18571-4.
9. Ahmad al-Ghazali, Remembrance, and the Metaphysics of Love