al-Hamawi, Yaqut

Abu Abd Allah Yaqut ibn Abd Allah al-Hamawi (574–626 AH / 1178–1229 CE) was a Byzantine-born geographer, biographer, and lexicographer, renowned for his monumental geographical encyclopedia Mu'jam al-Buldan and his biographical dictionary Irshad al-Arib ila Ma'rifat al-Adib Mujam al-Muallifin+1.

Origin and early life

Yaqut was born in Byzantine lands (Bilad al-Rum) around 574 AH (1178 CE; another report gives 575 AH) and was of Greek descent Mujam al-Muallifin+1. Captured as a young boy, he was purchased in Baghdad by a merchant named Askar ibn Abi Nasr Ibrahim al-Hamawi, from whose city of origin Yaqut acquired his primary nisba Wafayat al-Ayan+1. His master enrolled him in elementary school to learn writing and bookkeeping so that he could assist in commercial affairs Wafayat al-Ayan. As he matured, he studied Arabic grammar and lexicography under scholars including al-Ukbari and Ibn Ya'ish, while traveling regularly for his master's trade between Kish, Oman, and Syria Wafayat al-Ayan+1.

A falling out between them led Askar to manumit and dismiss him in 596 AH (another report gives 591 AH), forcing Yaqut to earn his living by copying manuscripts for hire, which allowed him to acquire extensive erudition through wide reading Wafayat al-Ayan+1. Askar later reconciled with him, gave him merchandise, and sent him back on a trade mission to Kish Wafayat al-Ayan+1. Upon returning, Yaqut found that his master had died; he settled accounts satisfactorily with Askar's widow and sons, invested his remaining capital into trading books, and embarked on extensive journeys across the Islamic world Mujam al-Muallifin+1.

Travels and controversies

Yaqut traveled across Iraq, Syria, al-Jazira, Khurasan, and Transoxiana, remarking that he had traversed the territories between the Oxus and the Nile Majallat al-Muqtabas+1. In 613 AH, having read Kharijite writings, he engaged in a public dispute in a market in Damascus and spoke inappropriately of Ali ibn Abi Talib Wafayat al-Ayan+1. A furious mob attacked him and nearly killed him, prompting him to flee when the governor ordered his arrest Wafayat al-Ayan+1. He escaped through Aleppo, Mosul, and Erbil into Khurasan, settling for several years in Merv, where he traded and made intensive use of its rich public libraries, frequently keeping up to two hundred borrowed volumes in his quarters Wafayat al-Ayan+1.

In 616 AH, while in Khwarazm, the Mongol invasion broke out; Yaqut fled destitute, abandoning his property, and endured severe hardships before reaching Mosul al-Falaka wa al-Maflukun+1. From Mosul, he corresponded with the vizier of Aleppo, Ibn al-Qifti, describing his plight in a famous literary epistle al-Falaka wa al-Maflukun+1. Ibn al-Qifti offered him patronage and financial support upon his arrival in Aleppo Iktifa al-Qanu bima huwa …+1. Yaqut also traveled to Egypt in late 621 AH before returning to Aleppo in early 625 AH to complete his geographical writings Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+1.

Scholarly standing and death

Biographers regarded Yaqut as a trustworthy historian, an eminent lexicographer, and one of the foremost geographical authorities in the Arabic tradition al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. His major works combined firsthand travel observations with meticulous lexical verification and historical compilation, including his gazetteer of homonymous place names, al-Mushtarak wad'an wa-al-Muftaraq saq'an Majallat al-Risala+1.

Before his death, Yaqut bequeathed his library of books as an endowment to the al-Zaidi Mosque at Darb Dinar in Baghdad Mujam al-Muallifin. He died on 20 Ramadan 626 AH (August 1229 CE; another report gives 627 AH) while residing in a caravanserai outside the city of Aleppo Mujam al-Muallifin+1.