Ibn Umayra al-Dabbi
- Died
- 599 AH
- Born in
- -
Ibn Umayra al-Dabbi (d. 599 AH / 1203 CE) was an Andalusian historian, hadith scholar, and copyist from Murcia, best known for his biographical dictionary Bughyat al-multamis fi tarikh rijal ahl al-Andalus .
Life and travels
Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Ahmad ibn 'Umayra al-Dabbi bore the kunyas Abu Ja'far and Abu al-Abbas . He was born in Vélez (Balash), west of Lorca, and began his education before reaching the age of ten, studying initially under Abu Abd Allah ibn Humayd . He studied extensively with Abu al-Qasim ibn Hubaysh, received authorization (ijaza) from Ibn Bashkuwal, and studied under his father's cousin Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn 'Umayra, as well as Abu Ja'far Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasir and Abu al-Hasan ibn Kawthar .
Ibn Umayra traveled widely through North Africa and onward to the East to perform the pilgrimage . In Ceuta, he transmitted from Ibn Ubayd Allah, and in Marrakesh, from Ibn al-Fakhkhar . During his journey he met Abd al-Haqq al-Ishbili in Béjaïa and studied in Alexandria under scholars including Abu al-Tahir ibn Awf, Abu al-Thana al-Harrani, Ismail ibn Qasim al-Zayyat, Abu Muhammad ibn Barri, and Abu al-Qasim al-Busiri, later meeting Abu al-Hasan al-Mayanishi in Mecca .
Scholarly career and death
Ibn Umayra spent the majority of his life based in Murcia, where he worked professionally as a book copyist (warāqah) and acquired substantial wealth through the trade . He was noted for his rapid copying, fine calligraphy, and exactitude in transmission and text collation . Contemporaries evaluated him as reliable and truthful, and he also occasionally composed verse . Among his writings was Matla' al-anwar li-sahih al-athar, in which he combined the traditions of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim . His primary biographical work, Bughyat al-multamis, was designed as a continuation of al-Humaydi's Jadhwat al-muqtabis, incorporating its entries up to around 450 AH and adding figures from the following 150 years down to his own era .
He died in Murcia at the age of forty-something in late Rabi' al-Thani 599 AH (1203 CE), regarded as a martyr after a wall collapsed on him; he was pulled from the rubble while still breathing and died the following morning .
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List of Works
Bughyat al-Multamis fi Tarikh Rijal Ahl al-Andalus (The Desire of the Seeker Concerning the History of the Men of al-Andalus) is a biographical dictionary of Andalusian scholars, poets, and notables. Designed as an extension and continuation of Jadhwat al-muqtabis, it incorporates earlier entries and documents figures from the subsequent 150 years down to the late sixth century AH. The work opens with a historical and geographical overview of al-Andalus before presenting alphabetically arranged biographical notices.