Sifat Jazirat al-Arab

Ṣifāt Jazīrat al-'Arab (Arabic: صفة جزيرة العرب, Characteristics Of The Arabian Peninsula) is a book written by the 10th-century chemist, geographer and historian, Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani. The book describes the state of the Arabian Peninsula during the life of al-Hamdani, including detailed descriptions of various flora and fauna and tribes present in the peninsula.

Ṣifāt Jazīrat al-'Arab

Author	Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani
Original title	صفة جزيرة العرب
Language	Arabic
Genre	Geography, Travel
Publisher	Brill Publishers
Publication place	Leiden

History

After the discovery of its manuscripts, the Ṣifāt Jazīrat al-'Arab was reprinted and then published in Leiden in the year 1884 by Brill Publishers with editing and annotations by orientalist scholar David Heinrich Müller.^[1] It was later reprinted in Cairo in 1953 before the historian Ismail bin Ali al-Akwa further edited and annotated the work in 1974, publishing the revised version in 1990.^[2] Dar Al Afaq Al Arabiya published another version of the 1990 edition in 2000.^[3]

The Ṣifāt Jazīrat al-'Arab is also regarded as one of al-Hamdani's most referenced works.^[4]

Content

The book provides detailed descriptions of the Arabian Peninsula in the 10th century.^[5][a] In the book, al-Hamdani also quotes from prior geographers like Claudius Ptolemy as well as the Kitāb Hirmis al-ḥakīm (The Book of Hermes the Wise).^[1][2] Flora and fauna of the Arabian Peninsula are described in great detail, while the tribes al-Hamdani interacted with are also listed down.^[1][2] Towards the end of the book, there are poems as well as supplications (du'a).^[1][2]

Sites described by al-Hamdani in the book include the historical and archeological site of Thaj, now in present-day Saudi Arabia.^[6] He also describes where gold and silver can be found in the Arabian Peninsula.^[7]

Discrepancies

According to al-Akwa, editor of the 1990 version, there were several discrepancies in the original forms of the manuscripts.^[2] For example, al-Hamdani did not describe the Abyan Governorate despite explicitly saying that he had already described it.^[2] He also did not describe Oman, instead giving a few lines of commentary on it, which was unusual as his main aim of writing the book was to describe every region of the Arabian Peninsula with adequate detail.^[2]

See also

• Al-Iklil, a book by al-Hamdani about Yemeni history

Notes

1. al-Hamdani states that the book was written in the 4th century of the Islamic Hijri calendar, which can be calculated to the 10th century CE.