Zakariya al-Qazwini

Zakariyya' al-Qazwini (full name: Abū Yaḥyā Zakariyyāʾ ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Qazwīnī, Arabic: أبو يحيى زكرياء بن محمد بن محمود القزويني), also known as Qazvini (Persian: قزوینی), (born c. 1203 in Qazvin, Iran, and died 1283), was a cosmographer and geographer.

ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt, 16th-century manuscript

He belonged to a family of jurists originally descended from Anas bin Malik (a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) which had been well established in Qazvin long before al-Qazwini was born.^[1]

His most famous work is the ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharāʾib al-mawjūdāt (lit. 'Wonders of the Creation and Unique [phenomena] of the Existence'), a seminal work in cosmography.^[2] He is also the author of the geographical dictionary Āthār al-bilād wa-akhbār al-ʿibād (lit. 'Monuments of the Lands and Historical Traditions about Their Peoples').^[3]

Career

Tile with two rabbits, two snakes and a tortoise (illustration of a scene in the ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt; Iran, 19th century)

Born in Qazvin to a Persianized family of Arab ancestry,^[4] al-Qazwini served as a legal expert and judge in several localities in Iran. He traveled around in Mesopotamia and the Levant, and finally entered the circle patronized by the Ilkhanid governor of Baghdad, Ata-Malik Juvayni (d. 1283 CE).^[5]

It was to the latter that al-Qazwini dedicated his famous cosmography titled ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharāʾib al-mawjūdāt (lit. 'Wonders of the Creation and Unique [phenomena] of the Existence').^[6] This treatise, frequently illustrated, was immensely popular and is preserved today in many copies. It was translated into his native Persian language, and later also into Turkish.^[7] Al-Qazwini was also well known for his geographical dictionary Āthār al-bilād wa-akhbār al-ʿibād (lit. 'Monuments of the Lands and Historical Traditions about Their Peoples').^[8] Both of these treatises reflect extensive reading and learning in a wide range of disciplines.^[9]

See also

• List of Persian scientists and scholars
• List of pre-modern Arab scientists and scholars