The historian, geographer, and statesman, Abu'l-Fida Isma'il Ibn Ali al-Hamawi

Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On October 27, 1331 AD, the historian, geographer, and statesman, Abu'l-Fida Isma'il Ibn Ali al-Hamawi, died at the age of 58. Born in Damascus into the ruling Kurdish Ayyubid dynasty, in his boyhood he devoted himself to the study of the holy Qur'an and the sciences, but from his twelfth year onward, he was almost constantly engaged in military expeditions, chiefly against the European crusader invaders.
In 1298 he entered the service of the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt-Syria, Malik an-Naser, and after twelve years was made the governor of Hamah. For more than twenty years he reigned in tranquility, devoting himself to the duties of government and to the composition of works that include Tarikh al-Mukhtasar fi Akhbari'l-Bashar (The Concise History of Humanity), starting with the creation of the world to the year 1329.
His Geography is, like much of his History, founded on the works of his predecessors. A long introduction on various geographical factors is followed by twenty-eight sections dealing in tabular form with the chief towns of the world. After each name are given the longitude, latitude, climate, spelling, and then observations generally taken from earlier authors. The crater "Abulfeda" on the Moon is named after him.