000002 - Ibn Abi Usaibia, Arab Physician

Ibn Abi Usaibia

Ibn Abi Usaibia, or Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah or Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, ( [1194] 1203-1270) (Arabic: ابن أبي أصيبعة موفق الدين أبو العباس أحمد بن القاسم بن خليفة الشعري الخزرجي‎, Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa Muʾaffaq al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Al-Qāsim Ibn Khalīfa al-Khazrajī) was an Arab physician, bibliographer and historian. He was born at Damascus, a descendant of the Banu Khazraj tribe and the son of an oculist, and studied medicine at Damascus and Cairo. In 1236 he was appointed physician to a new hospital in Cairo, but he surrendered the appointment the following year to take up a post given him by the amir of Damascus in Salkhad near that city. There he lived and died.

Ibn Abi Usaibia owes his fame to a collection of 380 biographies which are of value for the history of Arabic science.

Ibn Abi Usaibia wrote ʿUyūn ul-Anbāʾ fī Ṭabaqāt ul-Aṭibbāʾ (Arabic: عيون الأنباء في طبقات الأطباء‎), or Lives of the Physicians, which in its first edition (1245-1246) was dedicated to the vizier of Damascus. This he enlarged, though it is uncertain whether the new edition was made public in the lifetime of the author. A European edition was published by August Müller (Königsberg, 1884). This work is notable as a source for Aristotle's biography. Its material on Pythagoras' biography is included as an appendix.

000001 - Ibn 'Aqil, Hanbali Jurist and Theologian

Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘
Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘ (Abu‘l-Wafa‘ ibn ‘Aqil) (Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi)(1040-1119).Hanbali jurist and theologian of Baghdad.Because of his interest in Mu‘tazila, he was forced into exile in another quarter of the city.In 1072, he publicly retracted his writings in favor of al-Hallaj and of certain Mu‘tazili doctrines.

Ibn 'Aqil was an Islamic theologian from Baghdad, Iraq. Trained in the tenets of the Hanbali school (madhab), the most traditional school of Islamic law, he outraged his teachers by striving to incorporate liberal theological ideas into the tradition. He sought to use reason and logical inquiry to interpret religion, and was influenced by the teachings of the mystic, and universally respected and accepted saint of Islam, al-Hallaj (d. 922). In 1066 he was appointed professor at the mosque of al-Mansur in Baghdad, but persecution by conservative theologians soon led to his retirement, and in 1072 he was forced to retract his beliefs publicly, due to a threat on his life. It would seem probable however, that even after this public recantation, he still had a great admiration for al-Hallaj. Among his works of jurisprudence that have survived are Wadih fi usul al-fiqh and (in part) Kitab al-funun, a work comprising 800 volumes.

Ibn 'Aqil was appointed to a well-known academic "chair" in Jami' al-Mansur in Baghdad. The notion of a "chair" arose in eleventh century. At that time, a study circle or a Halaqat al-'ilm or halaqa gathered around a professor who was seated on a chair, or kursi in Arabic. Initially, the chair was just to give the teacher a comfortable place and to make him higher than the seated students so they could see and hear him better. It is this notion of "chair," or kursi, that evolved into a professional position, like the chair of a board or a committee.

The professor in the chair of the study circles was either chosen by the caliph or by a committee of scholars (al-Hawza), as in present day Qum in Iran or Najaf in Iraq. They were chosen for their scholarly prowess and popularity.

Abu'l-Wafa' ibn 'Aqil see Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘
Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi see Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘
Baghdadi, Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al- see Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘

1400 - 1500

 Gawhar Shad 

Gawhar Shad (Persian meaning "joyful jewel" or "shining jewel"; alternative spelling  Gawharsad, Gowhar Shad, or Gohar Shad, b. before 1380, Samarkand, Timurid Empire -  d. July 19,1457, Herat, Timurid Empire) was the chief consort of Shah Rukh, the emperor of the Timurid Empire. 

She was the daughter of Giāth ud-Din Tarkhān, an important and influential noble during Timur's reign. According to family traditions, the title Tarkhan was given to the family by Genghis Khan personally.

Gawhar Shad was married to Shah Rukh probably in 1388, certainly before 1394 when their son, Ulugh Beg was born. It was a successful marriage, according to the ballads of Herat which sing of Shah Rukh's love for her. However, little is known of their first forty years together, except what concerns her buildings.  Gawhar Shad is credited with building over 300 structures in Herat.

Along with her brothers who were administrators at the Timurid court in Herat, Gawhar Shad played a very important role in the early Timurid history. In 1405, she moved the Timurid capital from Samarkand to Herat.

She was instrumental in the construction of Herat's Mousallah Complex. 

Under her patronage, the Persian language and Persian culture were elevated to a main element of the Timurid dynasty. She and her husband led a cultural renaissance by their lavish patronage of the arts, attracting to their court artists, architects and philosophers and poets acknowledged today among the world's most illustrious, including the poet Jami. Many exquisite examples of Timurid architecture remain in Herat today.

After the death of her husband in 1447, Gawhar Shad maneuvered her favorite grandson to the throne. For ten years she became the de facto ruler of an empire stretching from the Tigris to the borders of China. When she was well past 80, she was executed on July 19, 1457 on the order of Sultan Abu Sa'id. 

According to legend, Gawhar Shad once inspected a mosque and a religious school (madrasah) in Herat accompanied by two hundred female attendants, after it had been cleared of its students, all of whom were male. One youth remained, having fallen asleep in his cell, and was discovered by an attendant and seduced. When Gawhar Shad found out, she ordered that all two hundred of her attendants be married to the students.

Gawhar Shad's tomb is located next to the Herat madrasah that she had built, of which the minaret remains until this day.

A women's university in Kabul that opened in 2003 bears the name of Gawhar Shad 

Gawhar Shad had a mosque (Masjid-e Goharshad) built in 1418 in Mashad, Khorasan.  Her sister, Gowhar-Tāj also has a tomb in Khorasan.

Gawharsad see Gawhar Shad

Gohar Shad see Gawhar Shad

Gowhar Shad see Gawhar Shad

Joyful Jewel see Gawhar Shad

Shining Jewel see Gawhar Shad

1300 - 1400

1304

Ibn al-Shatir

Ala Al-Din Abu'l-Hasan Ali Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Shatir (1304 – 1375) (Arabic: ابن الشاطر‎) was an Arab Muslim astronomer, mathematician, engineer and inventor who worked as muwaqqit (موقت, religious timekeeper) at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.

Ibn al-Shatir conducted extensive observations which led to some of his theoretical contributions, designed and constructed new instruments, and made advanced contributions to Islamic astronomy in the field of planetary theory.

His most important astronomical treatise was the Kitāb Nihāyat al-Suʾāl fī Taṣḥīḥ al-ʾUṣūl (كتاب نهاية السؤال في تصحيح الأصول - The Final Quest Concerning the Rectification of Principles), in which he drastically reformed the Ptolemaic models of the Sun, Moon, and planets. While previous Maragha school models were just as accurate as the Ptolemaic model, Ibn al-Shatir's geometrical model was the first that was actually superior to the Ptolemaic model in terms of its better agreement with both contemporary theory and empirical observations. 

Experimentally Ibn al-Shatir employed careful eclipse observations to measure the apparent size of the Sun and Moon and found that they disagreed with Ptolemaic expectations. His work on his experiments and observations (e.g. Ta'liq al-arsad, or Accounting for Observations) has not survived, but there are references to it in his Final Quest Concerning the Rectification of Principles.

Theoretically, Ibn al-Shatir objected to Aristotle's ether, in its eternal uniformity, and argued that if one grants that the heavens must allow for a variation in composition then there's no reason to reject epicycles, while agreeing that equants and eccentrics, which violated Aristotelian principles of uniform circular motion and gravity, were impossible. He then built a model that by adding new epicycles utilizing the Tusi-couple eliminated entirely the epicycle in the solar model, the eccentrics and equants in the planetary models, and the eccentric, epicycles and equant in the lunar model. The resulting model was one in which the Earth was at the exact center of the universe around which all heavenly bodies moved in uniform circular motions, remained as accurate as Ptolemy in predicting the paths of heavenly bodies, and improved on Ptolemy by accurately predicting the apparent size and distance of the Sun and Moon.

By creating the first model of the cosmos in which physical theory, mathematical model, and empirical observation were in agreement, Ibn al-Shatir marked a turning point in astronomy which may be considered a "Scientific Revolution before the Renaissance".

Although his system was firmly geocentric — he had eliminated the Ptolemaic equant and eccentrics  — the mathematical details of his system encompassed those in Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus, which had retained the Ptolemaic eccentric.  Copernicus' lunar model was identical to the lunar model of al-Shatir.  It is noted that in Copernicus' Commentariolus that his model of Mercury is mistaken, and that since it is Ibn al-Shatir's model, this is further evidence, and perhaps the best evidence, that Copernicus was in fact copying without full understanding from some other source. All this suggests that Ibn al-Shatir's model may have influenced, if indirectly, Copernicus while constructing the latter's heliocentric model. How Copernicus would have come across al-Shatir's work, exactly, remains an open question, but there are some number of possible routes for first or secondhand transmission.

Ibn al-Shatir constructed a magnificent sundial for the minaret of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus which gave both seasonal and equinoctial hours. The fragments of this sundial in a Damascus museum make this the oldest polar-axis sundial still in existence.

Ibn al-Shatir made a timekeeping device incorporating both a universal sundial and a magnetic compass. 

The compendium, a multi-purpose astronomical instrument, was first constructed by Ibn al-Shatir. His compendium featured an alhidade and polar sundial among other things. These compendia later became popular in Renaissance Europe.

Ibn al-Shatir described another astronomical instrument which he called the "universal instrument" in his Rays of light on operations with the universal instrument (al-ʾashiʿʿa al-lāmiʿa fī al-ʿamal bi-l-āla al-jāmiʿa). A commentary on this work entitled Book of Ripe Fruits from Clusters of Universal Instrument (Kitāb al-thimār al-yāni'a ʿan qutāf al-āla al-jāmiʿa) was later written by the Ottoman astronomer and engineer Taqi al-Din, who employed the instrument at the Istanbul observatory of Taqi al-Din from 1577-1580.

In the case of lunar motion, Ibn al-Shatir corrected Ptolemy, whose imagined Moon approached far closer to the Earth than did the actual Moon.

Many believe that astronomy died with the Greeks, and was brought back to life again by Copernicus, the 15th century Polish astronomer who is famous for introducing the Sun-centered (heliocentric) theory of the solar system, which marked the beginning of modern astronomy.

However, many historians now think it is not a coincidence that his models of planetary theory are mathematically identical to those prepared by Ibn al-Shatir over a century before him.  It is known that Copernicus relied heavily on the comprehensive astronomical treatise by al-Battani, which included star catalogues and planetary tables.

The mathematical devices discovered by Muslims before Copernicus, referred to in modern terms as linkages of constant length vectors rotating at constant angular velocities, are exactly the same as those used by Copernicus.  The only, but important, differences between the two was that the Muslims' Earth was fixed in space, whereas Copernicus had it orbiting around the Sun.  Copernicus also used instruments which were particular to astronomy in the East, like the parallactic ruler, which had previously only been used in Samarkand and Maragha Observatories.

_________________________________________________________________________________

1327

Dimashqi 

Shams al-Din al-Ansari al-Dimashqi or simply al-Dimashqi (Arabic: شمس الدين الأنصاري الدمشقي‎) (1256–1327) was a medieval Arab geographer, completing his main work in 1300. Born in Damascus — as his name "Dimashqi" implies—he mostly wrote of his native land, the Greater Syria (Bilad ash-Sham), upon the complete withdrawal of the Crusaders. He became a contemporary of the Mamluk sultan Baibars, the general who led the Muslims in war against the Crusaders. His work is of value in connection with the Crusader Chronicles. He died while in Safad, in 1327.

Al-Dimashqi (1325) gives very detailed accounts of each island in the Malay archipelago, its population, flora, fauna and customs. He mentions "the country of Champa ... is inhabited by Muslims and idolaters. The Islam came there during the time of Caliph Uthman ... and Ali, many Muslims who were expelled by the Umayyads and by Al-Hajjaj, fled there, and since then a majority of the Cham have embraced Islam."

Of their rivals the Khmer, Al-Dimashqi (1325) mentions they inhabit the island of Komor (Khmer), also called Malay Island, a land of many towns and cities, rich-dense forests with huge, tall trees, and white elephants; they supplemented their income from the trade routes not only by exporting ivory and aloe, but also by engaging in piracy and raiding on Muslim and Chinese shipping.

^*****

*****
1336

Ibn al-Hajj
Moḥammed ibn Hajj al-Abdari al-Fassi (or Mohammed Ibn Mohammed ibn Mohammed Abu Abdallah Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari al-Maliki al-Fassi; Arabic: إبن الحاج العبدري الفسي‎) was a Moroccan Maliki fiqh scholar and theologian writer. Originally from Fes, he would finish his life in Egypt where he died in 1336. He is most remembered for his famous book "al-Madkhal".

Ibn al-Hajj studied under many scholars of high standing in various cities and provinces, including Tunis, Al-Qairawan, Alexandria, Cairo, in addition to Madinah and Makkah. 

Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari wrote Madkhal Ash-Shara Ash-Shareef Ala Al-Mathahib (Introduction to Islamic Jurisprudence According to Schools of Thought). The book was published in 4 volumes of over 300 pages each and addresses many different subjects. In the first volume, Ibn al-Hajj includes 22 chapters, each addressing one question where practice is at variance with Islamic teachings. He scrutinizes the practice and points out the proper way to follow. Thus, there are chapters on intention, pursuing knowledge, prayer, the position of a mosque as a place of education, offering prayers at home, the behavior of scholars during scholarly debate, etc. The second volume has 62 chapters with a similar number of questions, including the Prophet’s birthday, the position of Madinah, the manners to be followed by students, women’s behavior, etc. The whole book is written in this way, without any particular thread for the arrangement of its chapters and questions. It is not a book on fiqh in the usual sense, nor is it a book of education and its methods, or a book of hadith or Qur’anic commentary, but it includes something of all these disciplines. Ibn al-Hajj's views are very much influenced by al-Ghazali's Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din.  Ibn al-Hajj spent much of his life in Tunis and Egypt and, for some time, taught at the university of Fes, Al-Qarawiyyin.  He was buried in Qarafa (Egypt).

Ibn al-Hajj is noted for what he said about the developing concept of schools.  He said: "The schools should be in the bazaar or a busy street, not in a secluded place. ... It is a place for teaching, not an eating house, so the boys should not bring food or money. ... In the organization, a teacher must have a deputy to set the class in their places, also visitors according to their rank, to awaken the sleepers, to warn those who do what they ought not or omit what they ought to do, and bid them listen to the instruction. In class, conversation, laughing and jokes are forbidden."

_________________________________________________________________________________

1375

Ibn al-Shatir

Ala Al-Din Abu'l-Hasan Ali Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Shatir (1304 – 1375) (Arabic: ابن الشاطر‎) was an Arab Muslim astronomer, mathematician, engineer and inventor who worked as muwaqqit (موقت, religious timekeeper) at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.

Ibn al-Shatir conducted extensive observations which led to some of his theoretical contributions, designed and constructed new instruments, and made advanced contributions to Islamic astronomy in the field of planetary theory.

His most important astronomical treatise was the Kitāb Nihāyat al-Suʾāl fī Taṣḥīḥ al-ʾUṣūl (كتاب نهاية السؤال في تصحيح الأصول - The Final Quest Concerning the Rectification of Principles), in which he drastically reformed the Ptolemaic models of the Sun, Moon, and planets. While previous Maragha school models were just as accurate as the Ptolemaic model, Ibn al-Shatir's geometrical model was the first that was actually superior to the Ptolemaic model in terms of its better agreement with both contemporary theory and empirical observations. 

Experimentally Ibn al-Shatir employed careful eclipse observations to measure the apparent size of the Sun and Moon and found that they disagreed with Ptolemaic expectations. His work on his experiments and observations (e.g. Ta'liq al-arsad, or Accounting for Observations) has not survived, but there are references to it in his Final Quest Concerning the Rectification of Principles.

Theoretically, Ibn al-Shatir objected to Aristotle's ether, in its eternal uniformity, and argued that if one grants that the heavens must allow for a variation in composition then there's no reason to reject epicycles, while agreeing that equants and eccentrics, which violated Aristotelian principles of uniform circular motion and gravity, were impossible. He then built a model that by adding new epicycles utilizing the Tusi-couple eliminated entirely the epicycle in the solar model, the eccentrics and equants in the planetary models, and the eccentric, epicycles and equant in the lunar model. The resulting model was one in which the Earth was at the exact center of the universe around which all heavenly bodies moved in uniform circular motions, remained as accurate as Ptolemy in predicting the paths of heavenly bodies, and improved on Ptolemy by accurately predicting the apparent size and distance of the Sun and Moon.

By creating the first model of the cosmos in which physical theory, mathematical model, and empirical observation were in agreement, Ibn al-Shatir marked a turning point in astronomy which may be considered a "Scientific Revolution before the Renaissance".

Although his system was firmly geocentric — he had eliminated the Ptolemaic equant and eccentrics  — the mathematical details of his system encompassed those in Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus, which had retained the Ptolemaic eccentric.  Copernicus' lunar model was identical to the lunar model of al-Shatir.  It is noted that in Copernicus' Commentariolus that his model of Mercury is mistaken, and that since it is Ibn al-Shatir's model, this is further evidence, and perhaps the best evidence, that Copernicus was in fact copying without full understanding from some other source. All this suggests that Ibn al-Shatir's model may have influenced, if indirectly, Copernicus while constructing the latter's heliocentric model. How Copernicus would have come across al-Shatir's work, exactly, remains an open question, but there are some number of possible routes for first or secondhand transmission.

Ibn al-Shatir constructed a magnificent sundial for the minaret of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus which gave both seasonal and equinoctial hours. The fragments of this sundial in a Damascus museum make this the oldest polar-axis sundial still in existence.

Ibn al-Shatir made a timekeeping device incorporating both a universal sundial and a magnetic compass. 

The compendium, a multi-purpose astronomical instrument, was first constructed by Ibn al-Shatir. His compendium featured an alhidade and polar sundial among other things. These compendia later became popular in Renaissance Europe.

Ibn al-Shatir described another astronomical instrument which he called the "universal instrument" in his Rays of light on operations with the universal instrument (al-ʾashiʿʿa al-lāmiʿa fī al-ʿamal bi-l-āla al-jāmiʿa). A commentary on this work entitled Book of Ripe Fruits from Clusters of Universal Instrument (Kitāb al-thimār al-yāni'a ʿan qutāf al-āla al-jāmiʿa) was later written by the Ottoman astronomer and engineer Taqi al-Din, who employed the instrument at the Istanbul observatory of Taqi al-Din from 1577-1580.

In the case of lunar motion, Ibn al-Shatir corrected Ptolemy, whose imagined Moon approached far closer to the Earth than did the actual Moon.

Many believe that astronomy died with the Greeks, and was brought back to life again by Copernicus, the 15th century Polish astronomer who is famous for introducing the Sun-centered (heliocentric) theory of the solar system, which marked the beginning of modern astronomy.

However, many historians now think it is not a coincidence that his models of planetary theory are mathematically identical to those prepared by Ibn al-Shatir over a century before him.  It is known that Copernicus relied heavily on the comprehensive astronomical treatise by al-Battani, which included star catalogues and planetary tables.

The mathematical devices discovered by Muslims before Copernicus, referred to in modern terms as linkages of constant length vectors rotating at constant angular velocities, are exactly the same as those used by Copernicus.  The only, but important, differences between the two was that the Muslims' Earth was fixed in space, whereas Copernicus had it orbiting around the Sun.  Copernicus also used instruments which were particular to astronomy in the East, like the parallactic ruler, which had previously only been used in Samarkand and Maragha Observatories.

1200 - 1300

1203

Ibn Abi Usaibia

Ibn Abi Usaibia, or Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah or Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, ( [1194] 1203-1270) (Arabic: ابن أبي أصيبعة موفق الدين أبو العباس أحمد بن القاسم بن خليفة الشعري الخزرجي‎, Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa Muʾaffaq al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Al-Qāsim Ibn Khalīfa al-Khazrajī) was an Arab physician, bibliographer and historian. He was born at Damascus, a descendant of the Banu Khazraj tribe and the son of an oculist, and studied medicine at Damascus and Cairo. In 1236 he was appointed physician to a new hospital in Cairo, but he surrendered the appointment the following year to take up a post given him by the amir of Damascus in Salkhad near that city. There he lived and died.

Ibn Abi Usaibia owes his fame to a collection of 380 biographies which are of value for the history of Arabic science.

Ibn Abi Usaibia wrote ʿUyūn ul-Anbāʾ fī Ṭabaqāt ul-Aṭibbāʾ (Arabic: عيون الأنباء في طبقات الأطباء‎), or Lives of the Physicians, which in its first edition (1245-1246) was dedicated to the vizier of Damascus. This he enlarged, though it is uncertain whether the new edition was made public in the lifetime of the author. A European edition was published by August Müller (Königsberg, 1884). This work is notable as a source for Aristotle's biography. Its material on Pythagoras' biography is included as an appendix.

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1229

Hamawi, Yaqut ibn 'Abdullah al-Rumi al-
Yaqut ibn 'Abdullah al-Rumi al-Hamawi (1179–1229) (Arabic: ياقوت الحموي الرومي‎) was an Islamic biographer and geographer renowned for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. "al-Rumi" ("from Rum") refers to his Greek (Byzantine) descent; "al-Hamawi" is taken after Hama, Syria, and ibn-Abdullah is a reference to his father's name, Abdullah. The word yāqūt means ruby or hyacinth.

Yaqut was working as a slave to a trader, Askar ibn Abi Nasr al-Hamawi, who lived in Baghdad, Iraq.  His master taught him accounting and trading and sent him to trade on his behalf. He later freed him of his obligations and that enabled Yaqut to dedicate himself to his scholarly tasks. He was one of the last scholars who had access to the libraries east of the Caspian Sea before the Mongol invasion of Central Asia. Yaqut travelled to the peaceful scholarly city of ancient Merv in present-day Turkmenistan. There Yaqut spent two years in libraries, learning much of the knowledge he would later use in his works. Yaqut spent the last few years of his life in Aleppo and died there.

The works of al-Hamawi include the following:

• Kitab mu'jam al-buldan (معجم البلدان "Dictionary of Countries")
• Mu'jam al-udabā', (معجم الأدباء "Dictionary of Writers") written in 1226.
• al-Mushtarak wadh'ā wal-Muftaraq Sa'qā (المشترک وضعا والمفترق صعقا )

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1233

Ibn al-Quff
Ibn al-Quff (1233-1286{1305?}).  Christian physician and surgeon.  He was the first known military physician surgeon and composed a manual on surgery.  The Arab physician Ibn al-Quff, a student of Ibn al-Nafis, described embryology and perinatology more accurately in his Al-Jami.

Amīn-ad-Daula Abu-'l-Faraǧ ibn Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq Ibn al-Quff al-Karaki (Arabic: أمين الدولة أبو الفرج بن يعقوب بن إسحاق بن القف الكركي‎)  was an Arab physician and surgeon and author of the earliest medieval Arabic treatise intended solely for surgeons.

Ibn al-Quff was born in the city of Al Karak (in modern-day Jordan). His father was Muwaffaq al-Dīn Yaʿqūb, a Christian Arab. His father had a good job opportunity and moved his family to Sarkhad in Syria, where Ibn al-Quff was tutored by Ibn Abi Uṣaybiʿah who introduced him to the medical studies. He studied with Ibn Abi Uṣaybiʿah and learned a lot of medical information, read many biographies on earlier doctors, and spent a large amount of time meditating on the material he studied and learned. Ibn al-Quff ended up moving to Damascus where he improved his knowledge and studied metaphysics, philosophy, medicine, natural sciences, and mathematics. It is not completely clear as to who was teaching him all of this material but regardless he learned a large amount of information which would be very beneficial for his career. After he had studied for a while and proved he was a good knowledgeable physician and surgeon, he was given the job of physician-surgeon in the army which was stationed in Jordan. It was while serving in the army that he became well known as a physician and a surgeon. His reputation became widespread in the Muslim empire for being a Christian Arab, for caring for his patients and for conducting his work with honesty. After his time of popularity died down he was sent to Damascus and remained there teaching until his death at the age of fifty-two.

During his time in Jordan being a physician-surgeon, Ibn al-Quff wrote many books and taught. He was more well known as a writer and educator on medical topics than for being a doctor. He wrote at least ten commentaries and books during his lifetime. Seven of these works are known to exist today whether fragments or the entire work. One of his most famous works was a commentary on Ishārāt of Ibn Sina, but there is no evidence of this today. Some of the most well known surviving works of Ibn al-Quff are listed below with a brief description.

• Kitāb al-ʻUmda fi 'l-ǧirāḥa (كتاب العمدة في الجراحة) or Basics in the Art of Surgery: a general medical manual covering anatomy and drugs therapy as well as surgical care, concentrating on wounds and tumors, however, he excluded ophthalmology as he considered it to be a specialty with its own technical literature. The work was published in Hyderabad, India, in 1937. This was by far the largest Arabic text on surgery during the entire medieval period. In this book, Ibn al-Quff explained the connections between arteries and veins which was the earliest description of what would be known as capillaries. He did this work before the invention of a microscope and also explained how valves worked and the direction they opened and closed.

• Al-Shafi al-Tibb (The Comprehensive of the Healing Arts): His first medical encyclopedia, completed early 1272 AD.

• Jāmiʻ al-gharaḍ fī ḥifẓ al-ṣiḥḥah wa-dafʻ al-maraḍ (جامع الغرض في حفظ الصحة ودفع المرض): on preventive medicine and the preservation of health in 60 chapters, completed around 1275. 

• Al-usul fi sarh al-fusul: A two-volume commentary on the works of Hippocrates.

• Risala fi manafi al-a da: A treatise on the anatomy of the body's organs.

• Zubad at-Tabib: A book with advice for practicing physicians.

• Sarh al-Kulliyat: A commentary on Avicenna's work Qanun fi t-Tibb.

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1250

Ibn al-Hajj
Moḥammed ibn Hajj al-Abdari al-Fassi (or Mohammed Ibn Mohammed ibn Mohammed Abu Abdallah Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari al-Maliki al-Fassi; Arabic: إبن الحاج العبدري الفسي‎) was a Moroccan Maliki fiqh scholar and theologian writer. Originally from Fes, he would finish his life in Egypt where he died in 1336. He is most remembered for his famous book "al-Madkhal".

Ibn al-Hajj studied under many scholars of high standing in various cities and provinces, including Tunis, Al-Qairawan, Alexandria, Cairo, in addition to Madinah and Makkah. 

Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari wrote Madkhal Ash-Shara Ash-Shareef Ala Al-Mathahib (Introduction to Islamic Jurisprudence According to Schools of Thought). The book was published in 4 volumes of over 300 pages each and addresses many different subjects. In the first volume, Ibn al-Hajj includes 22 chapters, each addressing one question where practice is at variance with Islamic teachings. He scrutinizes the practice and points out the proper way to follow. Thus, there are chapters on intention, pursuing knowledge, prayer, the position of a mosque as a place of education, offering prayers at home, the behavior of scholars during scholarly debate, etc. The second volume has 62 chapters with a similar number of questions, including the Prophet’s birthday, the position of Madinah, the manners to be followed by students, women’s behavior, etc. The whole book is written in this way, without any particular thread for the arrangement of its chapters and questions. It is not a book on fiqh in the usual sense, nor is it a book of education and its methods, or a book of hadith or Qur’anic commentary, but it includes something of all these disciplines. Ibn al-Hajj's views are very much influenced by al-Ghazali's Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din.  Ibn al-Hajj spent much of his life in Tunis and Egypt and, for some time, taught at the university of Fes, Al-Qarawiyyin.  He was buried in Qarafa (Egypt).

Ibn al-Hajj is noted for what he said about the developing concept of schools.  He said: "The schools should be in the bazaar or a busy street, not in a secluded place. ... It is a place for teaching, not an eating house, so the boys should not bring food or money. ... In the organization, a teacher must have a deputy to set the class in their places, also visitors according to their rank, to awaken the sleepers, to warn those who do what they ought not or omit what they ought to do, and bid them listen to the instruction. In class, conversation, laughing and jokes are forbidden."

*****

1256

Dimashqi 

Shams al-Din al-Ansari al-Dimashqi or simply al-Dimashqi (Arabic: شمس الدين الأنصاري الدمشقي‎) (1256–1327) was a medieval Arab geographer, completing his main work in 1300. Born in Damascus — as his name "Dimashqi" implies—he mostly wrote of his native land, the Greater Syria (Bilad ash-Sham), upon the complete withdrawal of the Crusaders. He became a contemporary of the Mamluk sultan Baibars, the general who led the Muslims in war against the Crusaders. His work is of value in connection with the Crusader Chronicles. He died while in Safad, in 1327.

Al-Dimashqi (1325) gives very detailed accounts of each island in the Malay archipelago, its population, flora, fauna and customs. He mentions "the country of Champa ... is inhabited by Muslims and idolaters. The Islam came there during the time of Caliph Uthman ... and Ali, many Muslims who were expelled by the Umayyads and by Al-Hajjaj, fled there, and since then a majority of the Cham have embraced Islam."

Of their rivals the Khmer, Al-Dimashqi (1325) mentions they inhabit the island of Komor (Khmer), also called Malay Island, a land of many towns and cities, rich-dense forests with huge, tall trees, and white elephants; they supplemented their income from the trade routes not only by exporting ivory and aloe, but also by engaging in piracy and raiding on Muslim and Chinese shipping.



<sup>*****

1266</sup>

Masud, Fariduddin

Farīd al-Dīn Masʿūd Ganj-i-Shakar (b, c. April 4, 1179, Kothewal, Multan, Punjab, Ghurid Sultanate (present-day Pakistan) – d. May 7, 1266 [5 Muharram, 665 AH], Pakpattan, Punjab, Delhi Sultanate (present-day Pakistan)) was a 12th-century Punjabi Sunni Muslim preacher and mystic.who went on to become "one of the most revered and distinguished ... Muslim mystics" of the medieval period. He is known reverentially as Bābā Farīd or Shaikh Farīd by Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus of the Punjab Region, or simply as Farīduddīn Ganjshakar.

Fariduddin Masud was a great Sufi master who was born in 1179 at a village called Kothewal, 10 km from Multan in the Punjab region of what is now Pakistan, to Jamāl-ud-dīn Suleimān and Maryam Bībī (Qarsum Bībī), daughter of Sheikh Wajīh-ud-dīn Khojendī. He was a Sunni Muslim and was one of the founding fathers of the Chishti Sufi order.  Baba Farid received his early education at Multan, which had become a center for Muslim education. It was there that he met his teacher Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, a noted Sufi saint, who was passing through Multan on his way from Baghdad to Delhi. Upon completing his education, Farīd left for Sistan and Kandahar and went to Makkah (Mecca) for the Hajj pilgrimage with his parents at the age of 16.

Once his education was over, he moved to Delhi, where he learned the Islamic doctrine from his master, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. He later moved to Hansi, Haryana.  When Quṭbuddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī died in 1235, Farīd left Hansi and became his spiritual successor.  He settled in Ajodhan (the present Pakpattan, Pakistan) instead of Delhi. On his way to Ajodhan, while passing through Faridkot, he met the 20-year-old Nizamuddin Auliya, who went on to become his disciple, and later his successor Sufi khalīfah. His nephew and disciple and successor Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari was amongst the greatest Sufi saints and from him the Sabiriya branch under Chisty order started.

Baba Farid had three wives and eight children (five sons and three daughters). One of his wives, Hazabara, was the daughter of Sulṭān Nasīruddīn Maḥmūd.

The great Arab traveller Ibn Battuta once visited this Sufi saint. Ibn Battuta reported that Fariduddin Ganjshakar was the spiritual guide of the Sultan of Delhi Sultanate, and that the Sultan had given him the village of Ajodhan. He also met Baba Farid's two sons.

Baba Farid's descendants, also known as Fareedi, Fareedies or Faridy, mostly carry the name Fārūqī, and can be found in Pakistan, India and the diaspora. Fariduddin Ganjshakar's descendants include the Sufi saint Salim Chishti, whose daughter was the Emperor Jehangir's foster mother. Their descendants settled in Sheikhupur, Badaun and the remains of a fort they built can still be found. 

Fariduddin Ganjshakar's shrine darbār is located in Pakpattan, Punjab, Pakistan.

One of Farīd's most important contributions to Punjabi literature was his development of the language for literary purposes.  Whereas Sanskrit, Arabic, Turkish and Persian had historically been considered the languages of the learned and the elite, and used in monastic centers, Punjabi was generally considered a less refined folk language. Although earlier poets had written in a primitive Punjabi, before Farīd there was little in Punjabi literature apart from traditional and anonymous ballads.  By using Punjabi as the language of poetry, Farīd laid the basis for a vernacular Punjabi literature that would be developed later.

The city of Faridkot bears his name. According to legend, Farīd stopped by the city, then named Mokhalpūr, and sat in seclusion for forty days near the fort of King Mokhal. The king was said to be so impressed by his presence that he named the city after Baba Farid, which today is known as Tilla Baba Farid. The festival Bābā Sheikh Farād Āgman Purb Melā' is celebrated in September each year for 3 days, commemorating Baba Farid's arrival in the city.  Ajodhan was also renamed as Farīd's 'Pāk Pattan', meaning 'Holy Ferry'; today it is generally called Pāk Pattan Sharīf.

Faridia Islamic University, a religious madrassa in Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan, is named after Baba Farid, and in July 1998, the Punjab Government in India established the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences at Faridkot, the city which itself was named after him.

There are various explanations of why Baba Farid was given the title Shakar Ganj^[ ('Treasure of Sugar'). One legend says his mother used to encourage the young Farīd to pray by placing sugar under his prayer mat. Once, when she forgot, the young Farīd found the sugar anyway, an experience that gave him more spiritual fervor and led to his being given the name.

*****
1270

Ibn Abi Usaibia

Ibn Abi Usaibia, or Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah or Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, ( [1194] 1203-1270) (Arabic: ابن أبي أصيبعة موفق الدين أبو العباس أحمد بن القاسم بن خليفة الشعري الخزرجي‎, Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa Muʾaffaq al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Al-Qāsim Ibn Khalīfa al-Khazrajī) was an Arab physician, bibliographer and historian. He was born at Damascus, a descendant of the Banu Khazraj tribe and the son of an oculist, and studied medicine at Damascus and Cairo. In 1236 he was appointed physician to a new hospital in Cairo, but he surrendered the appointment the following year to take up a post given him by the amir of Damascus in Salkhad near that city. There he lived and died.

Ibn Abi Usaibia owes his fame to a collection of 380 biographies which are of value for the history of Arabic science.

Ibn Abi Usaibia wrote ʿUyūn ul-Anbāʾ fī Ṭabaqāt ul-Aṭibbāʾ (Arabic: عيون الأنباء في طبقات الأطباء‎), or Lives of the Physicians, which in its first edition (1245-1246) was dedicated to the vizier of Damascus. This he enlarged, though it is uncertain whether the new edition was made public in the lifetime of the author. A European edition was published by August Müller (Königsberg, 1884). This work is notable as a source for Aristotle's biography. Its material on Pythagoras' biography is included as an appendix.

*****

1286

Ibn al-Quff
Ibn al-Quff (1233-1286{1305?}).  Christian physician and surgeon.  He was the first known military physician surgeon and composed a manual on surgery.  The Arab physician Ibn al-Quff, a student of Ibn al-Nafis, described embryology and perinatology more accurately in his Al-Jami.

Amīn-ad-Daula Abu-'l-Faraǧ ibn Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq Ibn al-Quff al-Karaki (Arabic: أمين الدولة أبو الفرج بن يعقوب بن إسحاق بن القف الكركي‎)  was an Arab physician and surgeon and author of the earliest medieval Arabic treatise intended solely for surgeons.

Ibn al-Quff was born in the city of Al Karak (in modern-day Jordan). His father was Muwaffaq al-Dīn Yaʿqūb, a Christian Arab. His father had a good job opportunity and moved his family to Sarkhad in Syria, where Ibn al-Quff was tutored by Ibn Abi Uṣaybiʿah who introduced him to the medical studies. He studied with Ibn Abi Uṣaybiʿah and learned a lot of medical information, read many biographies on earlier doctors, and spent a large amount of time meditating on the material he studied and learned. Ibn al-Quff ended up moving to Damascus where he improved his knowledge and studied metaphysics, philosophy, medicine, natural sciences, and mathematics. It is not completely clear as to who was teaching him all of this material but regardless he learned a large amount of information which would be very beneficial for his career. After he had studied for a while and proved he was a good knowledgeable physician and surgeon, he was given the job of physician-surgeon in the army which was stationed in Jordan. It was while serving in the army that he became well known as a physician and a surgeon. His reputation became widespread in the Muslim empire for being a Christian Arab, for caring for his patients and for conducting his work with honesty. After his time of popularity died down he was sent to Damascus and remained there teaching until his death at the age of fifty-two.

During his time in Jordan being a physician-surgeon, Ibn al-Quff wrote many books and taught. He was more well known as a writer and educator on medical topics than for being a doctor. He wrote at least ten commentaries and books during his lifetime. Seven of these works are known to exist today whether fragments or the entire work. One of his most famous works was a commentary on Ishārāt of Ibn Sina, but there is no evidence of this today. Some of the most well known surviving works of Ibn al-Quff are listed below with a brief description.

• Kitāb al-ʻUmda fi 'l-ǧirāḥa (كتاب العمدة في الجراحة) or Basics in the Art of Surgery: a general medical manual covering anatomy and drugs therapy as well as surgical care, concentrating on wounds and tumors, however, he excluded ophthalmology as he considered it to be a specialty with its own technical literature. The work was published in Hyderabad, India, in 1937. This was by far the largest Arabic text on surgery during the entire medieval period. In this book, Ibn al-Quff explained the connections between arteries and veins which was the earliest description of what would be known as capillaries. He did this work before the invention of a microscope and also explained how valves worked and the direction they opened and closed.

• Al-Shafi al-Tibb (The Comprehensive of the Healing Arts): His first medical encyclopedia, completed early 1272 AD.

• Jāmiʻ al-gharaḍ fī ḥifẓ al-ṣiḥḥah wa-dafʻ al-maraḍ (جامع الغرض في حفظ الصحة ودفع المرض): on preventive medicine and the preservation of health in 60 chapters, completed around 1275. 

• Al-usul fi sarh al-fusul: A two-volume commentary on the works of Hippocrates.

• Risala fi manafi al-a da: A treatise on the anatomy of the body's organs.

• Zubad at-Tabib: A book with advice for practicing physicians.

• Sarh al-Kulliyat: A commentary on Avicenna's work Qanun fi t-Tibb.

1100 - 1200

1119

Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘
Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘ (Abu‘l-Wafa‘ ibn ‘Aqil) (Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi)(1040-1119).Hanbali jurist and theologian of Baghdad.Because of his interest in Mu‘tazila, he was forced into exile in another quarter of the city.In 1072, he publicly retracted his writings in favor of al-Hallaj and of certain Mu‘tazili doctrines.

Ibn 'Aqil was an Islamic theologian from Baghdad, Iraq. Trained in the tenets of the Hanbali school (madhab), the most traditional school of Islamic law, he outraged his teachers by striving to incorporate liberal theological ideas into the tradition. He sought to use reason and logical inquiry to interpret religion, and was influenced by the teachings of the mystic, and universally respected and accepted saint of Islam, al-Hallaj (d. 922). In 1066 he was appointed professor at the mosque of al-Mansur in Baghdad, but persecution by conservative theologians soon led to his retirement, and in 1072 he was forced to retract his beliefs publicly, due to a threat on his life. It would seem probable however, that even after this public recantation, he still had a great admiration for al-Hallaj. Among his works of jurisprudence that have survived are Wadih fi usul al-fiqh and (in part) Kitab al-funun, a work comprising 800 volumes.

Ibn 'Aqil was appointed to a well-known academic "chair" in Jami' al-Mansur in Baghdad. The notion of a "chair" arose in eleventh century. At that time, a study circle or a Halaqat al-'ilm or halaqa gathered around a professor who was seated on a chair, or kursi in Arabic. Initially, the chair was just to give the teacher a comfortable place and to make him higher than the seated students so they could see and hear him better. It is this notion of "chair," or kursi, that evolved into a professional position, like the chair of a board or a committee.

The professor in the chair of the study circles was either chosen by the caliph or by a committee of scholars (al-Hawza), as in present day Qum in Iran or Najaf in Iraq. They were chosen for their scholarly prowess and popularity.

Abu'l-Wafa' ibn 'Aqil see Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘
Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi see Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘
Baghdadi, Abu al-Wafa Ali Ibn Aqil ibn Ahmad al- see Ibn ‘Aqil, Abu‘l-Wafa‘

<sup>*****

1179</sup>

Hamawi, Yaqut ibn 'Abdullah al-Rumi al-
Yaqut ibn 'Abdullah al-Rumi al-Hamawi (1179–1229) (Arabic: ياقوت الحموي الرومي‎) was an Islamic biographer and geographer renowned for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. "al-Rumi" ("from Rum") refers to his Greek (Byzantine) descent; "al-Hamawi" is taken after Hama, Syria, and ibn-Abdullah is a reference to his father's name, Abdullah. The word yāqūt means ruby or hyacinth.

Yaqut was working as a slave to a trader, Askar ibn Abi Nasr al-Hamawi, who lived in Baghdad, Iraq.  His master taught him accounting and trading and sent him to trade on his behalf. He later freed him of his obligations and that enabled Yaqut to dedicate himself to his scholarly tasks. He was one of the last scholars who had access to the libraries east of the Caspian Sea before the Mongol invasion of Central Asia. Yaqut travelled to the peaceful scholarly city of ancient Merv in present-day Turkmenistan. There Yaqut spent two years in libraries, learning much of the knowledge he would later use in his works. Yaqut spent the last few years of his life in Aleppo and died there.

The works of al-Hamawi include the following:

• Kitab mu'jam al-buldan (معجم البلدان "Dictionary of Countries")
• Mu'jam al-udabā', (معجم الأدباء "Dictionary of Writers") written in 1226.
• al-Mushtarak wadh'ā wal-Muftaraq Sa'qā (المشترک وضعا والمفترق صعقا )

<sup>*****

1179</sup>

Masud, Fariduddin

Farīd al-Dīn Masʿūd Ganj-i-Shakar (b, c. April 4, 1179, Kothewal, Multan, Punjab, Ghurid Sultanate (present-day Pakistan) – d. May 7, 1266 [5 Muharram, 665 AH], Pakpattan, Punjab, Delhi Sultanate (present-day Pakistan)) was a 12th-century Punjabi Sunni Muslim preacher and mystic.who went on to become "one of the most revered and distinguished ... Muslim mystics" of the medieval period. He is known reverentially as Bābā Farīd or Shaikh Farīd by Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus of the Punjab Region, or simply as Farīduddīn Ganjshakar.

Fariduddin Masud was a great Sufi master who was born in 1179 at a village called Kothewal, 10 km from Multan in the Punjab region of what is now Pakistan, to Jamāl-ud-dīn Suleimān and Maryam Bībī (Qarsum Bībī), daughter of Sheikh Wajīh-ud-dīn Khojendī. He was a Sunni Muslim and was one of the founding fathers of the Chishti Sufi order.  Baba Farid received his early education at Multan, which had become a center for Muslim education. It was there that he met his teacher Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, a noted Sufi saint, who was passing through Multan on his way from Baghdad to Delhi. Upon completing his education, Farīd left for Sistan and Kandahar and went to Makkah (Mecca) for the Hajj pilgrimage with his parents at the age of 16.

Once his education was over, he moved to Delhi, where he learned the Islamic doctrine from his master, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. He later moved to Hansi, Haryana.  When Quṭbuddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī died in 1235, Farīd left Hansi and became his spiritual successor.  He settled in Ajodhan (the present Pakpattan, Pakistan) instead of Delhi. On his way to Ajodhan, while passing through Faridkot, he met the 20-year-old Nizamuddin Auliya, who went on to become his disciple, and later his successor Sufi khalīfah. His nephew and disciple and successor Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari was amongst the greatest Sufi saints and from him the Sabiriya branch under Chisty order started.

Baba Farid had three wives and eight children (five sons and three daughters). One of his wives, Hazabara, was the daughter of Sulṭān Nasīruddīn Maḥmūd.

The great Arab traveller Ibn Battuta once visited this Sufi saint. Ibn Battuta reported that Fariduddin Ganjshakar was the spiritual guide of the Sultan of Delhi Sultanate, and that the Sultan had given him the village of Ajodhan. He also met Baba Farid's two sons.

Baba Farid's descendants, also known as Fareedi, Fareedies or Faridy, mostly carry the name Fārūqī, and can be found in Pakistan, India and the diaspora. Fariduddin Ganjshakar's descendants include the Sufi saint Salim Chishti, whose daughter was the Emperor Jehangir's foster mother. Their descendants settled in Sheikhupur, Badaun and the remains of a fort they built can still be found. 

Fariduddin Ganjshakar's shrine darbār is located in Pakpattan, Punjab, Pakistan.

One of Farīd's most important contributions to Punjabi literature was his development of the language for literary purposes.  Whereas Sanskrit, Arabic, Turkish and Persian had historically been considered the languages of the learned and the elite, and used in monastic centers, Punjabi was generally considered a less refined folk language. Although earlier poets had written in a primitive Punjabi, before Farīd there was little in Punjabi literature apart from traditional and anonymous ballads.  By using Punjabi as the language of poetry, Farīd laid the basis for a vernacular Punjabi literature that would be developed later.

The city of Faridkot bears his name. According to legend, Farīd stopped by the city, then named Mokhalpūr, and sat in seclusion for forty days near the fort of King Mokhal. The king was said to be so impressed by his presence that he named the city after Baba Farid, which today is known as Tilla Baba Farid. The festival Bābā Sheikh Farād Āgman Purb Melā' is celebrated in September each year for 3 days, commemorating Baba Farid's arrival in the city.  Ajodhan was also renamed as Farīd's 'Pāk Pattan', meaning 'Holy Ferry'; today it is generally called Pāk Pattan Sharīf.

Faridia Islamic University, a religious madrassa in Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan, is named after Baba Farid, and in July 1998, the Punjab Government in India established the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences at Faridkot, the city which itself was named after him.

There are various explanations of why Baba Farid was given the title Shakar Ganj^[ ('Treasure of Sugar'). One legend says his mother used to encourage the young Farīd to pray by placing sugar under his prayer mat. Once, when she forgot, the young Farīd found the sugar anyway, an experience that gave him more spiritual fervor and led to his being given the name.

*****

1194

Ibn Abi Usaibia

Ibn Abi Usaibia, or Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah or Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, ( [1194] 1203-1270) (Arabic: ابن أبي أصيبعة موفق الدين أبو العباس أحمد بن القاسم بن خليفة الشعري الخزرجي‎, Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa Muʾaffaq al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Al-Qāsim Ibn Khalīfa al-Khazrajī) was an Arab physician, bibliographer and historian. He was born at Damascus, a descendant of the Banu Khazraj tribe and the son of an oculist, and studied medicine at Damascus and Cairo. In 1236 he was appointed physician to a new hospital in Cairo, but he surrendered the appointment the following year to take up a post given him by the amir of Damascus in Salkhad near that city. There he lived and died.

Ibn Abi Usaibia owes his fame to a collection of 380 biographies which are of value for the history of Arabic science.

Ibn Abi Usaibia wrote ʿUyūn ul-Anbāʾ fī Ṭabaqāt ul-Aṭibbāʾ (Arabic: عيون الأنباء في طبقات الأطباء‎), or Lives of the Physicians, which in its first edition (1245-1246) was dedicated to the vizier of Damascus. This he enlarged, though it is uncertain whether the new edition was made public in the lifetime of the author. A European edition was published by August Müller (Königsberg, 1884). This work is notable as a source for Aristotle's biography. Its material on Pythagoras' biography is included as an appendix.