He took 30 titles, was imprisoned and accused of espionage ... Shams al-Din al-Maqdisi, the most prominent Arab and world geographer

There was nothing left of what befell travelers except that I took a share of it other than kidda (begging) and riding the big one, for she pouted, politically, and became conservative and worshiped, accompanied on debauched roads and sold goods in the markets, and I was imprisoned and taken as a spy .. ”This is what the scholar Shams al-Din wrote. Al-Maqdisi in his book “The Best of Taqasim in Knowing the Territories,” which was considered one of the most important Arab and international geography books in the Middle Ages.

Al-Maqdisi narrates in his book some of his adventures while on his travels, researcher and documentary. ... He managed to kill me more than once, cut off our caravans the roads, and I walked in the heavens and snow. "

The emergence of Jerusalem

Shams al-Din Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Abi Bakr al-Banna al-Shami al-Maqdisi al-Bashari in 946 in Jerusalem, where he spent his childhood and youth there, learning to read, write and memorize the Qur’an, then he traveled to Iraq, and died at the age of 53, about 10 years after publishing his book The best divisions.

Al-Maqdisi’s origins had merit in his travels, so he was able to develop a methodology in construction

Because of his passion for construction, which he inherited from his father in addition to his grandfather, who helped build the port of Acre during the reign of Ahmed Ibn Tulun.

He also acquired the Persian language from his mother, who hails from a village on the western border of Khorasan, which enhanced his ability to move around and explore these areas.

Thus in the 14th century, Baghdad was one of the most important centers of education in the Islamic world (Getty Images)

The Mirror of the Islamic World in the Tenth Century

According to Ibrahim Saeed in his book “Al-Maqdisi's Contributions to Geography and Regional Studies,” Al-Maqdisi presides over the maturity stage in geographical studies along with other scholars;

Such as Al-Astakhri, Al-Balkhi, Al-Hamdani, Al-Masoudi, and Ibn Hawqal Al-Baghdadi, and Al-Maqdisi was able to accurately and vividly monitor the Islamic world in the fourth century AH.

Saeed added, "Al-Maqdisi has a distinguished position in Arab geography, in which no Arab or non-Arab geographer has matched him in the middle and modern ages, especially in what he excelled in studying regions or in the regional curriculum."

Why avoid mentioning non-Islamic regions?

Al-Maqdisi did not appear his book until he was 40 years old after completing it in 3 years, and he says that he visited the regions of the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Khorasan, the Caucasus, and other regions and documented it in detail.

And he adds, "We only mentioned the kingdom of Islam, and we did not overlook the kingdoms of the infidels, because we did not enter it, and we did not see any benefit in mentioning it; rather, we mentioned the places of Muslims from it."

Regarding this, Zaki Muhammad Hassan says in his book "Muslim travelers in the Middle Ages" that Al-Maqdisi relied on the journey and the observation in all his writings, and this prevented him from touching the regions inhabited by non-Muslims.

Because he did not visit it, and adds that he was concerned with funny news and odd habits, including that he mentioned that the Baghdad mosque "was lit by the globes at its gates."

That is, pay toilets, which were unique at the time, for which no other historical examples exist.

He denies and 

changes his name. Abd al-Rahman Hamida believes in his book “The Flags of the Arab Geographers” that Al-Maqdisi’s travels did not reach Andalusia, adding that he was deliberately in his travels to disguise, change his name, and enter the various sects so that he had the opportunity to study their environments and learn about their customs and conditions.

This is what prompted the German scientist Armin Kremers to say that Al-Maqdisi "is the most authentic geographer," adding that geography was his main passion and gave it most of his time and travels, as he risked his life several times, forcing him to change his name from one region to another.

To ensure his safety, and to be able to access information, until his titles exceeded 30.

General outlines

Al-Maqdisi used in his book field study, interviews, and libraries, and relied on the linguistic, religious, administrative and political basis in dividing geographical regions, as well as a unique approach in studying regions, relying on cluster and central division, as follows: Region, Koura (an old geographical term equivalent to something smaller than the region And greater than the Kasbah), the Kasbah, the city and the village.

Al-Maqdisi devotes a special chapter in his book to each region within a similar framework that begins with generalizations about the region, then describes the cities and aspects that follow them, and provides information on religious beliefs and morals.

He also created fixed colors in drawing maps that are still in use until now, so he used green to draw seas, blue to draw fresh water, rivers and lakes, red for roads, and yellow for deserts.

A need for re-investigation

Zuhair Al-Zayyan says in a semantic study of the book of Al-Maqdisi that the book was investigated 4 times as an important source of scientific research

However, it needs to "re-investigate and adjust the disclosure and correction of its corrections and annotate it, by explaining the meanings of the vocabulary and the translation of the proper names and places mentioned in it."

Al-Maqdisi had said in his book, “We will speak in every region with their tongue, debate their way, and multiply their proverbs to know their language,” which led to the multiplicity of words in the book, and the abundance of strange vocabulary, in addition to foreign and Arabized terms.

Because of his influence with the Persian language and other languages ​​such as Greek, Latin, Egyptian Coptic, and others.

They said about him

that the orientalist De Goy re-published the book al-Maqdisi in 1906 and printed it in Leiden (southern Netherlands), and the German geographer Walter Kristaller also benefited from his studies when he developed his theory of the geographical distribution of urban centers in southern Germany in the first half of the 20th century.

The Austrian orientalist Louis Springer says about him, "He is the largest geographer known to all mankind, and no one has preceded him in the breadth of his travels and the depth of his observations and subjecting him to the material he collected to formulate an organization."

As for the French orientalist Reggie Blacher, in his book "Excerpts from the most important Arab geographers in the Middle Ages", "Al-Maqdisi’s book is essential to the knowledge of the Islamic world at that period, and due to the vigilant curiosity he enjoyed always, and a completely unique spirit of tolerance and a rare ability." Upon understanding, it resulted from all of these aforementioned advantages that his book became an exquisite description of the world as he saw it in its living complexity.

In his book, Al-Maqdisi used field studies, interviews, and libraries (Getty Images)

Bayt

al-

description of al-Maqdisi’s description of the provinces he visited was an accurate and compelling description, as he described Jerusalem, in which he was born and lived in, saying, “Jerusalem is not in the cities of al-Qor larger than it, and many rivers are smaller than it, not very cold and not free, and less snow falls in it. Judge Abu al-Qasim Ibn al-Qadi al-Haramayn asked me about the air in it, so I said no heat or severe cold, and he said this is the quality of heaven.

And he added, "Building it is a stone that you do not see better than it, nor is it perfect in its construction, nor is it spared from its people, it is not better than living in it, it is not cleaner than its markets, nor is it greater than its mosque, nor more than its sights, and it contains every clever and doctor, and to it is the heart of every loving person," And every day is not devoid of strange ... God Almighty collected fruits in the valleys, plains, mountains and opposing things ... and it is not possible in Jerusalem of water and the adhan. "

Shams al-Din al-Maqdisi stated because of the publication of his book when he said, “... because scholars still want to classify books so that their monuments are not studied, and their news is not cut off, so I liked to follow their Sunnah, and follow their Sunnahs, and establish a science by which I revive my remembrance and benefit the creation with which my Lord is satisfied.”