View source for Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani

{{Short description|Arab Muslim geographer, chemist, poet, grammarian, historian and astronomer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{redirect|Iklil|the star|Rho Scorpii}}{{Infobox scholar
| name = Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani
| native_name = أبو محمد الحسن الهمداني
| othernames = Abu Al-Hasan Al-Hamdani
| birth_date = {{circa| 893}}
| birth_place = [[Sanaa]]
| death_date = {{circa| 945-947}}
| death_place = [[Raydah]], [[Amran Governorate|Amran]], [[Yemen]]
| occupation = Geographer, poet, grammarian, historian, and astronomer
| titles = 
| notable_works = Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab and Al-Iklīl
| main_interests = [[Geography]], [[History]], [[Astronomy]], [[Writing]]
| era = [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]]
}}
'''Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Hamdānī''' ({{langx|ar|أبو محمد الحسن بن أحمد بن يعقوب الهمداني}}, 279/280-333/334 [[Anno Hegirae|A.H.]];  {{circa|893}}{{snd}}947;) was an [[Arab]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O. |first1=Löfgren |title=al-Hamdānī |journal=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] |language=en |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_2666}}</ref> [[Muslim]] [[geographer]], [[chemist]], [[poet]], [[Philologist|grammarian]], [[historian]], and [[astronomer]], from the tribe of [[Banu Hamdan]], western [['Amran]], [[Yemen]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=أبو محمد الحسن الهمداني |trans-title=Abu Muhammed Al-Hasan al-Hamdani |url=https://yemen-nic.info/contents/History/hamdani.php |access-date=8 March 2023 |website=yemen-nic.info}}</ref> He was one of the best representatives of Islamic culture during the last period of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]]. His work was the subject of extensive 19th-century Austrian scholarship.

==Biography==
The biographical details of al-Hamdani's life are scant, despite his extensive [[scientific]] work. He was held in high repute as a grammarian, wrote much poetry, compiled astronomical tables and is said to have devoted most of his life to the study of the ancient history and geography of Arabia.{{sfn|Thatcher|1911|p=875}}

Before he was born his family had lived in al-Marashi (المراشي). Then they moved to [[Sana'a]] (صنعاء), where al-Hamdani was born in the year 893.  His father had been a traveller and had visited [[Kufa]], [[Baghdad]], [[Basra]], [[Oman]] and [[Egypt]]. At around the age of seven, al-Marashi started to talk about his desire to travel. Somewhat later he left for [[Mecca]], where he remained and studied for more than six years, after which he departed for [[Sa'dah]] (صعدة). There he gathered information on [[Khawlan]] (خولان). Later, he went back to Sanaa and became interested in the land that was [[Himyar]] (حمْير), but was imprisoned for two years due to his political views. After his release from prison, he went to [[Raydah]] (ريدة) to live under the protection of his own tribe. He compiled most of his books while there and stayed on until his death in 945.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Hamdani Biography of al-Hamdani].</ref>

==Writings==
His [[Sifat Jazirat al-Arab|''Geography of the Arabian Peninsula'' (''Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab'')]] is by far the most important work on the subject,{{sfn|Thatcher|1911|p=875}} where he describes the [[Harir Mountain|geography]] and the linguistic situation in the Arabian peninsula and [[Socotra]].<ref>[[Vitaly Naumkin]] (1989) Fieldwork in Socotra, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Bulletin, 16:2, 133-142.</ref> The manuscript was used by Austrian orientalist, [[Aloys Sprenger]] in his ''Post- und Reiserouten des Orients'' (Leipzig, 1864) and further in his ''Alte Geographie Arabiens'' (Bern, 1875), and was edited by [[David Heinrich Müller|D.H. Müller]] (Leiden, 1884; cf. Sprenger's criticism in ''Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft'', vol. 45, pp.&nbsp;361–394).{{sfn|Thatcher|1911|pp=875–876}}

His work has been the subject of extensive research and publications by the Austrian Arabist, [[Eduard Glaser]], a specialist on ancient Arabia. The other great work of al-Hamdānī is his ten volume, ''[[al-Iklil]]'' (the [[Diadem]]), concerning the genealogies of the [[Himyar]]ites and the wars waged by their kings. Volume 8, on the citadels and castles of southern Arabia, has been translated into German, edited and annotated by [[David Heinrich Müller]] as ''Die Burgen und Schlösser Sudarabiens'' (Vienna, 1881).{{sfn|Thatcher|1911|p=876}}

Other works said to have been written by al-Hamdani are listed in [[Gustav Leberecht Flügel|G. L. Flügel]]'s ''Die grammatischen Schulen der Araber'' (Leipzig, 1862), pp.&nbsp;220–221.{{sfn|Thatcher|1911|p=876}}

===List of works===
* ''Kitab al-Jawharatayn al-ʻatīqatayn'' - A book describing [[metal]]s known at that time, including their physical and chemical properties as well as treatment and processing (such as [[gold]], [[silver]], and [[steel]]).<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/607846741 Description of metals (in Arabic)].</ref> He is also considered the first person who explained [[gravity of Earth]] in a way similar to [[magnetic field]] behavior.<ref>{{cite book|title= Kitāb al-Jawharatayn al-ʻatīqatayn al-māʼiʻatayn min al-ṣafrāʼ wa-al-bayḍāʼ : al-dhahab wa-al-fiḍḍah|publisher=Cairo : Maṭbaʻat Dār al-Kutub wa-al-Wathāʼiq al-Qawmīyah bi-al-Qāhirah (Arabic:كتاب الجوهرتين العتيقتين المائعتين من الصفراء والبيضاء : الذهب والفضة), 2004.|pages=43–44, 87|oclc=607846741}}</ref>
*''[[Sifat Jazirat al-Arab|Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab]]'' ({{lang|ar|صفة جزيرة العرب}}), ''Geography/Character of the Arabian Peninsula''.<ref>[http://islamport.com/w/tkh/Web/368/86.htm Geography/Character of the Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic)].</ref>
*''[[Al-Iklil|Kitāb al-Iklīl min akhbār al-Yaman wa-ansāb Ḥimyar]]'' ({{lang|ar|الإكليل من أخبار اليمن وأنساب حمير}}); ''Crowns from the Accounts of al-Yemen and the genealogies of Ḥimyar''. ''al-Iklīl'' consists of ten volumes. However, only four volumes have been found (Vol.1, Vol.2, Vol.8 and Vol.10); the other volumes are missing.<ref>[http://www.arabacademy.gov.sy/uploads/magazine/mag72/mag72-3-1.pdf Crowns from the Accounts of al-Yemen and the genealogies of Himyar (in Arabic)].</ref>
*History of [[Sabaʾ]].
*Language of Himyar and [[Najran]].

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}
===Bibliography===
* {{DSB|title=Hamdānī, Abū Muḥammad al- Ḥasan Ibn Aḥmad Ibn YaʿQūb al-}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Hamdānī|volume=12|pages=875–876|first=Griffithes Wheeler|last=Thatcher}}
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9039008 Britannica]
* Nabih Amin Faris: ''The Antiquities of South Arabia being a Translation from the Arabic with Linguistic, Geographic and Historic Notes of the Eight Book of al-Hamdānī's al-Iklīl'', Princeton, 1938
* Yūsuf Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh (Hrsg.): ''Al-Hamdani. A great Yemeni Scholar. Studies on the Occasion of his Millenial Anniversary.'' Sanaa, 1986
* Yūsuf Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh: ''al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad al-Hamdānī'', In: Al-Mausūʿa al-Yamanīya, Sanaa, 2003, vol. 4, S. 3097ff.
* Yūsuf Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh: ''Die Personennamen in al-Hamdānī's al-Iklīl und ihre Parallel in den altsüdarabischen Inschriften'', Dissertation, Universität Tübingen, 1975.
* Jörn Heise: ''Die Gründung Sana'as – Ein orientalisch-islamischer Mythos?'' Berlin, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, May 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-87997-373-6}} (the fifth chapter is devoted to al-Hamdani's Biography )
* O. Löfgren: Art. "al-Hamdānī" in ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition'' vol. III, S. 124a-125a.

==External links==
* {{cite encyclopedia | last = Toll | first = Christopher | title=Al-Hamdānī, Abū Muḥammad Al-Ḥasan Ibn Aḥmad Ibn Yaʿqūb  | url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830901838.html |  encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography|Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] | publisher = [[Encyclopedia.com]] | orig-year=1970-80 | year = 2008 |ref=none}}

{{Islamic geography}}
{{Islam topics|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamdani, Abu Muhammad Hasan}}
[[Category:890s births]]
[[Category:945 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:10th-century Arab people]]
[[Category:10th-century astronomers]]
[[Category:10th-century geographers]]
[[Category:10th-century historians from the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Arab grammarians]]
[[Category:Medieval grammarians of Arabic]]
[[Category:Astronomers of the medieval Islamic world]]
[[Category:Yemeni astronomers]]
[[Category:Geographers of the medieval Islamic world]]
[[Category:Yemeni geographers]]
[[Category:People from Sanaa]]
[[Category:Yemeni Muslims]]
[[Category:Yemeni historians]]
[[Category:Yemeni people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:Yemeni writers]]
[[Category:Banu Hamdan]]
[[Category:10th-century Yemeni people]]
[[Category:10th-century poets]]
[[Category:Yemeni poets]]
[[Category:Yemeni genealogists]]