He is one of the most prominent representatives of Arabic geography in the second half of the 10th century AD. A traveler, geographer, and author, he is by far one of the most instructive of early Islamic social scientists.
In his early days he studied Muslim history, especially its political and cultural aspects, civilization, religion, and jurisprudence. To seek knowledge he visited distinguished scholars, met the men of science, and studied in royal libraries at a fairly young age.
Al-Muqaddasi was well-educated, and after having made the Pilgrimage to Mecca at age 20, he devoted himself to the study of geography.
Among other Arab geographers of the time, al‐Muqaddasī's definition of a region was probably the most original and produced one of the most valuable treatises in Arabic literature, Kitāb aḥsan‐al taqāsim fī ma˓rifat al‐aqālim (The Best Divisions for the Classification of Regions).
The book is an epic geographical treatise and also a great work of literature. This treatise was based on some twenty years of personal experiences and observations noted in his survey of the realm of Islam, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.
Dividing the totality of the Islamic lands into a western, Arab half and an eastern, non-Arab half, he systematically analyzed the structure of each province and subprovince starting with the largest cities and working down through a hierarchy of subordinate towns and locales.
al-Muqaddasi (946 AD – 1000 AD)
