Abd-al-Razzāq Samarqandī ( fa, کمال‌الدین عبدالرزاق بن اسحاق سمرقندی, ''Kamal-ud-Din Abd-ur-Razzaq ibn Ishaq Samarqandi''; 1413–1482) was a Persian Timurid

chronicler A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

and Islamic scholar. He was for a while the ambassador of

Shah Rukh Shah Rukh or Shahrukh ( fa, شاهرخ, ''Šāhrokh'') (20 August 1377 – 13 March 1447) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire between 1405 and 1447. He was the son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who founded the Timurid dynas ...

, the

Timurid dynasty The Timurid dynasty ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( chg, , translit=Küregen, fa, , translit=Gūrkāniyān), was a Sunni Muslim dynasty or clan of Turco-Mongol originB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Onl ...

ruler of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. In his role as ambassador he visited

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second ...

in western India in the early 1440s. He wrote a narrative of what he saw in Calicut which is valuable as information on Calicut's society and culture. He is also the producer of a lengthy narrative or chronicle of the history of the Timurid dynasty and its predecessors in Central Asia, but this is not so valuable because it is mostly a compilation of material from earlier written sources that are mostly available from elsewhere in the earlier form.

Early life

Abd-al-Razzāq was born in

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...

on 7 November 1413. His father Jalal-ud-Din Ishaq was the qazi and

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serve ...

of the Shah Rukh's court in Herat. He studied with his father and his elder brother Sharif-ud-Din Abdur Qahhar and together with them obtained an

ijazah An ''ijazah'' ( ar, الإِجازَة, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ''ijazahs'' or ''ijazat'') is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such au ...

(license) from Shams-ud-Din Mohammad Jazari in 1429. After the death of his father in 1437, he was appointed the qazi of the Shah Rukh's court.

Travel and writing

Abd-al-Razzāq was the ambassador of

, the

ruler of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, from January 1442 to January 1445. He wrote a 45-page narrative of this mission to India. It appears as a chapter in his book ''Matla-us-Sadain wa Majma-ul-Bahrain'' (مطلع السعدين ومجمع البحرين) (The Rise of the Two auspicious constellations and the Confluence of the Two Oceans), a book of about 450 pages which contains a detailed chronicle of the history of his part of the world from 1304 to 1470 and which takes much of its contents from other writings. Abd-al-Razzāq's narrative of his visit to India includes describing the life and events in Calicut under the Zamorin and also of the Ancient City of Vijayanagara at

Hampi Hampi or Hampe, also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Hampi town, Vijayanagara district, east-central Karnataka, India. Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th&n ...

, describing their wealth and immense grandeur. He also left accounts of the shipping trade in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

during the 15th century. Abd-al-Razzāq's ''Matla-us-Sadain wa Majma-ul-Bahrain'' also included a detailed account of diplomatic relations between Shah Rukh's state and

Ming China The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

. In particular, it incorporated the first-hand account the mission Shah Rukh sent to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

in 1420–1422, written by its participant Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh.

References

External links

* At Encyclopædia Iranica
ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Samarqandī, historian and scholar (1413-82)
* Abd al-Razzaq Samarqandi
''Narrative of my voyage into Hindoostan, and the wonders and remarkable peculiarities which this country presents''
written in Persian during and after the 1442 - 1445 voyage, English translation year 1857. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abd-al-Razzaq Samarqandi Travel writers of the medieval Islamic world 1413 births 1482 deaths Historiography of India History of Kerala People from Herat People from Samarkand 15th-century Iranian scientists 15th-century Persian-language writers Medieval Iranian geographers Historians from the Timurid Empire Explorers of India 15th-century travelers 15th-century Iranian historians