Abu Umar Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Kindi ( ar, أبو عمر محمد بن يوسف الكندي) (January 18, 897 – October 16, 961) was a prominent
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
historian.
Biography
A descendant of the tribe of
Banu Kindah, al-Kindi was born in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
to the
Tujib clan. Although few details of his life are known, he is reported to have received an education on the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
and
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
under
Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Qudayd and
Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Nasa'i, and was later a transmitter of hadith himself. As a
faqih he belonged to the
Hanafi
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named aft ...
school of jurisprudence. He died in Fustat in 961 and was succeeded in his literary work by his son Umar.
Al-Kindi is chiefly famous for his two surviving works, ''Tasmiyat Wulat Misr'' ("The Enumeration of the Rulers of Egypt") and ''Al-Qudat'' ("The Judges"), which together represent a key source of Egyptian provincial history and its political and legal institutions during the early
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic era. ''Rulers'', which provides an account of the governors of Egypt appointed by the
caliph
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
s and the major events that took place during their administrations, covers the period from the Islamic conquest in 641 until the death of
Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ṭughj ibn Juff ibn Yiltakīn ibn Fūrān ibn Fūrī ibn Khāqān (8 February 882 – 24 July 946), better known by the title al-Ikhshīd ( ar, الإخشيد) after 939, was an Abbasid commander and governor who beca ...
in 946, with a supplemental continuation by an unknown author extending to the coming of the
Fatimids
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...
in 969. ''Judges'' is dedicated to the succession of Egyptian
qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
s from 661 until 861, with two continuations that extend to the mid-eleventh century. Both works represent an early example of provincial
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
and have been used extensively by later authors.
The two works are preserved in a manuscript held by the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. An edited version was published under the title ''The Governors and Judges of Egypt'' by Rhuvon Guest in 1912.
List of works
* "The Western Contingents" (''Al-Jund al-Gharbi'' or ''al-Ajnād al-Gharabāʾ'')
* "The Book of the Moat and Rests" (''Kitāb al-Khandaq wa-al-Tarāwīḥ'') — Possibly concerning the moat dug by
Abd al-Rahman ibn Jahdam al-Fihri in 684 to defend
Fustat
Fusṭāṭ ( ar, الفُسطاط ''al-Fusṭāṭ''), also Al-Fusṭāṭ and Fosṭāṭ, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, and the historical centre of modern Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo by ...
during the conflict between the
Umayyads Umayyads may refer to:
*Umayyad dynasty, a Muslim ruling family of the Caliphate (661–750) and in Spain (756–1031)
*Umayyad Caliphate (661–750)
:*Emirate of Córdoba (756–929)
:*Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خ ...
and
Zubayrids
Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ( ar, عبد الله ابن الزبير ابن العوام, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām; May 624 CE – October/November 692), was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the ...
* "Sites" (''Al-Khiṯaṯ'') — Likely an account of various sites in Fustat
* "The History of the Great Mosque of the People of the Standard" (''Akhbār Masjid Ahl al-Rāyah al-Aẓam'') — Regarding the
Mosque of Amr ibn al-As
The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As ( ar, جامع عمرو بن العاص), or Taj al-Jawame' ( ar, تاج الجوامِع, lit=Crown of Mosques), or Masjid Ahl ar-Rayah ( ar, مسجد اهل الرّاية, lit=Mosque of the Banner Bearers), or Ja ...
in Fustat
* "The Life of al-Sari ibn al-Hakam" or "The Life of Marwan ibn al-Ja'd" (''Sīrat al-Sarī ibn al-Ḥakam'' / ''Marwān ibn al-Ja'd'') — Presumably a biography of either the ninth century Egyptian governor
al-Sari ibn al-Hakam
Al-Sari ibn al-Hakam ibn Yusuf al-Zutti () (died November 820), also known as Al-Sari ibn al-Hakam al-Balkhi served twice as the Abbasid Caliphate's governor of Egypt.
Career
Al-Sari ibn al-Hakam was of Zutt origin. According to al-Kindi, he was ...
or the last Umayyad caliph
Marwan ibn Muhammad al-Ja'di
* "The Book of Clients" (''Kitāb al-Mawālī'') — Likely an account of important Egyptian ''
mawali
Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874.
Before the Islamic prophet ...
''
* "The Enumeration of the Rulers of Egypt" or "The Rulers of Egypt" (''Tasmiyat Wulāt Miṣr'' or ''ʾUmarāʾ Miṣr'')
* "The Judges" (''Al-Quḍat'')
Another surviving work, the "Virtues of Egypt" (''Faḍāʿil Miṣr'') is sometimes attributed to al-Kindi, but is believed to have instead been produced by his son Umar.
Notes
References
*
*
*Tillier, Mathieu (2012). Introduction''. Histoire des cadis égyptiens''. By Al-Kindi. French translation by Mathieu Tillier. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.
*
See also
*
List of Islamic historians
:''This is a subarticle of Islamic scholars, List of Muslim scholars and List of historians.''
The following is a list of Muslim historians writing in the Islamic historiographical tradition, which developed from hadith literature in the time o ...
{{authority control
897 births
961 deaths
10th-century Egyptian historians
Egyptian historians of Islam
Kinda