Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥātim al-Hamdānī, commonly known simply as Ibn Hatim, was a 13th-century official and historian in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, under the

Rasulid dynasty The Rasulids () or the Rasulid dynasty was a Sunni Yemeni dynasty of Oghuz Turkic origin who ruled Yemen from 1229 to 1454. Origin The Rasulids take their name from a messenger under the Abbasids, Muhammad bin Harun, who was nicknamed "Rasu ...

. Very little is known about Ibn Hatim's life, all of which is gleaned from his chief historical work, ''Kitāb al-Simṭ al-ghālī al-thaman fī akhbār al-mulūk min al-Ghuzz bi’l-Yaman''. His date of birth is unknown, but he was a member of the Banu Hatim clan of the

Banu Yam Banu Yam (, ') is an Arabian tribe that belongs to the Qahtanite branch of Arabian tribes, specifically the group known as Banu Hamdan, and are, therefore, native to southwestern Arabia. Their traditional way of life was well suited to life in ...

, who were dominant in the region of the provincial capital,

Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

. Although an adherent of

Tayyibi Isma'ilism Tayyibi Isma'ilism () is the only surviving sect of the Musta'li Ismailism, Musta'li branch of Isma'ilism, the other being the extinct Hafizi Isma'ilism, Hafizi branch. Followers of Tayyibi Isma'ilism are found in various Bohra communities: Dawoo ...

, he managed to have a successful career under the

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Rasulids, rising under Sultan al-Muzaffar Yusuf I () to become one of only a handful of officials "employed by the sultan in the capacity of roving ambassador, personally representing him wherever in the country he was needed, now negotiating with recalcitrant tribes, now conveying a personal message from the sultan, at times even participating in military operations" (G. R. Smith). The date of his death is likewise unknown. Ibn Hatim wrote two historical works, the first being ''Kitāb al-ʿIqd al-thamīn fī akhbār mulūk al-Yaman al-mutaʾakhkhirīn'', a general history of

, which has not survived. He is therefore known from his other work, the ''Kitāb al-Simṭ'', a history of Yemen under the

Ayyubids The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ori ...

and the first two Rasulid sultans. G. R. Smith writes that despite a slight bias towards his own clan, Ibn Hatim's account is "a refreshingly impartial one", and contains much unique information about the country during the period it covers.

References

Sources

* {{EI2 , volume = 12 , title = Ibn Ḥātim , first = G. R. , last = Smith , authorlink = , pages = 387–388 , url = http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/ibn-hatim-SIM_8651 Rasulid dynasty 13th-century Yemeni people 13th-century Arabic-language writers 13th-century historians of the medieval Islamic world Historians of Yemen Yemeni Ismailis 13th-century Arab people