Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsa al-Rāzī facts for kids
Aḥmad al-Rāzī was an important historian from the past. He was born in April 888 and died in November 955. His full name was Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Rāzī al-Kinānī. He was a Muslim historian with a Persian background. He wrote the very first history book about Islamic rule in Spain. Other historians who came after him thought he was like the "father" of history writing in Spain. He was the first to tell a story about history, not just list facts.
Aḥmad al-Rāzī grew up in Córdoba. His family were merchants from Persia. He worked for the government of the Umayyad rulers. This job gave him special access to old documents and official records. Besides writing history, he also wrote about family trees, which are called genealogies.
Life of Aḥmad al-Rāzī
Aḥmad al-Rāzī was born in April 888 in Córdoba. At that time, Córdoba was the main city of al-Andalus. His father was a merchant from a place called Rayy, which is why Aḥmad was known as al-Rāzī. His father's work brought him to al-Andalus. He even worked as a spy for the Umayyad ruler in North Africa before he died in 890.
Aḥmad's family decided to stay in Córdoba. Aḥmad lived there his whole life. When he was a child, he had the same teacher as the future ruler, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III. This connection helped him get a job working for the government. He used his access to official papers and old records to write his history book. He passed away in Córdoba on November 1, 955. His son, ʿĪsā al-Rāzī, continued his history work after him.
What Aḥmad al-Rāzī Wrote
Aḥmad al-Rāzī wrote four books in Arabic that we know about. Sadly, none of them are complete today.
- Akhbār mulūk al-Andalus (Reports on the Kings of al-Andalus): This was his main history book.
- Kitāb al-istīʿāb (Full Comprehension): This book was about the family trees of people in al-Andalus.
- Kitāb aʿyān al-mawālī bi-l-Andalus (Eminent Clients of al-Andalus): This was a dictionary of important people called mawālī. It might have been part of his family tree book. Other historians like al-Qāḍī ʿIyād and Ibn al-Abbār mentioned it.
- A description of Córdoba: He wrote this book about his home city. He copied the style of another famous book, Taʿrīkh Baghdad.
His main history book, Akhbār mulūk, is now lost. We only know about it because other historians quoted from it. Also, a part of it was translated much later. This book focused only on Spain. It had three parts:
- The first part was about the geography of Spain (what the land was like).
- The second part covered Spain's history before Islam arrived.
- The third part told the history from the Umayyad conquest in 711 up to his own time.
It seems Aḥmad's book covered history until ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III became ruler in 912. After that, his son continued the story.
Many later historians quoted from Akhbār mulūk. Some of them include al-Zubaydī, Ibn al-Faraḍī, Ibn Ḥayyān, al-Ḥumaydī, al-Ḍabbī, and Yāqūt al-Rūmī.
Around the year 1300, a part of Aḥmad's history book was translated from Arabic into Portuguese. This happened at the court of King Denis of Portugal. The translator, Gil Peres, got help from an Arab. This Portuguese translation is also lost today. However, it was the main source for another big history book called the Cronica geral de Espanha de 1344. This book was written by King Denis's son, Pedro Afonso. This book is also lost.
Even though those Portuguese books are lost, they were translated into Castilian. Copies of these Castilian translations still exist! The Castilian version of Akhbār mulūk is called the Crónica del moro Rasis (Chronicle of the Moor al-Rāzī). It was written around 1425-1430. Three copies from the 15th century still exist. This version only has the first two parts of Aḥmad's original work. The Castilian version of the Cronica geral also exists in two copies from the 14th to 16th centuries. This one keeps more of the original story, including a shorter version of the 711 conquest and the Islamic period.
See also
In Spanish: Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Razi para niños
