Ibn Khallikan

Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn KhallikānTemplate:Efn<ref name="brill-eoi">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> (Template:Langx; 22 September 1211 – 30 October 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a renowned Islamic historian who compiled the celebrated biographical encyclopedia of Muslim scholars and important men in Muslim history, Deaths of Eminent Men and the Sons of the Epoch (Template:Langx).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Due to this achievement, he is regarded as the most eminent writer of biographies in Islamic history.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Life

Ibn Khallikān was born in Erbil on 22 September 1211 (11 Rabī’ al-Thānī, 608), he was of Arabian origins<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> from an Arab family<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> that claimed descent from the Barmakids.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

His primary studies took him from Erbil, to Aleppo and to Damascus,<ref name="EB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> before he took up jurisprudence in Mosul and then in Cairo, where he settled.<ref name="HT"/> He gained prominence as a jurist, theologian and grammarian.<ref name="HT">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> An early biographer described him as "a pious man, virtuous, and learned; amiable in temper, in conversation serious and instructive. His exterior was highly prepossessing, his countenance handsome and his manners engaging."<ref name="Ludwig 2009">Ludwig W. Adamec (2009), Historical Dictionary of Islam, p.139. Scarecrow Press. Template:ISBN.</ref>

He married in 1252<ref name="HT"/> and was assistant to the chief judge in Egypt until 1261, when he assumed the position of chief judge in Damascus.<ref name="EB"/> He lost this position in 1271 and returned to Egypt, where he taught until being reinstated as judge in Damascus in 1278.<ref name="EB"/> He retired in 1281<ref name="HT"/> and died in Damascus on 30 October 1282 (Saturday, 26th of Rajab 681).<ref name="EB"/>

Bibliography

• Template:Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary