| Muslim scholar Shams al-Dīn Abū Al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Muḥammad Ibn Khallikān |
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|---|---|
| Title | Chief Judge |
| Born | September 22, 1211 in Irbil, Iraq |
| Died | October 30, 1282 (aged 71) in Damascus, Syria |
| Ethnicity | Kurdish |
| Region | Middle East |
| Works | Deaths of Eminent Men and History of the Sons of the Epoch |
Shams al-Dīn Abū Al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Muḥammad Ibn Khallikān (Arabic: شمس الدين أبو العباس أحمد بن محمد بن خلكان) (September 22, 1211 – October 30, 1282) was a 13th Century Shafi'i Islamic scholar of Kurdish origin.
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Ibn Khallikan was born in Arbil, Iraq on September 22, 1211, studied there and in Aleppo and Damascus.[1] He also studied jurisprudence at Mosul and then settled in Cairo.[2] He gained prominence as a jurist, theologian and grammarian.[2] Ibn Khallikan married in the year 1252.[2]
He was an assistant to the chief judge in Egypt until 1261 when he assumed the position of chief judge in Damascus.[1] Ibn Khallikan was removed from this position in 1271, returned to Egypt and taught there until being reinstated as judge in Damascus in the year 1278.[1] He retired from this position in 1281[2] and died in Damascus on October 30, 1282.[1]
Ibn Khallikan's most renowned work is the biographical dictionary entitled Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-anbāʾ abnāʾ az-zamān (Deaths of Eminent Men and History of the Sons of the Epoch).[1] He began compiling this work in 1256 and continued until 1274, referencing the works of earlier scholars.[1] Deaths of Eminent Men does not include biographies of individuals already sufficiently covered, such as the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and the caliphs.[1] This work has been translated into English by William McGuckin de Slane, (1801–1878), and is over 2,700 pages long.[2]