Zakariya al-Qazwini

Tile with two rabbits, two snakes and a tortoise. Illustration for Zakariya al-Qazwini's book, Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing (13th century). Earthenware, molded and underglaze-painted decoration. Iran, 19th century.

The Monster of Gog and Magog, by Zakariya al-Qazwini

Abu Yahya Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini (أبو یحیی زکریاء بن محمد القزویني) or Zakarya Qazvini (Persian: زکریا قزوینی) ‎(1203–1283) was an Arab^[1][2] or Persian^[3][4][5] physician, astronomer, geographer and proto-science fiction writer. He belonged to a family of jurists who had long before settled in Qazvin. He was a descendant of the Medina sahabi Anas bin Malik.

Career

Born in Qazvin, Persia, Zakariya Qazvini served as a legal expert and judge in several localities in Persia and at the city of Baghdad. He travelled around in Mesopotamia and the Levant, and finally entered the circle patronized by the governor of Baghdad, ‘Ata-Malik Juwayni (d. 1283 CE).

It was to the latter that Qazvini dedicated his famous cosmography titled "Marvels of Creatures and the Strange Things Existing" (عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب الموجودات). This treatise, frequently illustrated, was immensely popular and is preserved today in many copies. It was translated into his native Persian language, and later also into Turkish.

Qazvini was also well known for his geographical dictionary "Monument of Places and History of God's Bondsmen" (آثار البلاد وأخبار العباد). Both of these treatises reflect extensive reading and learning in a wide range of disciplines.

Qazvini also wrote a futuristic proto-science fiction Arabic tale entitled Awaj bin Anfaq^[6] (أوج بن أنفاق), about a man who travelled to Earth from a distant planet.^[7]

Qazvini mentioned how alchemists dubbed "swindlers" claimed to have carried out the transmutation of metals into gold; he states:

…they ruined the development of the science of chemistry, by fooling powerful rulers such as Imad ad-Din Zengi and thus many scholars and various colleagues turned against alchemy thus resulting in the isolation of the science.

^[8]

See also

• List of Iranian scientists

References

Sources

• T. Lewick, 'Kazwini' in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, ed. by H.A.R. Gibbs, B. Lewis, Ch. Pellat, C. Bosworth et al., 11 vols. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960–2002), vol. 4, pp 865–7
• L. Richter-Bernburg, 'al-Qazwini, Zakariyya' ibn Muhammad', in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. by Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), vol. 2, pp 637–8.
• Persis Berlekamp, Wonder, Image, and Cosmos in Medieval Islam (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2011).
• Islamic Medical Manuscripts at the National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.
• His cosmography was edited by F. Wüstenfeld, ‘Aja'ib al-makhluqat (Göttingen, 1849) – a partial German translation was published by A. Giese, Al-Qazwini, Die Wunder des Himmels und der Erde (Stuttgart and Vienna, 1986).
• Zakarija ben Muhammed ben Mahmud el-Cazwini's: Kosmographie .. (1848) Volume: 1
• His geographical dictionary was edited by Wüstenfeld as Athar al-bilad (Göttingen, 1848).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zakariya al-Qazwini.

• Ahmad, S. Maqbul (2008) [1970-80]. "Al-Qazwīnī, Zakariyā Ibn Muḥammad Ibn Maḥmūd, Abū Yaḥyā". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Encyclopedia.com. 
• Turning the Pages Several pages from Al-Qazwini's Kitab Aja’ib al-makhluqat wa Gharaib al-Mawjudat, known as “The Cosmography” or “The Wonders of Creation.”
• Kitāb al-ʻajāʾib wa al-gharāʼib. Full online version from the Getty Library.