Ibn al-Khatib

Lisan ad-Din ibn al-Khatib (Born 16 November 1313, Loja– died 1374, Fes, Morocco) (Full name Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Said ibn Ali ibn Ahmad al-Salmani) was a poet, writer, historian, philosopher, physician and politician from Emirate of Granada. Some of his poems decorate the walls of the Alhambra in Granada.

He was born at Loja, near Granada. al-Khatib spent most of his life as vizir at the court of Muhammed V, but was exiled from Granada twice and lived for some time in the Marinid empire in Morocco (the first time 1360-62 and the second time 1371-74 in Ceuta and Tlemcen and Fes). In 1374, he was imprisoned and accused of heresy (Zandaqa) and atheism for which he was sentenced to death by suffocation. His body was burned then buried at "Bab Mahruq", one of the gates of the city of Fes. His private feuds with the Nasrid Kings of Granada were the main reason of this treatment.

He excelled as a historian and he wrote excellent poetry some of which was put to music as muwashshahat.

His autobiography, written in 1369, is to be found in part of his 'al-Ihata fi akhbar Gharnata' (The Complete Source on the History of Granada) ed. Muhammad Abd Allah Inan (Cairo: Maktabat al-Khanji, 1978).

On the Plague

When the Black Death bubonic plague reached al-Andalus in the 14th century, Ibn al-Khatib wrote a treatise called On the Plague, in which he stated:

The existence of contagion is established by experience, investigation, the evidence of the senses and trustworthy reports. These facts constitute a sound argument. The fact of infection becomes clear to the investigator who notices how he who establishes contact with the afflicted gets the disease, whereas he who is not in contact remains safe, and how transmission is affected through garments, vessels and earrings.

Bibliography

• Jaysh Al-Tawshih of Lisan Al-Din Ibn Al-Khatib (Arabic), An Anthology of Andalusian Arabic Muwashshahat, Alan Jones (Editor), 1997 - ISBN 978-0-906094-42-6
• Lisan Al Din Ibn Al Khatib, Tarikh Isbaniya Al Islamiya (history of Muslim Spain), ed. by Levi-Provencal, new edition, Cairo, 2004
• Lisan Al Din Ibn Al Khatib, Awsaf Al Nas (description of peoples), Cairo, 2002
• Lisan Al Din Ibn Al Khatib, Khaṭrat al-ṭayf : riḥlāt fī al-Maghrib wa-al-Andalus, 1347–1362, 2003
• Lisan Al Din Ibn Al Khatib, Nafadhat al-jirab (the Ashtray of the Socks)
• Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib homme de lettres et historien, by Abdelbaqui Benjamaa, (French) thesis, Universite de la Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III, 1992 (microform).

External links

• Poem by Ibn al-Khatib sung by Fairuz [1] (click on the oval above the poem)
• Ibn al-Jatib (second part of the page is in English) [2]
• Website Ibn Kahldun: Ibn al-Khatib, retrieved on feb. 2, 2008 [3]
• Encyclopedia of medieval Iberia, Ibn al-Khatib, retrieved on feb. 2, 2008 [4]