Ibn_Abd_al-Zahir
Ibn Abd al-Zahir
Egyptian chancery scribe, poet and historian (1223–1293)
Ibn Abd al-Zahir (Muḥyī d-Dīn ibn ʿAbd aẓ-Ẓāhir محيي الدين بن عبد الظاهر, 1223–1293) was an Egyptian chancery scribe, poet and historian during the Mamluk period. Several of his works survive, including three biographies of the early Mamluk sultans Baibars, Al-Mansur Qalawun and Al-Ashraf Khalil. In addition, a diwan of his poetry survives, as does a collection of letters written by Saladin's vizier al-Qāḍī al-Fāḍil which he compiled, and parts of a geographical work entitled Kitāb al-Rawḍah al-Bahīyah which was used extensively by the later historian Al-Maqrizi for his work "Al-Mawāʿiẓ wa-l-iʾtibār bi-dhikr al-khiṭaṭ wa al-athār." His son Fath al-Din Ibn Abd al-Zahir and grandson Ala al-Din Ibn Abd al-Zahir were also important chancery scribes of the Mamluk period, as was his nephew Shafiʾ ibn ʾAli who also wrote three surviving biographies of sultans Baibars, Qalawun and An-Nasir Muhammad.