Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī (full name Abū Zayd Ḥasan ibn Zayd al-Sīrāfī, أبو زيد حسن بن زيد السيرافي) was a 10th-century geographer and traveller from the Persian Gulf port of Siraf. He is well known as the author of a collection of travels and fantastic stories from the Indian Ocean, a riḥla or travelogue known in Arabic simply as Riḥlat al-Sīrāfī (al-Sīrāfī’s Travelogue), and often associated with the writings of Sulayman al-Tajir and the Akhbār al-Ṣīn wa’l-Hind (Accounts of China and India).[1] He should not be confused with another travel writer from Siraf, Abū ‘Imrān Mūsā ibn Rabāḥ al-Awsī al-Sīrāfī, author of the Ṣaḥīḥ min akhbār al-biḥār wa-‘ajā‘ibihā (True Stories of the Seas and Their Wonders).[2]
Abu Zayd al-Sirafi | |
|---|---|
| أبو زيد حسن بن زيد السيرافي | |
| Born | Siraf, Persia |
| Occupation(s) | Muslim traveller, sailor, geographer |
| Known for | Akhbār al-Ṣīn wa’l-Hind |
References
edit- ^ Cf. the bilingual edition of Accounts of China and India, ed. by Tim Mackintosh-Smith, NYU Press, 2017.
- ^ See the article “Une nouvelle source arabe sur l’océan Indien au Xe siècle : le Ṣaḥīḥ min aḫbār al-biḥār wa-‘aǧā‘ibihā d’Abū ‘Imrān Mūsā ibn Rabāḥ al-Awsī al-Sīrāfī” by Ducene.