Muhammad Aufi

Persian historian, philologist and author

Muhammad Ibn Muhammad 'Aufi Bukhari
Born	1171 Bukhara, Khwarezmian Empire (modern-day Uzbekistan)
Died	1242

Academic work
Main interests	History, Philology
Notable works	Lubab ul-Albab, Jawami ul-Hikayat

Sadīd ud-Dīn Muhammad Ibn Muhammad 'Aufī Bukhārī (1171-1242) (Persian: سدید الدین محمد عوفی), also known under the laqab Nour ud-Dīn, was a Persian^[1] historian, philologist, and author.

Biography

Born in Bukhara, Aufi claimed descent from Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf (d. 654) a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[1] He grew up during the apex of the Islamic Golden Age and spent many years traveling, exploring, and lecturing to the common folk and the royalty alike in Delhi, Khorasan, Khwarezm, Samarkand, Merv, Nishapur, Sistan and Ghaznin.^[2] Apparently Aufi was for some time in the service of the Qarakhanid Uthman ibn Ibrahim who placed him in charge of his correspondence (dīvān-e ensha). Aufi left Samarkand before 1204.^[3] Later he spent most of his time at the court of the Ghurids. He dedicated his first grand work Lubab ul-Albab, which consisted of poems by kings and poets of ancient times,^[4] to Amir Nāsiruddīn Qobājeh (ناصرالدین قباجه) (d. 1227), who was then ruler of Multan.

His second magnum opus Jawami ul-Hikayat was written under the name of the Vizier of the Ghurid Amir of Delhi. He lived during the reign of Shamsuddin Iltutmish (Altamash) (r. 1211–1236) who was the third Muslim Turkic sultan of the Sultanate of Delhi, and the book is dedicated to his minister, Nizām-ul-Mulk Muhammad, son of Abu Sa'id Junaidi.^[5] These two are the only remaining works from him today. His works on The History of Turkistani Lords, and his book On the Properties of Matter, both referenced elsewhere, do not exist anymore. A small fragment of his Madāyih al-Sultān remains.

Works

Lubab ul-Albab (Heart of hearts, لباب الالباب), published 1220.
Al-Farj ba'd ul-Shudat (Joy after difficulty, الفرج بعد الشدة), translated 1226.
Jawami ul-Hikayat (Collection of tales and the light of traditions, جوامع الحكايات و لوامع الروايات), published 1228.

Work online

Elliot, H. M. (Henry Miers), Sir; John Dowson (1871). "4. Jawami ul-Hikayat of Muhammad Ufi". The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period (Vol 2.). London : Trübner & Co.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

References

^ ^a ^b H.A.R. Gibb; et al., eds. (1986). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 1 (New, photomechanical reprint ed.). Leiden: Brill. p. 764. ISBN 9004081143.
^ Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Poetry, (Cambridge University Press, 1969), 1.
^ "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
^ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 9, (T.R.Harrison, 1848), 113.
^ Elliot, H. M. (Henry Miers), Sir; John Dowson (1871). "4. Jawami ul-Hikayat of Muhammad Ufi". The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period (Vol 2.). London : Trübner & Co. p. 155.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

Feuillebois, Ève (2015). "ʿAwfī, Sadīd al-Dīn". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
Matīnī, J. (1987). "ʿAWFĪ, SADĪD-AL-DĪN". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 2. pp. 117–118.