Background
Al-Masudi was born in Baghdad around 896. He is a descendant of Abd Allah ibn Masud, a prominent companion of Mohammed.
Roof figure of al-Masudi, Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna.
geographer historian scientist traveler
Al-Masudi was born in Baghdad around 896. He is a descendant of Abd Allah ibn Masud, a prominent companion of Mohammed.
Al-Masudi heard and possibly studied with eminent teachers such as Waki’ (died 918), al-Nawbakhti, and the well-known Mu’tazili al-Jubba’i (died 915), as well as perhaps al-Tabari (died 923), Ibn Durayd (died 934), and al-Ash’ari (died 935). Al-Mas’udi was also an associate of the well-known Abbasid historian and minister Abu Bakr al-Suli (died 946). These teachers gave him a solid background in the Muslim knowledge and intellectual currents available in the capital. Al-Mas’udi’s great scholarly curiosity and drive propelled him to study foreign books and languages, converse with non-Muslims, including Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, cultivate an interest in faraway places beyond the Muslim world in both space and time, and undertake extensive travels to research his interests.
Numerous notices in al-Masudi's extant works indicate that he traveled extensively, but they do not suffice to establish his itineraries. In 915/916 he visited Basra and Istakhr (Persepolis) and then traveled in India, where he saw the area of Bombay, the Gulf of Cambay, and the Moslem towns of Multan and Mansura in Sind. That he also saw Ceylon and the China Sea, as he claims, has been doubted.
Still, in 916/917 al-Masudi reached Zanzibar and sailed from there to Oman. In 921/922 he visited Aleppo. Probably after this trip he visited the area south of the Caspian Sea. He mentions visiting other provinces of Persia without specifying dates. Also unknown are the dates of his journeys on the Red Sea, in Yemen, and in Hadhramaut. In 925 he mentions his presence in Baghdad and Tikrit; in 926 he was in Tiberias in Palestine; and at the beginning of 928 he was back in Hit in Iraq on the way to Baghdad.
During the last period of his life al-Masudi lived mostly in al-Fustât (Old Cairo), Egypt, where his first recorded visit was in 942. He visited Antioch in 943 and Damascus in 946. He traveled to Upper Egypt as far as Nubia.
Nothing is known about the purpose of al-Masudi's voyages and his means of financing them. It has been suggested that he was active as a missionary for the Ismailite movement, but this appears unlikely. Though his works reflect definite Shiite leanings, they lack the purposeful engagement to be expected in an active propagandist.
Whatever the immediate motive for his travels, al-Masudi satisfied his immense curiosity and supplemented and corrected the information he had gained from his wide reading through personal observation, conversations with people of all walks of life, and reports of other travelers. He was equally competent in the religious and the rational fields of learning, though his restless life and manifold interests prevented him from pursuing any science in depth. His keen interest and open-mindedness in respect to foreign peoples and religions reflect the cosmopolitan spirit of the age.
Although the titles of over 30 works of al-Masudi are known, only two of certain authenticity are extant. Al-Masudi wrote a universal history in 30 volumes. This work and an abridged version of it are lost. His most famous book, the Meadows of Gold, is a further abridgment with later additions. The first volume, on pre-Islamic history, deals with the story of creation, biblical history, description of the world, history and ethnography of the non-Arab nations and the pagan Arabs, archeological remains, and calendars.
The second volume, on Islamic history, is also replete with observations outside the scope of conventional works of history. Al-Masudi's Book of Notification and Review was written shortly before his death as a summary of his literary activity. Though shorter than the Meadows of Gold and similar in subject matter, it contains much independent information. The authenticity of a book about the imams from the time of Adam to the 12 imams of Imamite Shiism ascribed to him is uncertain.
Al-Masudi died at al-Fustât in September/October 956.
Though Al-Masudi's works reflect definite Shiite leanings, they lack the purposeful engagement to be expected in an active propagandist. His religious sentiments are, moreover, closer to the Imamite than the Ismailite branch of Shiism.
Al-Masudi considered experience better than the authority of ancient writers and challenged traditionalism. He saw geography as the basis of history, saying that geography helped determine the life, structure, and character of a region.
Al-Masudi's keen interest and open-mindedness in respect to foreign peoples and religions reflect the cosmopolitan spirit of the age.
There is no information on whether al-Masudi was ever married or had any children.