ʿABDALLĀH B. ʿOMAR

 

ʿABDALLĀH B. ʿOMAR B. DĀVŪD VĀʿEẒ BALḴĪ, ABŪ BAKR, also known as ṢAFĪ AL-DĪN VĀʿEẒ, the author of an Arabic monograph on the city of Balḵ (d. after 610/1213). Little is known of his life except for a few references found in his work. He flourished in the 6th-7th/12th-13th century. He traveled in Khorasan, was in Bokhara in 582/1192 (Fażāʾel, pp. 166, 213; Solamī, Ṭabaqāt al-ṣūfīya, p. 91). He was still active in 610/1213 when he finished his monograph. This exists only in a Persian translation, Fażāʾel-e Balḵ, of the late 7th/13th century by ʿAbdallāh Moḥammad Ḥosaynī Balḵī. It is divided into three chapters. The first two are on the excellent qualities of the city; the third (the largest portion of the book) deals with the lives and works of seventy leaders (mašāʾeḵ) and savants of Balḵ from the rise of Islam to the author’s lifetime. The author mentions his sources, some of which are lost. The work has been edited by ʿA. Ḥ. Ḥabībī (Tehran, 1350/1971).

Bibliography: Given in the text.

(ʿA. Ḥabībī)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 15, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, p. 185

Cite this entry:

A. Habibi, “Abdallah B. Omar,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, p. 185; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abdallah-b-omar-13th-century-author (accessed on 17 January 2014).