Lisan Aldin Ibn Alkhatib

During the last centuries of Alandalus, in the Kingdom of Granada, Lisan Aldin ibn Alkhatib rose to office and became a highly influential figure in the Nasrid court. His family-during the Umayyad ruling, centuries before him- migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to Cordoba, then to Toledo, Loja, and finally Granada. He was an Arab Andalusi chief minister, an ambassador, and a polymath who made valuable contributions to various fields of study. He was a historian, philosopher, physician, and politician. This prolific and versatile author of more than 60 works, gave us a descriptive record of the kingdom of Granada, its politics, culture, people, palaces, farms, and villages. In addition to all of that, he was a distinguished poet, his poetry was considered the highest expression of literary art. Alhambra was flourishing during his time, palaces were being built and decorated and so the sultan thought it fitting for a man who was a master of words to write poems that would be engraved on its walls, by doing so he signed his name on the walls of Alhambra forever. Because of his fluency in the recondite language of diplomacy, he was sent as an ambassador by the sultan of Granada to persuade the sultan of Morocco to some requests, the latter was amazed by the poem that Ibn Alkhatib presented him with that he granted him all his requests. He was nicknamed “ذو العمرين “ meaning of two lifetimes because he was an insomniac. During the day he would deal with state affairs and at night he would pass the time by writing. He mentioned in his books that despite his deep knowledge of medicine, he was unable to find a solution to his insomnia. Some of his most known muwashahat are “jadaka alghaithu" and “lamma bada yatathanna”. He was a friend of Ibn Khaldoun, and although their friendship was turbulent by the end of Ibn Alkhatib’s life, they respected each other's work greatly. Ibn Khaldoun wrote about him and said that his mastery of Arabic was without peer.


Written by Tarfah Alrawaf

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