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Sa'id al-Andalusi: Kitab Tabaqat al-'Umam (1029-1070)
(Book of the Categories of Nations) from Muslim Spain
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The map (from Idris) on the cover of the modern translation of the book
Saʿid al-Andalusi; he was Abu al-Qasim Saʿid ibn Abu al-Walid Aḥmad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Saʿid ibn Uthman al-Taghlibi al-Qurtubi (1029 – 1070 AD); an Arab qadi of Toledo, who wrote on the history of science, philosophy and thought. Tabaqat al-Umam, a classification of the sciences and of the nations, written in 1068. It comprises biographies of the scientists and scientific achievements of eight nations: the Indians, Persians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Greeks, Byzantines, Arabs and Jews (not mentioned: Norsemen, Chinese, Africans, Russians, Alains, Turks and Zanj).
Taken from: www.utexas.edu (and other web pages)
The translation of : Categories of Nations; Ibn Said al Andalusi
Chapter 1: The Seven original Nations
The fourth nation was the Copts; they are the people of Egypt and the people of the South. They are the Sudanese [black people] from Abyssinia, Nubia, the Zinj, and others.
Also the people of the Maghrib [the West] and they are the Berbers and their neighbors to the west bordering on the Sea of Uqiyanus [Atlantic Ocean]. They spoke the same language and had one
kingdom.
Chapter 2: The Two Categories of Nations
The group that showed no interest in science is comprised of all the remaining 'umam [nations] that were not previously mentioned. This includes the Chinese, Hajfij and Majuj [Gog and Magog](14),
the Turks, the Burtas, (1) the Sarirs (2), the Khazars (3), the Gilans (4), the Tilsans (5), the Murqans (6), the Kazakhs (7), the Alains (8), the Slavonians, the Bulgarians, the Russians, the
Burjans (9), the Berbers, and the various people of Sudan, including the Ethiopians, the Nubians, the Zinj, and the Ghanaians, as well as others."
Chapter 3: Nations Having No Interest in Science
Also in this category are the people who lived close to the equinoctial line and behind it to the end of the populated world to the south. Because the sun remains close to their heads for long
periods, their air and their climate have become hot: they are of hot temperament and fiery behavior. Their color turned black, and their hair turned kinky.
As a result, they lost the value of patience and firmness of perception. They were overcome by foolishness and ignorance. These are the people of Sudan who inhabited the far reaches of Ethiopia,
Nubia, the Zinj, and others........
The only peoples that reject these humane institutions (governed by royal decrees and divine laws) and live outside these rational laws are a few of the inhabitants of the deserts and the
wilderness such as the beggars of Bajah (10) [Boga], the savages of Ghana, the misers of the Zinj, and those resembling them.
Chapter 5 : Science in India
The Indians .... are the essence of wisdom, the source of fairness and objectivity... sublime pensiveness, universal apologues, and useful and rare inventions. In spite of the fact that their
color is in the first stage of blackness, which puts them in the same category as the blacks.... (They) enjoy the purity of talent and the power of distinction, making them totally different from
the people of Sudan (Blacks) such as the Zinj, the Abyssinians, the Ethiopians and others.
Chapter 6 : Science in Egypt
Egypt in longitude stretches from Barka in the south of the Mediterranean up to Aila (11) on the coastal plains of the sea arm that detaches from the sea of Abyssinien , of Zang, of India and of
China......
Chapter 7 on Arabia
The land of the Arabs is known as the Arabian peninsula, this because of the sea that touches it from three sides. In the west it is bordered by a gulf on the coastal plains where is Gidda
(Djedda) (12), al-Gar, Aila (11), al-Kulzum (13) and which detaches from the immense ocean (made up of) the sea of Zang and the one of India.
(1) Burtas: inhabiting the steppe region north of the Caspian Sea in medieval times.
(2) Sarirs: or Serir was a medieval Christian state lasting from the 5th century to the 12th century in the mountainous regions of modern-day Dagestan.
(3) Khazars: Semi nomadic people from south Russia, south Ukraine, Crimea, Kazakhstan.
(4) Gilans: Gilan Province of Iran on the Caspian Sea.
(5) Tilsans: Town on the Caspian Sea in Iran.
(6) Murqans: ??
(7) Kazakhs: The Kazakhs are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly inhabit the Ural Mountains and northern parts of Central and East Asia in Eurasia.
(8) Alains: The Alans were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus.
(9) Burjans: a Turkish tribe, related with Bulgars.
(10) Bajah: Beja in N Sudan. The Egyptians leaving from Aswan; the southern border town on the Nile; have to cross their territory to reach the harbours on the Red Sea.
(11) Aila: Eilat is a southern Israeli port and resort town on the Red Sea, near Jordan.
(12) Gidda (Djedda) : town at the shore, close to Mecca.
(13) al-Kulzum; al-Qulzum: located at the head of the Gulf of Suez.
(14) the Dam of Ya'jooj and Ma 'jooj: the wall Alexander the Great build to keep the people of Gog and Magog locked up in the high North of the globe.