Book/Printed Material The Greater "Life of Animals".
About this Item
Title
- The Greater "Life of Animals".
Summary
- Kamal ud-Din al-Damiri (circa 1341--1405) was a tailor-turned-scholar. He was born in Cairo and spent most of his life in Egypt. Hayat al-Hayawan (Life of animals) is his best-known work. It is found in two versions, referred to as the greater and the lesser. Shown here is the greater version. It includes more than 1050 entries on animals, arranged according to the Arabic alphabet. Some of the entries are long, others are shorter or duplicates. The longest entry, for example, is for the lion, and runs to 11 pages. Other entries are only a few words. Many include a digest of information about animals mentioned in the hadith and other Arabic literature and conclude with Islamic law provisions relating to the particular animal's use in medicine or as a source of food. Duplication occurs when animals have synonymous names, or when the female or the young of a particular species are named differently. Mammals and birds figure most prominently in the work. The book was one of the works that the Ottoman sultan, Selim I, ordered printed when he occupied Egypt in 1517.
Names
- Al-Balbassi, Abdul Rahman ibn Omar Al-Khateeb Scribe.
- Damīrī, Muḥammad ibn Mūsá, 1341?-1405 Author.
Created / Published
- [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1684.
Headings
- - Egypt
- - 1341 to 1405
- - Animals -- Classification
- - Arabic manuscripts
- - Folklore
- - Islamic law
- - Proverbs, Arabic
- - Proverbs, Persian
Notes
- - Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
- - Original resource extent: 446 pages ; 30 x 20 centimeters.
- - Original resource at: Qatar National Library.
- - Content in Arabic.
- - Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
Medium
- 1 online resource.
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2021667237
Online Format
- compressed data
- image