Salih Maddah Aljedani
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of History and Civilization, Imam Mohammad bin Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Volume: 17 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 30-42 | September 2025 | https://doi.org/10.54940/ss80709062 | PDF
Received: 03/01/2025 | Revised: 22/03/2025 | Accepted: 07/04/2025
Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Abstract
The manuscript of “Kashf al-Bayān `an Sifat al-Haywān” by Abu al-Fath Mohammad Ibn Mohammad al-Awfī (d. 906 AH/1501 AD), is one of the most important Arab works in the field of science and zoology au-thored by the Arabs and Muslims that dates from the tenth century AH, fifteenth century AD. As far as the researcher knows, it has not been investigated nor published till today, despite being superior in the scientific topics of biographies, medicine, and language. After reading and analyzing the manuscript carefully and com-paring it with the two books of “Al-Haywān” by al-Jāhiz and “Hayāt al-Haywān al-Kūbra” by al-Dumayrī, the researcher discovered that the manuscript is superior in terms of information about each animal. Al-Awfī also listed many academic heritage sources on the various scientific topics of the manuscript, hitherto not known, and still many not investigated yet. He also cited biographies of scholars about whom only little information was previously available. This makes the manuscript a more unique source in its scientific field. The researcher here stated the research main objectives, most important questions, the previous studies, the research method, information about Al-Awfi’s life, writings and death, significance of the manuscript, its scientific sources, Al-Awfi’s method in composing it, selected examples of the animals he talked about, scientific features of the manuscript, and examples of copies of the manuscript. The research concluded with the most important find-ings.
Keywords
Zoology, biographies, medicine, Arabic language, history of sciences.
How to Cit.
Aljedani, S. (2025). The Methodology of Abū al-Fath Mohammad Ibn Mohammad al-Awfi (D.906AH/1501AD) in his Manuscript “Kashf al-Bayān ’An Sifāt al-Haywān”: A Historical and Cultural Study. Journal of Umm Al-Qura University for Social Sciences, 17(3), 30-42. https://doi.org/10.54940/ss80709062
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