Abu l-Fadl ibn Hasdai
Abu l-Fadl Hasdai ibn Yusuf ibn Hasdai ( Arabic أبو الفضل حصداي بن يوسف بن حصداي, DMG Abū l-Faḍl Ḥaṣdāy b. Yūsuf b. Ḥaṣdāy , often also al-Fadl ; * around 1050 in Saragossa , Spain ; † after 1093 in Cairo ?) Was a Jewish vizier at the court of three Hudid emirs of Saragossa.
The poet and son of a poet was also the grandson of Chasdai ibn Schaprut (vizier of Caliph Abdarrahman III. In Cordoba ). Ibn Hasdai was considered a student of the philosopher al-Qarmani (al-Kirmani) and a friend and contemporary of Bachja ibn Pakuda and Ibn Buklaris. From an early age he dealt intensively with arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, physics, music, political science, philosophy and medicine.
The Hudid- Emir Ahmad I al-Muqtadir (1046-1081) commissioned him with the education of his son and successor, around 1070 Ibn Hasdai even became the successor of the late Ali Yusuf Vizier in Saragossa. As a politician and head of the Jewish community, he promoted the arts and sciences and was therefore jointly responsible for the flourishing of Muslim Saragossa during the Taifa kingdoms . At the same time, his Jewish brother-in-law Samuel ibn Naghrela (until 1056, then his son Yusuf ibn Naghrela until 1066) directed the fortunes of the Muslim Granada. Ibn Hasdai skillfully played off the Christian neighbors of Zaragoza ( Castile , Navarra , Aragon , Barcelona ) against each other and against the Muslim neighbors ( Toledo , Valencia , Lleida , later also Morocco ) and secured the second most powerful small kingdom of Andalusia for al-Muqtadir's son al-Mu 'tamin (1081-1085) and grandson Ahmad II. al-Musta'in (1085-1110). For a long time, high tribute payments to Castile-Leon, the recruitment of the Castilian mercenary leader El Cid and an alliance with the Abbadid emirate of Seville guaranteed a relative independence of Saragossa, especially from Aragon, most recently from the Almoravids from Morocco.
As a festival of the Bible and the Koran, Ibn Hasdai converted to Islam after 1090 , married al-Musta'in's sister (stepsister) Banafsay (Banafasay) and finally became Grand Vizier . The representatives of the Jewish community accused him of treason, and rival Muslim viziers at court in turn accused him of careerist ambition. Allegedly, he should also have sought the office of the highest Muslim judge. Together, both groups finally succeeded in overthrowing Ibn Hasdai, and in 1093 al-Musta'in sent him away to the court of the Egyptian sultan in Cairo as Saradissa's envoy. From there, Ibn Hasdai is said to have set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca , but there are no further traditions about his death.
literature
- Lucien Leclerc: Histoire de la médecine arabe , Volume I. París 1876.
- Sánchez Pérez: Biografías de los Matemáticos Árabes que florecieron en España , Madrid 1921.
- J. Vernet: La Cultura hispano-árabe en Oriente y Occidente , Barcelona 1978.
- JLC Lafuente: The Golden Salon , Bergisch Gladbach 1997 (novel).
See also
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ibn Hasdai, Abu l-Fadl |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ibn Hasdai, Abu l-Fadl Hasdai ibn Yusuf (full name); أبو الفضل حصداي بن يوسف بن حصداي (Arabic) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jewish vizier at the court of Saragossa |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1050 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zaragoza , Spain |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1093 |
| Place of death | uncertain: Cairo , Egypt |