DINAWARI, AD-

, in full Abu Hanifah Ahmad Ibn Da'ud Al-dinawari born c. 815 died c. 895, /902 Persian astronomer, botanist, and historian, whose interest in Hellenism and the Arabic humanities has been compared with that of the Iraqi scholar al-Jahiz. Ad-Dinawari studied philology in the Iraqi cities of Basra and Kufah. The systematic approach to learning that he acquired there is reflected in the preserved fragments of his Kitab an-nabat (Book of Plants), one of the most famous early Muslim works on botany. Of lexicographical character, it includes oral and written Arabic botanical traditions as well as much Persian material. Written in beautiful prose, it was the standard work in the field for generations. None of ad-Dinawari's works on mathematics or the Qur'an have been preserved. There are, however, fragments of his observations on astronomy, Kitab al-anwa'. The only work that has survived in full is al-akhbar at-tiwal (The Long Narratives), a history of Persia written from the Persian, rather than the Arabic, viewpoint.