YA'QUBI, AL-

died 897, Egypt in full Ahmad Ibn Abu Ya'qub Ibn Ja'far Ibn Wahb Ibn Wadih Al-ya'qubi Arab historian and geographer, author of a history of the world, Ta'rikh ibn Wadih (Chronicle of Ibn Wadih), and a general geography, Kitab al-buldan (Book of the Countries). Until 873 al-Ya'qubi lived in Armenia and Khorasan, under the patronage of the Iranian dynasty of the Tahirids, and wrote his history there. After the fall of the Tahirids he trav eled to India and the Maghrib (North Africa) and died in Egypt. The Ta'rikh ibn Wadih is divided into two parts. The first is a comprehensive account of pre-Islamic and non-Islamic peoples, especially of their religion and literature; it includes extracts from the Greek philosophers and accounts from stories and fables. The second part covers Islamic history up to 872. The author's Shi'ite bias pervades the work. In the Kitab al-buldan, a large part of which is lost, al-Ya'qubi analyzes statistics, topography, and taxation in describing the larger cities of Iraq, Iran, Arabia, Syria, Egypt, the Maghrib, India, China, and the Byzantine Empire.