JamÃÂl al-Dën Abà « al-Ḥasan 'Alë ibn Yà «suf ibn IbrÃÂhëm ibn 'Abd al-Wahid al-ShaybÃÂnë (), called al-Qifá¹Âë (; – 1248), was an Egyptian Arab historian, biographer, encyclopedist and administrator under the Ayyubid rulers of Aleppo. His biographical dictionary KitÃÂb IkhbÃÂr al-'UlamÃÂ' bi AkhbÃÂr al-Ḥukamà(, tr. 'History of Learned Men') is an important source of Islamic biography. Much of his vast literary output is lost, including his histories of the Seljuks, Buyids and the Maghreb, and biographical dictionaries of philosophers and philologists.
'Alë al-Qifá¹Âë, known as Ibn al-Qifá¹Âë, was a native of Qift, Upper Egypt, the son of al-QÃÂá¸Âë al-Ashraf, Yà «suf al-Qifá¹Âë (b.548/1153), and the grandson of IbrÃÂhëm ibn 'Abd al-WÃÂḥid, al-QÃÂá¸Âë al-Awḥad in the Ayyà «bid court. Alë succeeded his father and grandfather into court administration but displayed scholarly inclinations. When the family left Qift in 1177, following the rising of a FÃÂá¹Âimid Pretender, his father, Yà «suf, took up official posts in Upper Egypt and 'Alë completed his early education in Cairo.
In 583/1187 Yà «suf al-Qifá¹Âë was appointed deputy to al-QÃÂá¸Âë al-FÃÂá¸Âil, chancellor and adviser to á¹¢alÃÂh al-Dën at Jerusalem, and patron and benefactor of Maimonides, Al-Qifá¹Âë spent many years studying and collecting material for his later works. When á¹¢alÃÂh al-Dën died in 598/1201 and his brother, Malik al-'ÃÂdil, usurped his nephew's position to occupy Jerusalem, Ibn al-Qifá¹Âë's father fled to Ḥarran into the service of á¹¢alÃÂh al-Dën's son Ashraf. Ibn al-Qifá¹Âë sought patronage in Aleppo as secretary to the former governor of Jerusalem and Nablus, FÃÂris al-Din Maimà «n al Qaá¹£rë, the then vizier to the Ayyubid emir á¹¢alÃÂh al-Dën's third son, Malik aáºÂ-áºÂÃÂhir GhÃÂzi. He was recognised as an effective administrator of the fiefs and when the vizier died in 610/1214 aáºÂ-áºÂÃÂhir appointed him khÃÂzin of the DëwÃÂn of Finance, despite his own preference for study. On aáºÂ-áºÂÃÂhir's death in 613/1216 al-Qifti retired but was re-appointed three years later by aáºÂ-áºÂÃÂhir's successor. He remained in office until 628/1231. According to his protégé and biographer, Yaqà «t, writing before 624/1227 al-Qifti already held the honorific title "al-QÃÂá¸Âë 'l-Akram al-Wazir" (most noble judge chief minister). After a five-year sabbatical al-Qifá¹Âë took up the office of vizier in 633/1236 and held it up to his death in 646/1248. During that time he was also a member, along with Shams al-Din Lu'lu' al-Amini, of the regency council that governed on behalf of an-Nasir Yusuf.
Throughout his life al-Qifá¹Âë advocated scholarship and sought to pursue a literary career despite heavy constraints of high office. When Yaqà «t had fled the Mongol invasion to Aleppo, he had received shelter from al-Qifti, who had assisted him in the compilation of his great geographical and biographical encyclopedia, known as Irshad. Yaqut lists al-Qifá¹Âë's pre-620 works (some were then incomplete). Al-á¹¢afadë copied this list in his WÃÂfë fi 'l-WafayÃÂt and Al-Kutubë's FawÃÂt al-Wafayat (1196) borrowed from it, but his copy is corrupted by many errors.
Al-Qifá¹Âë wrote mainly historical works and of 26 recorded titles just two survive. Most were destroyed during the Mongol invasion.
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