Texts from the Book of Al-‘Ain in Mu’jem Al-Buldaan by Yaqut al-Hamawi “The Dictionary of Countries”

Abstract

Mu’jem Al-Buldaan by Yaqut al-Hamawi “The Dictionary of Countries” was not only a book in the geography of places but it was an encyclopedia of knowledge. It includes language, literature, history as well as other various arts. It demonstrates the exactitude and precision of the author. The present study investigates the cited texts taken from the Book of Al’Ain. The researcher found that twenty-three texts were identical. And six texts were non-identical. However, it was not the aim of the present study to introduce the author of Mu’jem Al-Buldaan.. i.e., Yaqout al-Hamawai, due to his widely spread reputation and because his two dictionaries Mu’jem Al-Buldaan and Mu’jem Al-Odebaa’: Irshad Al-Areeb li Ma’rifet Al-Adeeb “Dictionary of Writers: Guiding the Intellectual to Know the Writer” have become two corpora on which scholars rely. The study has established that the book of Al’Ain was widespread during the seventh century during which Yaqut al-Hamawi had lived when he cited these texts which we have investigated.