Ibn al-Jazari
1350 CE–1429 CE · Damascus
Shams al-Din Abu al-Khayr Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Jazari (751-833 AH / 1350-1429 CE) was the great synthesizer of the Islamic science of qira'at - the variant canonical "readings" or recitations of the Qur'an, differences of vowelling and pronunciation transmitted from the early reciters. Reports place his birth in Damascus, where, after memorizing the Qur'an in his teens, he studied recitation under some forty teachers in Syria, the Hijaz (Mecca and Medina), and Egypt (Cairo and Alexandria). He became Shaykh al-Qurra' (head of the reciters) of Damascus, founded a Dar al-Qur'an (a school for reciters) there, and is reported to have served as a judge (qadi).
His career was reshaped by upheaval. He left Damascus for the Ottoman lands, honoured at the court of Sultan Bayezid I at Bursa. After the conqueror Timur defeated Bayezid (1402), tradition holds that Ibn al-Jazari was taken eastward and feted at Samarqand; he later settled in Shiraz, where a Timurid prince appointed him judge. There he founded another Dar al-Qur'an and died, reportedly aged about eighty.
His enduring achievement is codification: al-Nashr fi al-qira'at al-'ashr and its verse-summary al-Tayyiba fixed the ten canonical readings as a structured system, while Ghayat al-Nihaya fi tabaqat al-qurra' is a biographical dictionary of the reciters. Later authorities such as al-Suyuti regarded him as the foremost voice in the field. His introductory poem al-Jazariyya on tajwid (rules of recitation) is still memorized today.
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DamascusדמשקSyria
What they did here
Reports consistently place Ibn al-Jazari's birth in Damascus on 25 Ramadan 751 AH (Nov 1350). There he memorized the Qur'an in his teens, became Shaykh al-Qurra' (head of reciters), founded a Dar al-Qur'an (school for reciters), and is reported to have held a judgeship; tradition names an appointment as qadi of Sham (commonly dated 793 or 797 AH). His teaching base in Damascus is well attested; the exact terms of the judicial post are less firmly fixed.
About Damascus
Major Sephardi center; where Chaim Vital lived from 1594 and wrote much of the Shaar collection.
Across the traditions, in Damascus at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Ibn al-Jazari’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Ibn al-Jazari’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Islamic world
- Ibn Kathir· 1300 CE–1373 CE
- Ibn Battuta· 1304 CE–1369 CE
- Ibn al-Khatib· 1313 CE–1374 CE
- Hafiz of Shiraz· 1315 CE–1390 CE
- Baha al-Din Naqshband· 1318 CE–1389 CE
- al-Taftazani· 1322 CE–1390 CE
- Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi· 1325 CE–1404 CE
- Ibn Khaldun· 1332 CE–1406 CE
- Ibn Abbad al-Rundi· 1333 CE–1390 CE
- al-Shahid al-Awwal· 1334 CE–1385 CE
- Nur al-Din al-Haythami· 1335 CE–1405 CE
- Al-Sharif al-Jurjani· 1340 CE–1413 CE
- Al-Maqrizi· 1364 CE–1442 CE
- Abd al-Karim al-Jili· 1366 CE–1424 CE
- Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani· 1372 CE–1449 CE
- Al-Kashi· 1380 CE–1429 CE
- al-Tha'alibi (Abd al-Rahman)· 1384 CE–1471 CE
- Ibn al-Humam· 1388 CE–1457 CE
- al-Mahalli· 1389 CE–1459 CE
- Ulugh Beg· 1394 CE–1449 CE
- al-Mardawi· 1414 CE–1480 CE
- Abd al-Rahman Jami· 1414 CE–1492 CE
- al-Shatibi· –1388 CE
- Khalil ibn Ishaq al-Jundi· –1374 CE
Buddhist world
Christian world
Jewish world
Scientists
Luminaries & Explorers world
Hindu world
Rulers world
- Manuel II Palaiologos· 1350 CE–1425 CE
- Yongle Emperor (Zhu Di)· 1360 CE–1424 CE
- Chimalpopoca· –1427 CE
- Khizr Khan· –1421 CE
- Taejong of Joseon· 1367 CE–1422 CE
- Ashikaga Yoshimitsu· 1358 CE–1408 CE
- Huitzilihuitl· –1417 CE
- Bayezid I· 1360 CE–1403 CE
- Mubarak Shah· –1434 CE
- Barsbay· –1438 CE
- Mehmed I· 1386 CE–1421 CE
- Itzcoatl· –1440 CE
- Taejo of Joseon (Yi Seong-gye)· 1335 CE–1408 CE
- Timur (Tamerlane)· 1336 CE–1405 CE
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.