Ash-Shirazi

ASH-SHIRAZI (d. 1312 A.D.)

Quṭb ad-dīn Maḥmud b. Mas'ūd b. Muslih ash-Shīrazī. A Persian astronomer.

At-tuḥfat ash-shahiyya fī-l-Hay'a MS: Leiden, MS ar. Golius 192. Exc.: MC 1141 - 1143.

T.: MC A:1

[Peoples of the Red Sea Coast]

On the western leg (ḍul’ = side) of the (Red Sea) triangle are situated the countries of the infidel Ḥabasha, a part of the Zanj and, toward the east, the country of Muslim Ḥabasha, beginning from Baita and Bāliva, then Kaljūr and Zayla' ... Near its end, not far from the western coast, there is the island of Dahlak, then the island of Sawākin which belongs to the territory of the Ḥabasha, then 'Aydhāb which belongs to the same territory. It is for this reason that the caravans from Miṣr and those of the Ḥabasha and the Barbar pass by here (= ‘Aydhāb) on their way to the Ḥejāz. Between the two gulfs (i.e. the Red Sea and the Green Sea), there is the land of the Beja, who belong to the (race of) Barbar, and part of the land of the Ḥabasha. (MC 1141 v, MS Golius, fol. 123 v).

The other branch of the Nile flows towards the country of the 'Alwa, who are Nūba. Then it passes by Aswān in the Ṣa'īd of Egypt. Its course, as far as this town, is about 1000 parasangs. (MC 1143 r: MS Golius, fol. 128 v).

... The First Climate, ... after crossing the frontier of the Zanj passes through the plains of the Sūdān, whence are imported the Black eunuchs, then extends north of the Mountains of the Moon and south of the Sūdān of Maghrib until it reaches the Western Sea, called Uqīyānōs. (MC 1143 v; MS Gol., fol. 131 v).