By: Dr. Abdul Karim Ibrahim Al-Samak

Muslim scholars were interested in the science of geography in all its types and arts: descriptive, cartographic, spatial and historical. It is one of the sciences that the Islamic nation presented to humanity within its diverse civilizational heritage. This was at a time when Muslims excelled scientifically when they achieved supremacy in the science of geography, medicine, arithmetic, astronomy and other sciences that Europe took and rose with. Then, when Muslims weakened, they became dependent on others, working to return their ods, and there is a big difference between the state of giving and the state of taking and begging. Orientalists testified to the superiority of Muslims in geography, and Imam Muhammad bin Saud University wanted to remind us of our scientific past in geography when it held in 1399 AH (1979 AD) an international conference in the city of Riyadh with the participation of more than one hundred and fifty scholars from within the Kingdom and abroad. One of the results of this conference was the precious work "Description of Africa," by its author Al-Hasan ibn al-Wazzan al-Zayyani al-Afriqi, or Jean Léon l'Africain as he was called. The book, which consists of 6,075 pages, was translated from French into Arabic for the first time to find its place on the shelves of the Islamic geographical library.

The Translator of the Book

As for the translator of the book, he is Dr. Abdul Rahman Hamida, one of the great scholars of geography who studied under the masters of this science at the Sorbonne, from where he obtained his doctorate. He has more than twenty-five publications in geography and more than ten translated books in this science. Thousands of students studied under him at Damascus University and he worked at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in the geography department for four years. He was born in Aleppo in 1922 and met his Lord as an immigrant in the United States. Translating the book Description of Africa is a scientific effort thanked for the late scholar, may d have mercy on him, and no one can possess the translation of such a work except one who possessed the reins and principles of the science of geography. The book was revised by Dr. Ali Abdul Wahid Wafi, a capable professor no less significant than Dr. Hamida, but he is from the scholars of sociology and he is Egyptian, may d have mercy on him, born in 1901–1991 AD.

Who is the author of the book Description of Africa?

Al-Hasan ibn al-Wazzan al-Zayyani al-Afriqi or Jean Léon l'Africain was born in Granada in 894 AH, 1488 AD. On the reality of the fall of Andalusia at the hands of the Castilians and the exit of Muslims from it in 898 AH, 1492 AD, Al-Wazzan immigrated with his father and family from Andalusia to Morocco and lived his practical and scientific life in Morocco. He witnessed, lived and contemporary to two great events in Islamic history: the first as mentioned is the fall of Andalusia and the second is the Ottoman era, which is the most important, and the dependency of the Arab countries on Ottoman rule after the wars of Sultan Selim I against the Safavids and eliminating them, and his elimination after that of the Mamluk state in the Battle of Marj Dabiq in 1517 AD and the conquest of Egypt and the elimination of Tuman bay. This political reality was lived and witnessed by Al-Wazzan, and it seems that his presence in Cairo was before the fall of Mamluk rule in Egypt as he pointed out in his book. The year 1517 AD is the year in which he was kidnapped and taken to Rome while on his way back from his Hajj in Djerba island, Tunisia.

Al-Wazzan from Christianity to Islam

The book's translator, Dr. Abdul Rahman Hamida, followed the translation and story of Al-Wazzan and pointed out that he was absent from the Arab scientific arena in his name. The first mention of him came in the Egyptian Al-Muqtataf magazine within the research of Geography and Geographers of Islam in a study about him written by Salim Mikhail Shehada Al-Ghaziri, and in the Oriental Scientific Academy in March 1883 AD. In the sixth decade of the twentieth century, writings about him began to follow from Arab historians and geographers, but Westerners were faster than Arabs in interest in him. When Al-Wazzan sailed from Alexandria heading to his country Morocco and in Djerba island, Tunisia, he was kidnapped by Sicilian pirates who took him to Naples, Italy, and from there to Rome and presented him as a gift to the Pope of Rome. When the Pope realized the scientific qualities, intelligence and acumen in Al-Hasan Al-Wazzan, he led him to convert to Christianity at the hands of three bishops in the Sant'Angelo castle where he stayed under house arrest for a full year. Al-Wazzan was baptized by the Pope himself in St. Peter's Church in Rome on 6/1/1520 AD and was named Johannes Leo de Medicis. As for Al-Wazzan, he took for himself the name Jean-Léon Granatino, which means in Arabic John the African Lion and he was later known as Leo Africanus, the name given to him by Ramusio. During his stay in Italy which exceeded ten years, he was active culturally and scientifically through his scientific giving before his escape from Italy in 1524 AD. Therefore, the book Description of Africa was issued in Italian and the Escorial library keeps the original copy of the book; it is like a rare geographical document for the Italians, and one of the most precious sources. He was freed between the years 1530 – 1538 AD, when he reached Tunis at the age of fifty. In Tunis he returned to his Islamic religion, after converting to Christianity under pressure and coercion. The year of his death was (957 AH - 1552 AD), in the era of the last kings of the Hafsids, having reached nearly sixty years of age or more by a year or two.

Al-Hasan Al-Wazzan in a novel by Amin Maalouf

The writer and novelist Amin Maalouf is one of the great Lebanese writers in the world of the novel, and most of his novels in their roots are based on historical roots, and in their general form are more like a historical novel. They exceeded thirteen novels, and one of these was the novel "Leo Africanus." One of the things this writer is distinguished for is his fairness to Islamic history, despite his Christianity. Maalouf formulated his novel in a wonderful objective literary language, presenting the image of Al-Hasan Al-Wazzan as an image reflecting in its giving that scientific heritage provided by Islamic civilization in building human civilization, which was represented in the form of geographical literature that the Christian or European West lacked. For the status of the novel in its language and structure, and what it led to of carrying that beautiful image of the Arab nation to which Amin Maalouf belongs, he received the honor of the French-Arab Friendship Award after publishing his wonderful novel (Leo Africanus) in 1988 AD, and after that he issued the novel Samarkand which is no less important than its predecessor and before it his novel (The Crusades Through Arab Eyes). The novel Leo Africanus shows us the status of its owner and his high scientific value in the European West; its author knew how to present this beautiful gift to Western society in his novel in its French language, to be a beautiful image of the Arabs' past in human history.

Al-Hasan Al-Wazzan and his scientific contribution

The name he was known by in the Arab science circles, (Al-Hasan bin Muhammad Al-Wazzan Al-Zayyani), was not the same one he was known by in the Western scientific circles. His name in his compositions he wrote in the West is (John the Granadan Lion) Arabized by this name there, Africanus or Iohannes Leo Eliberitanus i.e., John Leo (the Lion) the Iberian or African. After the fall of Andalusia, he moved to Marrakesh, and settled in the city of Fez, from which he took his attribution Al-Fasi. Since 1511 AD, he accompanied his uncle on a diplomatic journey that took him to Timbuktu via Draa. He received a share of education, worked in offices, and performed the duties of embassies in southern Marrakesh for the Wattasid family ruling in Fez. To him is attributed the writing of his detailed precise description of the city of Fez. He also performed similar works for Sharif Muhammad. Through his diplomatic activity he visited many areas of Central and North Africa, and intended Hajj. This journey opened the doors for him to get to know the countries he visited and learn about the customs of their inhabitants. He pointed out that he visited Iran, the Levant and Armenia. In the year 923 – 1517 AD he visited Egypt and the land of the Arabs, if we know that in this year Egypt and other Arab countries had become under Ottoman rule in the era of Sultan Selim. He also reached Istanbul and visited it. Al-Wazzan had knowledge of the Spanish language, which is his mother tongue, and his knowledge of it came to be a helper for him in the new environment after his stay in Italy. He became proficient in Italian and Latin quite well. In the year (930 AH - 1524 AD) he compiled an (Arabic – Hebrew – Latin) dictionary for a Jewish doctor, its manuscript is kept in the Escorial library. On March 10, 1526 AD he completed the Italian translation of his book which he wrote in Arabic, which is "Description of Africa." In 1527 AD he composed in Latin a collective book on the biographies of thirty famous Arabs in philosophy and medicine "Libellus de viris quibusdam illustribus apud Arabes" published by Hottinger in 1664 AD. It was the first book of its kind presenting information of importance to Europe on the development of sciences among the Arabs. After finishing this work he was able to escape from his stay in Italy and returned to Tunis. It was said later that his manuscript on Description of Africa in the Arabic original was present with the author when he fell into captivity, and it was said later that his manuscript found its way to a bibliophile, V. Pinelli, but it was lost on the way to Naples. Massignon, the French orientalist, generally does not believe in the existence of an Arabic manuscript for the book and considers that a pure error. It was said that Leo had recorded his memories and notes in Italian directly, and perhaps this is closer to correctness, because the author pointed to his composition which he wrote in Italian, "Description of Africa," that he wrote it from memory in 1526 AD. Nevertheless, his description is characterized by extreme accuracy, and perhaps the author's viewing of non-Arabic works and his knowledge of a number of European languages benefited him.

The book Description of Africa

In 1550 AD, a book appeared in Italy of high scientific value, when a highly cultured Italian scholar named Giovanni Battista Ramusio published several travel books in Italian never before published under the title "Navigation and Travels." The most valuable and important book was "Description of Africa" by its author Jean Léon, nicknamed the African. From Italy it spread in Europe and gained acceptance in the scientific street. The book in what it carried in its name of news and descriptive contribution about Africa and the countries he visited is thus a source of African social history. The translator of the book is thanked for the care he exerted, in explanations, definitions and interpretations for most of the book, after it was absent from the Arabic library while it was in most need of it as a source of geography concerned with African countries, specifically the North African ones and the Arab North from Egypt to Morocco and Mauritania and what is south of the Sahara. It was translated into Arabic from French, and in the original had been published in Italian. The book consisted of nine sections, and each part concerned with a state or kingdom: Section One: Concerned with the African continent, Origin of the name Africa and sections: Barbary lands, Numidia, Libya, Sudan. Section Two: Kingdom of Marrakesh. Section Three: Kingdom of Fez. Section Four: Kingdom of Tlemcen. Section Five: Kingdom of Bugia and Tunis. Section Six: Numidia. Section Seven: Lands of Sudan. Section Eight: Egypt. Section Nine: Most famous rivers, plants and animals in Africa. The author ends by saying: I have traversed all of Africa from one end to the other, recording day by day everything worthy of mention. What I did not see myself, I obtained reliable and complete information about from trustworthy persons. I arranged these memoirs in Rome in 1526. The book was not without criticism, but remains the last great work in geography known from Arab geographers.