Abu ʾl-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿUmar ibn Anas al-ʿUdhrī[1] (1003–1085), calledIbn al-Dalāʾī, was anArab geographer, traveler and historian ofal-Andalus. He hailed from the Arab tribe ofUdhra which had settledAlmería.[2][3]
Al-Udhri's family settled inDalías shortly after theArab conquest of Spain. Born inAlmería in 1003, he journeyed toMecca as a young boy. During his ten-year stay, he studied with Abu Dhar al-Harawi. Upon his return to al-Andalus he was apprenticed toAbu Umar Ibn 'Abd al-Barr and laterIbn Hazm.[4] He lived inZaragoza and was the author of a geographical-historical compendium about theTaifa of Zaragoza in al-Andalus, in which he gives the annals of the region. He is also the author of the family histories of theBanu Qasi, Banu Sabrit, andBanu Tujib, which are now lost, but were cited by al-Maqqari. He is best known for theTarsi al-akhbar (Nizam al-murdjan),[5] a history of the civil wars and rebellions on theUpper March and thecivil war in theTaifa of Almería.
"Tarsi al-akhbar wa-tanwi al-athar wa-al-bustan" (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Islámicos en Madrid, 1965) relevant parts of which have been abstracted and translated by:
E. Molina López, "La cora de Tudmir según al-Udri",Cuadernos de Historia del Islam, 4 (1972), 7-113
Fernando de La Granja,A marca superior en la obra de Al-ʿUdri, Estudios de la Edad Media de la Corona de Aragón, 8 (Saragossa 1967), 457-461
Jesús Lorenzo Jiménez,La Dawla de los Banu Qasi (2010, on source CD)
