Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Harawi (Abu al-Hasan) (d. 611A.H./1215) was an early thirteenth century Persian

Persian people

The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...

 traveller originally from Herat

Herat

Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...

, located in Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. Born in Mosul

Mosul

Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...

, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 he travelled far and wide and died in Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 in a fort built for him.

He is a celebrated traveller Abu al-Hasan, Ali ibn abi bakr al-Harawi of a family from Herat. Ibn Khallikan

Ibn Khallikan

Shams al-Dīn Abū Al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Muḥammad Ibn Khallikān was a 13th Century Shafi'i Islamic scholar of Kurdish origin.-Biography:...

 noted: "There was neither sea nor land, plain nor mountain, to which access could be obtained, which he had not seen; and in every place to which he went, he wrote his name upon the walls, as I myself have observed in all the cities which I visited, and their number is certainly very great. To this he was indebted for his reputation and his name as a traveller became proverbial."

Graffiti

The scholar al-Mundhri noted: "He used to write 'his name' on walls (graffiti) and there was hardly a well known place of a city or otherwise save that it will have his hand writing on it." He is the first known graffiti

Graffiti

Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....

 artist (wrote many inscriptions) in the Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 world.

Epithet

He asked that the following epithet be written on his tombstone: "Lived as a stranger, died a loner, no friend to eulogize him, no beloved to weep over him, no family to visit him, no brothers to visit his grave, no offspring to call on him, no wife to mourn over him, I have trod where no one has, walked into towns, travelled the high seas, seen many ruins, travelled to many cities, lived among people, I did not meet a true friend, or found agreement from a comrade, so whoever reads this inscription let him not be bedazzled by anyone."

Magic

Ibn al-Wardi mentioned that he dabbled in natural magic

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

 (legerdemain and phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria can refer to:* Phantasmagoria, a type of show using an optical device to display moving images* Phantasmagoria, a video game* Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh, a video game sequel to Phantasmagoria...

), talisman and sleight of hand.

Influence

Saladin

Saladin

Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...

's son was fond of him and had great regard for him and built a fort for him in Aleppo.

Works

He authored:

• Kitab al-ishara ila ma`rifat al-ziyara (Book of indications to make known the places of visitations),
• Kitab al-khutab al-Harawia (Book of sermons by al-Harawi),
• al-Tadhkira al-Harawiya fi al-hiyal al-harabiya (al-Harawi's admonition regarding war stratagems).

Sources

• al-Zirkali, al-A`lam [Biographical Dictionary]. Beirut: Dar al-Ilm li-malayin, 15th printing, 2002. 4:266.
• Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-A'yan. English translation by M. De Slane, ed. S. Moinul Haq, Kitab Bhavan. New Delhi, 1996. 3:342-4.