RESOURCESArabic geographical literature includes Iraq along with the rest of
the world known to Muslims. The Kitiib ~urat al-arc! (Leipzig, 1926;
Baghdad, 1962, BGA, Ill) of Mul;ammad ibn Miisa al-Khuwarizmi
(fl. ca. 825) appears to be the earliest such work. The Kitiib al-buldiin
(Leiden, 1891, BGA, VII) of Al;mad ibn Abi Ya'qiib ibn Waqil; (called
Ya'qiibi, 224/839-310/925) was written in 276/889 and is a good
source for ninth-century Iraq. There is a French translation by G. Wiet
called Les pays (Cairo, 1937). The Kitiib al-masiilik wa-l-mamiilik
(Leiden, 1889; BGA, VI) of Abii l-Qasim 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Abdullah
ibn Khurradadhbih (205/820 or 2111825-300/911), who was head of
the bartd under al-Mu'tamid, is a "road book" which gives the dis-
tances from one place to the next along each route. It also lists the
administrative districts in Iraq and the taxes assessed on them. The
Kitiib al-buldiin of Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani, completed in about 903,
was used by al-Muqaddasi and served as one of the main sources for
yaqiit. These later quotations are important because they include in-
formation which would not have survived otherwise since Ibn al-
Faqih's work is only preserved in an eleventh-century abridgement
called the Mukhtasar kitiib al-buldiin (Leiden, 1885; BGA, Ill).
By the tenth century, Arabic geography was becoming scientific,
ethnographic, and historical. Al;mad ibn 'Umar ibn Rustah's al-A'liiq
an-naftsa (Leiden, 1891; BGA, VII) combines geographical and his-
torical information going back to the Sasanians. There is a French
translation by G. Wiet called Les Atours precieux (Cairo, 1955). The
key to reconstructing the riverine and canal system of lower Iraq is in
the hydrography section of the Kitiib 'ajii'ib al-aqiiltm as-sab 'a (Leip-
zig, 1930), composed between 2891902 and 334/945 by Suhrab ibn
Sarabiyiin and based on al-Khuwarizmi. The text of this section is also
published with an English translation by G. Le Strange as "Description
of Mesopotamia and Baghdad Written about A.D. 900 by Ibn Sera-
phion," ]RAS (1895), pp. 1-76,255-315. Mas'iidi's Kitiib at-tanbth
wa-l-ishriif (Leiden, 1894; BGA, VIII; Beirut, 1965) combines geog-
raphy with history and ethnography. It was translated into French by
B. Carra de Vaux as Le livre de l'avertissement et de la revision (Paris,
1896).
The Kitiib masiilik al~mamiilik (Leiden, 1927; BGA, I) of Abii Isl;aq
Ibrahim ibn Mul;ammad al-Igakhri, which was composed in about
the mid-tenth century, is another road book. It was extensively pla-
giarized by Abii l-Qasim ibn 'Ali ibn I:Iawqal an-Na~ibi for his Kitiib
~urat ai-arc! which was finished in about 378/988. The de Goeje edition