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Abu Hanifa al-Dinawari
By Dr. Salah Zaimeche
In his expose on the earth, Al-Dinawari describes a variety of soils, explaining which is good for planting
Abu Hanifa al-Dinawari (d.895 A.D) lived in Andalusia, Muslim Spain. His work has been made known by the German scholar, Silberberg in a thesis in Breslau in 1908, which contains the descriptions of about 400 plants. However, what is described by Silberberg is just a little part of what has survived; just two volumes out of the six.
In his expose on the earth, Al-Dinawari describes a variety of soils, explaining which is good for planting, its properties and qualities. Al-Dinawari also describes plant evolution from its birth to its death, including the phases of growth and production of flower and fruit. He then covers various crops including cereals, vineyards and date palms. Relying on his predecessors, he also explains trees, mountains, plains, deserts, aromatic plants, woods, plants used in dyes, honey, bees, etc. Al-Dinawari also devoted one chapter to the classification of plants (tajnis al-nabat) which he mentions in one of the volumes that have survived, but the work itself on the subject has also been lost.
Al-Dinawari’s Book of Plants also covers various other subjects such as astronomy and meteorology.
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