Ibn Abi Zar

Who is Ibn Abi Zar?

Abū al-Hassan ‘Alī ibn Abī Zar‘ al-Fāsī is the commonly presumed original author of the popular and influential medieval history of Morocco known as Rawd al-Qirtas, said to have been written at the instigation of Marinid Sultan Abu Sa'id Uthman II. His full nasab is sometimes given as ibn Abd Allah ibn Abi Zar and sometimes as ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Abi Zar. The uncertainty about his name and authorship of the Rawd is caused by the many variant manuscripts in circulation since the Middle Ages. Very little is known about his life except that he was evidently a scholar at Fes.