Abstract

Abstract :Ibn Al-Balkhi (d.510 or 511 AH / 1116 or 1117 AD) was originally from the Balkhiyya family, but he immigrated in his early years with his family to Persia , and he was one of the historians and geographers who lived in that country in the late fifth and early sixth centuries of Hegira, during the rule of Sultan Muhammad bin Malakshah Al-Seljuki (498-511 AH / 1104-1117 AD), and in this historical period a large number of Scientists, historians and geographers emerged in Persia, and each one of them became famous in his field, such as: Al-Astakhri (died after 340 AH/951 AD), and Hamdallah Al-Mustawfi Al-Qazwini (d. 750 AH / 1349 AD), and Al-Samarkandi (d. 887 AH / 1482 AD) ... etc.At the end of his life, during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Al-Seljuki, he wrote a book on Persia and called it (Farsnamah), which contains the history and geography of that country, and what helped him to write it was that he was close to the sultans and rulers of his time, when he held the position of Al-Mustawfi (i.e., the tax inspector) at the time of that Sultan, which allowed him to obtain a lot of information, whether historical or geographical, about Persia.His fame began after he wrote this book, as it is an important source for historians and geographers, especially those who want to study Persia from these two sides. It contained much information about most aspects of this country from ancient times until the author’s age, and it includes a description of cities, areas, borders and the distances between them, the most important castles and towers, the rivers and lakes, as well as the conditions of the kings of Persia, their history and genealogies, and the stage of the Islamic conquests, as well as the conditions of the Shwankarah tribe and the Kurds of Persia, and at the end of his book he spoke about the kharaj of those countries.