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{{Short description|Arab navigator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

'''Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad ibn Sulaymān al-Mahrī''' ({{lang-ar|سليمان بن أحمد بن سليمان المهري}}) (ca. 1480–1550) was a 16th-century [[Arabs|Arab]] [[navigator]].<ref>History of Islam, Volume 1 By Masudul Hasan p. 642</ref> He came from [[Shihr]], in [[Hadhramaut]], eastern [[Yemen]], and he was called “Al-Mahrī” because he was a descendant of the Arabic tribe of [[Al Mahrah Governorate|Mahra]]. His work continues and expands the work of [[Ahmad ibn Mājid|Ibn Majid]], but there is no explicit relation between them in any of their works.<ref>Ibrahim Khoury, ''Al-ʿUlūm al-baḥrīyah ʿinda al-ʿarab'' (''Maritime Sciences Among the Arabs''), Vol. 1, p. 7.</ref>

==Works==

He sailed across the Indian Ocean and wrote a book on the geography of the Indian Ocean and the islands of [[Maritime Southeast Asia]].{{citation needed|date=August 2013}} He is best known for reducing [[Ahmad ibn Mājid|Ibn Majids]]'s [[Lists of stars|list of stars]] for navigation from 70 to 15.<ref>Medieval Arab Navigation on the Indian Ocean: Latitude Determinations [[Article (publishing)|Journal article]] by Alfred Clark; [[The Journal of the American Oriental Society]], Vol. 113, 1993</ref> Combinations of these lists of stars were used by Arab navigators and mariners up to the early 16th century.<ref>Between east and west: the Moluccas and the traffic in spices up to the Arrival of Europeans. Philadelphia: [[American Philosophical Society]] By R. A. Donkin</ref>

The 15th-century Arabic book Kitab al-Fawa'id fi wal al-ilmi al bahri wa'l qawa'id (Book of Useful Information on the Principles and Rules of Navigation) was compiled by Ibn Majid and his student Sulaiman Al Mahri.<ref>The [[Persian Gulf]] States: a general survey By Alvin J. Cottrell p. 16.</ref> In his journals, Al Mahri noted the islands off the west coast of [[Thailand|Siam]] ([[Malay Peninsula|Malaya]]). The most important destination covered by these navigational texts is [[Malacca]], which had become the region's principal trading center for Arab navigators during the 15th century.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}} [[Singapore]], parts of [[Samarra]], [[Java]], China, the coasts of [[Burma]] and [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]] were the fiscal points of his texts.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

He grouped the shores of Malaya with Siam, and the mainland to the east with China as a single kingdom. This passage from Al-Mahri's book illustrates the limits of Arab navigators: <blockquote>Know that to the south of the Island of Jawa are found many Islands called [[Timor]] and that to the east of [[Timor]] are the Islands of Bandam, also a large number. The latter are places [[sandalwood]], [[aloeswood]] and [[mace (spice)|mace]]. The island is called Isles of [[Clove]] as airs of Jawa are called [[Maluku islands]].</blockquote> Since many of the islands have not been identified with confidence, the extent of his travel and familiarity with the region is not known.<ref>Early mapping of Southeast Asia By Thomas Suárez p. 52</ref>

Al Mahri's division of [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]] into two parts helped [[Arab]] and [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] navigators.<ref>Al-Hind: the making of the Indo-Islamic world By André Wink p. 214</ref> Even in the mid-16th century Sidi Ali Celeb translated Al Mahri's texts into [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and embroidered his work.<ref>The Persian Gulf States: a general survey By Alvin J. Cottrell p. 16</ref>

==See also==
*[[Islamic scholars]]
*[[List of Arab scientists and scholars]]

==External links==
* [https://rutter-project.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/benard_acevedo_tn2_v2-1.pdf Technical note on Indian Ocean Arab Navigation Studies] by J. Acevedo and I. Bénard of the [https://rutter-project.org/ RUTTER Project], listing all known manuscripts, editions and works of Sulayman al-Mahri.

==References==
<references />

{{Islamic geography}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Mahri, Sulaiman}}
[[Category:Arab explorers]]
[[Category:1480 births]]
[[Category:1550 deaths]]
[[Category:15th-century Arab people]]
[[Category:16th-century Arab people]]
[[Category:Navigators]]
[[Category:16th-century geographers]]

Sulaiman Al Mahri - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article