Zakariya al-Qazwini


Abu Yahya Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini or Zakarya Qazvini ‎ was a Persian of Arab origin and ancestry. physician, astronomer, geographer and writer. He belonged to a family of jurists who had long before settled in Qazvin. His family was originally of Arab and descended from the Medinian Sahabi Anas bin Malik.

Career

Born in Qazvin, Iran, Zakariya Qazvini served as a legal expert and judge in several localities in Iran and at the city of Baghdad. He travelled around in Mesopotamia and the Levant, and finally entered the circle patronized by the governor of Baghdad, Ata-Malik Juvayni.
It was to the latter that Qazvini dedicated his famous cosmography titled "The Wonders of Creation". This treatise, frequently illustrated, was immensely popular and is preserved today in many copies. It was translated into his native Persian language, and later also into Turkish.
Qazvini was also well known for his geographical dictionary "Monument of Places and History of God's Bondsmen". Both of these treatises reflect extensive reading and learning in a wide range of disciplines.
Qazvini mentioned how alchemists dubbed "swindlers" claimed to have carried out the transmutation of metals into gold; he states: