Geography and Geographers.
Geography

Like all other sciences, the science of geography also attracted the attention of the Muslim, scholars. They started the work in the absence of any other work of the foreign language for their guidance. Kitabu Bitlimus came to their attention later, as books from Greek and Persian and other languages were being converted into Arabic.
It was, in fact, the exigency of the time and the conditions governing Muslim society all over the world that the knowledge of geography was a must for Muslim society for reasons beyond their control which are given below:
1.    The foremost among the reasons is the pilgrimage to Mecca which is one of the five fundamental principles of Islam. Muslim from all over the world were required to visit their holy mosque once in their life for performing Haj for that purpose it is the religious duty of every Muslim to be acquainted with the routs, roads, ways and places.
2.    Secondly, Muslims all over the world had to travel in quest of knowledge from different countries and faraway places since this is also a religious duty of a Muslim to acquire knowledge from the cradle to grave.
 3.   Thirdly after the vast conquest of Muslims, it was necessary for them to know the Geographical condition of the areas conquered which is different from place to place. It was necessary for fixing the amounts of taxes as governed by the Islamic jurisprudence. Here also the Geographical knowledge was necessary. This compelled the Muslims to start the work from the early period of Islam and credit for this goes to the scholar who had the knowledge of history which included the knowledge of geographical nature. It is much after this that the translation work came into being and the early Muslim Geographers of the Abbasid period took advantage of it.
When the translation activity into Arabic started in all its seriousness geography was also one of the important subjects in which information from foreign languages and countries was provided. The Arab scholars took full advantage of the translated book and started their research on the model which was presented in the translated book. Here we must take note of the fact that the knowledge of geography acquired by the Arabs by going deep into their search of knowledge on their own not only corrected the old information they received through translations but also made valuable progress in the field of study. It may be however be noted that it was only in the fourth-century Hijri that learning the science of geography in Muslim of learning ripened and the work of producing sound and reliable works on the subject started with great speed with the result that the science assumed the importance of one of the most valuable and rich sciences of the Islamic learning the importance of the third-century hijri with which we are concerned lies in the practical work carried on during the period by undertaking long journeys to visit distant countries for collecting the necessary information which was used in the later days.
We shall mention below the achievements of some of the eminent geographers who contributed to the general geography.
(1)       Ibne Khardadhba
His full name is Abul Qasim Ubaidullah bin Ahmad bin Khardadhba was originally a majaran who was turned to Islam.
He was serving in the post and information Department.
 Ibnu al Nadeem writes about him:
ابوالقاسم عبد الله بن احمد بن خرداد به مجوسیا ا سلم على يد الرامه منوی الوالها ) الربير والنمر نواحي العمل و بادم المعتمد دع به وله
شب کتا ب ارب السماع حميرة الاب العرس والتوابل - کتاب المسالك می
والمالك . كتاب الطب - كتاب اللهروالميدعي كتاب الكتاب كتاب با نوار نامه الدمار والحداء
All the books reported above have not reached us. His book Tarikhu al masalik wa Al Mamalik has been published according to Jurji Zaidan.
Another information provided by Ibne-Al Nadeem in his Al Fihrist about the books on geography under his own heading is given below:

المرفه کام المروکره)
( الل وه كتاب لغرفتاب صنم المغربي والفه ويتوي على تلات حربا
البرناب والله من الاسقع كتاب السيمعع بندی کترة نفی کمال
ترم الجمبرى والعقویت زیر كتاب السين بن الشاب
Only the above information is given in Al First pertaining to geography. This we have produced here only to show the interest in the subject which has developed fast.

(ii) Qaddma bin Jafar

His name is Qadmma bin Jafer Qaddma. He has been mantioned in Al Fihrist of Ibnu Al Nadeem in which his following works are given:
وله من الكتاب الراح مان منازل واضاف اليه اسعه.كتاب نقد الشعرناب صابوالغم . کتاب صرف العم . کتا ب مار الحزن. ناب دربات القر نیا عاب به امام -- ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ لتا با نرمه القلوب دارالمسافر
Jurji Zaidan who had included him among the geographers write about him:
لم يعلنا منه الا محرمانه صفیه نی دلران السرير واللك والريالي نوا حی المشرق المغرب و المسامات سن البلاد فضلا عن مقادیرا الحمايه لسنه ۲۲۰ھ طبعت في لبن مع ترجمة فرسية

(iii) Al-Yaqubi (d 278A.H.)

His name is Ahmad bin Abi Yaqub bin Wadih who is known as Al Yaqubi. He is best known as a great historian but in his case in particular, for him history and geography are allied subjects and his contribution to the science of geography can in no way be underestimated. His date of death has not been recorded by reliable authorities of learning, but it has been worked out from other sources in 278 A.H.
Al Yaqubi during his life traveled far and wide in Islamic countries. In fact he loved the journey to collect information about different regions of the world. He studied the social-historical and geographical conditions in different countries and recorded them in their minute details. He visited Azmisria in 260 A.H then he visited India after which he went to Egypt and countries of the west of Egypt. His way of investigation of facts in different countries was unique as he was honest, illustrious, intelligent and a scholar of great knowledge and wisdom.
His book on geography with which we are concerned is Kitabu-Al Buldan. This book is his original work with first-hand information not depending upon the information of others. That is why he was constantly undertaking journies. About the book jurji Zaidan writes: 1
المرلی میرم امهات المت لانه غير منقول عن الشاب آخر د امام على المرض في وصف افراد لما كانت في ابامهر وصف سا مرا دما رحمها . منم دیدار را لینی۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ وانعل اي لارالمعزب مالتا) المغرب اليابان لی والكتاب طبع الا في حملة المكشه الحورانية.
As we saw the most significant first book on geography, Kitabu Al Buldan, which was about Hijri in the third century, we are concerned with.
As we have noted above the other original works on geography are the product of the later period when the science of geography among the Arab geographers made tremendous progress in adverting the knowledge of the subject in all its aspects. Here we close the discussion of the topic as we have reached almost the end of the third century of the Hijri era.