Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Abu Ibrahim Ahmad ibn Muhammad

أبو إبراهيم أحمد بن محمد الأغلبي

Tunisia

835 AD – 0863 (28 years old)

Sixth Aghlabid Emir (856–863 AD) and one of Tunisia's greatest architectural patrons, who constructed the world-famous Aghlabid Basins of Kairouan, expanded the Ez-Zitouna Mosque, and built the Great Mosque of Sousse.

Kairouan, Tunisia

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Al-Harith ibn Asad al-Muhasibi

الحارث المحاسبي

Iraq

c. 781 CE – c. 857 CE (76 years old)

Early Baghdad spiritual master, moral theologian, and psychologist whose 'Al-Ri'aya li-Huquq Allah' laid the psychological foundations for examining inner conscience and moral motives.

Baghdad, Iraq

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Politics

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Abu al-Abbas Muhammad I al-Aghlabi

أبو العباس محمد الأول بن الأغلب

Tunisia

c. 810 AD – 856 AD (~46 years old)

Fifth Aghlabid Emir (841–856 AD) whose reign saw the naval capture of Messina in Sicily and the construction of the Great Ribat and Kasbah of Sousse.

Sousse, Tunisia

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Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (Imam of Ahl al-Sunnah)

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Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (Imam of Ahl al-Sunnah)

أحمد بن حنبل الشيباني

Iraq

23 November 780 CE (164 AH) – 2 August 855 CE (241 AH) (74 years old)

Heroic scholar and ascetic who founded the Hanbali school of jurisprudence. Endured years of imprisonment and flogging during the Abbasid Inquisition (Mihna) rather than compromise his conviction regarding the uncreated Word of God.

Baghdad, Iraq

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Imam Sahnun

سحنون بن سعيد التنوخي

Tunisia

0776 – 0854 (78 years old)

Venerated North African jurist and Qadi of Kairouan who authored 'Al-Mudawwana al-Kubra', the definitive founding compendium of the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence in the Maghreb and al-Andalus.

Kairouan, Tunisia

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Music

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Ishaq al-Mawsili

إسحاق الموصلي

Iraq

c. 767 – March 850 (83 years old)

Foremost musician and musical theorist of the Abbasid Golden Age, master of the lute and court tutor under Harun al-Rashid.

Baghdad, Iraq

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Literature & Poetry

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Bai Juyi

白居易 (Bai Letian / Xiangshan Jushi)

China

0772 – 0846 (74 years old)

Celebrated Tang dynasty poet and statesman (772–846), famous for his accessible plain-style verse, social criticism, and narrative masterpieces 'Song of Everlasting Regret' and 'The Pipa Song'.

Luoyang (Henan), China

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Literature & Poetry

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Bai Juyi (Bo Juyi)

白居易

China

28 February 772 – 8 September 846 (74 years old)

One of the greatest poets of China's Tang dynasty whose accessible, socially conscious verses—including The Song of Everlasting Sorrow and The Pipa Player—were so plainspoken that even elderly village peasants could understand them.

Luoyang (Henan), China

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Literature & Poetry

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Abu Tammam

أبو تمام

Syria

c. 804 – 846 (42 years old)

Syrian-born Abbasid poet who revolutionized Arabic poetry with the ornate 'badi' style and compiled the premier heroic anthology Diwan al-Hamasah.

Mosul, Iraq

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Politics

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Abu Iqal al-Aghlab ibn Ibrahim

أبو عقال الأغلب بن إبراهيم

Tunisia

c. 790 AD – February 841 AD (~51 years old)

Fourth Aghlabid Emir (838–841 AD), renowned for personal piety, legal erudition, and generous patronization of scholars, doctors, and hydraulic engineers in Kairouan.

Kairouan, Tunisia

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Ziyadat Allah I

زيادة الله الأول

Tunisia

0788 – 0838 (50 years old)

Aghlabid Emir of Ifriqiya (817–838 CE) who launched the historic Muslim conquest of Sicily in 827 CE and rebuilt the magnificent Great Mosque of Kairouan in its enduring stone splendour.

Kairouan, Tunisia

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Muhammad ibn Idris al-Azhar

محمد بن إدريس الأزهر

Morocco

805 – 836 (31 years old)

Third Sultan of the Idrisid dynasty who succeeded his father Idris II in 828 AD, dividing administrative governorships among his brothers upon the advice of his grandmother Kenza.

Fez, Morocco

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Kukai

空海

Japan

0774 – 0835 (60 years old)

Polymath, calligrapher, engineer, and founder of Shingon Esoteric Buddhism who built Mount Koya and taught 'attaining Buddhahood in this very body' (Sokushin Jobutsu).

Mount Koya, Japan

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Al-Ma'mun (The Scholar Caliph)

عبد الله المأمون بن هارون الرشيد

Iraq

0786 – 0833 (46 years old)

Abbasid Caliph who presided over the zenith of the Islamic Golden Age, expanding the House of Wisdom and measuring the circumference of the Earth.

Tarsus, Cilicia, Turkey

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Idris II of Morocco

إدريس الثاني بن إدريس

Morocco

0791 – 0828 (37 years old)

Posthumous son of Idris I who assumed sovereignty at age eleven, founded the imperial capital city of Fez in 808 CE, and consolidated the administrative, judicial, and cultural institutions of Morocco.

Fez, Morocco

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Asad ibn al-Furat

أسد بن الفرات

Iraq

0759 – 0828 (69 years old)

Eminent Islamic jurist, scholar of both the Hanafi and Maliki schools, and Grand Qadi of Kairouan who at age sixty-eight commanded the historic naval expedition that began the Muslim conquest of Sicily.

Syracuse (Sicily), Italy

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Science

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