The Illuminated Scribe: Muḥibb Al-Dīn Ibn Al-Najjār and the Art of Biographical Lexicography Abū ʿabdallāh Muḥammad B. Maḥmūd B. Al-Ḥasan B. Hibatallāh B. Maḥāsin Al-Baghdādī, more widely known as Muḥibb Al-Dīn Ibn Al-Najjār, occupies a unique and vital position in the intellectual landscape of 14th-century Islam. He wasn’t a painter, sculptor, or architect in the traditional sense; his canvas was the page, his medium the meticulously crafted word. Ibn Al-Najjār stands as one of the most prolific and influential biographical lexicographers – compilers of dictionaries of notable individuals –…