Abu al-Fida

Abu al-Fida

(ä'bo͞o äl-fē`dä, –fĭdä`), 1273–1331, Arab historian, b. Damascus. He fought against the Christians in the last period of the Crusades and later became (1310) governor of Hama in Syria. He was a patron of learning and wrote a descriptive geography and a universal history, which is a superior source for Arab history from the pre-Islamic period to 1329.