Abd al-Aziz ibn Shaddad

ʿIzz al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Shaddād ibn Tamīm ibn al-Muʿizz ibn Bādīs (d. after 1186), known as ʾAbū al-Gharīb ʿIzz al-Dīn al-Sanhāji or Abū l-ʿArab al-Qayrawānī, was a Zirid chronicler and prince of the Zirid dynasty.

Biography Abd al-Aziz ibn Shaddad's birth date is not known. He was a member of the Zirid dynasty, the grandson of Tamim ibn al-Mu'izz and nephew of Yahya ibn Tamim. He was part of the entourage of the last Zirid ruler al-Hasan ibn Ali since he said that he had consulted a book of the library of this sultan. In 1148, the city of al-Mahdiyya was captured by George of Antioch. Ibn Shaddad probably fled the city with al-Hasan to the court of the Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min. In 1156-1157, he was at the sicilian city Palermo. He went to Syria, where he settled at Damascus no later than 1175-1176. In this later city he communicated his grandfather Tamim's Diwan to the scholar Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani. He was still there in 1186 as he recorded the testimony of a citizen of al-Mahdiyya on Ifriqya's events the same year.

Works Ibn Saddad was the author of a chronicle of Kairouan whose full title was:

Kitab al-Jam' wa 'l-bayan fi akhbar al-Qayrawan wa fi man fiha wa fi sa'ir bilad al-Maghrib min al-mulukwa 'l-a'yan or Kitab al-Jam' wa 'l-Bayan fi akhbar al-Maghrib wa 'l-Qayrawan

This work was used as a primary source by Abu'l-Fida, Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Idhari, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Khallikan, al-Tijani, al-Maqrizi and al-Nuwayri. And the 17th-century historian of Kairouan, Ibn Abi Dinar regretted not using his work.

Another work he wrote was a chronicle of Sicily, both of this works are now lost.