Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

Zhang Zai

張載

China

1020 – 1077 (57 years old)

Northern Song dynasty Neo-Confucian philosopher and founder of the Hengqu School whose four-line moral manifesto and essay 'The Western Inscription' (Ximing) articulated the universal ethical kinship of all humanity with Heaven and Earth.

Meixian (Shaanxi), China

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

King Anawrahta Minsaw

အနော်ရထာ မင်းစော

🌐 Burma

c. 1014 – c. 1077 (63 years old)

Founder of the Pagan Empire who unified Myanmar into a single nation, introduced Theravada Buddhism, and initiated Bagan's golden temple era.

Nyaung-U (Bagan), Myanmar

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Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyah

زينب النفزاوية

Morocco

c. 1039 – c. 1075 (36 years old)

Brilliant Berber queen, political visionary, and diplomatic architect whose immense wealth, counsel, and marriage to Yusuf ibn Tashfin laid the foundation of the Almoravid Empire and the founding of Marrakech.

Aghmat (Ourika Valley), Morocco

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Philosophy & Thought

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Zhou Dunyi

周敦頤

China

1017 – 1073 (56 years old)

Northern Song dynasty thinker regarded as the 'First Pioneer of Neo-Confucianism', author of the 'Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate' (Taijitu Shuo) and the celebrated ode to moral purity, 'On the Love of the Lotus'.

Jiujiang (Jiangxi), China

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Military Leaders & Strategists

Abd al-Karim ibn Hawazin al-Qushayri

عبد الكريم بن هوازن القشيري

Samanid Empire

0986 – 1072 (86 years old)

Eminent Shafi'i jurist, Ash'ari theologian, and Sufi master whose 'Al-Risalah al-Qushayriyya' is the definitive classic handbook defining authentic spiritual path and stations.

Nishapur, Iran

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Military Leaders & Strategists

Alp Arslan

آلب أرسلان (محمد بن داود)

Seljuk Empire

1029 – 1072 (43 years old)

Second Sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire whose historic victory over Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement.

Merv, Turkmenistan

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Alp Arslan (The Heroic Lion)

آلپ ارسلان / Muhammed bin Davud Çağrı

Seljuk Empire (Turkmenistan)

1029 – 1072 (43 years old)

Second Sultan of the Seljuk Empire whose historic victory over Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement.

Merv, Turkmenistan

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Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi

الخطيب البغدادي

Iraq

10 May 1002 – 5 September 1071 (69 years old)

Monumental 11th-century Muslim historian whose fourteen-volume Tarikh Baghdad recorded the biographical history of the Abbasid capital.

Baghdad, Iraq

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Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Tusi

الشيخ الطوسي

🌐 Samanid Empire

c. 995 CE – 1067 (72 years old)

Supreme Shia jurist and theologian who authored two of the Four Canonical Books (Al-Tahdhib and Al-Istibsar) and founded the legendary Hawza of Najaf after fleeing Baghdad in 1056.

Najaf, Iraq

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Ibn Sharaf al-Qayrawani

ابن شرف القيرواني

Tunisia

c. 1005 – 1067 (~62 years old)

Celebrated poet and literary theorist of Kairouan whose legendary intellectual rivalry with Ibn Rashiq produced some of the sharpest critical works in classical Arabic literature.

Seville, Spain

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Ahmad ibn Husayn al-Bayhaqi

أحمد بن الحسين البيهقي

Iran

c. 994 CE – 1066 (72 years old)

Major Shafi'i jurist and traditionist whose 'Al-Sunan al-Kubra' in ten volumes is the most comprehensive legal Hadith encyclopedia ever assembled.

Sabzevar, Iran

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Science

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Ibn Butlan

ابن بطلان

Iraq

c. 1001 – 1066 (65 years old)

Renowned 11th-century Baghdad Christian physician whose wellness manual Taqwim al-Sihha was translated into Latin as Tacuinum Sanitatis.

Antioch, Turkey

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Ali ibn Ahmad Ibn Hazm

ابن حزم الأندلسي

spain

0994 – 1064 (69 years old)

Andalusian polymath, poet, and Zahiri jurist whose 'Al-Muhalla' codified literalist jurisprudence and whose 'Al-Fasl' pioneered the academic discipline of comparative religion.

Niebla, Spain

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Abu Muhammad Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Hazm al-Andalusi

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🕯️ 920

Abu Muhammad Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Hazm al-Andalusi

ابن حزم الأندلسي

Spain

7 November 994 – 15 August 1064 (69 years old)

Brilliant Andalusian polymath and literalist (Zahiri) thinker of Islamic Spain whose psychological masterpiece on romantic courtly love, Tawq al-Hamamah (The Ring of the Dove), influenced European troubadour poetry.

Montíjar (Huelva), Spain

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

Ibn Rashiq al-Qayrawani

ابن رشيق القيرواني

Algeria

c. 1000 – c. 1063–1064 (64 years old)

Paramount literary critic of Kairouan whose masterwork, Al-Umda fi Mahasin al-Shi'r, defined the aesthetic canons, metrics, and rhetorical philosophy of classical Arabic poetry.

Mazara del Vallo, Italy

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

Bao Zheng

包拯

China

0999 – 1062 (63 years old)

Legendary Song dynasty magistrate and prefect of Kaifeng celebrated across Chinese history as 'Justice Bao' (Bao Qingtian), the symbol of absolute judicial incorruptibility.

Hefei, China

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