The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Ibn Khalikan
(bn kh´lkn) (KEY) or Ahmad bin Muhammad al-Barmaki al-Irbili ash-Shafii, 121182, Arabic biographer, b. in Erbil, Iraq. Ibn Khallikan lived and served as a judge and scholar in Mamluk Egypt and Syria. His main work, Wafayat al-Ayan wa-Anba Abna az-Zaman (Biographical Dictionary), a biographical and historical compendium, is a primary reference for its extensive reporting on contemporaries and its lengthy quotations from otherwise lost sources.