al-Masʻūdī's Kitāb al-Tanbīh wa l-ishrāf

Al-Mas'udi composed his 'Kitab al-Tanbih wal-ishraf' in the years 955 and 956, finishing it not long before his death. Based in part on earlier historical-geographical works, it offers a description of astronomical and meteorological phenomena; the divisions of the earth; the seas; ancient nations; universal chronology, and then the history of Islam until the caliphate of al-Muti (r. 946-74).