Selections from al-Mas'udi's work of world history and medieval geography, by Aziz al-Azmah. Alī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mas'udi (c. 896-956 CE) was an Arab historian and geographer, and was one of the first to combine the two, in his work 'Muruj adh-dhahab wa ma'adin al-jawhar' (The Meadows of gold and Mines of Gems'). (Masudi)