Al-Mas'udi composed his «Kitab al-Tanbih wal-ishraf» (The Book of Notification and Verification) in the years 955 and 956 CE, 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-Muṭiʿ (r. 946-74 CE). - (Brill.com)