In regards to the title,
Vladimir Minorsky commented on it in his 1937 translation as follows: "The word
ḥudūd (properly 'boundaries') in our case evidently refers to the 'regions within definite boundaries' into which the world is divided in the Ḥ.-'Ā., the author indicating with special care the frontiers of each one of these areas, v.i., p. 30." Finished in 982 CE, it was dedicated to
Abu'l Haret Muhammad, the ruler of the
Farighunids. Its author is unknown, but
Vladimir Minorsky surmised that it might have been written by the enigmatic
Šaʿyā bin Farīghūn.). As his source, Istakhri used the work of
Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, the
Figures of the Regions (
Suwar al-aqalim), and thus he belonged to the Balkhī school. The Balkhī school also included
Ibn Hawqal and
Al-Maqdisi, whose works show significant overlap with the
Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, but they appear to have directly copied their content from Istakhri rather than via
Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam. ::(d)
Al-Masudi,
The Meadows of Gold. According to Minorsky (1937), as
Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam contains more details about the same topics, the author probably did not directly copy from Masudi's work, but they both drew from a common source 'of which Mas'udī possessed only an abstract. Possibly the same source is responsible for the interesting details on Gīlān.' ::(e) Some contents about Arabia appear to derive from
Hamdani's
Geography of the Arabian Peninsula (), perhaps a more complete version of Ibn Khordadbeh's work, or a yet unknown source.
Chapters • Preface • The disposition (
nihādh) of the Earth; the amount of (its) cultivation and lack of cultivation (
miqdār-i ābādhānī va vīrānī) and its countries (
nāḥiyat-hā) • The Seas • The Islands • The Mountains • The Rivers • The Deserts • The countries (
nāḥiyat-hā) of the World • The country (
nāḥiyat) of
Chīnistān • The country of
Hindūstān • The country of
Tibet • The country of the
Toghuzghuz and
Tātār • The country of the
Yaghmā • The country of the
Khirkhīz • The country of the
Karluk • The country of the
Chigil • The country of the
Tukhs • The country of the
Kīmāk • The country of the
Ghūz • The country of the
Pechenegs • The country of the
Khifjākh • The country of the
Majgharī • The country of
Khurāsān • The country of the Marches (
ḥudūd) of Khurāsān • The country of
Transoxania • The country of the Marches (
ḥudūd) of Transoxania • The country of
Sind • The country of
Kirmān • The country of
Fārs • The country of
Khūzistān • The country of
Jibāl • The country of
Daylamān (all the Iranian
Caspian region) • The country of
'Irāq • The country of
Jazīra • The country of
Ādharbādhagān • The country of
Armīniya and
Arrān • The country of the
Arabs • The country of
Syria (
Shām) • The country of
Egypt • The country of
Maghrib • The country of
Spain (
Andalus) • The country of
Byzantium (
Rūm) (Includes all of Christian Europe, including
France,
Rome and
Britain) • The country of the
Slavs (
Ṣaqlāb) • The country of the
Rūs • The country of the
Inner Bulghār • The country of the
Mirvāt • The country of the
Khazarian Pechenegs • The country of the
Alān • The country of the
Sarīr • The country of the
Khazar • The country of the Burṭās (
Bolghar and
Suvar) • The country of the
Barādhās • The country of the V.n.nd.r (The
Volga Bulgarian tribes of
Esegel,
Barsil and
Bulgar) • Southern Inhabited Lands • The country of
Zangistān • The country of
Zābaj • The country of
Abyssinia • The country of
Buja • The country of
Nubia • The country of the
Sūdān • Epilogue of the book ==Rediscovery and translation==