Avraham ben Yijū
Description / Bio
Avraham ben Yijū or Ibn Yijū (fl. 1132–49) was an Indian Ocean trader who left several dozen documents in the Geniza. Born in al-Mahdiyya, he spent some years in Aden before moving to South Asia before 1132, where he lived on and off (in Mangalore and Jurbattan) until 1149. He then returned to Yemen, living for a time in Dhū Jibla, and thence to Egypt. He had two children with his Indian wife, Ashū, a boy named Surūr, who died relatively young, and a girl named Sitt al-Dār, who married one of her cousins.