Abū ʿAlī b. Abū ʿUmar
Description / Bio
An India trader assisted at least once by Ḥalfon b. Maḍmūn. Abū ʿAlī referred to Abū l-Maḥāsin b. Abū ʿAlī as "my son" in IB II, 64. However, given that Abū l-Maḥāsin's mother Sitt Ghazāl was, like Abū ʿAlī, the child of an Abū ʿUmar, it is possible that he and Sitt Ghazāl were siblings instead of spouses, making Abū ʿAlī the uncle of Abū l-Maḥāsin. It was common among this milieu to refer to a nephew as a son, especially (but perhaps not exclusively) if one did not have a son himself (see Goitein, "Portrait," 450–51). In IB II, 64, Abū ʿAlī also referenced a traveling companion called Abū ʿUmar, who was likely his firstborn son.