Born in 1494 CE, in Granada, Leo’s real name was Al-Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fassi. He is considered to be the last of the greatest Muslim intellectuals to pass on Islamic learning and other information to European scholars, explorers, mapmakers, and the gold-thirsty Christian monarchs - detailed discriptions of the Barbary coast and the fabled, gold-trading Muslim kingdoms of Central Africa.
After the fall of last mini-state of once Muslim Spain, Granada, to invading Crusaders in 1492 - Hassan’s family took refuge in Fez. He studied Islamic law at Karaouine and at the age of 14 earned the title of Qadi (judge). At the age of 16, he accompanied his uncle on a diplomatic mission in the service of the Wattasid Sultan Muhammad of Fez, traveling to Timbuktu and Goa (Eastern Mali). Impressed by Hassan’s great talents, the Sultan appointed him his ambassador to Timbuktu and Istanbul. His mission was critical for ensuring Fez’s political autonomy and economic stablity at the time when the Portuguese and Spanish were rapidly colonizing Africa’s coastline, while the Ottoman empire has its eye on the North Africa.
Hassan, after visiting kingdom of Tombuto under king Askia Muhammad (1493-1538), wrote - “The king has 1300 pound of gold.” Hassan kept a good record of what he saw during his travels - Timbuktu, Hausaland (Mali & Niger), Borno (Nigeria), Kanem (Chad & Libya), Egypt, Chana (Qena), Tunisia, Makkah, etc. During his diplomatic missin in Constantinople, he met with Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent.
In June 1518 CE - while returning home from Constantinople, his ship was attacked by the agents of Knights of Saint John off the coast of Djerba (Tunisia), who was famous for looting Muslim ships and selling captives into slavery. Recognizing that Hassan was a man of great learning - the knights sold him to Pope Leo X for a better reward.
Pope realized that being an ambassador to Constintinople, Hassan had intimate knowledge of the Turks and their Sultan’s ambitions, against whom the Pope had recently declared a ‘Holy War’. In addition, Hassan could provide Pope with invaluable commercial information, especially useful when the Pope’s reckless spending habits were draining the Vatican coffers. Thus Hassan became an immediate celebrity within the court of the ‘Holy Sea’.
Given the choice of remaining in Vatican’s infamous dungeon for life or freedom and a high position in Pope’s court - Hassan opted the later and on January 6, 1520 - he was baptized by the Pope himself - and named ‘Johannus Leo de Medicis (Giovanni Leone)’.
After the death of Pope Leo X in 1524 CE - Hassan moved to Bologna, to avoid the presence of less Moorish-friendly Pope Hadrian IV. However, in 1527, new Pope Clement VII (who refused to grant English King Henry VIII the rights to divorce the Queen) brought him back to Rome. During his stay in Italy, Hassan authored many works including a biographical dictionary of 25 notable Islamic and Jewish scholars.
When King Charles V sacked the ‘Holy City’ in May 1527 - Hassan made his escape to North Africa, where he died in 1550 CE. His portrait “Portrait of a Humanist” by Italian artist, Venetian Sebastiano del Piombo - now hangs in Washington’s National Gallery of Art in the ‘Northern Italian’ room.
“Hassan was a Muslim, who lived as a Christian and wrote for a Christian audience about the world of Islam. He was a man of many levels,” - Lofti Bouchentouf, history professor at Hassan II University (Morocco).
www.islamunity.com/blogs/