Abū 'Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn 'Imrān ibn Mūsā ibn Sa'īd ibn 'Abd Allāh al-Marzubānī al-Khurāsānī[n 1] (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن عمران بن موسى المرزباني الخراساني) (c. 909 – 10 November 994),[n 2][1] was a prolific author of adab, akhbar (news), history and ḥadīth (traditions). He lived all his life in his native city, Baghdad, although his family came originally from Khurāsān.

Abū 'Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn 'Imrān al-Marzubānī
أبو عبد الله محمد عمران المرزباني الخراساني
BornFebruary-March 909 (Jumāda 296/7 AH)
Died10 November 994(994-11-10) (aged 85) [2 Shawwāl 384 A.H.]
Other namesAbū 'Abd Allāh Muḥammad 'Imrān ibn Mūsā ibn Sa'īd ibn 'Abd Allāh al-Marzubānī (أبو عبد الله محمد عمران بن موسى بن سعيد بن عبد الله)
Academic background
InfluencesAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Baghawī, Abū Dā'ūd al-Sijistānī
Academic work
EraIslamic Golden Age
(Middle and Later Abbasid era)
InfluencedIbn al-Murtaḍā

Life edit

Al-Marzubānī came from a wealthy Arab[2] family connected to the royal court of the Abbāsid caliph. Ibn al-Jawālīqī in his Kitāb al-Mu'arrab, explains that al-Marzubānī inherited a Persian epithet "Marzban", which means 'Guardian of the frontier'. The Buyid amir ‘Aḍūd al-Dawla was known to visit his residence on the east bank of the Tigris,[3] where he would also entertain members of a literary circle dedicated to the conservation and transmission of Arabic philological literature.[4] Fellow authors in his circle were Abū Ya'qūb al-Najīramī[5][6] (d.1031), Abū Sa'īd al-Sīrāfī[7][8] (d. 979) and Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik al-Tārīkhī.[9] He edited the first dīwān (collected poems) by the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I (r. 661–680), which he produced in a small volume of about three kurrāsa,[n 3] – ca., 60 ff.

Al-Marzubānī's principal teachers edit

Al-Marzubānī's principal authorities edit

Abū Bakr al-Khwārizmī led the funeral service. He was buried in his house on Shari Amr al-Rūmī (Amr the Greek Street), on the eastern quarter of Baghdād.[22]

Legacy edit

He was the last of the authorities of literary and oral tradition Isḥāq al-Nadīm met.[23] He was cited by the Mu'tazilite theologian Abū 'Abd Allāh al-Ṣaymarī (d. 927/8),[24][25] Abū al-Qāsim al-Tanūkhi (940 – 994),[26] Abū Muḥammad al-Jauhari, et al. Some sectarian-based criticism – attributed to al-Marzubānī's religious leanings and madhhab, despite his publication of Ḥanafī, Shī'i and Mu'tazila riwāya and akhbar (biographies). – seems to have led to the relative neglect of his writings by Sunni scholars in later centuries.

Works edit

Among his books were:[n 5]

  • Al–Mu'niq (كتاب المونق) 'Pleasing'; accounts of famous pre–Islamic poets, from Imru' al-Qays and members of his category, with a thorough investigation of their traditions; to poets from the pre-to-early-Islāmic period, and the Muslims following them and their generations; early Muslims and their best traditions about Jarīr ibn 'Aṭīyah, al-Farazdaq and their cohort before the 'Abbāsid era; Ibn Harmah[n 6] (685 – 767) and al-Ḥusayn ibn Muṭayr al-Asadī (d. 767),[27][28][29] and poets; over 5000 ff.
  • Al–Mustanīr 'Illuminating'; anthology of famous modern poets and selected poetry according to age and period; From Bashshār ibn Burd, to Abū al-'Abbās 'Abd Allāh ibn al-Mu'tazz bi-Allāh. —6000 ff; in an autograph by al-Marzubānī in sixty Sulaymānīyah volumes.[n 7]
  • Al-Mufīd (كتاب المفيد) 'Profitable'; §1—late-pre-early-Islāmic poets with paternal or maternal surnames, genealogies, patrons, affiliations etc.;[31] §2—references to physical characteristics of poets; §3—religious ideologies and practices of poets; §4—those who spurned pre-Islāmic poetry in favour of Islām and religious piety; or satire for eulogy[n 8]; or love poetry for virtuosity; and those dedicated to a single poetic subject, such as Sayyid ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥimyarī and al-'Abbās ibn al-Aḥnaf, et al. 5000 ff.
  • Al-Mu'jam (كتاب المعجم) 'The Alphabetical Book';[n 9] a dictionary of ca., 5000 poets and selected verses, and best known stanzas; over 1000 ff.
  • Al-Muwashshaḥ (كتاب الموشّح) 'The Acrostic', literary criticism of poetry by the authorities (al-'ulamā'), such as use, and inconsistent use, of vowel signs, mispronunciations, final syllable repetition in a verse, irregular rhyming, changes, ambiguity, loose weaving of the composition, and other errors in poetry; over 300 ff.[34]
  • Al-Shi'r (كتاب الشعر) 'Poetry'[n 10] a compendium of descriptions of qualities, benefits, defects; kinds, forms, measures, prosody, essential characteristics, selections; compositional and recitational poetic training, plagiarism – detection, varieties and forms. Over 2000 ff.
  • Ash'ār al-Nisā (كتاب اشعار النساء) 'Poems of Women'; ca. 500 ff.
  • Kitab Ash'ār al-Khulafā (كتاب اشعار الخلفآء) 'Poems of the Caliphs'; over 200 ff.
  • Al-Muqtabas (كتاب المقتبس) 'Things Quoted', traditions of the grammarians of al-Baṣrah, the first grammarian and author of a book on grammar; traditions about al-Farrā' and the scholars of al-Baṣrah and of al-Kūfah, the quoters (transmitters), and residents of the 'City of Peace' (Baghdād); ca., 3000 ff.
  • Al-Murshid (كتاب المرشد) 'Guide to the Right Way'; traditions of al-mutakallimūn and the People of Justice and Oneness ('Mu'tazilah'), their assemblies and doctrines; ca 1000 ff.
  • Ash'ār al-Jinn (كتاب اشعار الجن) 'Poems Attributed to the Jinn'; ca. 100 ff.
  • Al-Riyāḍ (كتاب الرياض) 'Gardens'; accounts of obsessed people arranged by category; passionate love and its effects, its start and end; terminology and varieties recorded by the philologists; derivations of the terms, with examples from poems by pre-Islāmic poets and by converts to Islām, Muslim and contemporary poets; over 3000 ff.
  • Al-Wāthiq (كتاب الواثق) 'The Clear';[n 11] characteristics, qualities, forms, and methods of song; traditions on freeborn, handmaid, and male and female slave singers; over 1600 ff.[35]
  • Al-Azminah (كتاب الازمنة) 'The Seasons'; characteristics of the four seasons; heat and cold; clouds and lightning, wind and rain, al-rawwād ('fresh pasturage'), prayers for rain, spring and autumn; ẓurafā ("beauties")[n 12] of the celestial sphere, the houses of the zodiac, the sun, and the moon with its stations; astrological descriptions and poems of Arabs; planets and the fixed stars, day and night, Arab and Persian days, months and years; periods and eras, language connections to sections of this book, historical traditions, poems, explanations; ca., 2000 ff.
  • Al-Anwār wa-al-Thimār (كتاب الانوهر والثمار) 'Flowers and Fruits'. References in poetry, records and traditions, to the rose, the narcissus, and other flowers; praise in poetry and prose of certain fruits, palms etc; ca., 500 ff.
  • Akhbār al-Barāmakah (كتاب اخبار البرامكة) 'Traditions of the Barmak Family', their rise and downfall in disgrace; ca 500 ff.
  • Al-Mufaṣṣal (كتاب المفصل) 'Elocution and Eloquence,'[n 13] Arabic elocution and calligraphy; ca 700 ff.
  • Al-Tahānī (كتاب التهانى) 'Congratulations'; ca., 500 ff.
  • Al-Taslīm wa-al-Ziyārah (كتاب التسليم والزيارة) 'Submission and Pilgrimage'; 400 ff.
  • Al-'Ibādah (كتاب العبادة) 'Worship';[n 14] 400 ff.
  • Al-Maghāzī (كتاب المغازى) 'Raids';[n 15] ca., 300 ff.
  • Al-Marāthī (كتاب المراثى) 'Elegies'; 500 ff.
  • Al-Mu'allā 'The Exalted Book', excellencies of the Qur'ān; 200 ff.[n 16]
  • Talqīḥ al-'Uqūl (كتاب تلقيح العقول) 'Fertilization of Minds', over 100 sections, on the mind, culture, learning, etc.; over 3000 ff.
  • Al-Mushrif (كتاب المشرف) 'The Noble Book', the rule of the Islamic prophet Muḥammad, his culture, his preaching, his companions, the testaments and the rule of the Arabs and Persians; 1500 ff.[n 17]
  • Akhbār man Tamaththal bi-al-Ash'ār 'Traditions of Poets Who Use Metaphor'; over 100 ff.
  • Al-Shabāb wa-al-Shayb (كتاب الشباب والشعيب) 'Youth and Old Age'; 300 ff.
  • Al-Mutawwaj (كتاب المتوج) 'Crowned', on justice and ethical living; over 100 ff.
  • Al-Madīḥ (كتاب المديح في الولائم والدعوات والشراب) 'Praise, on banquets, invitations, and drink';[n 18]
  • Al-Farkh (كتاب الفرخ) 'The Young';[n 19] nearly 100 ff.
  • Al-Hadāyā (كتاب الهدايا) 'Gifts'; ca., 300 ff.[n 20]
  • Al-Muzakhraf (كتاب المزخرف) 'Ornamented'; on the ikhwān (الاخوان) 'Brothers' and aṣḥāb (الاصحاب) 'Companions'; 300 ff.
  • Akhbār Abī Muslim al-Khurāsānī, Ṣāḥib al-Da'wah (كتاب اخبار ابى مُسْلم صاحب الدعوة) 'Traditions of Abū Muslim al-Khurāsānī, Giver of the Summons';[n 21] 100 ff.
  • Al-Du'ā (كتاب الدعاء) 'Supplication' (Invocation); ca., 200 ff.
  • Al-Awā'il (كتاب الاوائل) 'The Ancients'; eras and beliefs of ancient Persians and the People of Justice and Oneness, viz., the Mu'tazilah; ca., 1000 ff.
  • Al-Mustaṭraf (كتاب المستطرف) 'The Newly Acquired'; the foolish and unusual; over 300 ff.
  • Akhbār al-Awlād wa-al-Zawjāt wa-al-Ahl (كتاب الخبار الاولاد والزوجات والاهل) 'Traditions of Children, Wives, and the Family', with praise and blame; 200 ff.
  • Al-Zuhd wa-Akhbār al-Zuhhād 'Renunciation and Traditions of the Ascetics'; over 200 ff.
  • Dhamm al-Dunyā (كتاب ذمّ الدنيا) 'Blame of the World'; over 100 ff.
  • Al-Munīr (كتاب المنير) 'The Shining'; repentance, good deeds, piety, abstinence from crime etc.; over 300 ff.
  • Al-Mawā'iẓ wa-Dhikr al-Mawt 'Warnings and Mention of Death';[n 22] over 500 ff.
  • Akhbār al-Muḥtaḍarīn (كتاب المحتضرين) 'Traditions about Those Near Death'; 100 ff.[n 23]
  • Dhamr al-Ḥujjāb (كتاب ذمر الحجاب) 'Chiding the Chamberlain';[n 24] 100 ff.
  • Shi'r Ḥātim al-Ṭa'ī' (كتاب شعر حاتم الطاءى) 'Poetry of Ḥātim al-Ṭa'ī'; ca., 100 ff.[n 25][42]
  • Akhbār Abū Ḥanīfah al-Nu'mān ibn Thābit (كتاب اخبار ابى حنيفة النعمان بن ثابت) 'Traditions of Abū Ḥanīfah al-Nu'mān ibn Thābit';[n 26] ca., 500 ff.
  • Akhbār 'Abd al-Ṣamad ibn al-Mu'adhdhal (كتاب اخبار عبد اصمد بن المْعَدَّل) 'Traditions of 'Abd al-Ṣamad ibn al-Mu'adhdhal'; ca., 200 ff.
  • Akhbār Abī 'Abd Allāh (كتاب اخرار ابى عبد الله) 'Traditions of Abū 'Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ḥamzah al-'Alawī; ca., 100 ff.
  • Akhbār Mulūk Kindah (كتاب اخرار ملوك كندة) 'Traditions of the Kings of Kindah'; ca., 200 ff.
  • Akhbār Abī Tammām (كتاب اخرار ابى تمّام) Traditions of Abū Tammām; ca., 100 ff.
  • Akhbār Shu'bah ibn al-Ḥajjāj (كتاب اخبار شعبة بن احجاج) 'Traditions of Shu'bah ibn al-Ḥajjāj'; ca., 100 ff.
  • Naskh al-'Uhūd (كتاب نسح العهود الى القضاة) 'Cancellation of Contracts'; addressed to the judges;[43] ca., 200 ff.

Books about the Sawād[n 27] edit

  • An'ān al-Shi'r – 'Essences of Poetry'; about praise and satire, glory and generosity
  • Akhbār al-Ajwād – 'Traditions about the Generous'
  • Al-Awṣāf – 'Qualities'
  • Al-Tashbihāt – 'Allegories'

Isḥāq al-Nadīm records that 20,000 ff from sources written in al-Marzubānī's handwriting had survived to his day.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ 'Abd Allāh or 'Ubayd Allāh
  2. ^ Authorities vary on the year of his death: Flügel Al-Fihrist —988/89; Yāqūt, Irshād, VI (7), 50—either 988/89 or 994; the Beatty MS of Al-Fihrist, Khallikān (Ibn) 1843, III, 67 and Baghdādī (al-) 2001, Ta'rīkh, §1426, 227-9— 994
  3. ^ A kurrāsa, or quire, typically has twenty pages.[10]
  4. ^ 'Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn 'Abd Allāh al-'Azīz al-Baghawī Abū al-Qāsim, kunya Ibn Bint Munī'.
  5. ^ Titles sequence and number of ff given for each book differ considerably in the Beatty MS and Flügel edition of Al-Nadīm's Al-Fihrist.
  6. ^ Ibn Harmah Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn 'Alī.
  7. ^ Sulaymānīyah; here probably a kind of paper. Each leather-bound mujallad (volume) contained 100 ff.[30]
  8. ^ MS is unclear. Perhaps al-madīḥ ("eulogy") or al-mudabbaj ('indecent').[32]
  9. ^ Al-Mu'jam here clearly means "alphabetical." In his life of al-Khowarizmi[33] Khallikān mentions a title Mu'jam al-Shu'arā by al-Marzubānī.
  10. ^ Translated from the Beatty MS of Al-Fihrist.
  11. ^ The Flügel edition of Al-Fihrist gives the title Kitāb al-Wāthiq, but Beatty MS gives Kitāb al-Rā'iq, and omits part of the following paragraph.
  12. ^ Dodge, Al-Fihrist, notes that the Flügel edition has ṭarafā, but that ẓurafā seems correct.[36]
  13. ^ Or Kitāb al-Mufaḍḍal, or Kitāb al-Mifḍal – 'Distinguished for Excellence'.[37]
  14. ^ Or Kitāb al-'Iyādah 'Visiting';[38]
  15. ^ Or Kitāb al-Ta'āzī 'Consolations'.[38]
  16. ^ Title omitted in Flügel of Al-Fihrist.
  17. ^ Beatty MS and Flügel differ.
  18. ^ Or Kitāb al- Mudabbaj – 'Brocaded' (Adorned);[38]
  19. ^ Kitāb al-Faraj, 'al-Furaj, or al-Farj – 'Relief';[38]
  20. ^ A second manuscript autograph mentioned in Flügel is omitted in Beatty MS of Al-Fihrist.
  21. ^ In 750 Abū Muslim led the call to overthrow the Umayyad caliphs which established the 'Abbāsid regime and so was called "Giver of the Summons";[39]
  22. ^ Title omitted Flügel.
  23. ^ Or Kitāb Akhbār al-Muḥtaḍirīn ('Traditions about Settled People'); title unclear in Beatty MS of Al-Fihrist.[40]
  24. ^ Perhaps al-ḥujjāb 'chamberlains', al-ḥijāb 'curtain', or Kitāb al-Ḥujjāb 'The Chamberlain'.[41][38]
  25. ^ Ḥātim, poet and chief of the Ṭayy Tribe in the late Jahiliyyah era.
  26. ^ Or Kitāb Abī Ḥanīfah wa-Aṣḥābihi – 'Abū Ḥanīfah and His Associates';[38]
  27. ^ Sawād usually meant central and southern Irāq but here could mean the people or the environs. These books are omitted in Flügel edition.[44]

References edit

  1. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 289.
  2. ^ Sellheim 2023.
  3. ^ Sellheim 1991, p. 634.
  4. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, pp. 189–190.
  5. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1871, pp. 409–411, IV.
  6. ^ Yāqūt 1869, p. 764, l. 17, Geog., IV.
  7. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1843, pp. 377–379, I.
  8. ^ Suyūṭī (al-) 1965, pp. 507–508, Bughyat.
  9. ^ Zubaydī (al-) 2009, pp. 106–107, Ṭabaqāt.
  10. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1868, p. 68, n.2, III.
  11. ^ Ḥajar (Ibn), p. 338, Lisān al-Mīzān, III.
  12. ^ Nawawī (al-) 1847, p. 765.
  13. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 561.
  14. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1843, p. 323, I.
  15. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 559.
  16. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1843, pp. 590–591, I.
  17. ^ Ṣūlī (al-) 1936, p. 10.
  18. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, pp. 133–137.
  19. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1868, p. 37, III.
  20. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, pp. 164–166.
  21. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1868, p. 53, III.
  22. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1868, p. 68, III.
  23. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 288.
  24. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, pp. 427, 429, 433–435.
  25. ^ Murtaḍā (Ibn al-) 1961, p. 96.
  26. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1843, p. 567, II.
  27. ^ Iṣbahānī 1888, p. 114, XIV.
  28. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1868, pp. 407–408, n.15, III.
  29. ^ Yāqūt 1866, p. 148, l.23, Geog., I.
  30. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 289, n. 166.
  31. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 290.
  32. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 290, n.169.
  33. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1868, p. 109, III.
  34. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 291.
  35. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 292.
  36. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 292, n.178.
  37. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1872, p. 589.
  38. ^ a b c d e f Nadīm (al-) 1872, p. 588.
  39. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 294.
  40. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 294, n.196.
  41. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 294, n.197.
  42. ^ Iṣbahānī, 1888, Aghānī, XVI, 96.
  43. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 295.
  44. ^ Nadīm (al-) 1970, p. 295, n. 201.

Bibliography edit