Al-Marzubani

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Abū 'Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn 'Imrān al-Marzubānī
أبو عبد الله محمد عمران المرزباني الخراساني
BornFebruary-March 909 (Jumāda 296/7 AH)
Baghdād, al-Irāq
Died10 November 994(994-11-10) (aged 85) [2 Shawwāl 384 A.H.]
Baghdād, al-Irāq
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

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.

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]

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