Al-Marzubani

Abū 'Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn 'Imrān ibn Mūsā ibn Sa'īd ibn 'Abd Allāh al-Marzubānī () (c. 909 – 10 November 994), 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

Al-Marzubānī came from a wealthy family connected to the royal court of the Abbāsid caliph. Ibn al-Jawālīqī in his ''Kitāb al-Mu'arrab'',Sachau. Gawaliqi's Almu'arrab mit Erläuterungen herausgegeben. Leipzig, 1867. explains that al-Marzubānī inherited his 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, where he would also entertain members of a literary circle dedicated to the conservation and transmission of Arabic philological literature. Fellow authors in his circle were Abū Ya'qūb al-Najīramī (d.1031), Abū Sa'īd al-Sīrāfī (d. 979) and Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik al-Tārīkhī. 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, – ca., 60 ff.

Al-Marzubānī's principal teachers

* 'Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Baghawī (829 – 929), jurist.
*Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dā'ūd al-Sijistānī (ca. 844—928/929), ḥāfiẓ, scholar of Ḥadīth and Qur'an, and author of ''Kitāb al-Masābīh''.
* al-Ṣūlī held al-Marzubānī in high esteem and much of al-Marzubānī's material in his ''Kitāb al-Muwashshaḥ'' and his compilation technique was apparently borrowed from him.

Al-Marzubānī's principal authorities

* Abū Bakr ibn Durayd (837 -934), a great grammarian of Basra.
*Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim ibn al-Anbārī (855 – 940) was a famous pupil of Tha'lab.

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.

Legacy

He was the last of the authorities of literary and oral tradition Isḥāq al-Nadīm met. He was cited by the Mu'tazilite theologian Abū 'Abd Allāh al-Ṣaymarī (d. 927/8), Abū al-Qāsim al-Tanūkhi (940 – 994), Abū Muḥammad al-Jauhari, et al. Some sectarian-based criticismattributed 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

Among his books were:

Books about the ''Sawād''

*''An'ān al-Shi'rEssences of Poetry'; about praise and satire, glory and generosity
*''Akhbār al-AjwādTraditions about the Generous'
*''Al-AwṣāfQualities'
*''Al-TashbihātAllegories'

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

See also

*List of Arab scientists and scholars

Notes

References

Bibliography

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marzubani
900s births
994 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
10th-century biographers
10th-century historians from the Abbasid Caliphate
Encyclopedists of the medieval Islamic world
Islamic culture
Islamic poetry
Writers from Baghdad