Abū l-Faraj al-Isfahānī

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Abū l-Faraj ʿAlī ibn al-Husain al-Quraschī al-Isfahānī ( Arabic أبو الفرج علي بن الحسين القرشي الإصفهاني, DMG Abū l-Faraǧ ʿAlī bin al-Ḥusain al-Qurašī al-Iṣfahānī ; * 897 in Isfahan ; † November 20, 967 in Baghdad ) was an Arab historian, man of letters and poet. Despite his Persian Nisba ("the Isfahan"), Abu l-Faraj was of Arab origin and belonged to the Quraish . He sympathized with the Schia .

Life

Abu l-Faraj studied and lived in Baghdad, but also spent some time at the court of the Hamdanids in Aleppo .

Works

  • Kitāb al-Aġānī (كتاب الأغاني / 'Book of Songs'), a collection of Arabic chants with extensive information on Arabic and Persian poets, singers and other musicians from the 7th to 10th centuries in major cities such as Mecca , Damascus , Isfahan , Rey , Baghdad and Basra . The book of songs also contains many details about the ancient Arab tribes and life at the court of the Omayyads, and also offers an overview of the entire Arab civilization from the Jahiliyya to his own lifetime. All in all, Abu al-Faraj spent 50 years of his life creating this work. The first printed edition, which appeared in 1868, comprised 20 volumes. Digitized
  • Maqātil aṭ-Ṭālibīyīn (مقاتل الطالبيين / 'Battles of the Tālibids'), a collection of more than 200 biographies of descendants of Abū Tālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib , dating from the time from the appearance of the Prophet Mohammed to the writing of the book in 313 of the Hijra (= 925/926 etc.) died unnaturally. As Abū l-Faraj explains in the foreword, he basically only included those Tālibids in his work who rebelled against the government and were killed, died in battles, were executed or poisoned, lived in the "underground" or were on the run and died in captivity. The work is one of the most important sources for the Aliden uprisings of the Umayyad and Abbasid periods and the main source for the meeting of the Hashimites that took place after the assassination of the Umayyad caliph al-Walid II in the place al-Abwāʾ between Mecca and Medina. At this meeting the Alide'Abdallāh let the Hashemites his son Muhammad an-nafs al-Zakiya as the new Mahdi the allegiance afford.
  • Kitāb al-Imāʾ aš-šawāʿir (كتاب الإماء الشواعر / 'The Book of Female Poets'), a collection of reports on female poets from the Abbasid era .

literature

  • Sebastian Günther: "... Nor have I learned it from any book of theirs. Abūl-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī. A medieval Arabic author at work" in Rainer Brunner u. a. (Ed.): Islam studies without end. Festschrift for the Islamic scholar Werner Ende on his 65th birthday . Würzburg 2002. pp. 139-53.
  • Sebastian Günther: Source studies on the Maqātil aṭ-Ṭālibiyyīn of Abū 'l-Faraǧ al-Iṣfahānī (d. 356/967). Hildesheim u. a .: 1991.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ See Günther 1991, 13.
  2. ↑ See Günther 1991, 14.
  3. ↑ Cf. Tilman Nagel: "An early report on the uprising of Mu vonammad b. ʿAbdallāh in the year 145 h" in Der Islam 46 (1970) 227-262. Here pp. 258–262.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Abū l-Faraj al-Isfahānī
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abū l-Faraj ʿAlī ibn al-Husain al-Quraschī al-Isfahānī; Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani
BRIEF DESCRIPTION arab scholar
DATE OF BIRTH 897
PLACE OF BIRTH Isfahan
DATE OF DEATH November 20, 967
Place of death Baghdad