2014/08/04 by Sebastian Günther · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies #Medieval and Classical Philosophy #Historical and Linguistic Studies
paper · doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_com_0105
openalex publication_date 2014/08/04 · openalex created_date 2022/05/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Abū l-Faraj ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. al-Haytham al-Umawī al-Iṣfahānī (or al-Iṣbahānī) (d. shortly after 360/971) was a celebrated man of letters, a historian with sociological interests, a musicologist, and a poet. He is best known for his great “Book of songs,” the Kitāb al-aghānī, one of the most important works of classical Arabic literature. He was born in 284/897, probably in Baghdad. Tradition ally, he was thought to have died there in 356/967, but recent research suggests his death should be dated to the early 360s, shortly after 360/971 (cf. al-Munajjid, ed., in Abū l-Faraj, Adab 10–14; and Kilpatrick, Making, 19–20, 27–8). Although Abū l-Faraj was a direct descendant of the last Umayyad caliph, Marwān b. Muḥammad, he was a Zaydī Shīʿī.