Al-Mada'ini

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Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abi Sayf al-Qurashi (

Abbasids in Iraq in the first half of the 9th century. A scholar of many interests, he wrote over 200 works, but is best known as a historian
.

Life

Little is known about al-Mada'ini's life. The second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam notes that according to his own account, he was born in 752. However the third edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam notes that according to other sources (citing al-Marzubani), he was born in 752/753, which can be treated as "his approximate year of birth".[1][2] Al-Mada'ini and his family were of Iranian descent, and, according to sources attributed to him, he knew Persian.[2] He was most likely born in Basra, and for most of his life remained in various cities in Iraq.[2]

Al-Mada'ini and his family were clients (

Khurasan, Kabul, and Zabulistan.[2] In 770 he was in Basra, but later went to al-Mada'in and Baghdad, where he spent most of his life. The origin of his [[nisba (onomastics)|nisba]], "al-Mada'ini", by which he is known, is unclear: it may derive from his stay in al-Mada'in, or have pre-dated it.[1] Due to associations with Abd al-Rahman ibn Samura, he was given the second nisba of "al-Qurashi".[2]

Al-Mada'ini may also have spent time in

Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mawsili (died 850), with whom he also formed a close and lasting friendship—it is said that he died in al-Mawsili's house.[1] The sources differ on the date of his death, variously giving the years 830, 839, 840 and 843. However, as al-Mada'ini's work encompassed the reign of al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842), and as he is recorded as being over 90 years old at his death, 843 is the most probable date.[1]

Work

Al-Mada'ini was "a highly productive scholar with many-sided interests", producing over 200 works over his career, including such diverse fields like

Khurasan and India.[3]

As a historian, al-Mada'ini's method was that of a collector, rather than commentator, of history; indeed his historical work method resembles the method of a hadith scholar (

Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mawsili.[3] The passages taken from al-Mada'ini over the same subject often differ from each other; aside from alterations by later authors or copyists, these discrepancies are attributable to having been drawn from works written at different times in al-Mada'ini's life and with different focus, from monographs to compendia.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Sezgin 1986, p. 946.
  2. ^ a b c d e Lindstedt 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e Sezgin 1986, p. 947.
  4. ^ Sezgin 1986, pp. 947–948.

Sources

  • Lindstedt, Ilkka (2021). "al-Madāʾinī". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online.
    ISSN 1873-9830
    .
  • Sezgin, Ursula (1986). "al-Madāʾinī". In
    ISBN 978-90-04-07819-2
    .
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