al-Mufaddal ad-Dabbi

Al-Mufaddal ibn Muhammad ibn Ya'la ibn 'Amir ibn Salim ibn ar-Rammal ad-Dabbi, commonly known as al-Mufaḍḍal aḍ-Ḍabbī (

al-Asma'i, to whose labours posterity is largely indebted for the arrangement, elucidation and criticism of ancient Arabian verse; and his anthology was put together between fifty and sixty years before the compilation by Abu Tammam of the Hamasah

.

Life

The exact year of al-Mufaddal's birth is not known, though his father was an authority on the Muslim conquest of Persia and it is thought that al-Mufaddal was born in that region.^[1]

Al-Mufaddal lived for many years under the caliphs of the

Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah, the Alid, called "The Pure Soul", against the caliph al-Mansur, and after the defeat and death of Ibrahim was cast into prison.^[1] Al-Mansur, however, pardoned him on the intercession of his fellow tribesman Musayyab ibn Zuhair of Dabba, and appointed him the instructor in literature of his son, afterwards the caliph al-Mahdi.^[1] It was for this prince that, at al-Mansur's instigation, al-Mufaddal compiled the Mufaddaliyat

.

Al-Mufaddal's exact date of death has proved difficult to determine. The Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature states that he died some time around the year 780,[2] though the longer window between 781 and 787 has been claimed as well.^[3]

Work

Al-Mufaddal was a careful and trustworthy collector both of texts and traditions, and is praised by all authorities on Arabian history and literature as in this respect greatly the superior of

Umayyad caliphs of the house of Marwan

; to this, if the tradition is to be believed, al-Mufaddal probably had access.

After his death, al-Mufaddal's students were responsible for compiling and publishing his famous anthology on his behalf.[3]