Ibn al-Abbar
Ibn al-Abbār | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1199 Valencia, Spain |
| Died | January 6, 1260 |
| Other names | Abū Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn 'Abdullah ibn Abū Bakr al-Qudā'ī al-Balansī; also
Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Kudāi Encyclopedist, Poet, Ambassador |
Ibn al-Abbār (ابن الأبار), he was
Valencia ('Balansiya') during the Middle Ages.[3]
Life
Ibn al-Abbār's family, who were of
Cordova fell to Ferdinand III of Castile and in 1237 James I of Aragon defeated Ibn Mardanish at the Battle of the Puig; the siege of Valencia began soon after. Abu Jamil sent Ibn al-Abbār to seek help from Abū Zakariyā Yaḥyā, the Hafsid sultan of Tunis. The ambassador declaimed before the Sultan a famous "qasīda" celebrating "al-Andalus" and deploring his tragic situation. Abū Zakariyā sent a fleet of twelve ships, which failed however to reach the blockaded port of Valencia, and was forced to anchor at Dénia. Subsequently, Ibn al-Abbār was charged by the emir with negotiating the surrender of Valencia, which was signed on September 29, 1238. The two fled to Dénia and Murcia, and in 1240 Ibn al-Abbār emigrated permanently to Tunis
.
He was once again welcomed by Abū Zakariyā, and appointed head of his chancery and his panegyrist. But with a shady character, and enemies at court (notably the vizier Ibn Abul Husayn), he was replaced and exiled to
caliph (and was recognized as such in Mecca and Medina). In 1259, Ibn al-Abbār was again forgiven and recalled to Tunis. Soon after he was arrested, it seems, either for conspiracy or satire, and sentenced to be burnt at the stake. The details are unknown but a poem found and believed to have been by him, contained the following verse: "In Tunis reigns a tyrant who is foolishly called caliph." He was put to death by order of al-Mustansir, the ruler of Tunis, on 6 January 1260, and his body along with his books were burned. An account of this is given by Ibn Khaldūn in his History of the Berbers (Kitāb al-ʻIbar).[1]
Works
Of the forty-five books by Ibn al-Abbār, eight survive:
- Ṣila fī ta'rīkh a'immat al-Andalus. The bio-bibliographic repertoirewas a particularly flourishing literary genre in Muslim Spain when ibn al-Abbār's Valencian master Abū l-Rabi 'ibn al-Sālim prompted him to complete the two works of the previous generation. He began working on “The Supplement” in 1233 at Valencia, and finally completed it in Tunis. It lists (in alphabetical order) more than three thousand personages in the literary and cultural history of Muslim Spain. In the introduction, the author makes clear his concern about the threats to his homeland and his desire to save some of his intellectual heritage for posterity.
At-Takmila; published in several incomplete editions from different manuscripts:
- Complementum libri assilah: dictionarium biographicum (in Arabic; Romero Matriti, 1877); vols., 5&6, vols., 7&8, vols., 9&10
- Complementum Libri as-Sila, ed., ).
- Miscelaneas de estudios y textos árabes, eds., Maximiliano Alarcón and Cándido Ángel González Palencia, Madrid, 1915, pp. 147–690); an appendix to previous, from a manuscript of Cairo, with biographies nos., 2150 - 2892.
- Takmila from Fez MS, ed., Alfred Bel and Mohamed Bencheneb (Algiers, 1920); 652 biographies of the first five letters from the letter alif .
- Takmila from Cairo MS, ed., 'Abd al-'Aṭṭār al-Ḥusayni (2 vols., Baghdad and Cairo, 1956), begins with the letter alif, comprising 2188 biographies.
- Kitāb al-ḥulla al-siyarā ('Book of the embroidered tunic'), finished at Béjaïa in 1248/49, compendium of the poetic-literary field.
- Tuḥfat al-qādim (تحفة القادم), 'Newcomer's gift'; life and works of the Andalusian poets of his time.
- I'tāb al-kuttāb, a short collection of stories of disgraced and rehabilitated officials, written during his exile at Béjaïa.
- Al-‘Arba’ūn (الأربعون), ‘The Forty (traditions)’; See (لأربعون حديثًا).
- Durar al-simṭ fī khabar al-sibṭ (درر السِّمط في خبر السِّبط), ‘Pearl necklace on the reports of the grandson’; written during his second stay at Béjaïa, a religious work of 'Ali.
- Dīwān (‘collected poems’) of Ibn al-Abbār.[5]
- Ya’nī al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī (يعني الحسين بن علي) ‘meaning Husayn ibn Ali’.
Bibliography
- Khallikān (Ibn), Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (1843). Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary (tr. Wafayāt al-A‘yān wa-al-Anbā Abnā’ al-Zamān). Vol. ii. Translated by McGuckin de Slane, William. London: W.H. Allen. p. 424, n.3.
- Bel, Alfred; Bencheneb, Mohamed (1918). "The preface of Ibn al-Abbar to his" Takmila as-sila". African Review (294). Paris: 306–335.
- Ghedira, Ameur (1957). "An unpublished treatise of Ibn al-Abbar with Shia tendency". Al-Andalus. 22. Madrid-Granada: 30–54.
- Meouak, Mohamed (1985). "Ibn al-Abbār's "Takmilla": notes and observations about his editions". Journal of the Muslim West and the Mediterranean. 40: 143–146.
- Ibn al-Abbar, politic i escriptor Arab valencia (1199–1260): Actes del Congres Internacional "Ibn Al-Abbar i el seu temps," Onda, 20-22 febrer, 1989 by Mikel Epalza, Jesus Huguet (review Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 112, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1992), pp. 313–314)
- "Ibn al-Abbar, politic i escriptor derab valencià (1199-1260)". proceedings of the international congress "Ibn al-Abbar i el seu temps (in Spanish). Valencia: Generalitat Valenciana. 1990.
References
- ^ a b c Khallikān (Ibn) 1843, p. 424, n.3, II.
- ^ This laqab' indicates that he had an ancestor needle maker.
- ^ Merriam-Webster, Inc, Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of literature, Merriam-Webster, 1995, p. 575
- ^ Ibn al-Abbār, Muḥ. b. 'Abd Allāh b. Abī Bakr (1995). Takmila li Kitāb al-ṣila (in Arabic). Vol. 4. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr.
- ^ Djomaa Cheikha, "El valor documental del "Dīwān' 'by Ibn al-Abbar", Ibn al-Abbar, politic i escriptor Valencia Valencià, Valencia, 1990, pp. 141-181.
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