Al-Fath ibn Khaqan (al-Andalus)

Abū Naṣr al-Fatḥ ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Khāqān ibn Abdallah al-Qaysī al-Ishbīlī[1] (أبو نصر الفتح بن محمد بن عبيد الله بن خاقان بن عبد الله القيسي الإشبيلي; died 11 November 1134), known as al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān, was a 12th-century popular anthologist of al-Andalus.

Al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān al-Ishbīlī al-Andalusī
Died11 November 1134
Cause of deathassassination
Other namesAl-Fatḥ ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn Khāqān, Abū Naṣr al-Qaysī al-Ishbīlī
Academic work
EraAlmoravid era
Main interestsanthologist of poetry and history
Notable worksMaṭmaḥ al-anfus wa-masraḥ al-taʼannus fī mulaḥ ahl al-Andalus; Qalā'id al-'Iqyān

Life

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Ibn Khāqān was born in either Alcalá la Real or Seville.[2] He received an elite education and travelled widely across al-Andalus. Described as a 'libertine' and yet he was appointed secretary to the Almoravid governor of Granada Abū Yūsuf Tāshfīn ibn ‘Alī; a post he abandoned almost immediately to travel to Marrakesh where sometime later he was murdered, it was rumoured, on the orders of the sultan.[3] He died on 11 November 1134.[2]

The main sources for his biography are:

Works

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  • Qalā'id al-'Iqyān (قلائد العقيان) ‘Collars of Gold’ or 'Necklace of Rubies'; akhbar (traditions) of poets of the Maghreb and al-Andalus, who were his contemporaries with examples of their poems.[6][7]
  • Maṭmaḥ al-anfus wa-masraḥ al-taʼannus fī mulaḥ ahl al-Andalus (مطمح الأنفس ومسرح التأنس في ملح أهل الأندلس) (Kābir, Wāsiṭ, Saghīr  – Large, Medium, Small) 'The Aspiration of the Souls and the Theater of Congeniality in the Anecdotes of the People of al-Andalus';[8] History of the ministers, scribes and poets of al-Andalus.

These two works are written in rhymed prose full of metaphorical expressions and are an excellent source of information about the apogee of Andalusian letters.

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ "al-Qaysi" refers to the Banu Qays tribe; "al-Ishbili" means "from Seville"
  2. ^ a b Waleed Saleh, "Ibn Jaqan", Diccionario Biográfico Español (2018).
  3. ^ Ben Cheneb & Pellat 1965, p. 838.
  4. ^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1843, pp. 455–6, II.
  5. ^ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Diyha al-Kalbī 1954.
  6. ^ Al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān, Abū Naṣr al-Qaysī al-Ishbīlī (2007). Qalā'id al-'Iqyān (in Arabic). Cairo.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ Qalaid al-Iqyan ed., Muhammad al-Tahir Ibn Ashur, 1990, ISBN 978-9973-12-145-5
  8. ^ Al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān, Abū Naṣr al-Qaysī al-Ishbīlī (1983). Maṭmaḥ al-anfus wa-masraḥ al-taʼannus fī mulaḥ ahl al-Andalus. Beirut: Shar Suriyya.

Bibliography

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