Al-Fath ibn Khaqan (al-Andalus)

12th century Anthologist of Andalus

Al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān al-Ishbīlī al-Andalusī
Died	11 November 1134 Marrakesh, Morocco
Cause of death	assassination
Other names	Al-Fatḥ ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn Khāqān, Abū Naṣr al-Qaysī al-Ishbīlī

Academic work
Era	Almoravid era
Main interests	anthologist of poetry and history
Notable works	Maṭmaḥ al-anfus wa-masraḥ al-taʼannus fī mulaḥ ahl al-Andalus; Qalā'id al-'Iqyān

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.

Life

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:

Ibn Khallikan – Wafayāt al-A’yān wa-Anbā’ Abnā’ al-Zamān (tr. Obituaries of Eminent Men}^[4]
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Diyha al-Kalbī – Al-Mutrib fī Ash’ār Ahl il-Mughrib^[5]
Al-Ṣafadī – Al-Wāfī bi-'l-wafayāt

Works

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

Citations

^ "al-Qaysi" refers to the Banu Qays tribe; "al-Ishbili" means "from Seville"
^ ^a ^b Waleed Saleh, "Ibn Jaqan", Diccionario Biográfico Español (2018).
^ Ben Cheneb & Pellat 1965, p. 838.
^ Khallikān (Ibn) 1843, pp. 455–6, II.
^ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Diyha al-Kalbī 1954.
^ 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)
^ Qalaid al-Iqyan ed., Muhammad al-Tahir Ibn Ashur, 1990, ISBN 978-9973-12-145-5
^ 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

Ben Cheneb, Ch.; Pellat (1983) [1965], "Al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān", The Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. ii (New ed.), Leiden: E. J. Brill, p. 838
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Diyha al-Kalbī, ‘Umar ibn al-Ḥasan (1954). Al-Mutrib fī Ash'ār Ahl il-Mughrib (in Arabic). Cairo: Maktaba al-Misri.
Khallikān (Ibn), Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (1843). Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā' Abnā' al-Zamān (The Obituaries of Eminent Men). Vol. II. Translated by McGuckin de Slane, William. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. pp. 455–6.
Ṣafadī (aṣ-), Salah al-Dīn (1993), ʻAdnān al-Baḫīt, Muḥammạd (ed.), "Al-Wāfī bi-'l-wafayāt (Preface)", Bibliotheca Islamica (in Arabic), I, Beirut
Weyer, Hendrik Engelinus (1831). Hamaker, Hendrik Arent (ed.). Specimen criticum exhibens locos Ibn Khacanis de Ibn Zeidouno (in Arabic and Latin). Leiden.
Weyer, Hendrik Engelinus (1840), Orientalia (in Latin), vol. I, Amstelodami: Johannem Müller, pp. 295–501