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
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

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

1. "al-Qaysi" refers to the Banu Qays tribe; "al-Ishbili" means "from Seville"
2. 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

• 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

External links

• Literary Excerpts on Art and Architecture in Andalusia, compiled and translated by Cynthia Robinson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton