Abū Ṭālib Khān Iṣfahānī

Historian and poet.

Mīrzā Abū Ṭālib Ḫān Iṣfahānī, sometimes called Abū Ṭālib Landanī, was born in Lucknow in 1166/1752–3. Early in his career, he held various administrative positions under the Government of Oudh and the East India Company’s agents. In 1202/1787–88, he moved to Calcutta. There he edited and published the first dīvān of Ḥāfiẓ (see Ḥāfiẓ) in 1206/1791.

In 1211/1796–97, Captain Richardson of the East India Company asked Ṭālib to write a history of the time of Āṣaf al-Dawlah (r. at Oudh from 1189/1775 to 1212/1797). Ṭālib’s Tafżīḥ al-ğāfilīn was the result. From 1213/1798 until 1218/1803, Ṭālib and Richardson traveled to Europe, visiting England, Ireland, and Turkey among other places. Ṭālib completed Maʾāir-i Ṭālibī fi Bilād-i Ifrandjī, an account of these travels. He also composed treatises on ethics, prosody, and medicine and wrote a compendium of Muslim history. He died at Lucknow in 1120/1805–6.