We now come to the long reign of al-Muṭí' (A.D.
946-974), during which the general political conditions in
Caliphate of
al-Mutí' (A.D.
946-974).
Persia underwent little change, the Sámánids still
holding the north and north-east, the Ziyárids the
Caspian provinces, and the House of Buwayh
the south and (save in name) Baghdad, where, under the title
of Amíru'l-Umará, they were practically supreme. During
the last decade of this period the Fáṭimid anti-Caliph al-
Turning once more to the world of literature and science,
we may note the following events. In A.D. 950 died Abú
Literary manifestations of this
period.
Naṣr al-Fárábí, the greatest philosopher of Islám
before Avicenna, and, curiously enough, of Turkish
origin.*
About the same time al-Iṣtakhrí the
geographer produced his recension of al-Balkhí's work, and the
Persian sea-captain Buzurg b. Shahriyár of Rámhurmuz wrote
in Arabic, from his own recollections and information derived
from other travellers, his curious work on the Marvels of India.
The death of Rúdagí, generally regarded as the father of
Persian poetry, and the birth of another Persian poet, Kisá'í,
also happened at this time. About A.D. 956 died the great
historian al-Mas'údí, of Arab extraction and alleged Mu'ta-
Al-Mas'udi.
zilite leanings, of whose voluminous writings
the Kitábu't-Tanbíh wa'l-Ishráf is accessible to
students in the original Arabic, and the better known Murúju
'dh-Dhahab both in the original and in the French translation
of MM. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille.
Narshakhí, the historian of Bukhárá (preserved to us only
in the later Persian translation of al-Qúbáwí made about
A.D. 1128) died in A.D. 959. Gúshyár, the astronomer of
Gílán, flourished about the same time; as did also the
Christian physician 'Ísá b. 'Alí, who compiled a Biography
of Oculists. In A.D. 961 was born Abú Manṣúr 'Abdu'l-
A few years later (A.D. 965) died al-Mutanabbí, who, though disparaged by some European scholars, is generally Al-Mutanabbí. regarded by all Arabic-speaking people as the greatest poet of their race. Von Hammer calls him, in the translation of his poems which he published at Vienna in 1823, “der grösste Arabische Dichter”; and Jules Mohl (Journal Asiatique for 1859, series v, vol. 14, pp. 36-7) has the following most sensible remarks on him:—
“Quant au rang que chaque poëte doit occuper dans sa littérature nationale, il n'appartient qu'à sa propre nation de le lui assigner, et s'il le garde pendant des siècles, comme Motanabbi l'a gardé, il ne nous reste qu'à accepter l'opinion de ses juges naturels, dont la décision, après les discussions prolongées et passionnées, parâit être que Motanabbi, malgré ses défauts et son inégalité, est le meilleur représentant du gôut et des sentiments des Arabes musulmans, comme les auteurs des Moallakat sont les représentants les plus fidèles des sentiments des Arabes du désert.”
The influence of al-Mutanabbí and one or two other Arabic poets on the early developments of Persian poetry was also, as has been pointed out by Kazimirski in his edition and translation of the Díwán of Minúchihrí (Paris, 1886, pp. 143 and 316), very great, and for this reason alone his works ought to be read by every serious student of the origins of Persian poetry. The far-fetched conceits and rhetorical figures which abound in his verses will hardly appeal to many European readers as they do to the poet's countrymen, and at times he gives expression to ideas which to our taste are grossly unpoetical;
*others of his verses, however, breathe the old Bedouin spirit, amongst these being the verse which, as Ibn Khallikán says,* “caused his death.” For, as he was returning from Persia with a large sum of money which had been bestowed on him by the Buwayhid prince 'Aḍudu'd-Dawla, he was attacked near Kúfa by Arabs of the tribe of Asad. Being worsted in the combat, he was preparing to take to flight when his slave cried to him: “Let it never be said that you fled from the combat, you who are the author of this verse:—
‘I am known to the horse-troop, the night and the desert's expanse,
Not more to the paper and pen than the sword and the lance!’”
So al-Mutanabbí turned again to the combat and met his death like a true son of the desert. The Arab pride of race which animated him is shown by the following incident. One day a number of learned men* were conversing in the presence of that illustrious prince Sayfu'd-Dawla, and the grammarian Ibn Khálawayh was expressing his views on some point of Arabic philology, when al-Mutanabbí interrupted him, saying, “Silence, fellow! What hast thou to do with Arabic, thou who art a Persian of Khuzistán?”
More admirable, according to Western taste, than al-
“Thus is Abu Firás the picture of the stirring times in which he lived: in him once again the old, proud, warlike spirit of antiquity was re-incarnated, only the finer feelings being the outcome of the later culture. The inner history of Arabic poetry ought, indeed, to conclude with him, had not a greater and more lofty genius* stepped forth, who independently gave a new and important development to the philosophical and speculative turn of thought first introduced by Abu'l-'Aṭáhiya.”
Abu Firás was killed in battle in A.D. 968, a year remarkable also for the birth of one of the great mystical poets of Persia, Abú Sa'íd b. Abi'l-Khayr. Abu Sa'íd b. Abi'l-Khayr, the author of a celebrated collection of quatrains. About the same time died Abu'l-Faraj of Iṣfahan, the compiler of that vast thesaurus of Arabic verse known as the Kitábu'l- Abu'l-Faraj alIṣfahání. Aghání or “Book of Songs,” a work which in the Cairo edition comprises twenty volumes. He also was of Arab, and, as it is asserted, of Umayyad descent, and belonged to the “circle” of Sayfu'd-Dawla. About Ibu Kushájim A.D. 971 died the poet Ibn Kushájim, remarkable for his Indian descent and the high position which he held in the Carmathian government;* and in the same year Abu'l-Fath al-Bustí. was born the poet Abu'l-Fatḥ al-Bustí, one of the earliest literary protégés of the Ghaznawí dynasty. Finally, the last year of the Caliphate of al-Muṭí' is notable for the birth of two very eminent men, the poet Abu'l-'Alá al-Ma'arrí and al-Bírúní.
We come now to the Caliphate of at-Ṭá'í (A.D. 974-991),
whose contemporaries were the Sámánid Nuḥ II b. Manṣúr
Caliphate of
al-Ṭá'í (A.D. 974-
991).—Political
condition of
Persia at this
time.
(A.D. 976-997) in Khurásán, Qábús b. Washmgír
the Ziyárid (A.D. 976-1012) in Ṭabaristán,
'Aḍudu'd-Dawla in Fárs, Kirmán, Ahwáz, and
Southern Persia, and in Egypt the Fáṭimid Anti-