Editing Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (section)

== Dates ==
The commonly accepted dates of al-Isfahani's birth and death are 897–898 and 967, based on the dates given by [[al-Khatib al-Baghdadi]] which itself based its information on the testimony of al-Isfahani's student, Muhammad ibn Abi al-Fawaris.{{sfn|al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, ''Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām''|ref=Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām|loc=vol. 13, p. 338; vol. 2, p. 213 (On Ibn Abī al-Fawāris)}}{{Efn|Other dates of death are in the 360s/970s and 357/967–68, suggested respectively by Ibn al-Nadim (d. 385/995 or 388/998) and Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani (336–430/948–1038){{sfn|ref=Akhbār|Abū Nuʿaym, ''Akhbār''|loc= vol. 2, p. 22}}{{sfn|ref=al-Fihrist|Ibn al-Nadīm, ''al-Fihrist''|p=128}}}} However, the credibility of these dates is to be treated with caution. No source places his death earlier than 967, but several place it later. These dates are at odds with a reference in the ''Kitab Adab al-ghuraba'' ("The Book of the Etiquettes of Strangers"), attributed to al-Isfahani, to his being in the prime of youth (''fi ayyam al-shabiba wa-l-siba'') in 967.{{sfn|al-Hamawī, ''Muʿjam al-udabāʾ''|ref=Muʿjam al-udabāʾ|loc=vol. 13, p. 95–97}}{{sfn|al-Iṣfahānī, ''Adab al-ghurabāʾ''|ref=al-ghurabā|p=83–86}}{{Efn|The attribution of ''Adab al-ghuraba'' to al-Isfahani is much disputed in current scholarship. The scholars who affirm al-Isfahani as the author of ''Adab al-ghuraba'' include:{{sfn|Azarnoosh|1992|p=733}}{{sfn|Günther|2007|p=}}{{sfn|al-Munajjid|1972|p=10–16}}{{sfn|Kilpatrick|2004|p=230–242}}{{sfn|Kilpatrick|1978|p=127–135}} On the opposite side are:{{sfn|Hoyland|2006|p=36–39}}{{sfn|Crone|Moreh|2000|p=128–143}}}} Calculation of the approximate dates of his birth and death through the life spans of his students and his direct informants suggests that he was born before 902 and died after 960.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Su|first=I-Wen|date=2020|title=Abū al-Faraj ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Iṣfahānī, the Author of the Kitāb al-Aghānī|url=https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/WikiJournal_of_Humanities/Ab%C5%AB_al-Faraj_%CA%BFAl%C4%AB_b._al-%E1%B8%A4usayn_al-I%E1%B9%A3fah%C4%81n%C4%AB,_the_Author_of_the_Kit%C4%81b_al-Agh%C4%81n%C4%AB|journal=WikiJournal of Humanities|volume=3|issue=1|pages=1|doi=10.15347/wjh/2020.001|doi-access=free}}  [[File:CC BY-SA icon.svg|50px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported] license.</ref>