Editing Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (section)

=== Education and career ===
The Isfahani family's extensive network of contacts is reflected in al-Isfahani's sources. Among the direct informants whom al-Isfahani cites in his works, are members of his own family, who were further connected to other notable families,{{sfn|Khalafallāh|1962|p=41–51}} the Al Thawaba,{{Efn|Al-Isfahani's sources are al-Abbas b. Ahmad b. Thawaba and Yahya b. Muhammad b. Thawaba, al-Isfahani's grandfather from the maternal side, who is cited indirectly.{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=29, 133}}|name=fn19}} the Banū Munajjim,{{Efn|Al-Isfahani has three informants from the Banū Munajjim, whose members were associated with the Abbasid court as boon companions, scholars, or astrologists: Ahmad b. Yahya b. Ali (262–327/876–940); Ali b. Harun b. Ali (277–352/890–963); and Yahya b. Ali b. Yahya (241–300/855–912).{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=38, 40, 68–69}} About the Banu Munajjim; see:{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2012|p=}}|name=fn20}} the Yazīdīs,{{Efn|The Yazīdīs were famed for its members’ mastery of poetry, the Qurʾānic readings, the [[w:Hadith|''ḥadīth'']], and philology. Muhammad b. al-Abbas al-Yazīdī (d. ''c''. 228–310/842–922) was the tutor of the children of the caliph, al-Muqtadir (r. 295–320/908–932), and transmitted Abu Ubayda's ''Naqa'id'', Thaalab's ''Majalis'', and the works of his family; many of his narrations are preserved in the ''Aghani''.{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=54–56}}{{sfn|Sellheim|2012|p=}}|name=fn21}} the Ṣūlīs,{{Efn|The association with the Ṣūlīs likely began in the generation of al-Isfahani's grandfather, Muhammad b. Ahmad, who was close to Ibrahim b. al-Abbas al-Ṣūlī; see the [[#Family|section on Family]]. Al-Isfahani's direct sources from this family are the famous al-Ṣūlī, Muhammad b. Yahya (d. 335/946 or 336/947), who was the boon companion of a number of the caliphs and a phenomenal chess player; his son, Yahya b. Muhammad al-Ṣūlī; and al-Abbas b. Ali, known as Ibn Burd al-Khiyār. See:{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=32, 64–65}}{{sfn|ref=al-Aghānī|al-Iṣfahānī, ''Kitāb al-Aghānī''|loc=vol. 9, p. 229}} See also:{{sfn|ref=al-Fihrist|Ibn al-Nadīm, ''al-Fihrist''|p=167}}{{sfn|Leder|2012|p=}}|name=fn22}} the Banū Ḥamdūn,{{Efn|The Banu Hamdun were known for their boon companionship at the Abbasid court in the ninth century; al-Isfahani's informant is Abdallāh b. Ahmad b. Ḥamdūn;{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=30}} about the Banū Ḥamdūn; see:{{sfn|ref=al-Fihrist|Ibn al-Nadīm, ''al-Fihrist''|p=161}}{{sfn|Vadet|2012|p=}}|name=fn23}} the Ṭāhirids,{{Efn|Yahya b. Muhammad b. ʿAbdallāh b. Ṭāhir, identified by al-Isfahani as the nephew of ʿUbaydallāh b. ʿAbdallāh b. Ṭāhir (d. 300/913), is the son of Muhammad b. ʿAbdallāh b. Ṭāhir (d. 296/908–9), the governor of Khurāsān.{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=69}}{{sfn|ref=al-Aghānī|al-Iṣfahānī, ''Kitāb al-Aghānī''|loc=vol. 21, p. 48}} See also:{{sfn|Zetterstéen|2012|p=}}{{sfn|Bosworth|Marín|Smith|2012|p=}}|name=fn24}} the Banū al-Marzubān{{Efn|Al-Isfahani mentions a conversation between his father and Muhammad b. Khalaf b. al-Marzubānī and notes the long-term friendship and marital tie between the two families; see:{{sfn|ref=al-Aghānī|al-Iṣfahānī, ''Kitāb al-Aghānī''|loc=vol. 24, p. 37}} I owe this reference to: {{sfn|Kilpatrick|2003|p=17}} Muhammad b. Khalaf b. al-Marzubān is a ubiquitous informant in the ''Aghānī''; see:{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=58–59}}|name=fn25}} and the Ṭālibids.{{Efn|The Ṭālibid informants of al-Isfahani comprise: Ali b. al-Husayn b. Ali b. Hamza; Ali b. Ibrahim b. Muhammad; Ali b. Muhammad b. Ja'far; Ja'far b. Muhammad b. Ja'far; Muhammad b. Ali b. Hamza; see: {{sfn|Günther|1991|p=140–141; 141–144; 150; 161–162; 190–191}}|name=fn26}}

Given that al-Isfahani and his family very likely settled in Baghdad around the beginning of the tenth century,{{Efn|al-Isfahani's uncle, al-Hasan b. Muhammad, mentioned in the ''Tarikh Madinat al-Salam'', either settled in Baghdad with him or at least active for some time there; see:{{sfn|ref=al-Aghānī|al-Iṣfahānī, ''Kitāb al-Aghānī''|loc=vol. 23, p. 21}}{{sfn|ref=Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām|al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, ''Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām''|loc=vol. 8, p. 440}}}} he interacted with a considerable number of the inhabitants of or visitors to that city, including: Jaḥẓa (d. 936),{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=34–35}} al-Khaffāf,{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=46–47}} Ali b. Sulaymān al-Akhfash (d. 927/8),{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=41–42}} and Muhammad b. Jarir al-Ṭabari (d. 922).{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=58}} Like other scholars of his time, al-Isfahani travelled in pursuit of knowledge. Although the details are insufficient to establish the dates of his journeys, based on the chains of transmission (''asānīd'', sing. ''isnād'') al-Isfahani cites consistently and meticulously in every report, it is certain that he transmitted from ʿAbd al-Malik b. Maslama and ʿĀṣim b. Muhammad in Antakya;{{sfn|al-Iṣfahānī, ''Kitāb al-Aghānī''|ref=al-Aghānī|loc=vol. 13, p. 25; vol. 14, p. 46–50}} ʿAbdallāh b. Muhammad b. Ishaq in [[Ahvaz|Ahwaz]];{{sfn|al-Iṣfahānī, ''Kitāb al-Aghānī''|ref=al-Aghānī|loc=vol. 17, p. 157}} and Yahya b. Aḥmad b. al-Jawn in [[Raqqa]].{{sfn|al-Iṣfahānī, ''Kitāb al-Aghānī''|ref=al-Aghānī|loc=vol. 24, p. 67}} If we accept the attribution of the ''Kitab Adab al-ghuraba'' to al-Isfahani, he once visited [[Baṣra]] as well as Ḥiṣn Mahdī, Mattūth, and Bājistrā.{{sfn|Azarnoosh|1992|p=721}}{{sfn|Kilpatrick|2003|p=18}} Yet, none of these cities seems to have left as much of an impact on al-Isfahani as [[Kūfa]] and Baghdad did. While al-Isfahani's Baghdadi informants were wide-ranging in their expertise as well as sectarian and theological tendencies, his Kūfan sources can be characterised as either Shi'i or keen on preserving and disseminating memories that favoured Ali and his family. For example, Ibn ʿUqda (d. 944), mentioned in both the ''Aghānī'' and the ''Maqātil,'' was invariably cited for the reports about the [[Alids]] and their merits.{{sfn|Günther|1991|p=127–131}}{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=36–37}}{{sfn|Su|2016|p=204–209}}{{efn|About Ibn ʿUqd, see also:{{sfn|Brown|2008|p=55–58}}}}

The journey in search for knowledge taken by al-Isfahani may not be particularly outstanding by the standard of his time,{{Efn|Compare, for instance, his teacher, al-Ṭabarī.{{sfn|Bosworth|2012|p=}}}} but the diversity of his sources' occupations and expertise is impressive. His informants can be assigned into one or more of the following categories:{{Efn|It has to be kept in mind that the categorisation is based on the attributives given by al-Isfahani. Just as al-Isfahani was not a local Isfahani, the subjects discussed here do not necessarily engage with the professions their ''nisbas'' indicate.}} philologists and grammarians;{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=41–42 (al-Akhfash); 60–61 (Ibn Durayd); 32 (Ibn Rustam); 30 (ʿAbd al-Malik al-Ḍarīr)}} singers and musicians;{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=42 (Dhukāʾ Wajh al-Ruzza); 34 (Jaḥẓa)}} booksellers and copyists (''sahhafun'' or ''warraqun'', sing. ''sahhaf'' or ''[[Warraq]]'');{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=52–53 (ʿĪsā b. al-Ḥusayn al-Warrāq); 40 (ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Warrāq); 37 (Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ṣaḥḥāf); 31 (ʿAbd al-Wahhāb b. ʿUbayd al-Ṣaḥḥāf); 65 (Muḥammad b. Zakariyyā al-Ṣaḥḥāf)}} friends;{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=32 (Abū al-Qāsim al-Shīrbābakī)}}{{Efn|See also the footnotes above: {{Efn|name=fn20}}{{Efn|name=fn22}}{{Efn|name=fn23}}}} tutors (''muʾaddibūn'', sing. ''muʾaddib'');{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=32 (Aḥmad b. al-ʿAbbās al-Muʾaddib); 35 (Aḥmad b. ʿImrān al-Muʾaddib); 61–62 (Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn al-Muʾaddib); 62 (Muḥammad b. ʿImrān al-Muʾaddib)}} scribes (''kuttāb'', sing. [[Katib|''kātib'']]);{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=43–44 (Jaʿfar b. Qudāma al-Kātib); 50–51 (al-Ḥusayn b. al-Qāsim al-Kawkabī al-Kātib); 53 (Isḥāq b. al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Kātib); 41 (ʿAlī b. Ṣāliḥ al-Kātib); 39 (ʿAlī b. al-ʿAbbās al-Ṭalḥī al-Kātib); 39–40 (ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Kātib); 49 (al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad al-Kātib); 57 (Muḥammad b. Baḥr al-Iṣfahānī al-Kātib)}} imams or preachers (''khuṭabāʾ'', sing. [[Khatib|''khaṭīb'']]); {{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=61 (Muḥammad b. Ḥusayn al-Kindī was al-Iṣfahānī’s tutor and the preacher at the congregational mosque in Qādisiyya); 40–41 (ʿAlī b. Muḥammad, an imam of a Kūfan mosque)}}{{sfn|al-Iṣfahānī, ''Kitāb al-Aghānī''|ref=al-Aghānī|loc=vol. 15, p. 255; vol. 19, p. 38; vol. 20, p. 163; vol. 21, p. 158}} religious scholars (of the ''ḥadīth'', the Qurʾānic recitations and exegeses, or jurisprudence) and judges;{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=30 (ʿAbdallāh b. Abī Dāwūd al-Sijistānī); 36–37 (Ibn ʿUqda); 58 (Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī); 59–60 (Muḥammad b. Khalaf Wakīʿ)}} poets;{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=42 (ʿĀṣim b. Muḥammad al-Shāʿir); 49 (al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad al-Shāʿir)}} and ''akhbārīs'' (transmitters of reports of all sorts, including genealogical, historical, and anecdotal reports).{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=37 (Aḥmad b. Sulaymān al-Ṭūsī); 37–38 (Ibn ʿAmmār); 42–43 (Abū Khalīfa al-Jumaḥī); 45–46 (al-Ḥaramī b. Abī al-ʿAlāʾ)}} The variety of the narrators and their narrations enriched al-Iṣfahānī's literary output, which covers a wide range of topics from amusing tales to the accounts of the Alids' martyrdom.{{Efn|See [[#Legacy|Legacy]], below}} His erudition is best illustrated by Abu Ali al-Muhassin al-Tanukhi's (941–994) comment: "With his encyclopaedic knowledge of music, musicians, poetry, poets, genealogy, history, and other subjects, al-Iṣfahānī established himself as a learned scholar and teacher."{{sfn|al-Hamawī, ''Muʿjam al-udabāʾ''|ref=Muʿjam al-udabāʾ|loc=vol. 13, p. 129–130}}{{sfn|Khalafallāh|1962|p=168–169}}{{sfn|al-Aṣmaʿī|1951|p=73–85}}{{sfn|ʿĀṣī|1993|p=24–30}}

He was also a scribe and this is not surprising, given his families’ scribal connections, but the details of his ''kātib'' activities are rather opaque.{{Efn|For the few references by al-Isfahani to his administrative tasks, see:{{sfn|Kilpatrick|2003|p=18}}}} Although both al-Tanūkhī and al-Baghdādī refer to al-Isfahani with the attribute, ''kātib'', they mention nothing of where he worked or for whom.{{sfn|al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, ''Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām''|ref=Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām|loc=vol. 13, p. 337}}{{sfn|al-Tanūkhī, ''al-Faraj''|ref=al-Faraj|loc=vol. 2, p. 334}}{{sfn|al-Tanūkhī, ''Nishwār''|ref=Nishwār|loc=vol. 1, p. 18}} The details of his occupation as a scribe only came later, with Yaqut, many of whose reports about al-Isfahani prove problematic. For instance, a report from Yaqut claims that al-Isfahani was the scribe of Rukn al-Dawla (d. 976) and mentions his resentment towards Abū al-Faḍl b. al-ʿAmīd (d. 970).{{sfn|al-Hamawī, ''Muʿjam al-udabāʾ''|ref=Muʿjam al-udabāʾ|loc=vol. 13, p. 110–111}} However, the very same report was mentioned by Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī (active tenth century{{sfn|Stern|2012|p=}}) in his ''Akhlāq al-wazīrayn'', where the scribe of Rukn al-Dawla is identified as Abū al-Faraj Ḥamd b. Muhammad, not Abū al-Faraj al-Isfahani.{{sfn|Azarnoosh|1992|p=726–727}}{{sfn|al-Tawḥīdī, ''Akhlāq al‑wazīrayn''|ref=Akhlāq al‑wazīrayn|p=421–422}}{{Blockquote|Amongst the Shīʿī narrators whom we have seen, none has memorised poems, melodies, reports, traditions (''al-āthār''), ''al-aḥādīth al-musnada'' (narrations with chains of transmission, including the Prophetic ''ḥadīth''), and genealogy by heart like Abū al-Faraj al-Isfahani. Very proficient in these matters, he is also knowledgeable in the military campaigns and the biography of the Prophet (''al-maghāzī'' and ''al-sīra''), lexicography, grammar, legendary tales (''al-khurāfāt''), and the accomplishments required of courtiers (''ālat al-munādama''), like falconry (''al-jawāriḥ''), veterinary science (''al-bayṭara''), some notions of medicine (''nutafan min al-ṭibb''), astrology, drinks (''al-ashriba''), and other things.|author=Al-Khaṭīb{{sfn|ref=Wafayāt|Ibn Khallikān, ''Wafayāt''|loc=vol. 3, p. 307}}{{sfn|ref=Siyar|al-Dhahabī, ''Siyar''|p=2774}}{{sfn|ref=Inbāh|al-Qifṭī, ''Inbāh''|loc=vol. 2, p. 251}}{{efn|It is noteworthy that the first sentence of this quote is written differently from the works given here in al-Khaṭīb's ''Tārīkh''.{{sfn|ref=Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām|al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, ''Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām''|loc=vol. 13, p. 339}}}}}} Thus, it is hard to know with certainty how and where al-Isfahani was engaged in his capacity as a ''kātib''. Nevertheless, al-Isfahani's association with the vizier, [[Abū Muḥammad al-Muhallabī]] (903–963), is well-documented. The friendship between the two began before al-Muhallabī's became vizier in 950.{{sfn|al-Hamawī, ''Muʿjam al-udabāʾ''|ref=Muʿjam al-udabāʾ|loc=vol. 13, p. 105}}{{Efn|Among the frequently cited sources in the ''Aghānī'' is Ḥabīb b. Naṣr al-Muhallabī (d. 307/919), presumably from the Muhallabid family, but it is not clear how this informant relates to Abū Muhammad al-Muhallabī; see:{{sfn|Fleischhammer|2004|p=44}}}} The firm relationship between them is supported by al-Isfahani's poetry collected by al-Thaʿālibī (961–1038): half of the fourteen poems are panegyrics dedicated to al-Muhallabī.{{sfn|al-Thaʿālibī, ''Yatīmat''|ref=Yatīmat|loc=vol. 3, p. 127–131}} In addition, al-Isfahani's own work, ''al-Imāʾ al-shawāʿir'' (“Enslaved Women Who Composed Poetry”), is dedicated to the vizier, presumably, al-Muhallabī.{{sfn|al-Iṣfahānī, ''al-Imāʿ al-shawāʿir''|ref=al-shawāʿir|p=23}} His no longer surviving ''Manājīb al-khiṣyān'' (“The Noble Eunuchs”), which addresses two castrated male singers owned by al-Muhallabī, was composed for him.{{sfn|al-Hamawī, ''Muʿjam al-udabāʾ''|ref=Muʿjam al-udabāʾ|loc=vol. 13, p. 100}} His ''magnum opus'', the ''Aghānī'', was very likely intended for al-Muhallabī, as well.{{Efn|See [[#Legacy|section on Legacy]]}} In return for his literary efforts, according to al-Tanūkhī, al-Isfahani frequently received rewards from the vizier.{{sfn|al-Tanūkhī, ''Nishwār''|ref=Nishwār|loc=vol. 1, p. 74}} Furthermore, for the sake of their long-term friendship and out of his respect for al-Isfahani's genius, al-Muhallabī exceptionally tolerated al-Isfahani's uncouth manners and poor personal hygiene.{{sfn|al-Hamawī, ''Muʿjam al-udabāʾ''|ref=Muʿjam al-udabāʾ|loc=vol. 13, p. 101–103}} The sources say nothing about al-Isfahani's fate after al-Muhallabī's death. In his last years, according to his student, Muhammad b. Abī al-Fawāris, he suffered from senility (''khallaṭa'').{{sfn|al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, ''Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām''|ref=Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām|loc=vol. 13, p. 340}}{{efn|See also: {{sfn|Kilpatrick|2003|p=19}}}}