A literary history of Persia

MEN OF LETTERS (A.D. 874-900) 357mentioned. Ibnu'l-Wahshiyya, the author of the celebrated" Book of Nabathzan Agriculture," wherein he sought todemonstrate, the superiority of the old Babyloniansto theArabs in point of civilisation, flourished about this period.Da'ud b. 'All, the founder of the Dhahiri (or Zahirite x ) school,who held strongly to the literalmeaning of the Qur'an andTraditions, and discountenanced all allegorical interpretations, 2died in A.D. 883. Abii Ma'shar, the great astronomer, one ofal-Kindi's pupils, died in A.D. 885, about which time al-Fakihi,the historian of Mecca, wrote. Ibn Maja (t A.D. 885) shouldhave been mentioned in connection with al-Bukhdrf and hissuccessors in the Science of Tradition. Sahl b. 'Abdu'llah ofShushtar, mystic and Qur'dn-reader, was a pupil of the earliermystic Dhu'n-Nvin, and died about A.D. 886. As a collectorand critical editor of old Arabic poems (e.g., the Diwdn of thepoets of the tribe of Hudhayl) as-Sukkari, one of al-Asma'i'spupils, deserves a passing mention (t A.D. 888). The eroticand satirical poet Ibnu'r-Rumi owed his death (A.D. 889 or896) to his bitter tongue. Ibn Abi'd-Dunya (d. A.D. 894),tutor to the Caliph al-Muktafi in his youth, was the author ofseveral collections of stories and anecdotes. Al-Buhturi thepoet (A.D. 897) and al-Mubarrad the philologist (t A.D. 899)ought also to be mentioned. Much more important, however,from our point of view are the four historians Ibn Qutayba(t A.D. 889), al-Baladhuri (t A.D. 892), ad-Dinawari (t A.D.895), and Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi, who wrote about this time. 3Of these, the first three were Persians, while the last was an*See a monograph on this school by Dr. Ignaz Goldziher, Die ZdhiritenLeipzig, 1884.aSee Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab. Litt., vol. i, pp. 120, 123, and 141.3 The works of these writers, which have been published and are easilyaccessible, and which should be read by all students of Persian history,are : the Kitdbu'l-Ma'drif of Ibn Qutayba (ed. Wustcnfeld, GSttingen,1850) the Futithu'l-Bulddn; (ed. de Goeje, Leyden, 1855) ; the Akhbdru'tfiwdlolDinawari (ed. Guirgass, Leyden, 1888) and; al-Ya'qiibi's History(ed. Houtsma, Leyden, 1883, 2 vols.).