Abū 'Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn 'Imrān ibn Mūsā ibn Sa'īd ibn 'Abd Allāh al-Marzubānī , was a prolific author of adab, , history and ḥadīth. He lived all his life in his native city, Baghdad, although his family came originally from Khurāsān.
Life
Al-Marzubānī came from a wealthy family connected to the royal court of the Abbāsid caliph. Ibn al-Jawālīqī in his Kitāb al-Mu'arrab, explains that al-Marzubānī inherited his Persian epithet "Marzban", which means 'Guardian of the frontier'. The Buyid amir ‘Aḍūd al-Dawla was known to visit his residence on the east bank of the Tigris, where he would also entertain members of a literary circle dedicated to the conservation and transmission of Arabic philological literature. Fellow authors in his circle were Abū Ya'qūb al-Najīramī, Abū Sa'īd al-Sīrāfī and Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik al-Tārīkhī. He edited the first dīwān by the Umayyad caliphYazīd ibn Mu'āwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, which he produced in a small volume of about three kurrāsa, – ca., 60 ff.
al-Ṣūlī held al-Marzubānī in high esteem and much of al-Marzubānī's material in his Kitāb al-Muwashshaḥ and his compilation technique was apparently borrowed from him.
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim ibn al-Anbārī was a famous pupil of Tha'lab.
Abū Bakr al-Khwārizmī led the funeral service. He was buried in his house on Shari Amr al-Rūmī, on the eastern quarter of Baghdād.
Legacy
He was the last of the authorities of literary and oral traditionIsḥāq al-Nadīm met. He was cited by the Mu'tazilitetheologian Abū 'Abd Allāh al-Ṣaymarī , Abū al-Qāsim al-Tanūkhi, Abū Muḥammad al-Jauhari, et al. Some sectarian-based criticismattributed to al-Marzubānī's religious leanings and madhhab, despite his publication of Ḥanafī, Shī'i and Mu'tazilariwāya and akhbar.seems to have led to the relative neglect of his writings by Sunni scholars in later centuries.
Works
Among his books were:
Books about the ''Sawād''{{refn|group=n|Sawād usually meant central and southern Irāq but here could mean the people or the environs. These books are omitted in Flügel edition.}}
An'ān al-Shi'rEssences of Poetry'; about praise and satire, glory and generosity
