Year: 2024
Type: book-review
Abstract: In Arabic historiography, ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Muʿtazz (d.296/908) is often remembered as "the caliph of a day and a night" (khalīfat yawm wa-layla), but his legacy extends beyond the tragic brevity of his political career.He was proclaimed caliph by a faction within the palace to replace the young al-Muqtadir (r.295-320/908-32) on 20 Rabīʿ al-Awwal 296 (22 December 908).However, the palace guards rejected Ibn al-Muʿtazz as an alternative, and he was deposed the following day and ultimately killed shortly thereafter.Though Ibn al-Muʿtazz had the pedigree and education for political power, he was more a man of letters than of politics and was reportedly reluctant to take the throne.Raised by his grandmother Qabīḥa-literally, "the ugly woman," which appears to be an apotropaic name-he was placed in the care of prominent scholars and received a comprehensive education.He was an accomplished poet and literary critic, best known for his seminal treatise on poetics Kitāb al-Badīʿ, a work that explores stylistic and rhetorical techniques in Abbasid poetry, highlighting that these techniques could also be found in earlier Arabic poems as well as in the Islamic scripture and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad.He also authored Ṭabaqāt al-shuʿarāʾ al-muḥdathīn fī madḥ al-khulafāʾ wa-l-wuzarāʾ, ranking poets who praised caliphs and viziers, and Fuṣūl al-tamāthīl fī tabāshīr al-surūr, a study on appropriate courtly behavior and bacchanalia.Additionally, he addressed proper etiquette in another work, Kitāb al-Ādāb or Fuṣūl qiṣār (no longer extant), a collection of wisdom literature from various traditions, showcasing Ibn al-Muʿtazz's integration of Abbasid, Sasanian, and Arab cultural elements.He also produced a substantial dīwān (collection of poetry) covering various themes, including hunting poetry (ṭardiyya, pl.ṭardiyyāt), describing different aspects of the hunt.
Source: Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta
Author: Haci Gunduz
Institution: Harvard University
Language: English
Topic: Islamic Studies and History
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4405366709