Al-Fath ibn Khaqan (al-Andalus)

Abū Naṣr al-Fatḥ ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Khāqān ibn Abdallah al-Qaysī al-Ishbīlī (; died 11 November 1134), known as al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān, was a 12th-century popular anthologist of al-Andalus.

Life

Ibn Khāqān was born in either Alcalá la Real or Seville. He received an elite education and travelled widely across al-Andalus. Described as a 'libertine' and yet he was appointed secretary to the Almoravid governor of Granada Abū Yūsuf Tāshfīn ibn ‘Alī; a post he abandoned almost immediately to travel to Marrakesh where sometime later he was murdered, it was rumoured, on the orders of the sultan. He died on 11 November 1134.

The main sources for his biography are:

• Ibn KhallikanWafayāt al-A’yān wa-Anbā’ Abnā’ al-Zamān (tr. Obituaries of Eminent Men}
• Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Diyha al-KalbÄ«Al-Mutrib fÄ« Ash’ār Ahl il-Mughrib
• Al-á¹¢afadÄ«Al-WāfÄ« bi-'l-wafayāt

Works

• Qalā'id al-'Iqyān () ‘Collars of Gold’ or 'Necklace of Rubies'; akhbar (traditions) of poets of the Maghreb and al-Andalus, who were his contemporaries with examples of their poems.
• Maá¹­maḥ al-anfus wa-masraḥ al-taʼannus fÄ« mulaḥ ahl al-Andalus () (Kābir, Wāsiá¹­, SaghÄ«r Large, Medium, Small) 'The Aspiration of the Souls and the Theater of Congeniality in the Anecdotes of the People of al-Andalus'; History of the ministers, scribes and poets of al-Andalus.

These two works are written in rhymed prose full of metaphorical expressions and are an excellent source of information about the apogee of Andalusian letters.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

• Literary Excerpts on Art and Architecture in Andalusia, compiled and translated by Cynthia Robinson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton