Sunnism, Poetry, and the Geographical Anthology: The Case of ʿUmāra al-Yamanī’s Crucifixion in Kharīdat al-Qaṣr
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Between 384/994 and 573/1178, a series of three poetry geographically organized anthologies was published, the Yatīmat al-dahr by Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī (d. 429/1038), Dumyat al-qaṣr by ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Bākharzī (d. 476/1075), and the Kharīdat al-qaṣr of ʿImād al-Dīn al-Iṣfahānī (d. 597/1201). Although varying in exact organization and distribution of content, all three anthologies aspired to reproduce poetry from across the Islamic world, catalogued by region, such as Iraq, al-Shām, or Khurāsān. The phenomenon of the geographical anthology is evidently expressive not only of literary continuity—each author was aware of and modelled his own anthology on that of his predecessor(s)—but emerged from a particular socio-historical milieu. Al-Thaʿālibī, al-Bākharzī, and ʿImad al-Dīn had several important traits in common beyond the composition of anthologies of poetry. All were Iranian but composed entirely in Arabic. They were also all Sunnī, patronized by Sunnī political leaders; al-Thaʿālibī had several patrons, but the most prominent was Maḥmūd of Ghazna, while al-Bākharzī dedicated his anthology to Niẓām al-Mulk, and ʿImād al-Dīn was the kātib of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn ibn Ayyūb (Saladin, r. 569/1174–589/1193). Al-Bākharzī and ʿImād al-Dīn were both initially trained as Shāfiʿī jurists but wound up serving as chancery officials.
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Leverhulme Trust (ECF-2017-548)