al-Bakharzi
- Died
- 467 AH
- Born in
- -
al-Bakharzi (d. 467 AH / 1075 CE) was a Khurasanian poet, chancery scribe, and literary biographer from Bakharz, best known for his biographical anthology of contemporary poets, Dumyat al-qasr wa-usrat ahl al-asr ("The Statue of the Palace and the Refuge of the People of the Age") .
Lineage and Early Life
His full name was Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi al-Tayyib al-Bakharzi al-Sabkhi, though Abu al-Hasan al-Bayhaqi noted that his kunya was Abu al-Qasim . His nisba associates him with Bakharz, an agricultural district in the region of Nishapur towards Herat .
In his youth, al-Bakharzi studied Shafi'i jurisprudence under Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni, the father of Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni, joining his circle of disciples . He also heard hadith from Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni, Abu Uthman al-Sabuni, and Abu al-Fadl Ubayd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Mikyali . The hadith transmitter Abu Shuja al-Dhuhli transmitted from him .
Career and Travels
Al-Bakharzi eventually left the full-time study of jurisprudence to dedicate himself to epistolary composition (insha'), poetry, and belles-lettres (adab), in which he excelled . He traveled widely across the Islamic lands and entered Iraq alongside his father . In Baghdad, he delivered panegyrics before the Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah .
Al-Bakharzi entered the service of the Seljuk vizier Abu Nasr al-Kunduri, working as a chancery scribe under him and frequenting the department of official correspondence (diwan al-rasa'il) . He also resided for a period in Basra before fluctuating fortunes across various official ranks led him back to Khurasan .
Standing and Literary Impact
Biographers characterized al-Bakharzi as an exceptional stylist and poet of his era . His poetry was gathered into a large divan (Diwan) that circulated widely .
His principal anthology, Dumyat al-qasr, was compiled as a continuation (dhayl) to Abu Mansur al-Tha'alibi's Yatimat al-dahr, cataloging numerous contemporary poets and writers of the fifth century AH . The work prompted further supplements, including Wishah al-dumya by Ali ibn Zayd al-Bayhaqi . When Imad al-Din al-Katib al-Isfahani read Dumyat al-qasr in the library of Taj al-Mulk at the grand mosque of Isfahan, it inspired him to compose his own expansive continuation, Kharidat al-qasr .
Death
Al-Bakharzi was murdered during a private gathering of entertainment (majlis uns) in Bakharz by a Turk during the administration of Nizam al-Mulk . His death occurred in Dhu al-Qa'da 467 AH (c. June–July 1075 CE) in his middle age, and his killing went unavenged . He was buried in Bakharz .
Answer updated
List of Works
Dumyat al-Qasr wa Usrat Ahl al-Asr is a biographical anthology composed in Arabic that focuses on fifth-century AH poets and literary figures. Serving as a continuation to Yatimat al-Dahr, it documents contemporary literary figures across the Islamic world who flourished after that survey, up to the mid-fifth century AH.