Ibn Abi al-Hadid
- Died
- 656 AH
- Born in
- -
Ibn Abi al-Hadid (586–656 AH / 1190–1258 CE) was an Iraqi scholar, secretary, and poet from al-Mada'in who served in the Abbasid administration in Baghdad and is best known for his extensive commentary on Nahj al-Balaghah (The Peak of Eloquence) .
Lineage and education
He was Izz al-Din Abu Hamid Abd al-Hamid ibn Hibat Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Mada'ini, commonly known as Ibn Abi al-Hadid . He was born in al-Mada'in on 1 Dhu al-Hijjah 586 AH into a family of judicial standing, where his father served as judge . He was raised and began his early studies there alongside his brother, Muwaffaq al-Din Ahmad .
Moving to Baghdad, he studied Arabic literature and grammar under Abu al-Baqa al-Ukbari and Abu al-Khayr Musaddiq ibn Shabib al-Wasiti . He also studied Shafi'i jurisprudence and theological principles (usul), adopting the Mu'tazili school in theology . At the age of twenty-five, he composed his well-known collection of praise poems dedicated to Ali ibn Abi Talib, titled al-Qasa'id al-Sab' al-Alawiyyat (The Seven Alid Odes) .
Career and later life
Ibn Abi al-Hadid entered the service of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, working as an official scribe and poet in the central chancery (al-diwan al-khalifati) and serving in offices such as the financial supervision bureau (diwan al-zimam) and the ceremonial bureau (dar al-tashrifat), in addition to being appointed inspector of the hospital (nazir al-bimaristan) . He gained high favor with the caliph al-Musta'sim's vizier, Ibn al-Alqami, who patronized him due to their shared literary and theological sympathies . Ibn Abi al-Hadid dedicated his twenty-volume Sharh Nahj al-Balaghah to Ibn al-Alqami, for which the vizier rewarded him generously . He also composed al-Falak al-Dair ala al-Mathal al-Sair (The Orbiting Sphere over the Current Proverb) in thirteen days as a critique of Diya al-Din Ibn al-Athir's treatise on literary style .
During the Mongol siege and sack of Baghdad led by Hulagu in Muharram 656 AH, Ibn Abi al-Hadid and his brother survived the massacres by taking refuge in the residence of Ibn al-Alqami . Following the city's fall, the scholar Nasir al-Din al-Tusi placed the supervision of the libraries of Baghdad under the joint custody of Ibn Abi al-Hadid, his brother Muwaffaq al-Din, and Taj al-Din Ali ibn Anjab .
Ibn Abi al-Hadid died shortly thereafter in Baghdad in Jumada al-Akhirah 656 AH at the age of seventy years and six months; another historical report places his death in 655 AH .
Scholarly standing
Biographers recognized Ibn Abi al-Hadid as an accomplished epistolographer, poet, and scholar of speculative theology, history, and rhetoric . The traditionist Sharaf al-Din al-Dimyati transmitted from him . While noted for his broad learning and mastery of the Arabic language, Sunni biographical accounts frequently criticized his doctrinal inclination, describing him as a Mu'tazili and an excessive Shi'i on account of his theological arguments and his poems praising Ali .
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List of Works
al-Falak al-Dair ala al-Mathal al-Sair is a work of literary criticism and rhetoric composed as a critique and refutation of Diya al-Din Ibn al-Athir's treatise on prose and poetic composition, al-Mathal al-Sair fi Adab al-Katib wa-al-Sha'ir.