Ibn Masum al-Hasani
- Died
- 1119 AH
- Born in
- -
Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Masum (1052–1119 AH / 1642–1707 CE) was a scholar of literature, rhetorician, and biographer, best known for his biographical dictionary Sulafat al-asr fi mahasin a'yan al-asr and his rhetorical commentary Anwar al-rabi fi anwa al-badi.
Lineage and early life
His full lineage is Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ibn Salam Allah ibn Mas'ud ibn Muhammad ibn Ghiyath al-Din Mansur al-Dastaki al-Shirazi al-Husayni, also known as Ali Khan ibn Mirza Ahmad and widely recognized as Ibn Mas'um. His ancestry traced back to Ja'far ibn Zayd ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn.
He was born on the night of Saturday, 15 Jumada al-Ula 1052 AH in Medina, where he was raised, though another account states that he was born in Mecca. In 1068 AH, he traveled to India to join his father. There, he studied Arabic grammar, rhetoric (ilm al-bayan), arithmetic, and jurisprudence under Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ali al-Hashri al-Amili, training under him in both poetry and prose composition. He also studied hadith under Shaykh Jafar ibn Kamal al-Din al-Bahrani during the latter's stay with his father in Hyderabad.
Career in India
Following the death of Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah of Golconda, his son-in-law Abu al-Hasan Qutb Shah ascended the throne in Hyderabad. The new ruler turned against Ibn Mas'um's father, imprisoning him until his death in 1086 AH. Fearing further hostility toward his family, Ibn Mas'um corresponded secretly with the Mughal Emperor Alamgir, who subsequently ordered Abu al-Hasan to send Ibn Mas'um and his dependents to the Mughal court.
Ibn Mas'um joined Emperor Alamgir at Burhanpur, where the emperor welcomed him and granted him a rank (mansab) of 1,500 personal and 300 cavalry. He accompanied the imperial entourage to Aurangabad and was appointed guardian of the city when the emperor marched toward Ahmadnagar. Later, he was appointed governor of Mahur in the region of Berar, and subsequently held the position of director of the land tax bureau (diwan al-kharaj) in Burhanpur for a prolonged period.
Travels, retirement, and death
After concluding his service in India, Ibn Mas'um traveled to the Hijaz to perform the pilgrimage at the Two Holy Sanctuaries. He then journeyed to Iraq to visit the shrine cities before proceeding to Shiraz, his family's ancestral homeland. In Shiraz, he secluded himself in al-Madrasa al-Mansuriyya, an academy established by his forebear Ghiyath al-Din Mansur, dedicating his remaining years to scholarly work. Among his writings from his broader corpus is Riyad al-salikin, an extensive commentary on the devotional supplications of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya.
He died in Shiraz in 1119 AH (1707 CE), though variant reports place his death in 1117 AH or 1120 AH.
Answer updated
List of Works
Anwar al-Rabi fi Anwa al-Badi (The Lights of Spring on the Types of Rhetorical Devices) is an extensive Arabic work on rhetoric (ilm al-badi). It consists of a comprehensive commentary (sharh) written to explicate a badi'iyyah—a rhetorical panegyric ode composed in praise of the Prophet Muhammad.
Sulafat al-Asr fi Mahasin al-Shuara bi-Kull Misr (The Choice Wine of the Age on the Merits of the Poets of Every Region) is an Arabic biographical anthology devoted to recording the biographies, prose anecdotes, and selected verses of eleventh-century AH poets and literati.