Maqatil al-Talibiyyin
- Author died
- 356 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Ma'rifah
Maqatil al-Talibiyyin (مقاتل الطالبيين, lit. "The Slain of the Talibids") is a biographical and historical work by the Umayyad genealogist and man of letters Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (d. 356 AH / 967 CE), documenting the deaths of the descendants of Abu Talib who were martyred or persecuted from the time of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ until the early fourth century AH . It is also referred to as Maqatil Al Abi Talib by Ibn al-Nadim .
Composition and Scope
Abu al-Faraj began composing the book in Jumada al-Ula 313 AH (925 CE) . The work focuses exclusively on the slain and persecuted members of the Talibid line (the descendants of Abu Talib), beginning chronologically with Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, whom the author identifies as the first Talibid martyr in Islam .
Abu al-Faraj established specific criteria for inclusion:
- He recorded those who fell in battle, those poisoned, those captured and left to perish in prison, and those who died while in hiding from the authorities .
- He restricted the biographies to individuals of upright conduct and sound conviction, deliberately excluding those who rebelled for personal ambition, corruption, or contrary motives .
- He excluded Talibids who staged revolts but were not killed .
The book contains biographical entries for over two hundred Talibids .
Structure and Method
Abu al-Faraj arranged the biographies in chronological order based on the dates of death rather than by personal rank or spiritual status . Alongside political and historical events, he incorporated extensive literary material, including the subjects' speeches, letters, poetry, personal dialogues, and elegies composed for them .
For his historical reports, the author drew heavily upon transmission chains and earlier written authorities, including Ibn Uqdah (narrating from Yahya al-Hasan al-Uqayqi), Ali ibn Muhammad al-Mada'ini, Umar ibn Shabbah, and Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari . Transmission of the text from Abu al-Faraj was carried through students such as Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ahmad al-Tabari and Abd Allah ibn al-Husayn al-Farisi .
Reception and Editions
The work became a foundational source on Talibid history and martyrdoms for later Muslim authors and historians . Al-Shaykh al-Mufid (d. 413 AH) cited the text directly from Abu al-Faraj's own handwritten holograph in al-Irshad (The Guidance), and Ibn Abi al-Hadid relied extensively on it in his commentary on Nahj al-Balaghah .
The book was first published as a lithograph in Tehran in 1307 AH, and reprinted in Najaf in 1353 AH . A critical edition was prepared by Ahmad Saqr, who collated it against manuscript witnesses including a copy dated 1074 AH in Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyyah and an early photographic reproduction of a manuscript dated 1053 AH from the British Museum .
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