Mujam al-Shuara
- Author died
- 384 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Qudsī
Mujam al-Shuara (Muʿjam al-Shuʿarāʾ, "Dictionary of Poets") is a biographical dictionary of Arabic poets compiled by the Baghdadi scholar and man of letters Abu Ubayd Allah al-Marzubani (297–384 AH / 910–994 CE). Designed as a reference compendium, the work identifies poets and records their lineages, biographical anecdotes, and poetic samples across multiple historical eras, spanning pre-Islamic (Jahili), veteran (mukhadram), early Islamic, Umayyad, and Abbasid figures.
Arrangement and Method
Departing from the chronological generations (tabaqat) or thematic groupings common in earlier anthologies, al-Marzubani arranged the work alphabetically according to the Arabic letters of the dictionary (muʿjam). The entries are categorized strictly by each poet's given personal name (ism), rather than by agnomens (kunya), titles, or popular nicknames. Consequently, poets widely recognized by nicknames or titles are placed under their birth names; for example, al-Qattami is entered under ʿUmayr, al-Farazdaq under Hammam, and Abu Saʿd al-Makhzumi under ʿIsa. In the surviving portion, the sequence proceeds through the letters ʿAyn, Fāʾ, Qāf, Kāf, Lām, Mīm, Hāʾ, and Yāʾ. The entries beginning with the letters ʿAyn and Mīm form the bulk of the text, occupying 375 pages out of roughly 500 pages in print (173 pages for ʿAyn and 202 pages for Mīm).
The biographies vary markedly in length and depth. In several instances, al-Marzubani restricted himself to brief notices without citing any verse—noting merely that al-Asma'i met the poet, that the poet was blind, or that he was inclined toward Shiism and frequently praised the Ahl al-Bayt. Conversely, he provided extended biographies for other figures, including Ibn al-Rumi, Ali ibn Yahya al-Munajjim, and Ali ibn al-Jahm. Because al-Marzubani devoted other works to literary criticism—notably al-Muwashshah—and to expansive poet biographies in al-Mustanir, Mujam al-Shuara was restricted to biographical identification and reference data.
Extant Text and Transmission
The complete compilation originally spanned approximately one thousand folios. The text that has survived to the modern era represents only the second portion of the dictionary; it lacks the author's original preface and the biographies under the letters Hamza through Ẓāʾ. The opening of this surviving part begins with poets named ʿAmr, numbering around two hundred figures.
A primary surviving manuscript of this section was transcribed by the Mamluk traditionist Mughultay ibn Qilij in Cairo in 734 AH. Mughultay appended marginal notes incorporating genealogical and historical material derived from manuscripts such as Ibn al-Kalbi's Jamharat al-Nasab.
Continuations and Editions
In the seventh century AH, Abu al-Barakat Mubarak ibn Abi Bakr Ibn al-Shi'ar al-Mawsili (d. 654 AH) composed a continuation (dhayl) to the work entitled Tuhfat al-Wuzaraʾ al-Mudhayyal ʿala Kitab Mujam al-Shuara, which he completed in Shaʿban 631 AH.
The surviving portion of Mujam al-Shuara was edited and published with commentary by the orientalist Fritz Krenkow (Maktabat al-Qudsi, 1354 AH / 1935 CE). It was later re-edited and published by Abd al-Sattar Ahmad Farraj (1960).
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