Nur al-Tarf wa Nur al-Zarf
- Author died
- 453 AH
- Editions
- Nur al-Tarf wa Nur al-Zarf
Nur al-Tarf wa Nur al-Zarf (The Light of the Eye and the Blossom of Elegance) is an Arabic literary anthology (adab) by the North African poet, critic, and scholar Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn 'Ali al-Husri al-Qayrawani (d. 453 AH / 1061 CE) .
Composition and Nature
The work is an abridgment (mukhtasar) in a single concise volume (juz' latif) of al-Husri's major literary compendium, Zahr al-Adab wa Thamar al-Albab (The Flowers of Literature and the Fruits of the Hearts) . The biographer Yaqut al-Hamawi refers to the book under the alternative title Kitab al-Nurayn (The Book of the Two Lights) , and other sources record the title with the word order reversed as Nur al-Zarf wa Nur al-Tarf .
Sharing the same foundation and pedagogical purpose as Zahr al-Adab, the text is designed as an accessible, concise compilation for readers seeking a shorter alternative to the larger original work . Like its parent text, it compiles fine Eastern literary anecdotes (akhbar), epistles, and curated verses of poetry (ash'ar hisan) .
Citations and Transmission
The book served as a source for later anthologists and biographers:
- Yaqut al-Hamawi, al-Safadi, and al-Suyuti cite biographical reports and verses through Kitab al-Nurayn, including notices on the grammarian Ibn Jinni, the poet Abu 'Ali al-Hatimi, the litterateur Abu Bakr al-Khwarazmi, and the poetess 'Ulayya bint al-Mahdi .
- Ibn Abi Usaybi'a and Ibn Fadl Allah al-'Umari quote narrative episodes attributed explicitly to Nur al-Tarf wa Nur al-Zarf, such as a dispute between Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi and the physician Bakhtishu' before Chief Judge Ahmad ibn Abi Dawud .
Manuscript copies of the work have survived in libraries such as the Royal Library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (MS 392), the Forschungsbibliothek Gotha (MS 2129), and the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh (MS 1646-F) .
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