Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi li Sezgin - al-Shi'r

Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi: al-Shi'r (History of Arabic Heritage: Poetry) is the second volume of the bio-bibliographical reference work compiled by the Turkish-German historian Fuat Sezgin (d. 1439 AH / 2018 CE), documenting Arabic poets, poetic anthologies, and verse collections up to ca. 430 AH al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya+1.

Background and Composition

The project originated during Sezgin's studies at Istanbul University between 1942 and 1947 under Hellmut Ritter, who observed that Carl Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur omitted many rare manuscripts preserved in Istanbul libraries al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya. Initially intending merely to compile a manuscript supplement (tadhyīl) to Brockelmann's catalogue, Sezgin later expanded the plan into a renewed and independent history of written Arabic-Islamic sciences and literature, detailing authors, their works, manuscript locations, and the stages of textual recording and intellectual development al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya+1.

The original manuscript draft for the poetry and grammar portions was completed in 1964 as part of the projected second volume of the German series (Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums); however, its publication was restructured to accommodate the author's work on the history of natural sciences, and the linguistic and grammatical disciplines were subsequently issued separately for print and funding reasons Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…. The preparation of the text was assisted by Dr. Neubauer, with financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi….

Scope and Contents

Covering Arabic poetry produced from the pre-Islamic period through the Umayyad and early Abbasid eras up to approximately 430 AH, the volume examines early poetic collections and individual poet biographies al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya+1. It includes:

• Poetic Anthologies and Selections: Systematic analyses of early anthologies, most notably the Muʿallaqāt (or al-Sumūṭ) and tribal diwans, tracing debates over their earliest compilations, attributions, and transmission from figures such as Hammad al-Rawiya and Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, alongside critical assessments of findings by modern scholars like Nasir al-Din al-Asad and M. J. Kister Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi….
• Author and Diwan Entries: Biographical overviews for poets across successive generations, citing primary classical biographical sources (such as the works of Ibn Sa'd, al-Bukhari, Ibn Qutayba, and Ibn al-Nadim), surviving manuscript copies preserved in international repositories with library shelf marks and codicological details, printed editions, and critical academic studies Tarikh al-Turath al-Arabi…+1.

Translation and Recognition

Sezgin was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in recognition of his scholarship on the first six volumes of the series al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya+1. Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University sponsored the Arabic translation and publication of the literary and religious volumes of the encyclopaedia—including the first volume on religious sciences, the second volume on Arabic poetry (al-Shiʿr), the eighth on lexicography, and the ninth on grammar—while King Saud University translated the volumes dedicated to mathematics and the natural sciences al-Maktaba al-Islamiyya.