Poetry and poets 1-2

Title of the book: Poetry and Poets Author: Ibn Qutaybah Abdullah ibn Muslim al-Dinwari (d. 276 AH) Verification and explanation: Ahmed Muhammad Shakir Number of volumes: 2 One of the earliest books written about the biographies of poets. It was authored by Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Muslim ibn Qutaybah al-Dinwari (d. 276 AH, 889 AD), one of the Imams of the third Islamic century. He is from the class of al-Jahiz among the Mu'tazila, a competent imam with multiple facets of authorship and many writings. It is one of the most important books translated about poets. It is considered an authentic original source and a significant reference in its field. It bears a strong resemblance to the book "Tabaqat Fuhul ash-Shu'ara" by Ibn Sallam al-Jumahi. Ibn Qutaybah did not focus in this book solely on exhaustively listing poets and tracing their biographies, but he limited himself to the famous ones. He said in the introduction: "My main intention was with the famous poets whom most of the literature people know and whose poetry can be used as evidence in grammar, in the Book of Allah, the Almighty, and in the sayings of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him." Likewise, Ibn Qutaybah did not classify poets into different tiers as others did; rather, his concern was translation, collecting news about poets, and selecting some of their poems to illustrate or suit specific occasions. He was attentive to chronological order in discussing poets, and most of his biographical entries are about ancient poets, although he also included some modern ones such as Abu al-Atahiya, Muslim ibn al-Walid, al-‘Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf, and those similar to them. The book is distinguished by a valuable critical introduction, considered by researchers to be among the early examples of literary criticism accompanied by reasons. In it, he explains the methodology of the book and the purpose of its compilation, saying: "This is a book I have written about poetry, in which I have informed about poets, their times, their statuses, their conditions in their poetry, their tribes, their fathers' names, and those known by nicknames or kunyas. I have also included what is good about their news and what is admired in their poetry, as well as mistakes and errors made by scholars in their words or meanings, and what earlier scholars have taken from them." He also discusses the sections and classifications of poetry and the criteria used to select and appreciate it. The book contains many poets and abundant texts, with 206 biographies starting with Imru' al-Qays, whom he discusses extensively due to the richness of their stories and their precedence over other poets. Then he translated to Zuhayr and his son Ka'b, then al-Nabigha, followed by others until Ibn Manzur, and he concluded the book by talking about Ashja' al-Sulami in the Abbasid era. This book is considered a collection of poetic selections and a work of criticism, in addition to being a book of poet biographies.