Ibn Bassam Explained
| Ibn Bassam |
| Birth Name: | Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Bassām al-Shantarīnī |
| Birth Date: | 1058 CE |
| Birth Place: | Santarém, Al-Andalus (modern-day Portugal) |
| Death Date: | 1147 CE |
| Occupation: | Poet, Historian |
| Notable Works: | Dhakhīra fī mahāsin ahl al-Jazīra |
| Era: | Almoravid era |
| Influences: | Ibn Hayyan, Abu Mansur al-Tha'alibi |
Ibn Bassām or Ibn Bassām al-Shantarīnī (; 1058-1147) was an Arab-Andalusian poet[1] and historian from al-Andalus. He was born in Santarém (sometimes spelled Shantarin or Xantarin) and hailed from the Banu Taghlib tribe.[2] He died in 1147.
Ibn Bassam describes how the incessant invasions of the Christians forced him to run away from Santarém in Portugal, "the last of the cities of the west," after seeing his lands ravaged and his wealth destroyed, a ruined man with no possessions save his battered sword.[3]
Especially well known is his anthology (The Treasury concerning the Merits of the People of Iberia), an important source relating to the Almoravid dynasty.[4]
Editions and translations
- ʼAbī ʼal-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn Bassām ʼal-Shantarīnī, ʼal-Dhakhīrah fī maḥāsin ahl ʼal-Jazīrah, ed. by Iḥsān ʻAbbās, 4 vols in 8 (Bayrūt: Dār ʼal-Thaqāfah, 1978–81), https://al-maktaba.org/book/1035, https://archive.org/details/zakhera_mahasen_jazeera
- 'Ibn Bassām, from Al-dhakhīra fī maḥāsin ahl al-Jazīra translation, trans. by Ross Brann, in Medieval Iberia, ed. by Remie Constable, 2nd edn (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011), pp. 125–27.
References
- Book: Brann, Ross. Power in the portrayal: representations of Jews and Muslims in eleventh- and twelfth-century Islamic Spain. Princeton, N.J.. Princeton University Press. 2002. 0-691-00187-1.
Notes and References
- Book: Allen, Roger . "Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Period" . Cambridge University Press . 2006 . 19 . English.
- Web site: Ibn Bassām as a literary historian, a critic and a stylist. Baker. Khalid Lafta. University of Glasgow. 21. He is said to have been of the tribe of Taghlib..
- Web site: Archived copy . 2010-03-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110305133942/http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=729 . 2011-03-05 .
- ʼAbī ʼal-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn Bassām ʼal-Shantarīnī, ʼal-Dhakhīrah fī maḥāsin ahl ʼal-Jazīrah, ed. by Iḥsān ʻAbbās, 4 vols in 8 (Bayrūt: Dār ʼal-Thaqāfah, 1978).
