i. THE AUTHOR AND HIS WORK
LIFE OF THE AUTHOR
Abu’l-Faraj Moḥammad b. Abī Yaʿqūb Esḥāq al-Warrāq al-Nadīm, wrongly but almost invariably called Ebn al-Nadīm (the correct form is simply al-Nadīm; see Ebn al-Nadim, tr. Dodge, p. xv-xvi; Maškūr, pp. 343-46), was born probably in Baghdad ca. 320/932 and died there on Wednesday, 20 Šaʿbān 380/12 November 990. Some scholars regard him as a Persian (Gray, p. 24; Nicholson, p. 362), but this is not certain. However, his choice of the rather rare Persian word pehrest/fehrest/fehres/fahrasat (cf. comments by W. Henning quoted in Borhān-e Qāṭeʿ, ed. M. Moʿīn , p. 1509, n. 1) for the title of a handbook on Arabic literature is noteworthy in this regard.
Like his father, Ebn al-Nadīm earned a living by copying and selling books, hence his nomen professionis of AL-FEHRESTal-warrāq, or occasionally al-kāteb (Ebn Abī Oṣaybeʿa, p. 91). Both father and son were men of considerable distinction and social standing. Ebn al-Nadīm’s large bookstore in Baghdad appears to have been a popular meeting place for scholars. Having acquired an unusually extensive education, he cultivated ties with the luminaries of Baghdad learned society, counting among his teachers and informants such savants as the poet ʿAlī b. Hārūn Monajjem, the anthologist Abu’l-Faraj Eṣfahānī (q.v.), the Jacobite Christian philosopher Yaḥyā b. ʿAdī, the grammarian Abū Saʿīd Sīrāfī, the literary historian Abū ʿObayd-Allāh Marzobānī, and the logician and translator of philosophical books from Syriac into Arabic Ḥasan b. Sowār, known also as Ebn al-Ḵammār (see Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, index). He heard hadith from Esmāʿīl Ṣaffār and was also a friend of the philosopher Abū Solaymān Moḥammad b. Ṭāher b. Bahrām Manṭeqī Sejestānī, whom he addresses as “our master” (šayḵonā) or simply as “the master” (šaykò). The priest Yūnos Qass gave the author of the Fehrest (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 25) information about the Christian scriptures, and so did Abu’l-Ḥasan Moḥammad b. Yūsof [Nāqeṭ] ʿĀmerī Nīšāpūrī (q.v.), a scholar of Arabic and Greek, who was in Baghdad when the Fehrest was begun (ibid., pp. 27-28). It was probably Ebn al-Nadīm’s association with the logician ʿĪsā b. ʿAlī, the son of the vizier ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā (q.v.) in Baghdad, or his attendance at the court of Nāṣer-al-Dawla (d. 358/968), the ruler of Mosul, which brought him the title al-nadīm, “the companion.” Reynold A. Nicholson’s suggestion (p. 362) that this may signify his family ties with Esḥāq b. Ebrāhīm Nadīm Mawṣelī was rejected by Johann Fück (EI² III, p. 895).
Although broad-minded and careful in religious matters, Ebn al-Nadīm preferred Imami Shiʿism, and—not unusual for the times —wasalso an advocate of the Muʿtazilite doctrine (Yāqūt, Odabāʾ VI, p. 408; Ebn Ḥajar, V, p. 72), to which he devoted a large part of the fifth chapter of the Fehrest. He was the author of another book, now lost, entitled al-Awṣāf wa’l-tašbīhāt (Yāqūt, ibid; Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 14), on the merit of books and on writing and its instruments.
THE BOOK
The Fehrest, intended to be a catalogue including all books, lecture notebooks, papers, etc., available in the Arabic language at the time of the author, developed into a unique specimen of literature, an encyclopedia or a compendium of the knowledge possessed by a learned Muslim in 10th century Baghdad. Not only is it a valuable reference source for the culture of medieval Islam and the literary men who represented it, but it also gives precious information about the heritage of antiquity available to the Muslims. The Fehrest contains miscellaneous pieces of rare information. In many cases, our only information on certain early authors and their works comes from this book. Often blank spaces have been purposely left in the text for later additions, with a request addressed to the readers to add whatever information the author might have overlooked (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 244).
The collected notes were arranged thematically and in chronological sequence in ten discourses (maqālāt), each subdivided into several sections: (1) on the revealed Scriptures of Muslims, Jews and Christians, with an emphasis on the Qurʾān and Koranic sciences; (2) on Arabic grammarians and philologists; (3) on historians, biographers, epistolographers, and genealogists; (4) on poetry and poets; (5) on theology and Muslim sects; (6) on jurisprudence (feqh), legal authorities, and hadith; (7) on philosophy, logic, mathematics, astronomy and medicine; (8) on legends, fables, charms, conjuring, magic, sorcery, talismans and the like; (9) on the doctrines of the non-monotheistic religions (Sabians, Manicheans, Mazdakites and other dualists) and the creeds of India, China, and other countries; and (10) on alchemy.
Following the historical methodology current at the time, Ebn al-Nadīm looked for the origin of each science he dealt with and continued its history up to his own period. His introductory remarks on the art of writing reveal his attempt to be exhaustive, and present a fascinating model of conciseness and research on the distribution, history and characteristics of languages and scripts of different peoples (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, pp. 7-23). Each discourse begins with a general introductory survey, as on the early stages of Arabic grammar (ibid., pp. 45-47), or the beginnings of philosophy (ibid., pp. 299-303). Generally, a short biographical notice on the authors is followed by a list of their works. Ebn al-Nadīm attempts to give an objective picture of the authors he names ,making detached observations based on reliable material. Occasionally a list is dedicated to publications on a particular theme, as for example the literature on Koranic exegesis (ibid., pp. 36-37), on love stories (ibid., pp. 366-67), or on fairy tales (ibid., p. 375). In the ninth maqāla, a treatise on the history of religion, the bibliographical announcements occupy only a minor place. Curiously he left out Mazdaism altogether, although his discussion of Old Iranian writings shows that he was familiar with Mazdakite sources. The last four discourses focus on the Arabic translations from Greek, Persian, Syriac and other languages, together with books composed in Arabic on the model of these translations. These sections are detailed enough to be considered a veritable history of literature.
Some information about the sources of the Fehrest may be extracted from the book itself. Apparently several such “catalogues” on specific topics or the works of individual authors had been in circulation prior to Ebn al-Nadīm. Among these he names a fehrest kabīr and a fehrest ṣaḡīr that Jāber b. Ḥayyān had made of his writings (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, pp. 421-23), a fehrest by Yaḥyā b. ʿAdī of Aristotle’s books (ibid., pp. 311, 312), another by Moḥammad b. Zakarīyā Rāzī of his own works (ibid., pp. 357-59) and an inventory Ḥonayn b. Esḥāq had penned of his own translations from Galen’s writings (ibid., p. 353; this has survived, see EI2, s. v. “Ḥunayn b. Isḥāḳ al-ʿIbādī”). Works of this kind had until then been mostly restricted to collections of biographies of authors and poets, such as the Ketāb al-moʾallefīn (Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, p. 163) of Ebn Abī Ṭāher Ṭayfūr, Ketāb aḵbār al-šoʿarā al-kabīr of Hārūn b. ʿAlī b. Yaḥyā (ibid., p. 161), orthe Aḡānī (ibid., p. 128) of Abuʾl –FarajEṣfahānī. Ebn al-Kūfī, whom the Fehrest mentions as a source many times, may have composed a list of authors using preliminary work done by Ebn al-Kalbī and Madāʾenī (see Lippert, p. 155). Ebn al-Nadīm had probably examined personally many of the books which he records, though at times he also furnishes the names of his trustworthy informants.
Later bio-bibliographical authors such as Yāqūt, Ebn al-Qefṭī, Ebn Abī Oṣaybeʿa, Ebn Ḵallekān, Kotobī, and Ḥājjī Ḵalīfa are all heavily dependent on the Fehrest for information. Yāqūt (Odabāʾ VI, p. 197) averred that he used a copy of the Fehrest in the handwriting of Ebn al-Nadīm himself and also an expanded copy provided by Wazīr Abu’l-Qāsem Maḡrebī. The material in the Fehrest dating after the year 380/990 (e.g., Ebn al-Nadīm, ed. Tajaddod, pp. 95, 146, 149, 195) very likely originated from the pen of Maḡrebī.
Bibliography
(for cited works not given in detail, see “Short References”):
Editions of the Fehrest: (1) G. Flügel, ed., 2 vols., Leipzig, 1871-72 (published after Flügel’s death by J. Roediger and A. Müller; the first volume contains the text, the second an extensive commentary and references); reprinted Cairo, 1348/1929; Cairo, ca. 1380/1960 (incl. the Leiden Fragments publ. by M. T. Houtsma, 1890); Beirut, 1964.
(2) R. Tajaddod, ed., Tehran, 1971 (a new edition based on better manuscripts; the edition used for references in this article); 2nd ed., 1973 (reviewed with valuable suggestions for emendations by Y. Ḥ. al-Bakkār, “Naẓarāt fī Fehrest Ebn al-Nadīm,” Elāhīyāt-e Mašhad 5, 1351 Š./1973, pp. 189-228; and by M. J. Maškūr, “al-Fehrest,” Rāhnamā-ye ketāb 15, 1351 Š./1973, pp. 263-73, 449-59).
(3) N. ʿA ʿOṯmān, ed., “An Edition of Kitāb al-Fihrist by Ibn al-Nadīm (d. 380/990) based on the version of Riḍa Tajaddud,” Ph.D. diss., Exeter, 1983, pub. as al-Fehrest le-Ebn al-Nadīm: ṣeyāḡa ḥadīṯa, Qatar, 1985 (with book titles arranged alphabetically under authors’ names, and sometimes with information added about existing manuscripts or editions).
(4) Š. Ḵalīfa and W. M. al-ʿAwza, ed., as al-Fehrest le-Ebn al-Nadīm, 2 vols., Cairo, 1991 (the first volume has a long introduction on Ebn al-Nadīm, the manuscripts of the Fehrest, all its editions and a statistical study of its contents; the second volume, a total of 964 pages, consists of various indices).
Translations: R. Tajaddod, tr. as Ketāb al-fehrest, Tehran, 1343 Š./1965; 2nd rev. ed., 1346 Š./1967.
B. Dodge, tr. as The Fihrist of al-Nadīm: A Tenth-Century Survey of Muslim Culture, 2 vols., New York, 1970 (Dodge’s introduction brings together the scanty information on Ebn al-Nadīm and gives a description of all known manuscripts).
Studies and references. M. Abuʾl-Qāsemī, “Šarḥ-e al-Fehrest-e Ebn al-Nadīm: ʿaqāʾed-e Mānavīān,” Āšenā 5/22-27, 1374 Š./1995.
E. Ābyārī, “al-Fehrest le-Ebn al-Nadīm,” Torāṯ al-ensānīya (Cairo) 3, 1965, pp. 193-210. J. ʿAlī, “ʿElm Ebn al-Nadīm beʾl-Yahūdīya waʾl-Naṣrānīya,” Majallat al-majmaʿ al-ʿelmī al-ʿEraqī 8,1380/1961, pp. 84-113; 10, 1382/1962, pp. 156-83. ʿA. Amīn, “Ebn al-Nadīm fī Ketāb al-fehrest,” Majallat al-aqlām (Baghdad) 5, 1969, pp. 43-55. Ḥ. Amīn, “Ebn al-Nadīm,” al-Mawsūʿa al-Eslāmīya (Beirut) 2, 1976, pp. 174-83. A. Baumstark, Syrisch-arabische Biographien des Aristoteles, Leipzig, 1898; repr. Leipzig, 1900 (contains a translation of and a detailed commentary on Ebn al-Nadīm’s material on Aristotle). M. Berthelot, La chimie au moyen-âge, 3 vols., Paris, 1893 (repr., Osnabrück, 1967), III, p. 26-40 (includes Fr. tr. by Octave Houdas of the Tenth Discourse, with the exception of the section on the Pyramids). Brockelmann, GAL I, p. 147 [=153]; S, I, pp. 226-27. Browne, Lit. Hist. Persia 1, pp. 373-74, 383-87 (English translation of the Preface of the Fehrest with an evaluation of its contents). Y. A. Dāḡer, Maṣāder al-derāsāt al-adabīya men al-ʿaṣr al-jāhelī elā ʿaṣr al-nahḍa, vol. 1, Beirut, 1961, s.v. “al-Fehrest.” B. Dodge, “The Subjects and Titles of Books Written during the First Four Centuries of Islam,” Islamic Culture 27, 1954, pp. 525-40.
Ebn Abī Oṣaybeʿa, ʿOyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭebbāʾ, ed. N. Reḍā, Beirut, 1965.
Ebn Ḥajar ʿAsqalānī, Lisān al-mīzān, 5 vols. Haidarabad, 1329-31/1911-13.
G. Endress, The Works of Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī: An Analytical Inventory, Wiesbaden, 1977.
J. van Ess, “Die Muʿtazilitenbiographien im Fihrist und die muʿtazilitische biographische Tradition,” in Ibn an-Nadīm und die mittelalterliche arabische Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1996, pp. 1-6.
H. G. Farmer, “Tenth Century Arabic Books on Music as Contained in “’Kitāb al-Fihrist of Abu’l-Faraj Muḥammad Ibn al-Nadīm’,” in The Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society 2, 1959-61, pp. 37-47 (translates the third fann of the third maqāla, which comprises the stories of the boon companions, the men of letters, the musicians, the jesters, etc.).
G. Ferrand, Relation de voyages et textes géographiques arabes, persans et turks relatifs à l’Éxtrème-Orient, 2 vols,Paris, 1913-14, I, pp. 118-36.
M. Fleischhammer, “Johann Fücks Materialien zum Fihrist,” in Wissenschaftlische Zeitschrift der Universität Halle 25/6, 1976, pp. 75-84.
S. Fraenkel, “Zum Fihrist,” ZDMG 46, 1892, pp. 741-43 (suggests several improved readings).
J. W. Fück, “Eine arabische Literaturgeschichte aus dem 10. Jahrhundert n. Chr. (Der Fihrist des Ibn an-Nadīm),” ZDMG 84, 1930, pp. 111-24.
Idem, “The Arabic Literature on Alchemy According to an-Nadīm (A.D. 987): A translation of the Tenth Discourse of The Book of the Catalogue (al-Fihrist) with introduction and commentary,” Ambix 4, 1951, pp. 81-144.
Idem, “al-Nadīm,” EI1 III, pp. 808-9. Idem, “Ibn al-Nadīm,” EI² III, pp. 895-96.
I. Goldziher, “Beiträge zur Erklärung des Kitāb al-Fihrist,” ZDMG 36, 1882, pp. 278-84.
L. H. Gray, “Iranian material in the Fihrist,” Le Muséon, 3/1, 1915, pp. 24-39.
P.A. Grjaznewitsch, “Südarabien im Fihrist von Ibn an-Nadīm,” in Ibn an-Nadīm und die mittelalterliche arabische Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1996, pp. 7-20.
ʿA.-Ḥ. Ḥalwajī, “Men torāṯenā al-beblīūḡrāfī: Ebn al-Nadīm wa ketāboho al-Fehrest,” Majallat kollīyat al-loḡa al-ʿarabīya (Riyadh) 7, 1977, pp. 461-78.
M. Y. Ḥosaynī, “Aṯar ḵāled fī tārīḵ al-fekr al-ʿarabī: Ketāb al-fehrest le-Ebn al-Nadīm,” Revue de l’Académie arabe de Damas/Mājallat majmaʿ al-loḡa al-ʿarabīya be-Demašq 11, 1931, pp. 678-87.
M. Inostranzev, The Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature, tr. G. K. Nariman, Bombay, 1918.
S. Ḵalīl, “Théodore de Mopsueste dans le Fihrist d’Ibn an-Nadīm,” Le Muséon 90, 1977, pp. 355-63.
K. Kessler, Mani, Forschungen über die manichäische Religion: Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Religionsgeschichte des Orients, I: Voruntersuchungen und Quellen, Berlin, 1889, pp. 331-38, 382-401.
R. Köbert, “Ein Kuriosum in Ibn an-Nadīm’s berühmtem Fihrist,” Orientalia 47, 1978, pp. 112-13.
P. S. van Köningsveld, “Das von J. H. Hottinger (1620-1667) benutzte Exemplar des Kitāb al-Fihrist = Cod. Or. 1221 der Universitätsbibliothekzu Leiden,” Der Islam 49, 1972, pp. 294-95.
P. Kraus, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān: Contribution à l’histoire des idées scientifiques dans l’Islam, Vol. I, Le Corpus des écrits Jābiriens, Cairo, 1943.
P. Kunitzsch, “Die Nachricht über Ptolemäus im Fihrist,” Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik 25, 1993, pp. 219-24.
S. Leder, “Grenzen der Rekonstruktion alten Schrifttums nach den Angaben im Fihrist,” in Ibn an-Nadīm und die mittelalterliche arabische Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1996, pp. 21-31.
J. Lippert, “Ibn al-Kūfī, ein Vorgänger Nadīm’s,” WZKM 11, 1897, pp. 147-55.
M. J. Maškūr, “Ketāb al-fehrest le’l-Nadīm al-maʿrūf ḵaṭaʾan be-Ebn al-Nadīm,” Revue de l’Académie arabe de Damas/Mājallat majmaʿ al-loḡa al-ʿarabīya be-Demašq 52, 1977, pp. 336-59.
R. J. McCarthy, al-Taṣānīf al-mansūba elā faylasūf al-ʿarab, Baghdad, 1382/1962 (a monograph on Yaʿqūb b. Esḥāq Kendī ’swork based on the Fehrest and other sources).
G. Monnot, Penseurs musulmans et religions iraniennes: ʿAbd al-Jabbār et ses devanciers, Paris, 1974 (relies heavily on the fifth and ninth maqālāt of the Fehrest).
P. Moraux, Les listes anciennes des ouvrages d’Aristote, Louvain, 1951.
A. Müller, Die griechischen Philosophen in der arabischen Überlieferung, Halle, 1873 (a translation of the section on the Greek philosophers in the Fehrest with extensive commentary).
S. Nadvi, “Literary relations between Arabia and India,” Islamic Culture 6, 1932, pp. 634-41; 7, 1933, pp. 83-94 (examines the Indian material in the Fehrest).
C. A. Nallino, ʿElm al-falak, Rome, 1911.
R. A. Nicholson, A Literary History of the Arabs, Cambridge, 1907.
C. Pellat, “Nouvel essai d’inventaire de l’oeuvre Gāḥizienne,” Arabica 31, 1984, pp. 117-64.
V. V. Polosin, “Ob odnom pis’mennom istochnike Fikhrista Ibn an-Nadima (On one of the written sources of Ebn al-Nadīm’s Fehrest),” in Pis’mennye pamyatniki vostoka (Written sources of the East), Moscow, 1974, pp. 86-108 (the source discussed is Ketāb al-waraqa of Ebn al-Jarrāḥ).
Idem, “K voprosu o dvukh redaktsiyakh Fikhrista Ibn an-Nadīma (On the two redactions of Ebn al-Nadīm’s Fehrest),” in Pis’mennye pamyatniki problmey istorii kultury narodov vostoka (Written sources on the cultural history of the Eastern peoples)13, 1978, pp. 113-18.
Idem, “Molāḥaẓāt ḥawla Fehrest Ebn al-Nadīm,” in Abḥāṯ jadīda le’l-mostaʿrebīn al-sūfyāt, Moscow, 1986, pp. 124-63.
Idem, “Zametki o Fikhriste ibn an-Nadīma (Comments on Ebn al-Nadīm’s Fehrest),” in Pis’mennye pamyatniki vostoka (Written sources of the East), Moscow, 1987, pp. 91-107.
Idem, “Fikhrist Ibn an-Nadīma kak istoriko-kul’turnyĭ pamyatnik X veka (Ebn al-Nadīm’s Fehrest as a historical and cultural monument of the 10th century),” Moscow, 1989 (discusses mainly the organization of the Fehrest and the classification of sciences at that time).
Idem, “Die Erforschung des Fihrist von Ibn an-Nadīm nach J. Fück und die Aktualität einer neuen wissenschaftlichen Ausgabe des Textes,” in Ibn an-Nadīm und die mittelalterliche arabische Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1996, pp. 32-37 (in Russian).
H. Preissler, “Die arabische ‘Sektenliste’ des Qaḥṭabī: Ein Rekonstruktionsversuch,” in idem and H. Seiwert, eds., Gnosisforschung und Religionsgeschichte, Marburg, 1994, pp. 499-510 (surveys the list of Christian and Dualist religious sects appearing between the time of Jesus and Muḥammad, as given in the Fehrest).
Idem, “Ordnungsprinzipien im Fihrist,” in Ibn an-Nadīm und die mittelalterliche arabische Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1996, pp. 38-43.
N. Rescher, al-Kindī: An Annotated , Pittsburgh, Pa., 1964.
H. Ritter, “Philologika I: Zur Überlieferung des Fihrist,” Der Islam 17, 1928, pp. 15-23; 18, 1929, p. 316.
V. Rosen, “Byl li v 988 g. v Konstantinopoly avtor Fikhrista? (Was the author of the Fehrest in Constantinople in 988 A.D.?),” Zapiski Vostochnago Otdyeleniya 4, 1889-90, pp. 401-4 (corrected Flügel’s assumption that Ebn al-Nadīm visited Byzantine territory).
Idem, “K Fihristu,” Zapiski Vostochnago Otdyeleniya 23, 1915, pp. 233-44.
J. Ruska, Turba Philosophorum: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Alchemie, Berlin, 1931, pp. 268-73 (partial translation of the Tenth Discourse).
Z. Sardar, “Al-Nadim: ‘Books Smile as Pens Shed Tears’,” Afkār Inquiry 1/5, 1984, pp. 62-64.
ʿA. E. al-Ṣāwī, “al-Fehrest,” al-Marājeʿ al-ʿarabīya, Cairo, 1956, pp. 3-35.
R. Sellheim, “Das Todesdatum des Ibn an-Nadīm,” Israel Oriental Studies 2, 1972, pp. 428-32.
Idem, “Ibn an-Nadīm’s Fihrist und J. W. Fück,” Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 92, 1997, pp. 149-58.
Sezgin, GAS, I, pp. 385-88.
M. Steinschneider, Die arabischen Übersetzungen aus dem Griechischen, 7 parts, Leipzig and Berlin, 1889-96; repr. in 1 vol., Graz, 1960.
Idem, “Arabische Mathematiker mit Einschluss der Astronomen,” Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 4, 1901, pp. 89-95, 183-90, 269-78, 345-54, 441-44; 5, 1902, pp. 1-5, 177-84, 261-68, 375-81, 463-69; 6, 1903, pp. 101-13.
G. Strohmaier, “Die ḥarrānischen Sabier bei Ibn an-Nādim und al-Bīrūnī,” in Ibn an-Nadīm und die mittelalterliche arabische Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1996, pp. 51-56.
D. Sturm, “Die arabische geographische Literatur im Historikerkapitel des Kitāb al-Fihrist von Ibn an-Nadīm,” Hallesche Beiträge zur Orientwissenschaft 10, 1986, pp. 23-36.
Idem, “Ibn an-Nadīm’s Hinweise auf das Verhältnis zum geistigen Eigentum im Historikerkapitel des Kitāb al-Fihrist,” Hallesche Beiträge zur Orientwissenschaft 13-14, 1990, pp. 65-70.
Idem, “Der Fihrist des Ibn an-Nadīm als Quelle für die Kenntnis sozialer Zusammenhänge am Beispiel der dritten Maqāla,” in Ibn an-Nadīm und die mittelalterliche arabische Literatur, Wiesbaden, 1996, pp. 44-50.
H. Suter, “Das Mathematiker-Verzeichnis im Fihrist des Ibn Abī Jaʿḳūb an-Nadīm,” Zeitschrift für Mathematik und Physik 37, 1892, pp. 1-87.
Idem, Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber und ihre Werke, ed. R. Mehmke and M. Cantor, Leipzig, 1900.
Idem, “Nachträge und Berichtigungen zu meinen ’Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber und ihre Werke’,” Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der mathematischen Wissenschaften 14, 1902, pp. 157-85.
G. Tropeau, “Sur un astrologue mentionné dans le Fihrist,” Arabica 16, 1969, p. 90; 39, 1992, pp. 118-19.
A. A. Vasiliev, Byzance et les Arabes, 3 vols., Brussels, 1935-50, II, pp. 295-96.
H. H. Wellisch, “The First Arab Fihrist al-ʿulum,” University of Illinois at Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Occasional Papers 175, 1986.
F. W. Zimmermann, “On the Supposed Shorter Version of Ibn an Nadīm’s Fihrist and its Date,” Der Islam 53, 1976, pp. 267-73 (disproved the hypothesis put forward by H. Ritter and J. Fück that al-Fehrest has a shorter earlier version).