MADĀʾENI, ʿALI B. MOḤAMMAD, early Arabic historian and litterateur (d. ca. 228/842–43), famous as an authority on the history of Khorasan.

BIRTH, EARLY LIFE, AND EDUCATION

Madāʾeni’s full name was Abu’l-Ḥasan ʿAli b. Moḥammad b. ʿAbd-Allāh b. Abi Sayf Qoraši Madāʾeni. As is usual for scholars of his time, much of his life remains unknown and most of his works are not preserved.

Madāʾeni himself is quoted as having said that he was born in the year 135/752–53 (Ebn al-Nadim, p. 100). Although this report, if authentic, could contain first-hand information, it has to be treated as an estimation like most medieval years of birth. One source produces Madāʾeni’s birth year as 132/749–50 (Ḏahabi, Siar, X, p. 401). Madāʾeni’s birth as early as the 130s AH might sound incredible if he died ca. 228/842–43, but further and probably independent evidence can be found in the fact that among his teachers was reportedly ʿAwāna b. Ḥakam (Ḏahabi, Taʾri ḵ, VI, p. 104), who died as early as 147/764–65. Madāʾeni could only have met ʿAwāna if he was born in the 130s AH (Lindstedt, 2012–14a, pp. 235–37). At least in later eras of Islamic history, it was common to start studying under a teacher when around ten years old (Bulliet, pp. 108–9).

Whatever Madāʾeni’s exact year of birth, there does not seem to be any disagreement that he grew up in Baṣra, as mentioned by the biographers (e.g., Ḵaṭib, XII, pp. 54–55). What also ties Madāʾeni to Baṣra are his reported teachers, many of whom were from and active in that town (Lindstedt, 2012–14a, p. 237). Little is known about Madāʾeni’s family. The only report available is that family members were mawāl i (clients) of ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān b. Samora b. Ḥabib Qoraši, who died in 50 or 51/670–72 (Ebn ʿAdi, V, p. 1855; Lindstedt, 2012–14a, p. 236). ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān b. Samora carried out raids in the areas of Sistān, Khorasan, Kābol, and Zābolestān, which then makes it probable that one of Madāʾeni’s forefathers was a slave captured by ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān b. Samora. Madāʾeni’s family was originally possibly Persian-speaking and of Iranian origin. Madāʾeni’s historical traditions indicate that he knew at least some Persian himself (Lindstedt, 2013, p. 49). Madāʾeni’s other name, Qoraši, is due to his family’s client relationship to ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān b. Samora Qoraši.

Madāʾeni’s teachers, as mentioned in the biographical literature (Ḏahabi, Siar, X, p. 401), were Baṣran and Kūfan (for names and death dates, see Lindstedt, 2012–14a, p. 237). Madāʾeni himself is quoted as recounting that he was in Baṣra in the year 153/770–71 (Jāḥeẓ, Bayān, II, p. 93), but this does not let us trace his movements elsewhere with much precision. The biographical entries do not explicitly mention him staying in Kūfa, but this is fairly certain given the list of his teachers. He seems to have associated with the Moʿtazela, rationalistic theologians, in Kūfa: some Moʿtazeli sources count Madāʾeni as a Kūfan Moʿtazelite (Qāḍi ʿAbd-al-Jabbār, p. 344; Ebn al-Mortaẓā, pp. 54, 140). Madāʾeni’s teacher in Moʿtazeli theology seems to have been a person called Moʿammar Ebn/Abu al-Ašʿaṯ, of whom next to nothing is known (there is some confusion about his name and identity, see Ebn al-Nadim, p. 100; Jāḥeẓ, Ḥayawān, III, p. 357; van Ess, II, pp. 37–39). Despite Madāʾeni’s studies in Moʿtazeli theology, theological treatises and religious works are lacking in his bibliography.

What about the name Madāʾeni? It is possible that this nesba simply ran in the family. However, some late sources include a narrative where it is reported that Madāʾeni actually stayed in Madāʾen (Ābi, VI, p. 339; Ebn Ḥamdūn, III, p. 84), but this could naturally have been composed to explain the nesba rather than containing factual information.

MADĀʾENI IN BAGHDAD

Whereas Madāʾeni’s early life and education took place in Baṣra, Kūfa, and perhaps Madāʾen, later he moved to Baghdad. He found a patron and close friend in Esḥāq b. Ebrāhim Mawṣeli; d. 235/849–50), who was a famous poet and singer often seen in caliphs’ courts. Later, Madāʾeni reportedly died in Mawṣeli’s house in Baghdad (Ebn al-Nadim, p. 100). An anecdote, quoted on the authority of Madāʾeni’s student Ebn Abi Ḵayṯama (d. 279/892), refers to the relationship between Madāʾeni and Mawṣeli (Ḵaṭib, XII, p. 55):

My father, Yaḥyā b. Maʿin, and Moṣʿab Zobayri would sit in the evenings in front of Moṣʿab’s door. One evening, a man wearing beautiful clothes went by on a brisk donkey. He greeted the men, addressing Yaḥyā b. Maʿin in particular.Yaḥyā asked him, “Where to, Abu’l-Ḥasan?”Madāʾeni answered, “To that generous man who fills my pockets [lit. sleeve] with dinars and dirhams.”Yaḥyā asked, “And who is that, Abu’l-Ḥasan?”Madāʾeni answered, “Esḥāq b. Ebrāhim Mawṣeli.”When Madāʾeni had gone away, Yaḥyā b. Maʿin said, “Reliable, reliable, reliable (ṯeqa ṯeqa ṯeqa).”I asked my father, “Who was that man?” He said, “Madāʾeni.”

Mawṣeli is said to have been a drinking companion and entertainer of the ʿAbbasid caliphs, and Madāʾeni appears to have gained an entrance to the court through him, citing some caliphs and their entourage as sources for historical reports (Lindstedt, 2012–14a, p. 240). The following anecdote (Yāqūt, V, p. 311), in which the narrator is Madāʾeni himself, describes Madāʾeni meeting the caliph al-Maʾmun (r. 813-33) and reveals the Shiʿite leanings current at that time:

Al-Maʾmun ordered Aḥmad b. Yūsof [the caliph’s secretary] to bring me in. I entered and al-Maʾmun mentioned ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb—peace be upon him. I told Maʾmun traditions about ʿAli. When Maʾmun mentioned the cursing of ʿAli by the Umayyads, I recounted [the following story]: Abu Salama Moṯannā b. ʿAbd-Allāh, the brother of Moḥammad b. ʿAbd-Allāh Anṣāri, has told me [that] a man has said to [him],

“I was in Syria. I did not hear of anyone named ʿAli, Ḥasan, or Ḥoseyn. Instead, I heard Moʿāwia, Yazid, and Walid. [Once,] I walked past a man sitting in front of the door of his house. I was thirsty so I asked him for something to drink. He said, ‘O Ḥasan, bring him something to drink!’ I asked him, ‘You call [him] Ḥasan?’ He answered, ‘Yes, by God, I have named my sons Ḥasan, Ḥoseyn and Jaʿfar. The people of Syria, may God curse them, call their children with the names of the caliphs of God, but all the time someone is cursing and reproaching his children [which is tantamount to cursing the caliphs]. I, on the other hand, have named my children after the enemies of God, so when I curse [my children], I curse the enemies of God.’ He continued, ‘I said in my mind, I considered you to be the most righteous of the people of Syria, but even in Hell there is no one worse than you!’”

Al-Maʾmun said, “God has certainly sent against them [i.e., the Shiʿa] those who curse those who are alive and those who are dead and curse those of the Shiʿa who are in the loins of the men and in the wombs of women [i.e., who are yet to be born].”

It is not possible to pinpoint with certainty when Madāʾeni died (for the different dates mentioned in the sources, see Lindstedt, 2012–14a, p. 241). The most probable dates of death are Ḏū’l-Qaʿda 224/September–October 839 (Rabaʿi, II, p. 495) and 228/842–43 (Ṭabari, III, p. 1330; the latter date is considered by Rotter, p. 104, as the most likely).

MADĀʾENI’S WORKS AND THEIR TRANSMISSION

Madāʾeni transmitted his historical and literary narratives through lectures, and it is unclear whether he envisioned them forming books proper. The collection of his material into books might be due to his students, who also probably reworked the narrative units in the course of transmission (Lindstedt, 2013, 2014b, 2015).

Two manuscripts of adab works attributed to Madāʾeni have been preserved (one only partially; see Brockelmann, I, p. 215; Sezgin, I, p. 314). The work that is extant in part is called Ketāb al-taʿāzi, “The Book of Condolences.” All of its narrative items are prefaced with a chain of transmission mentioning Madāʾeni’s student, the student’s student, and the student’s student’s student (Lindstedt, 2015, pp. 159–60). It is probable that Madāʾeni himself did not envisage the narratives as forming a book.

The same insight of Madāʾeni’s students’ role also applies to the other manuscript attributed to Madāʾeni that has been preserved (the work appears to be complete; for it, see Lindstedt, 2012–14b). The manuscript, as preserved, carries the title Resālat al-motazawwejāt men Qoreyš, “The Epistle of Qorašī Wives,” but the title was discarded by the editor of the work, ʿAbd-al-Salām Hārun, who chose instead Ketāb al-mordefāt men Qoreyš, supposedly meaning “The Qorašī Women Who Married One Husband after Another.” However, it is unclear if Madāʾeni was ever ascribed a work called Ketāb al-mordefāt men Qoreyš and even if he were, this does not describe the work very well (Lindstedt, 2012–14b, pp. 271–3). Among the titles attributed to Madāʾeni, there is a better option: Ketāb man qotela ʿanhā zawjohā, “On Women Whose Husbands Were Killed.” This describes the work’s contents quite well (Lindstedt, 2012–14b, pp. 272–4).

Many works of Madāʾeni, including all of his historiographical works, are lost and survive only in quotations. Ebn al-Nadim (d. 380/990; see FEHREST i) knows the name of more than two hundred Madāʾeni works, and later authors quote, with titles, circa thirty books of his (for an attempt at a bibliography of his works, see Lindstedt, 2012–14a, pp. 245–63; and, earlier, Fahd). With the help of quotations, scholars have endeavored to reconstruct lost works of his (Rotter), although it must be noted that this is made difficult because Madāʾeni did not envision his works as closed books (Lindstedt, 2013, 2014a). The longest reconstruction attempt concerns his Ketāb al-dawla, a work discussing the ʿAbbasid revolution and its aftermath (Lindstedt, 2017).

MADĀʾENI ON KHORASAN

Madāʾeni’s role as an esteemed authority on the history of the Eastern Islamic world, especially Khorasan, is a notion that recurs in the sources. His conquest narratives dealing with the region were valued by later Arabic historians who utilized and quoted them extensively (Robinson, p. 28). He did not collect or compose material on the Maghrib, the Western Islamic world, as far as can be seen in surviving quotations. Yāqūt (VI, p. 221) quotes Aḥmad b. Ḥāreth Ḵarrāz (d. ca. 256–259/869–873), Madāʾeni’s student, as remarking: “The authorities [in history] are: Abu Meḵnaf as to Iraq and its conquest and history …; Madāʾeni as to Khorasan, India and Fārs; Wāqedī as to Ḥejāz and traditions [on the life of the Prophet? al-siar]. And they have all contributed to [information about] the conquest of Syria.” Here, too, the notion of Madāʾeni as an authority on the history of the Eastern Islamic world is present.

The interest in Khorasan can also be clearly seen in Madāʾeni’s reconstructed Ketāb al-dawla. It belongs to a genre of historiographical works that discussed the origins, events, and outcome of the ʿAbbasid revolution (dawla). All of these works attributed to different authorities are now lost, but according to the information preserved in bibliographical sources, many of them discussed the revolution as a sort of continuation of the conquest of Khorasan (Lindstedt, 2017, pp. 75–76). Madāʾeni’s Ketāb al-dawla encompassed narratives dealing with the events in Khorasan, including Abu Moslem’s propaganda efforts in the province and the beginnings of the armed struggles against the Umayyads (Lindstedt, 2017, pp. 122–26). Madāʾeni’s sources included people from Khorasan, some of whom witnessed the revolution (Lindstedt, 2017, pp. 145–50). Rather surprisingly, we have no information of Madāʾeni actually visiting Khorasan: according to the biographical sources, he spent all of his life in Iraq. If this is accurate, then he must have collected his information from Khorasanis in Iraq.

Other titles ascribed to Madāʾeni by Ebn al-Nadim (pp. 101–4) that have a bearing on Khorasan, Central Asia, and India include: Ketāb fotuḥ Ḵ orāsān, Ketāb welāyat Asad b. ʿAbd-Allāh al-Qasri, Ketāb ṯaḡr al-Hind, Ketāb ʿommāl al-Hind, Ketāb fotuḥ Sejestān, Ketāb Fārs, Ketāb a ḵ bār Arminiya, Ketāb fotuḥ jebāl Ṭabarestān, Ketāb fotuḥ al-Rayy, and Ketāb fotuḥ Jorjān wa Ṭabarestān.