The Maqamat of al-Hamadhani: Introduction: I. Life of the...

This is a scholarly biographical introduction to Badí' al-Zamán al-Hamadhání (967–1008 CE), prefacing W.J. Prendergast's 1915 English translation of the *Maqámát* — a celebrated Arabic prose-poetry collection in the rhymed-prose (*saj'*) tradition, comprising episodic adventures of a roguish protagonist narrated by a frame character. The introduction traces Hamadhání's life from his origins in Hamadhán (a city he apparently despised) through his education under prominent philologists, his travels across the Islamic east, and his famous literary duel in Nishapur against the older, celebrated scholar al-Khwárazmí, whose defeat made Hamadhání's reputation. Prendergast situates the *Maqámát* within a period of remarkable intellectual ferment — the same generation that produced Mutanabbí, al-Ma'arrí, and the *Kitáb al-Aghání* — arguing that Hamadhání's work, likely composed in his mid-twenties, reflects both the rigorous philological education of his era and the influence of his time among Ismá'ílí scholars at Jurján. A distinctive claim is that Hamadhání originally dictated *four hundred* maqámát (far more than the fifty-two that survive), and that the work was likely begun before he left Hamadhán and completed after al-Khwárazmí's death. The introduction is primarily useful to readers wanting historical and literary context before tackling the original texts, though it ends abruptly mid-sentence with the account of Hamadhání's disputed death — reportedly buried prematurely while in a coma.

The Maqamat of al-Hamadhani: Introduction: I. Life of the...

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