Ṣafwān ibn Idrīs or Abū Baḥr al-Tujībī (1164/6–1202), full name Abū Baḥr Ṣafwān ibn Idrīs ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿĪsā ibn Idrīs al-Tujībī al-Mursī al-Kātib, was a Muslim traditionist and adīb from al-Andalus (Spain) who wrote poetry in Arabic under the Almohads.[1]

Life

Ṣafwān was born in Murcia (whence the nisba al-Mursī) into a prominent local family, the Banū Idrīs.[1] He was born between 1164 and 1166,[2] probably after the battle of Faḥṣ al-Jullāb on 15 October 1165.[3] He began writing poetry while still a child.[4] Much of what we know of his family comes from his own Zād al-musāfir. He records that he studied under his own father, Abū Yaḥyā, and also under another relative, the qāḍī Abu ʾl-Qāsim ibn Idrīs. Abu ʾl-ʿAbbās ibn Maḍāʾ taught him the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj and Ibn Bashkuwāl gave him the ijāza (the right to transmit ḥadīth) when he was only seventeen years old. He also studied under the prominent Murcian Abu ʾl-Qāsim Ibn Ḥubaysh; under Abu ʾl-Walīd ibn Rushd, the grandfather of the famous philosopher Ibn Rushd; and under the vizier Abū Rijāl ibn Ghalbūn.[1][4]

In the Zād, Ṣafwān gives a list of his other teachers: Abū Bakr ibn Mughāwir, Abu ʾl-Ḥasan Ibn al-Qāsim, Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥumayd, Abū Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Ḥajarī, Abū Muḥammad ibn Ḥawṭ Allāh and Ibn ʿAyshūn. Besides poetry and ḥadīth, Ṣafwān was regarded as an expert in adab (etiquette).[1] His closest friend was Abū Muḥammad ibn Ḥāmid (died 1223/4), the vizier of the Caliph al-ʿĀdil.[4] His most famous student was Abu ʾl-Rabīʿ ibn Sālim al-Kalāʿī.[1]

According to his biographers, Ṣafwān travelled to Marrakesh in search of patronage. He wrote panegyrics of the Almohad caliph al-Manṣūr hoping to earn enough money for his daughter's dowry. When this failed, he turned to writing panegyrics of Muḥammad. Subsequently, Muḥammad appeared to al-Manṣūr in a dream and spoke on behalf of Ṣafwān, whose financial difficulties were promptly addressed by the caliph. Although he had a daughter of marriageable age, Ṣafwān was not yet 40 years old at his death.[1] He died in Murcia on 8[2] or 9 July 1202 and was buried next to the mosque of al-Jurf.[3] His father said the prayer at his funeral.[1]

Writings

Ṣafwān wrote at least thirteen works.[2] These include:

  1. Kitāb al-Riḥla[1]
  2. Badāhat al-mutaḥaffiz wa-ʿujālat al-mustawfiz, an anthology of his own works in both prose and verse[1]
  3. Zād al-musāfir wa-ghurrat muḥayyā ʾl-adab al-sāfir, an anthology with biographical notices of 12th-century Andalusian and Maghribian poets supplementing the works of Ibn Khāqān and Ibn al-Imām al-Shilbī.[1][5] It was an influence on the Tuḥfat al-qādim of Ibn al-Abbār and a source for the Rāyāt al-mubarrizīn of Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī, who included a biography of Ṣafwān.[1]
  4. Among his surviving rasāʾil (letters) are ones to the qāḍī Abu ʾl-Qāsim ibn Bakī and the emir ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī. He also maintained a correspondence with the poet Muḥammad ibn Idrīs ibn Marj al-Kuḥl.[1] Many of his letters are preserved in the collection of Aḥmad al-Balawī, al-ʿAṭāʾ al-jazīl.[6]
  5. Selections of his poetry (dīwān) are quoted by his biographers. His marāthī (elegies) commemorating al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī and the descendants of Muḥammad are most famous.[1]

Notes

Sources

  • Alubudi, Jasim (1993–1994). "Dos viajes inéditos de Ṣafwān b. Idrīs". Sharq Al-Andalus. 10–11: 211–243.
  • Castro León, Víctor de (2020). "Historiography and geography". In Maribel Fierro (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Muslim Iberia. Routledge. pp. 398–424.
  • "Ibn Idris al-Tuyibi, Safwan". Fundación Ibn Tufayl de Estudios Árabes. 24 August 2017.
  • Fierro, Maribel (1995). "Ṣafwān b. Idrīs". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W. P. & Lecomte, G. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume VIII: Ned–Sam (2nd ed.). Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 819. ISBN 978-90-04-09834-3.
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