Ibn al-Athir Diya' al-Din

Ibn al-Athir Diya' al-Din, Abu al-Fath Nasr Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Shaybani al-Jazari, one of the men of rhetoric, criticism and letters in the seventh century AH. He worked in the chancery at Mosul, and is the author of al-Mathal al-Sa'ir fi Adab al-Katib wa al-Sha'ir (The Current Proverb on the Literary Craft of the Writer and the Poet). ¹

He was born in Jazirat ibn Umar, in the lands of Mosul, on Thursday the twentieth of Sha'ban 558 AH, corresponding to 1162 CE. He died in Baghdad in 637 AH (1239 CE) while on his way there as an envoy of the lord of Mosul. ²

He had two brothers: Majd al-Din Abu al-Sa'adat al-Mubarak, who held the chancery of correspondence and the vizierate, and Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir the historian, author of al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh and Usd al-Ghaba fi Ma'rifat al-Sahaba (The Lion's Thicket: Knowledge of the Companions). ²

He had his first lessons in al-Jazira, then completed them in Mosul after moving there with his father. He memorised the Qur'an, read the commentary of al-Zamakhshari and other books in it, and took a particular interest in the Prophetic hadith, to the point that he compiled a book of more than three thousand reports about the Prophet ﷺ, which he mentions in his book al-Washy al-Marqum. ²

He then read in jurisprudence and the principles of law, and in language, grammar, rhetoric and literature. In al-Mathal al-Sa'ir he names books he had read, among them works by Abu Ali al-Farisi, al-Mubarrad, Ibn Jinni, al-Maydani, al-Jawaliqi, al-Isfahani and al-Hariri, as well as the Hamasa anthology and the Luzumiyyat. ³

Among his direct teachers in Mosul were al-Imad Muhammad ibn Yunus al-Mawsili, Ibn al-Dahhan Sa'id ibn al-Mubarak, the second Ibn al-Dahhan Yahya ibn Sa'id, and Ibn al-Mustawfi. ⁴

He travelled to Syria in 587 AH and joined the service of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi when he was 29. Al-Afdal ibn Salah al-Din then asked for him to be attached to his service in Damascus. He later returned to Mosul and joined the service of Nur al-Din Arslan Shah I in 589 AH. ⁴

He visited Egypt in 596 AH, and noted there that its people were devoted to the poetry of al-Mutanabbi above all others. ⁴ He then moved between Aleppo, Irbil and Sinjar, and returned to Mosul in 618 AH. He settled there for nineteen years working in the chancery, and it was there that he wrote his best-known book, al-Mathal al-Sa'ir. ⁴

• al-Mathal al-Sa'ir fi Adab al-Katib wa al-Sha'ir, his best-known book, written in Mosul. ⁴
• Mukhtarat Shi'riyya (Poetic Selections), a single volume of poetry by Abu Tammam, al-Buhturi, Dik al-Jinn and al-Mutanabbi. Ibn Khallikan mentions it and says that memorising it is useful. ⁵
• Mu'nis al-Wahda (The Companion of Solitude), selections from major poets, with attention to the forms of simile. Its attribution to him is doubtful. ⁵
• Tuhfat al-Aja'ib wa Turfat al-Gharaʾib (The Gift of Wonders and the Rarity of Strange Things), a collection of verse and prose on the sights of the cosmos. Its attribution to him is doubtful, and some have preferred to attribute it to his brother Izz al-Din. ⁵
• al-Jami' al-Kabir fi Sina'atay al-Manzum wa al-Manthur (The Great Compendium on the Crafts of Verse and Prose), edited by Mustafa Jawad and Jamil Sa'id. ⁵

• The entry is based on the first volume of the Mawsu'at A'lam al-Ulama' wa al-Udaba' (pp. 281–283), a secondary reference. We have not yet checked al-Mathal al-Sa'ir itself or Ibn Khallikan, and both should be checked before the dates and details are relied on.
• The encyclopaedia gives his birth as 20 Sha'ban 558 AH and its Gregorian equivalent as 1162 CE. The printed text reads "5.58", which we have read as 558 after comparing it with the CE date.
• The attribution of Tuhfat al-Aja'ib and Mu'nis al-Wahda to him is doubtful in the encyclopaedia, and we have not relied on them as evidence of his works beyond this caveat.
• The entry on his brother Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir the historian (author of al-Kamil and Usd al-Ghaba) is a separate page, not yet written.