Abu Bakr ibn Duraid al-Azdi

Background

Ibn Duraid was born in 837 in Basra, Iraq. While his immediate tribe was Azd, he preferred to identify himself as a Qahtanite, the larger confederacy of which Azd is a part.

Education

Ibn Duraid was trained under various teachers, but fled in 871 to Oman at the time Basra was attacked by the Zanj, under Muhallabi.

Career

After living twelve years in Oman Ibn Duraid went to Persia, then under the protection of the governor Abd-Allah Mikali and his sons, and wrote his chief works. Abd-Allah also hired Ibn Duraid as the director of the government office for Fars Province, though the latter donated the entirety of his salary to poor people each time it was paid, keeping almost nothing for himself while in Persia. In 920 he went to Baghdad, where he received a pension of fifty dinars a month from the caliph Al-Muqtadir in support of his literary activities which continued to his death. While in Baghdad, Ibn Duraid was a personal acquaintance of Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. By the time he was ninety years old, he was stricken with paralysis which he reportedly cured with theriac. A year later the palsy returned, such that Ibn Duraid could only move his hands and would cry out in pain whenever anyone entered his room, even if they didn't approach him. Some of his students attributed this to a divine punishment for Ibn Duraid's heavy alcohol consumption. He was said to have retained all his mental faculties during his final paralysis, and was frequently given to self-loathing monologues due to his previous lifestyle. Ibn Duraid died on a Wednesday in August of 933.

Achievements

• Ibn Duraid was an Arab poet, known for his works.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Carmen Maksura Dictum (1828) (Latin Edition)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Carmen Maksura Dictum (1828)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

References

• Early Medieval Arabic: Studies on Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad