Ibn Duraid

Britannica 1911

IBN DURAID [Abu Bakr Mahommed ibn ul-Hasan ibn Duraid ul-Azdi] (837-934), Arabian poet and philologist, was born at Basra of south Arabian stock. At his native place he was trained under various teachers, but fled in 871 to Oman at the time Basra was attacked by the negroes, known as the Zanj, under Muhallabi. After living twelve years in Oman he went to Persia, and, under the protection of the governor, `Abdallah ibn Mahommed ibn Mikal, and his son, Ismail, wrote his chief works. In 920 he went to Bagdad, where he received a pension from the caliph Moqtadir.

The Magsura, a poem in praise of Ibn Mikal and his son, has been edited by A. Haitsma (1773) E. Scheidius (1786) and N. Boyesen (1828). Various commentaries on the poem exist in MS. (cf. C. Brockelmann, Gesch. der ar. Lit., i. 211 ff., Weimar, 1898). The Jamhara fi-1-Lugha is a large dictionary written in Persian but not printed. Another work is the Kitab ul-Ishtigaq (" Book of Etymology"), edited by F. Wiistenfeld (Gottingen, 1854); it was written in opposition to the anti-Arabian party to show the etymological connexion of the Arabian tribal names. (G. W. T.)