Abū al-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Abī Ṭāhir Ṭayfūr (b. 204 AH/819 CE, d. 280 AH/August 893 CE) was a Persian linguist and poet of Arabic language. He was born in Baghdad. Tayfur was his father's name who was from Khorasan, Persia. He played an important role in the Arabic literary revolution. Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur was the first writer who devoted a book to writers. He was buried in Bab al-Sham cemetery, where people of note were buried.
Works
Kitab al-Manthur wa al-Manzum (Book of prose and poetry), in three volumes. This book is the first attested multi-author anthology of prose writing and poetry epistles. Kitab Baghdad (Book of Baghdad), 6 volumes, but only one survived. Balaghat al-Nisa' (the eloquence of women). Kitab Sariqat Abi Tammama (book of borrowings/plagiarism of Abi Tammama) Al-Mushtaq. This, along with the romantic literature of Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri and Ibn Qutaybah, were considered by lexicographer Ibn Duraid to be the three most important works for those who wished to speak and write eloquently.Shawkat M. Toorawa, "Defing Adab by re-defining the Adib: Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur and storytelling." Taken from On Fiction and Adab in Medieval Arabic Literature, pg. 303. Ed. Philip F. Kennedy. Volume 6 of Studies in Arabic language and literature. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005. Shawkat M. Toorawa, "Ibn Abi Tayfur versus al-Jahiz." Taken from ʻAbbasid Studies: Occasional Papers of the School of ʻAbbasid Studies, pg. 250. Ed. James Edward Montgomery. Volume 135 of Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta. Peeters Publishers, 2004.
In addition, there are scattered quotations of his works and hundreds of verses of his poetry which have survived.
See also Arabic literature List of Iranian scientists and scholars
References
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Ibn Abī Ṭāhir Ṭayfūr and Arabic writerly culture: a ninth-century bookman in Baghdad, Encyclopedia Islam, Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur (in Persian)
Citations