Abolfazl Beyhaqi

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Abolfazl Beyhaghi (995-1077; Ibn Zeyd ibn Muhammad Abul-Fazl Mohammad ibn Hossein ibn Soleyman Ayyoub Ansari Evesi Khazimi Beyhaği Shafe'i), also known as "ibn Fanduq", was a Persian historian and author.

He wrote the famous work of Persian literature Tarikh-e Mas'oudi ("Masoudian History", also known as "Tarikh-e Beyhaghi").

Beyhaghi was born in the village Haares-Abad of Beyhagh in Khorasan Province near Sabzevar. He studied various sciences in Neishabur city, and then he was employed as a clerk in the Secretariat of King Mahmud. Abolfazl could show his efficiency there.

In 1039 his master and chief Bu-Nasr Moshkan passed and a few years later King Abd ul-Rashid elected him as the chief of the Royal Secretariat.

After the retirement in 1058, Beyhaghi started the editing of his daily notes and historical data and published them in a book, named it "Tarikh-e Mas'oudi".

His book is one of the most creditable sources about the Ghaznavid Empire, and his fluent prose style has made the book considerable in Persian literature too.

In his book he has a famous chapter about the execution of Hasanak vazir.

[edit] References used

E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X
Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K