| Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa | |
|---|---|
| Died | 139 AH (756–757)[1] Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate |
| Occupation | Author and translator |
Abū-Muhammad Abd-Allāh Rūzbeh ibn Dādūya/Dādōē (Persian: ابومحمد عبدالله روزبه بن دادویه), known as Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (Arabic: ابن المقفع), Ibn Muqaffa (Persian: ابن مقفع Ebn-e Moqaffa), or in Persian Rūzbeh pūr-e Dādūya (Persian: روزبه پور دادویه) (d. c. 756), was a Persian thinker and a Zoroastrian convert to Islam.
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Ibn al-Muqaffa, though a resident of Basra, was originally from the town of Jur (or Gur, Firuzabad, Fars) in the Iranian province of Fars. His father had been a state official in charge of taxes under the Umayyads, and after being accused and convicted of embezzling some of the money entrusted to him, was punished by the ruler by having his hand crushed, hence the name Muqaffa (shrivelled hand). Ibn al-Muqaffa was murdered around 756 by the order of the second Abbasid caliph Abu Ja`far al-Mansur reportedly for heresy, in particular for attempting to import Zoroastrian ideas into Islam.[2] There is evidence, though, that his murder may have been prompted by the caliph's resentment at the terms and language that Ibn al-Muqaffa had used in drawing up a guarantee of safe passage for the caliph's rebellious uncle, Abdullah b. Ali; the caliph found that document profoundly disrespectful to himself, and it is believed Ibn al-Muqaffa paid with his life for the affront to al-Mansur.[3]
Ibn al-Muqaffa's translation of the Kalīla wa Dimna from Middle Persian "is considered the first masterpiece of Arabic literary prose."[1] "Ibn al-Muqaffa' was a pioneer in the introduction of literary prose narrative to Arabic literature. He paved the way for later innovators such as al-Hamadani and al-Saraqusti, who brought literary fiction to Arabic literature by adapting traditionally accepted modes of oral narrative transmission into literary prose."[4] Ibn al-Muqaffa was also an accomplished scholar of Middle Persian, and was the author of several moral fables.
The Bosnian poet Dzevad Karahasan wrote a play about al-Muqaffa. The world premiere was performed in 1994 during the civil war in Bosnia-Hercegovina by the Bosnian actors Zijah Sokolović and Selma Alispahić from the National Theatre of Sarajevo under the direction of Herbert Gantschacher in a production of the Austrian theatre ARBOS in Vienna[5]