al-ʿIqd al-Farīd is an anthology attempting to encompass 'all that a well-informed person had to know in order to pass in society as a cultured and refined individual', composed by Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih, an Arab writer and poet from Cordova, now in Spain.
Contents
The anthology is divided into 25 sections. The 13th section is named the middle jewel of the necklace, and the chapters on either side are named after other jewels. It is an adab book resembling Ibn Qutaybah's `Uyun al-akhbar and the writings of al-Jahiz from which it borrows largely. Although he spent all his life in al-Andalus and did not travel to the East like some other Andalusian scholars, most of his book's material is drawn from the East Islamic world. Also, Ibn Abd Rabbih quoted no Andalusian compositions other than his own. He included in his book his 445-line Urjuza, a poem in the meter of the rajaz in which he narrates the warlike exploits of Abd al-Rahman al-Nasir, along with some of his eulogies of the Umayyads of al-Andalus. A major study of its sources was undertaken by Werkmeister. As transliterated and translated by Isabel Toral-Niehoff, the books for The Unique Necklace are:
The Book of the Second Flanking Level on Signatures, Departments, Viziers and the Stories of the Secretaries
The book of the Second Adorable Jewel on Caliphs, their Histories, and Battles
The book of the Second Unique Jewel on Reports about Ziyād, al-Hajjāj, the Ṭālibīyyīn and the Barmakids
The Book of the Second Mother of Pearl on the Battle Days of the Arabs
The Book of the Second Emerald on the Merits of Poetry, its Meter and its Scansion
The book of the Second Gem on Prosody and Metrical Irregularities
The Book of the Second Ruby on the Art of Song and Dissenting Opinions Thereof
The Book of the Second Coral on Women and their Attributes
The Book of the Second Nacre on False Prophets, Lunatics, Misers and Parasites
The Book of the Second Chrysolite on the Nature of Humans and Other Animals and the contention for precedence among cities
The Book of the Second Nonpareil Jewel on Food and Drink
The Book of the Second Pearl on Tidbits, Gifts, Jokes and Witticism
Influence
The Būyid vizier Sahib ibn Abbad 'is commonly quoted to illustrate the alleged lackluster reception the book met in the Orient': he is alleged to have said '“this is our merchandise brought back to us.” I thought this book contained some information about their country . But it rather contains information about ours. We have no need for it'. However, it was widely copied—about 100 manuscripts are known—and was frequently excerpted. It was also among the earliest adab works to be printed and has been printed at least ten times since in different editions. The collection was not, however, translated until scholarly European translations of portions began in the nineteenth century.
Editions and translations
This list focuses on the most recent editions of al-ʿIqd al-Farīd. None is free of typographical errors.
Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih, The Unique Necklace: Al-ʿIqd al-Farīd, trans. by Issa J. Boullata, Great Books of Islamic Civilization, 3 vols, ,
Kitāb al-ʿIqd al-Farīd, ed. by Aḥmad Amīn, Aḥmad al-Zayn, and Ibrāhīm al-Abyārī, 7 vols . 'This edition, based on two manuscripts and seven previously printed editions, has ample footnotes with a competent apparatus criticus. It also has a good introduction and detailed indexes.'
Al-ʿIqd al-Farīd, ed. by Muḥammad Saʿīd al-ʿAryān, 8 vols . 'This edition has rare footnotes but detailed indexes. Its good text reflects an implicit apparatus criticus in the mind of the editor but it is not explained in the notes. It has a good introduction which faults Aḥmad Amīn's with regard to a couple of historical facts'. The machine-readable text appears to be from a 1983/84 Beirut reprint of this edition.
Al-ʿIqd al-Farīd, ed. by Mufīd Muḥammad Qumayḥa, 9 vols. 'This edition has short footnotes, mostly abbreviated or derived from those in the edition of Aḥmad Amīn et al. and published selectively with only a few additions. It has detailed indexes and a general introduction but barely any critical apparatus, its text being mostly based on the edition of Aḥmad Amīn et al. with minor differences.
Ibn ʻAbd Rabbih, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad, al-’Iqd al-farīd, ed. A. Amīn, with an introduction by ʻU. Tadmurī, 7 vols., Beirut.
