Search

, the name of one of the seven post-classical genres of poetry ( fann , pl. funūn ), the others being the silsila , the dūbayt or rubāʿī , the muwas̲h̲s̲h̲aḥ , the ḳūmā , the mawāliyā and the zad̲j̲al [ qq.v.]. The genre was devised by the Bag̲h̲dādī poets and its name derives from the formula used by storytellers to open their narratives: “there was and there was”, i.e., “once upon a time”; originally, in fact, the kān wa-kān was just a rhyming story and it was only later that the term was applied to various subjects, particularly those of a moral or…

, S̲h̲ams al-Dīn abu ’l-Ḵh̲ayr muḥ. b. Muḥ. b. Muḥ. b. Muḥ. b. ʿAlī b. Yūsuf al-D̲j̲azarī , faḳīh , “reader” and ḳāḍī , born in Damascus on 25 Ramaḍān 751/26 November 1350. After completing the traditional studies in his native town, with particular attention to ḥadīt̲h̲ and Ḳurʾānic “readings”, he made the pilgrimage to Mecca in 768/1367 and then went to Cairo, where he continued the study of the ḳirāʾāt . Returning to Damascus, he devoted himself to ḥadīt̲h̲ and fiḳh , attending the classes of the pupils of al-Dimyāṭī, al-Abarḳūhī and al-Asnawī. He the…