Muhammad Bal'ami
Abu Ali Muhammad Bal'ami (Persian: ابو علی محمد), also called Amirak Bal'ami (امیرک بلعمی) and Bal'ami-i Kuchak (بلعمی کوچک, "Bal'ami the Younger"), was a Persian historian, writer, and vizier to the Samanids. He was from the influential Bal'ami family.
Biography
![](../I/m/Bal'ami's_Persian_translation_of_al-Tabari's_Tarikh.jpg)
He was born in Lashjerd in the district of Merv, then part of the Samanid Empire. He was the son of Abu'l-Fadl al-Bal'ami (also called Bal'ami-i Buzurg; "Bal'ami the Elder").[1] Muhammad Bal'ami was appointed vizier during the late reign of Abd al-Malik I (r. 954-961) and kept holding the office under Abd al-Malik's successor Mansur I (r. 961-976). According to Gardizi, Bal'ami died in March 974 while serving in office, but according to the Persian historian al-Utbi, he was later from removed the vizierate office, and was reappointed later as the vizier of Nuh II (r. 976-997), but chose to retire in 992, dying in an unknown date before 997.
Work
Bal'ami most famous work is Tarikh-i Bal'ami, which is a Persian translation and alteration of al-Tabari's History of the Prophets and Kings; it contains supplementary material, some of which is found nowhere else. Bal'ami himself states several times in the book that he has corrected al-Tabari's version. Contrary to al-Tabari, Bal'ami's version is presented from a Persian (mainly Khorasanian) point of view.[2] Having been written in 963, the Tarikh-i Bal'ami is the oldest New Persian prose work after the preface of the Shahnama-yi Abu Mansuri by Abu Mansur Muhammad.[3]
The 12th-century poet Nizami Aruzi makes mention of a book composed by Bal'ami named Tawqi'at, and two lines by Bal'ami are cited in the Farhang-e Jahangiri by Jamal al-Din Hosayn Enju Shirazi. However, it is not known if this refers to Bal'ami or his father, Bal'ami the Elder.[3]
References
- Frye 1975, p. 152.
- Yarshater & Melville 2012, p. 10.
- Khalegi-Motlagh 1989, pp. 971-972.
Sources
- Ashraf, Ahmad (2006). "Iranian identity iii. Medieval Islamic period". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XIII, Fasc. 5. pp. 507–522.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Frye, R.N. (1975). "The Sāmānids". In Frye, R.N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 136–161. ISBN 0-521-20093-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Khalegi-Motlagh, Dj. (1989). "AMĪRAK BALʿAMĪ". Archived copy. Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 9. pp. 971–972. Archived from the original on 2012-11-17. Retrieved 2011-10-01.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Zadeh, Travis (1986). "al-Balʿamī". The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume III. Leiden and New York: BRILL. ISBN 90-04-09419-9.
- Yarshater, Ehsan; Melville, Charles (2012). Persian Historiography: History of Persian Literature A, Volume 10. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–400. ISBN 9780857721402.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
External links
Media related to Muhammad Bal'ami at Wikimedia Commons