Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadhani
969–1007
Biography
Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadhani (969–1007) was a poet and man of letters born in Hamadhan in western Iran. He was of Arab descent, tracing his roots to the Taghlib tribe, and his nisba names his birthplace. His honorific, Badi' al-Zaman, means something like the wonder of the age. In his early twenties he left home to study and look for patrons, travelling through Rayy, Jurjan and Nishapur, where he won great fame, before moving on through eastern Iran. His last years were spent in Herat, where he died.
His reputation rests on the Maqamat, short self-contained tales in rhymed prose. Each follows a con man and gifted improviser, Abu al-Fath al-Iskandari, through a new adventure, and each is told by a narrator, Isa ibn Hisham, who admires him and is sometimes taken in. Badi' al-Zaman is credited with founding this form, which later writers in Arabic and Persian took up and reshaped. Later accounts speak of hundreds of tales, of which fifty-two survive. The stories combine satire, poetry, debate and comic set pieces, and they show the author's command of language and religious argument.
On this site the book is Maqamat Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadhani, the collection that set the pattern. It is among the earliest surviving examples of the form, and reading it shows where the later maqamat came from: the rogue's inventive tricks, the narrator's delight in them and the display of rhetoric are all present from the start. The language is demanding, with rhyme and wordplay throughout, so a glossary helps, but the tales are short and often very funny.
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Books
مقامات بديع الزمان الهمذاني
by بديع الزمان الهمذاني
The narrator repeatedly meets the eloquent wanderer Abu al-Fath al-Iskandari in scenes of disguise, wit, and deception. Al-Hamadhani's rhymed prose established the maqama as a major Arabic literary form.
Summary written by gpt-6-sol.