İbn Kuteybe

Ibn Qutaybah (full name Abū Muḥammad Abdullāh b. Muslim b. Qutaybah al-Dīnawarī; d. 276/889) is an Islamic scholar and historian known for his works in the fields of language, literature, Quranic sciences, hadith, and history. From the perspective of Kurdish history sources, he is considered one of the important authors of the early Islamic period, covering the first two centuries of the Rashidun Caliphs, Umayyads, and Abbasids (Vol. 1, p. 88).

Life and Education

Ibn Qutaybah, a member of a family that migrated from Merv to Kufa, took lessons on various sciences from renowned teachers of the era in Iraq. He spent a large part of his life in Baghdad during the most brilliant period of the Abbasids and was greatly influenced by the ideas discussed in the meetings of Mu‘tazila scholars he attended in his youth. Most likely in 236 (850), he dedicated his work titled Adab al-Katib to Vizier Abu al-Hasan Ibn Khaqan, whose patronage he received (Vol. 1, p. 88).

al-Ma'arif and Historical Method

Among his most renowned works, al-Ma'arif is one of the sources that deals with Islamic history chronologically according to the Hijri calendar; the same chronological method is also seen in Dinawari’s al-Akhbar al-Tiwal and Ya‘qubi’s Kitab al-Tarikh, and these works are considered among the first examples of chronological Islamic histories (Vol. 1, p. 92). In the section of al-Ma'arif titled “Ajam Rulers,” Persian rulers, including Kurdish rulers, are mentioned (Vol. 1, p. 89).

On the Origin of the Kurds

Regarding the origin and early history of the Kurds, Ibn Qutaybah al-Dinawari is considered the first historian and geographer to address the subject; in this respect, he is among the primary sources providing early information about the Kurds (Vol. 2, p. 51). In his book al-Ma'arif, he is the first to include a narration regarding the origin of the Kurds: According to this narration, the Ajam say that the Kurds are the remnants of the food of the mythological Persian ruler Biyorasef (Dahhak). According to the narrative, Dahhak ordered two people to be slaughtered for him every day and ate their flesh; his vizier named Erail, however, would slaughter one of the two to be sacrificed and secretly release the other into the mountains. Thus, it is narrated that the people sent to the mountains were the ancestors of the Kurds (Vol. 2, p. 51).