The Persian Reference in the Sultanian Literature Ibn Qutayba’s(d276h/890ad) “Oyoun Al-Akhbar” as a Model

Abstract

  The books on advice by those in authority known as the Sultanian literature, fall within the cultural-intellectual heritage that Muslims inherited from pre- Islamic civilizations, the Persian civilization in particular. The credit for the process of transferring this legacy from its first environment and consecrating it in its second environment goes to a group of thinkers who are originally Persian, including Ibn Qutayba, who dealt with this trend of Islamic political thought in some chapters of his encyclopedic-cultural book, Oyoun Al-Akhbar (the eyes of the news). The current research comprises three sections, the first of which deals with the conceptual framework of the study, which defines the Sultanian literature and its reference system. The second section deals with the definition of Ibn Qutayba and his book Oyoun Al-Akhbar, while the last section deals with the problematic identification of Persian resources and Ibn Qutayba’s approach in documenting them in his aforementioned book. Among the most important conclusions reached by the present research is the proof of the validity of the centrality of the Persian Reference in the reference system of the Sultanian writings in general, and in Oyoun al-Akhbar in particular. Furthermore, the research proved Ibn Qutayba’s impactful contribution to the intellectual field of the Persian- Sassanian political heritage through his reference to the names of some of the lost Persian books and his quotation of pages from them, or by unveiling the content of some of the others, which made them more clear to the researchers interested in the field of Islamic political heritage and its sources.