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`Ali ibn al-Husayn ul-Isbahani (Arabic ??? ????? ??????????), also known as Abu-l-Faraj or, in the West, as Abulfaraj (897-967) was an Iranian scholar of Arab-Quraysh origin who is noted for collecting and preserving ancient Arabic lyrics and poems in his major work, the Kitab al-Aghani. [1] Abu al-Faraj al-I?bahani was born in Isfahan, Persia, but spent his youth and made his early studies in Baghdad, Iraq. He was a direct descendant of the last of the Umayyad caliphs, Marwan II, and was thus connected with the Umayyad rulers in Spain, and seems to have kept up a correspondence with them and to have sent them some of his works. He became famous for his knowledge of early Arabian antiquities. His later life was spent in various parts of the Islamic world, in Aleppo with its governor Sayf ad-Dawlah (to whom he dedicated the Book of Songs), in Ray with the Buwayhid vizier Ibn 'Abbad, and elsewhere. Although he wrote poetry, also an anthology of verses on the monasteries of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and a genealogical work, his fame rests upon his Book of Songs (Kitab al-Aghani).
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