ABU’L-ḤOSAYN KĀTEB

 

ABU’L-ḤOSAYN AḤMAD B. SAʿD KĀTEB, official of the Buyids and writer in Arabic of the 4th/10th century. Little is known of him beyond what Yāqūt records in his biographical notice. He apparently came from Fārs; in 323/935 he was appointed head of the finances of the province of Isfahan by the Buyid amir ʿEmād-al-dawla, who had in the previous year taken over Fārs from the governor of the caliph Qāher. Abu’l-Ḥosayn only held this office for a year; and after 324/936 Yāqūt has nothing more to mention of him. He does speak of Abu’l-Ḥosayn’s contemporary fame as a prose stylist and composer of official correspondence (rasāʾel) and also of his work as an author; his compositions included two collections of rasāʾel, a Ketāb al-ḥely wa’l-ṯīāb, a book on logic, and a collection of satires. He was also a poet; and Yāqūt cites, among various verses of his, some addressed to the vizier Ebn al-ʿAmīd.

Bibliography: Yāqūt, Odabāʾ I, pp. 129-33.

(C. E. Bosworth)

Originally Published: December 15, 1983

Last Updated: July 21, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 3, p. 324

Cite this entry:

C. E. Bosworth, “ABU’L-ḤOSAYN KĀTEB,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/3, p. 324; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abul-hosayn-ahmad-b (accessed on 31 January 2014).