Although the Arabic maq? mah, a branch of the picaresque genre, was much cultivated in
the Middle Ages, little is known about it aside from the works of al-Hamadh? n? and al-? ar?
r?, its first two cultivators. This translation of the Maq? m? t al-luz? m? yah by the twelfth-
century Andalusi author al-Saraqust? makes available to Western scholars of narrative
prose a hitherto little-known but important collection of Arabic maq? m? t. The" Preliminary
Study" places this specific collection in the context of the overall maqama genre, it further …

Abfiu-Tahir Muhammad ibn Yfisuf ibn'Abd Allih ibn Yfusuf ibn'Abd Allah ibn Ibrahim al-
Tamimi, Jamal al-Din al-Mazini, al-Saraqusti, al-Andalusi, ibn al-Astarkuni/Astarkuwi2 (d.
538/1143) was a distinguished Andalusi prose writer, poet, and scholar who, possibly by
virtue of being a scholar, led a rather obscure life. So obscure was it, in fact, that it is usual to
begin any account of his works by regretting how little is known about him, there-by implying
that the paucity of our biographical information makes it impossible to appreciate or to …

AL-SARAQUSTI, IBN AL-ASTARKUWI: ANDALUSI LEXICOGRAPHER, POET, AND
AUTHOR OF AL-MAQAMAT AL-LUZUMIYA'Abui I-Tahir Muhammad ibn Yuisuf ibn'Abd Alliih
ibn Yfisuf ibn'Abd Alliih ibn Ibriihim al-Tamimi, Jamal al-Din al-Mazini, al-Saraqusti, al-Anda-
lusi, ibn al-Astarkii/AstarkUiwi2 (d. 538/1143) was a distinguished Andalusi prose writer,
poet, and scholar who, possibly by virtue of being a scholar, led a rather obscure life. So
obscure was it, in fact, that it is usual to begin any account of his works by regretting how …