On the authenticity ofAl-Adab al-ṣaġīrattributed to Ibn al-Muqaffacand problems concerning some of his titles

Abstract

G. Richter, F. Gabrieli, I. c Abbās and M. Zakeri conducted fundamental research on Al-Adab al-ṣaġīr which is attributed to Ibn al-Muqaffa c . They concluded that this work is spurious. This view is generally accepted by most of the scholars. The primary objective of the first section of this article is to add some comments and information to their research, as well as to argue that Al-Adab al-ṣaġīr is very likely an authentic work of Ibn al-Muqaffa c . It is plausible that he compiled Pahlavi texts which he translated, and prefaced this compilation with an introduction. In the second section of this article I will discuss the question of the titles of some of Ibn al-Muqaffac c ’s compositions, such as the Kitāb al-ādāb al-kabīr, Al-Adab al-ṣaġīr, Al-Yatīma , and the Polemic against Islam . This article is the second of a series on Ibn al-Muqaffa c ’s oeuvre . The first article of this series La Lumière et les Ténèbres dans l’œuvre d’Ibn al-Muqaffac (Light and Darkness in Ibn al-Muqaffa c ) was published in a previous volume of the AOH (61/3). The next article of this series, “Reason, Religion and Power in Ibn al-Muqaffa c ”, will be published in one of the next issues.