New Determinations about when Ibn Rusta Wrote his Work al-Alāk al-Nafīsa

Abstract

It is unknow exactly when Ibn Rusta wrote his work al-A'lāk al-nafīsa. Although so far, innumerable date have been proposed on this subject by researchers the writing date of al-A'lāk al-nafīsa remains uncertainty. On the other hand Ibn Rusta's work al-A'lāk al-nafīsa also contains travel of Hārūn b. Yahyā who was one of the famous captives of the Middle Ages, from Constantinopolis to Rome. In this section of alA'lāk al-nafīsa, Hārūn b. Yahyā mentions the monarch that he defi nes as Basiūs al Malik (الملك بسوس .(In fact Basiūs was the title "Basileus" that used by Tzar Simeon of the Danubian Bulgars, after the siege of Constantinopolis in August 913. Therefore terminus post quem -probable earliest date- for the writing date of Ibn Rusta's work alA'lāk al-nafīsa is September 913/Muharram-Safar 301. This conclusion we reached as a result invalidates the researchers' all off ers about al-A'lāk al-nafīsa completed by Ibn Rusta before September 913.