imad ad-din al-isfahani

muhammad ibn hamed isfahani more popularly known as imad ad-din al-isfahani was a persian historian, scholar, and rhetorician. he left a valuable anthology of arabic poetry to accompany his many historical works. and worked as a man of letters during the zengid and ayyubid period. he was born in isfahan in the year 1125, and studied at the nizamiyya school in baghdad. he graduated into the bureaucracy, and held jurisdiction over basra and wasit. he then became a deputy of the vizier ibn hubayra. after the death of ibn hubayra, he went to damascus in 1166 ce (562 islamic calendar) and entered the service of the qadi of damascus, kamal ad-din. the qadi presented him to the zengid nur ad-din, who appointed him a professor in the school he had established there, which then became known as the imadiyya school in his honour. nur ad-din was later appointed to be his chancellor. after the death of nur ad-din in 1173, imad ad-din was removed from all his bureaucratic duties, and was banished from the palace. he went to live in mosul and later entered the service of saladin, the egyptian sultan during that time. after saladin's death in 1193, he began writing his biographies of the sultan. he wrote the kitab al-barq al-shami. he also wrote al-fath al-qussi fi-l-fath al-qudsi, which survives.he died in 1201.