HISHAM IBN (MUHAMMAD) AL-KALBI

born before 747, , Al-Kufah, Iraq died 819/821, Al-Kufah also called Abu Al-mundhir scholar of the customs, lineage, and battles of the early Arabs. Hisham's father was a distinguished scholar who endeavoured to put into writing oral traditions gathered from Bedouins and professional reciters. Hisham is said to have taught in Baghdad, perhaps late in life. He wrote extensively on the early Arabs and on religion. His extant works include Al-Khayl (Horses), which contains short accounts of famous horses and poems on horses; Jamharat an-nasab (Genealogical Collection), a work of great importance about the politics, religion, and literature of the pre-Isl amic and early Muslim Arabs; and Kitab al-asnam (The Book of Idols, 1952), in which he discusses the gods of the pre-Islamic Arabs. The discussions in Kitab al-asnam are supplemented by relevant excerpts from pre-Islamic poetry.