the Adab al-ghuraba the reports about the experiences of strangers; those away from their homes or their beloved ones. Some of the stories centre on the hardship which strangers, anonymous or not, encountered in their journey or exile, usually shown in the epigrams written on monuments, rocks, or walls. Others relate excursions to the monasteries for drinking. The al-Imāʾ al-shawāʿir was composed at the order of the vizier al-Muhallabī, al-Isfahani's patron, who demanded the collection of the reports about the enslaved women who composed poetry from the Umayyad to the Abbasid periods. Al-Isfahani confesses that he could not find any noteworthy poetess in the Umayyad period, because the people at that time were not impressed with verses featuring tenderness and softness. Thus, he only records the Abbasid poetesses, with mention of the relevant fine verses or the pleasant tales, and arranges them in chronological order. There are 31 sections, addressing 32 poetesses, most of which are short and usually begin with al-Isfahani's summary of the subject. The Maqātil al-Ṭālibīyīn is a historical-biographical compilation concerning the descendants of Abu Talib, who died by being killed, poisoned to death in a treacherous way, on the run from the rulers’ persecution, or confined until death. The Maqātil literature was rather common, particularly amongst Shi'is, before al-Isfahani and he used many works of this genre as sources for the Maqātil al-Ṭālibīyīn. Al-Isfahani does not explain the motivation behind this compilation nor mention to whom they were dedicated, but according to the preface of this work, he sets out as a condition to recount the reports about the Ṭālibids who were “praiseworthy in their conduct and rightly guided in their belief (maḥmūd al-ṭarīqa wa-sadīd al-madhhab)”. Like the al-Imāʾ, the work is structured in chronological order, beginning with the first Ṭālibī martyr, Jaʿfar b. Abī Ṭālib, and ends in the year of its compilation, August 925 (Jumādā I 313). For each biographical entry, al-Isfahani gives the full name, the lineage (sometimes adding the maternal side). Less often, he additionally gives the virtues and personal traits of the subject and other material he thinks noteworthy, for example the prophetic ḥadīth about, or transmitted by, the subject of the biography in question. Then, al-Isfahani gives the account of the death which, more often than not, constitutes the end of the entry. Sometimes poetry for or by the subject is attached. The Maqātil was used as a reliable source