to a certain Shafi'i scholar as a 'secret Twelver', is said to indicate his possible Twelver affiliation. Within his circle were the theologian Al-Mufid, the da'i Ibn Hamdan, the author Khushkunanadh, and the Jacobite philosopher Yahya ibn 'Adi (d. 363/973) preceptor to Isa bin Ali and a fellow copyist and bookseller (p. t64, 8). Another unsubstantiated claim that al-Nadim was Isma'ili, rests on his meeting with an Isma'ili leader. Al-Fihrist The Kitāb al-Fihrist () is a compendium of the knowledge and literature of tenth-century Islam referencing approx. 10,000 books and 2,000 authors. This crucial source of medieval Arabic-Islamic literature, informed by various ancient Hellenic and Roman civilizations, preserves from his own hand the names of authors, books and accounts otherwise entirely lost. Al-Fihrist is evidence of Al-Nadim's thirst for knowledge among the exciting sophisticated milieu of Baghdad's intellectual elite. As a record of civilisation transmitted through Muslim culture to the West world, it provides unique classical material and links to other civilisations. See also Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid Notes References Sources [complete English translation]. 990s deaths History of education in Iraq Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate 10th-century historians from the Abbasid Caliphate 10th-century Arabs 10th-century jurists 10th-century manuscripts 10th-century philosophers 10th-century scholars 10th-century Arabic writers Alchemists of the medieval Islamic world Bibliographers Bibliophiles Grammarians of Arabic Encyclopedists of the medieval Islamic world Nadim Persian-language writers Social history of Iraq Translators of One Thousand and One Nights Year of birth unknown Iranian chemists