ABSTRACT
This chapter and the two subsequent ones present and discuss the remarks which Abū l-Faraj makes on his manner of working and his material in the course of the Aghānī. They aim to cast light on how he responded to his material and what considerations guided him in bringing it together. Given the difficulty which modern readers have in understanding the book as an entity, this insight is an important first step in the study of it. It naturally does not mean that no interpretations of the Aghānī which diverge from its author’s understanding of it are possible, but simply that serious discussion of the book needs to take account of his intentions.
