Ibn al-Jawālīqī in his Kitāb al-Mu'arrab, explains that al-Marzubānī inherited a Persian epithet "Marzban", which means 'Guardian of the frontier'.
The Buyid amir ‘Aḍūd al-Dawla was known to visit his residence on the east bank of the Tigris,[3] where he would also entertain members of a literary circle dedicated to the conservation and transmission of Arabic philological literature.
[9] He edited the first dīwān (collected poems) by the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I (r. 661–680), which he produced in a small volume of about three kurrāsa,[n 3] – ca., 60 ff.
Some sectarian-based criticism – attributed to al-Marzubānī's religious leanings and madhhab, despite his publication of Ḥanafī, Shī'i and Mu'tazila riwāya and akhbar (biographies).
Among his books were:[n 5] Isḥāq al-Nadīm records that 20,000 ff from sources written in al-Marzubānī's handwriting had survived to his day.