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Al-Mutanabbi |
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The greatest of classical Arabic poets, Al-Mutanabbi
(the prophet: 915-965) was also a political firebrand. He
was born in Kufa, educated in Damascus, lived with the desert
Bedouin, and participated in revolutionary movements. During
his 948-957 imprisonment he started writing poetry, which
attracted the patronage of the Syrian prince Sayf 'd Daula.
Political activities unfortunately obliged him to flee to
Egypt and thence to Baghdad. For a while he worked as court
poet in Shiraz, but his opinions again made enemies, and
he was killed by brigands on a journey to Baghdad when bravado
got the better of common sense. Al-Mutanabbi was the master
of the exuberant panegyric, as impossible to render into
adequate English as the very different Pindar,
but arousing the greatest
enthusiasm in native speakers.
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Classical Arabic poetry |
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Arabic
is very different from the European languages in its
letter forms, grammatical structure and sounds. Its poetry
is quantitative, and builds on rich oral traditions of pre-Islamic
Arabia. Poets glorified the legends and achievements of
their tribe, and this very public role later transferred
itself to the patronage sought of rulers in the urbanised
Islamic world. Increasingly rhetorical and innovative in
its imagery, this badi style was combined with gnomic
phrases in superb control of the language to furnish the
splendid eulogy (and sometimes lampoons) of Al-Mutannabi.
His Diwan (collected poems) are famous for their
long-lived
qasida
and madin. The classical period ended with the 1258
sack of Baghdad by the Mongols, but Al-Mutannabi has been
an inspiration to poets trying to recapture an earlier vigour
and purity — to poets like Nasif
al-Yaziji (d. 1871) and Mahmud Sami al-Barudi (d. 1904).
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Islamic poetry today |
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Islam
created a distinctive civilisation that is still alive in
various forms in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia,
Morocco, etc. Chief among its literature was poetry, to be
freely quoted in home, palace and bazaar — as readers
of The
Arabian Nights will know. Poetry was written for speaking,
or singing even, and modern Arabic poetry can retain something
of that fervour and majesty of expression. Hence its importance
to the west, where an appreciation of a 1000 years of Islamic
poetry (Arabic. Persian
and Urdu)
could help to reinvigorate what has become somewhat apologetic
and introverted. Nonetheless, contemporary Arabic poetry generally
looks to the west for inspiration, envying its greater freedom
of political and social expression. |
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Reading the Arabic |
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To appreciate its literature, you'll need to understand
something of Islamic history
and thought
— with which the Internet can help enormously. For history
try the Internet
Islamic History Sourcebook. For culture and language try
LexicOrient,
Arabismo,
JAIS, JMMH,
and Arabinfoseek.
And for introductions to Islamic poetry try Arab
Gateway,and Arab2.
Those who read the language will also find these useful: Arabia
Poems, Arabic
Poems, Arabic
Literature, Almubarak,
Alkitab,
Almaktabah,
and Arab
World Books. Al
Bukhari Hadith and Ahlulbayt have real audio recordings
of poetry, and learning sufficient of the language to read
it correctly can be achieved with cassettes, CDs
and online
courses. The Arabic Poetry section of The New Princeton
Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (1993) has a helpful
introduction and bibliography. Literary reviews tend now to
be specialised, but R.A. Nicolson's Literary History of
the Arabs (1914) and H.A.R. Gibb's Arabic Literature
(1926) are worth searching for. |
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