Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Kānemī (; died c. 1212) was an
Arab poet and grammarian from
Kanem. He was the first to write in
Arabic in the
central Sudan.
Ibrāhīm was born in the oasis of
Bilma, then a part of Kanem. In one poem, he refers to himself as belonging to the Dhakwān branch of the
Banū Sulaym
The Banu Sulaym ( ar, بنو سليم) is an Arab tribe that dominated part of the Hejaz in the pre-Islamic era. They maintained close ties with the Quraysh of Mecca and the inhabitants of Medina, and fought in a number of battles against the Is ...
. The Dhakwān moved from
Upper Egypt to
North Africa in the 11th century. He is described as "jet-black in hue", indicating that his mother at least was a
Black African. He was educated in the Sudan; in
Ghana, according to
Ibn Ḥamuwayh.
Ibrāhīm visited
Marrakesh
Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
around 1197–98, gaining there a reputation as a grammarian and poet. Only fragments of eight of his works survive, mainly quotations in the works of
Ibn al-Abbār
Ibn al-Abbār (), he was Hāfiẓ Abū Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn 'Abdullah ibn Abū Bakr al-Qudā'ī al-Balansī () (1199–1260) a secretary to Hafsid dynasty princes, well-known poet, diplomat, jurist and hadith scholar from al ...
and
Ibn al-Shaʿār. A poem in which he explains why he eschewed satire and wrote mostly ''
qaṣīda''s is quoted by both. He was patronized by the
Almohad Caliph Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr
Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Yūsuf ibn Abd al-Muʾmin al-Manṣūr (; c. 1160 – 23 January 1199 Marrakesh), commonly known as Yaqub al-Mansur () or Moulay Yacoub (), was the third Almohad Caliphate, Almohad Caliph. Succeeding his father, al-Mans ...
(1184–1199). Two lines of a poem Ibrāhīm recited before his patron are quoted by the 19th-century historian
Aḥmad al-Nāṣirī al-Salāwī. Ibrāhīm wrote
panegyrics on other leading Almohad figures and was a friend of fellow panegyrist
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Fāzāzī, who praised his verses. He also wrote in defence of his dark skin and exchanged stanzas on his race with
al-Jirāwī. In Marrakesh, he married a white woman named Zahrāʾ and wrote her poetry dealing with his dark skin.
Ibrāhīm eventually moved to
al-Andalus (Spain). He resided in
Seville.
[: "the circumstance, though slight, is interesting, as serving show that at the end of the twelfth century Negroland contributed, not only its commercial wares, but also its quota of art to the stores of Europe."] He died in Spain in
AH 608 or 609 (between
AD 1211 and 1213).
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
*Natty Mark Samuels (2015)
Ibrahim al-Kanemi ''Muslim Heritage'' (Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, UK).
12th-century births
1210s deaths
Arab people of African descent
Kanem Empire
12th-century Arabs
Medieval grammarians of Arabic
Almohad poets
12th-century Arabic poets
Banu Sulaym