Al-Ḥuṭayʾah (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: الحطيئة) full name Jarwal ibn 'Aws al-Absi, was an Arab poet of

pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension in the Syrian Desert before the rise of Islam. This is consistent with how contemporaries used the term ''Arabia'' or where they said Arabs lived, which was not limited to the ...

, who later converted to Islam. He was known for his extravagant

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

and contributions to

Arabic poetry Arabic poetry ( ''ash-shi‘r al-‘arabīyy'') is one of the earliest forms of Arabic literature. Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry contains the bulk of the oldest poetic material in Arabic, but Old Arabic inscriptions reveal the art of poetry existe ...

. Aside from satire, Al-Hutay'ah also wrote poems with romance, praise, pride and freedom as themes; all of which have been published in the modern era.

Biography

Lineage

His full name is Jarwal ibn 'Aws ibn Malik ibn Makhzum al-Absi. The lineage of Al-Hutay'ah is traced from there to the tribe of

Qays Qays ʿAylān (), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe may not have functioned as a unit in pre-Islamic Arabia (before 630). However, by the ea ...

which is descendants from the Arabian patriarch

Adnan Adnan () is traditionally regarded as the patriarch of the Adnanite Arabs, a major Arab lineage that historically inhabited Northern, Western, Eastern, and Central Arabia. The Adnanites are distinct from the Qahtanite Arabs of Southern Arabia ...

Pre-Islamic life

Al-Hutay'ah was a pioneer of

pre-Islamic Arabic poetry Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry is a term used to refer to Arabic poetry composed in pre-Islamic Arabia roughly between 540 and 620 AD. In Arabic literature, pre-Islamic poetry went by the name ''al-shiʿr al-Jāhilī'' ("poetry from the Jahiliyyah" or " ...

and was known for being extreme in making fun of others in his poetry to the point where some of his contemporaries disliked him for that. The

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

historian and poet

Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Iṣfahānī (), also known as Abul-Faraj, (full form: Abū al-Faraj ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥaytham al-Umawī al-Iṣfahānī) (897–967Common Era, CE / 284–356Islamic calendar, AH) w ...

narrated in his ''Kitab al-Aghani'' that Al-Hutay'ah was a very eloquent poet with a bad reputation and was regarded to be evil and shameless by his pre-Islamic contemporaries.

After Islam

Al-Hutay'ah reportedly converted to Islam in the 7th century but later apostatized and then returned to Islam after the

Ridda Wars The Ridda Wars were a series of military campaigns launched by the first caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes, some of which were led by rival prophet claimants. They began shortly after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in ...

for the rest of his life. There is a fable that he had an argument with a

Sahaba The Companions of the Prophet () were the Muslim disciples and followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who saw or met him during his lifetime. The companions played a major role in Muslim battles, society, hadith narration, and governance ...

, al-Zabarqan ibn Badr, and the Sahaba sent him to prison under orders of the

Rashidun The Rashidun () are the first four caliphs () who led the Muslim community following the death of Muhammad: Abu Bakr (), Umar (), Uthman (), and Ali (). The reign of these caliphs, called the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), is considered i ...

caliph

Umar ibn al-Khattab Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muh ...

. He was later released on a promise that he would maintain his good conduct and not make fun of other Muslims. The date of death of Al-Hutay'ah is unknown with a few historians speculating he died in circa the 670s.

Poetry

Satire

Satirical poetry directed towards others was a speciality of Al-Hutay'ah. He would even make fun of himself. One such example was where he narrated about his reflection in the water. He also made fun of his father:

Narrative poetry

Al-Hutay'ah composed poems in

narrative poetry Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need to rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may ...

format. An example of this is his poem about generousity.

Themes

Aside from satire, Al-Hutay'ah wrote poems with themes that were romantic, praiseful or relating to freedom and joy.

Published works

A collection of the poems of Al-Hutay'ah, known as the Diwan al-Hutay'ah, have been published in modern age. The 9th-century philologist,

Yaqub Ibn as-Sikkit Abū Yūsuf Ya‘qūb Ibn as-Sikkīt () was a Persian philologist tutor to the son of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil and a great grammarian and scholar of poetry of the al-Kūfah school. He was punished on the orders of the caliph and died be ...

, wrote an annotated version of the Diwan and added a commentary to explain the meaning of the poems and the literary devices that were used in them.

References

{{reflist 7th-century Arab people 7th-century Arabic-language poets