Bashār ibn Burd ( ar, بشار بن برد; 714–783), nicknamed al-Mura'ath, meaning "the wattled", was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

poet of the late

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

and early

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

periods who wrote in Arabic. Bashar was of Persian ethnicity; his grandfather was taken as a captive to Iraq, but his father was a freedman (''

mawla Mawlā ( ar, مَوْلَى, plural ''mawālī'' ()), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet ...

'') of the

Uqayl Banu Uqayl ( ar, بنو عُـقَـيـْل) are an ancient Arab tribe that played an important role in the history of eastern Arabia and Iraq. They belonged to the Banu Ka'b branch of the large Banu 'Amir confederation. The Banu 'Amir confedera ...

tribe. Some Arab scholars considered Bashar the first "modern" poet, and one of the pioneers of badi' in

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

. It is believed that the poet exerted a great influence on the subsequent generation of poets.

Life

Bashar was born into a family of Persian stock. He was blind from birth and said to have been ugly, in part a result of smallpox scarring on his face. He grew up in the rich cultural environment of

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

and showed his poetic talents at an early age. Bashar fell foul of some religious figures, such as

Malik ibn Dinar Malik Dinar ( ar-at, مالك دينار, Mālik b. Dīnār, Malayalam: മാലിക് ദീനാര്‍) (died 748 CE)Al-Hujwiri, "Kashf al-Mahjoob", 89 was a Muslim scholar and traveller. He was one of the first known Muslims to have co ...

and

al-Hasan al-Basri Abu Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as Hasan of Basra (Arabic: الحسن البصري, Romanization of Arabic, romanized: ''Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī''; 642 - 15 October 728) for short, or as Hasan al-Basri, was an early ...

, who condemned his poetry for its licentiousness. He exchanged ''

Hija Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry ...

'' with several poets. Being anti- Mu'tazili, he criticized

Wasil ibn Ata Wāṣil ibn ʿAtāʾ (700–748) ( ar, واصل بن عطاء) was an important Muslim theologian and jurist of his time, and by many accounts is considered to be the founder of the Muʿtazilite school of Kalam. Born around the year 700 in the ...

, who by some accounts is considered the founder of the

Mutazilite Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islamic ...

school of Islamic thought. After the

s built

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

, Bashar moved there from

in 762. Bashar became associated with the

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

al-Mahdi Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله المنصور; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name Al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abb ...

. Due to his libertinism, al-Mahdi ordered him not to write further love poetry. Bashar quickly violated the ban.

Death

Multiple stories of Bashar's end exist. Ammiel Alcalay in 1993 argued that Bashar was condemned as a heretic and executed by al-Mahdi in 783. Hugh Kennedy, on the other hand, relates al-Tabari's account that Ya'qub ibn Dawud had Bashar murdered in the marshes between Basra and Baghdad.

Style

Most of his Hija' (satires) are in traditional style, while his ''

fakhr Fakhr, also Fakhar or Faḵr ( ar, فخر), may be a given name or a surname. It literally means "pride", "honor", "glory" in Arabic. It may also be a part of a given name such as Fakhr al-Din, "pride of the faith". Notable people with the name i ...

'' expresses his

Shu'ubi ''Shu'ubiyya'' ( ar, الشعوبية) was a literary-political movement which opposed the privileged status of Arabs within the Muslim community. The vast majority of the Shu'ubis were Persian. Terminology The name of the movement is derived fr ...

sentiments, vaunting the achievements of his Persian ancestors and denigrating the "uncivilized Arabs". The following couplet from Bashar demonstrates his admiration for

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

(the religion of his

ancestors) over Islam by preferring prostration (''

sajdah Sujūd ( ar, سُجود, ), or sajdah (, ), is the act of low bowing or prostration to God facing the ''qiblah'' (direction of the Kaaba at Mecca). It is usually done in standardized prayers (salah). The position involves kneeling and bowing t ...

'') towards fire ( Shaitan like other

jinn Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

was created from smokeless fire) in lieu of soil ( Adam's origin). الارض مظلمة و النار مشرقة والنار معبودة مذكانت النار

References

Sources cited

* * 714 births 783 deaths Poets from the Abbasid Caliphate Poets from the Umayyad Caliphate 8th-century Iranian people 8th-century writers Executed Iranian people People executed for heresy 8th-century executions by the Abbasid Caliphate Former Muslim critics of Islam Critics of Sunni Islam Blind people from Iran Shu'ubiyya Romantic poets 8th-century Arabic poets 8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate Persian Arabic-language poets {{MEast-poet-stub

Life

Death

Style

See also

References

Sources cited