ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn ʿAbd al-Razzāq ibn Jaʿfar ibn Bashrūn, called al-Ṣiqillī (the Sicilian), was an
Arabic poet from
Mahdia
Mahdia ( ') is a Tunisian coastal city with 76,513 inhabitants, south of Monastir, Tunisia, Monastir and southeast of Sousse.
Mahdia is a provincial centre north of Sfax. It is important for the associated fish-processing industry, as well as w ...
who spent much of his life in
Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
. He was a court poet of King
Roger II
Roger II or Roger the Great (, , Greek: Ρογέριος; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became ...
(1130–1154) and compiled an anthology of verse, ''Al-Mukhtār fī al-naẓm wa-l-nathr li-afāḍil ahl al-ʿaṣr'' (Selected Prose and Verse from the Noblest People of the Age).
The anthology of
ʿImād al-Dīn al-Iṣfahānī
Muhammad ibn Hamid (; 1125 – 20 June 1201), commonly known as Imad al-Din al-Isfahani (), was a historian, scholar, and rhetorician. He left a valuable anthology of Arabic poetry to accompany his many historical workshttp://www.crusades-encycl ...
contains a single ''
qaṣīda
The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; plural ''qaṣā’id'') is an ancient Arabic word and form of poetry, often translated as ode. The qasida originated in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and passed into non-Arabic cultures after the Arab Mus ...
'' from a longer poem by Ibn Bashrūn. In his standard fashion, ʿImād al-Dīn cut it short because it was a
panegyric
A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens.
Etymology
The word originated as a compound of - ' ...
for an infidel. It refers to Roger as "king of the Caesars" or "king of imperial kings" (''malik al-mulūk al-qayṣarīya''). The passage selected by ʿImād al-Dīn describes a palace, gardens and a menagerie as indicators of Roger's power:
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{refend
People from Mahdia
12th-century Arabic-language poets
12th-century Sicilian people