Abu'l-Simt Marwan al-Akbar ibn Sulayman ibn Yahya ibn Abi Hafsa () (723–) was a famous
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
poet at the court of the
Abbasid Caliphate
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 ...
during the second half of the 8th century. He was born to a non-Arab family.
Biography
Marwan belonged to what the 11th-century anthologist
al-Tha'alibi
Al-Tha'alibi (961–1038), was a writer famous for his anthologies and collections of epigrams. As a writer of prose and verse in his own right, distinction between his and the work of others is sometimes lacking, as was the practice of writ ...
called "the most poetic of families in Islam", as it counted six poets. This tradition began with the eponymous ancestor, Marwan's great-grandfather,
Abu Hafsa Yazid. He was either of
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 ...
or
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
origin and a ''
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
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 ...
caliph
Marwan I
Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya ( ar, links=no, مروان بن الحكم بن أبي العاص بن أمية, Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ ibn Umayya), commonly known as MarwanI (623 or 626April/May 685), was the fo ...
.
Marwan was born in
al-Yamama
Al-Yamama ( ar, اليَمامَة, al-Yamāma) is a historical region in the southeastern Najd in modern-day Saudi Arabia, or sometimes more specifically, the now-extinct ancient village of Jaww al-Yamamah, near al-Kharj, after which the rest ...
in 723. In order to pursue his career, Marwan left his family's home for
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 ...
, where he quickly rose to prominence in the court circles. Marwan knew to take advantage of his position and manage his image: the specialist of Arab poetry describes him as "sordidly avaricious, clumsy and unscrupulous, he would arrive at the palace clad in rags, despite the enormous sums which the caliphs gave him for his poems. With a keen eye to his own advancement, he attached himself to the prominent Arab chief
Ma'n ibn Za'ida Abu'l-Walid Ma'n ibn Za'ida al-Shaybani () (died 769/70) was an 8th-century Arab general of the Shayban tribe, who served both the Umayyads and the Abbasids.
Under the Umayyads
Ma'n was a member of the nobility of the Shayban tribe, settled in th ...
. He wrote numerous works in praise of his patron, of such skill and eloquence that on one occasion the
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 ...
caliphs
al-Mansur
Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) w ...
() and
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 Abba ...
() are said to have taken offence at the lavish praise, and to have excluded him from their presence for one year thereafter. Nevertheless he always returned to favour, not least because he shared his family's hostility to the
Alids
The Alids are those who claim descent from the '' rāshidūn'' caliph and Imam ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (656–661)—cousin, son-in-law, and companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad—through all his wives. The main branches are the (inclu ...
and was a staunch propagandist of the Abbasids' legitimacy. He was assassinated in under unclear circumstances. The story that his assassin was an Alid supporter angry about his attacks on their claims to the caliphate may be apocryphal, but as the historian H. Kilpatrick notes, it nevertheless "suggests the impact that his poetry had".
His brother Idris also wrote poetry, but it was Marwan's grandson,
Marwan ibn Abi'l-Janub, who was the last notable poet of the family.
Assessment
Bencheikh considers Marwan "a great classical poet" and "a master of the well-turned utterance", with a "supple and lexically straightforward vocabulary" and "clear syntax" that lent themselves to striking formulations in his panegyrics. According to H. Kilpatrick, he was "a master of the classical style associated with the great Umayyad panegyrists".
He was meticulous in the composition and preparation of his poems, first showing them to grammarians to improve his language. Indeed, his knowledge of Arabic was deficient; the strict philologist
al-Asma'i (d. 828/833) scorned him as a half-Arab (''muwallad'') who never properly learned the language, and anecdotes tell of his giving incorrect explanations of words. At the same time, this was typical of the poets of his time, and did not prevent other philologists from praising his work:
Ibn al-A'rabi
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ziyād (), surnamed Ibn al-Aʿrābī () (ca. 760 – 846, Sāmarrā); a philologist, genealogist, and oral traditionist of Arabic tribal poetry. A grammarian of the school of al-Kūfah, who rivalled the grammari ...
(d. 846) considered him the last of the great poets. The bulk of his work is panegyric or
elegiac The adjective ''elegiac'' has two possible meanings. First, it can refer to something of, relating to, or involving, an elegy or something that expresses similar mournfulness or sorrow. Second, it can refer more specifically to poetry composed in ...
in nature, but a few compositions on private, everyday affairs, have also survived.
References
Sources
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798 deaths
8th-century Arabs
8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
Poets from the Abbasid Caliphate
Assassinated people in the medieval Islamic world
Muslim panegyrists