The Muʻallaqāt ( ar, المعلقات, ) is a group of seven long Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, the traditional explanation being that these poems were hung in the
Kaaba
The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...
in
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
,
while scholars have also suggested that the hanging is figurative, as if the poems "hang" in the reader's mind.
Along with the ''
Mufaddaliyat
The ''Mufaddaliyyat'' (Arabic: المفضليات / ALA-LC: ''al-Mufaḍḍaliyāt''), meaning "The Examination of al-Mufaḍḍal", is an anthology of ancient Arabic poems which derives its name from its author Mufaḍḍal al-Ḍabbī, '', ''
Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab ( ar, جمهرة أشعار العرب; ''The Gathering of the Arabs' Verses'') is an early Arabic poetry anthology by . The date of publication is unknown, and al-Qurashi is supposed by various scholars to have lived in the ...
'', ''
Asma'iyyat The Aṣmaʿiyyāt ( ar, الأصمعيات) is a well-known early anthology of Arabic poetry by Al-Asma'i. The collection is considered one of the primary sources for early Arabic poetry along with the Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab, Hamasah, Mu'allaqa ...
'', and the ''
Hamasah
The Hamasah (; ) is a genre of Arabic poetry that "recounts chivalrous exploits in the context of military glories and victories".
The first work in this genre is Kitab al-Hamasah of Abu Tammam.
Hamasah works
List of popular Hamasah works:
* ''Ha ...
'', the ''Mu'allaqāt'' are considered the primary source for early
Arabic poetry
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 ...
. Scholar
Peter N. Stearns goes so far as to say that they represent "the most sophisticated poetic production in the history of Arabic letters."
History
Compilation
The original compiler of the poems may have been
Hammad al-Rawiya (8th century). The grammarian
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Nahhas (d. 949 CE) says in his commentary on the ''Mu'allaqat'': "The true view of the matter is this: when Hammad al-Rawiya saw how little men cared for poetry, he collected these seven pieces, urged people to study them, and said to them: 'These are the
oems
An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...
of renown.'"
Orfali suggests that the connection is "the multi-thematic ''qaṣidāh'' form".
Hammad was a Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
n by descent, but a client of the Arab tribe, Bakr ibn Wa'il
The Banu Bakr bin Wa'il ( ar, بنو بكر بن وائل '), or simply Banu Bakr, were an Arabian tribe belonging to the large Rabi'ah branch of Adnanite tribes, which also included Abd al-Qays, Anazzah, Taghlib. The tribe is reputed to have en ...
. For this reason, some suppose he not only received into the collection a poem of the famous poet Tarafa
Tarafa ( ar, طرفة بن العبد بن سفيان بن سعد أبو عمرو البكري الوائلي / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarafah ibn al-‘Abd ibn Sufyān ibn Sa‘d Abū ‘Amr al-Bakrī al-Wā’ilī''), was a 6th century Arabian poet of the ...
, of the tribe of Bakr, but also that of another Bakrite, Harith. The latter had been a prominent chieftain, while his poem could serve as a counterpoise to Harith's contemporary 'Amr, chief of the Taghlib
The Banu Taghlib (), also known as Taghlib ibn Wa'il, were an Arab tribe that originated in Najd (central Arabia), but later migrated and inhabited the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) from the late 6th century onward. Their parent tribe was the Rabi ...
, the rival tribe of the Bakr. 'Amr praises the Taghlib in glowing terms: Harith, in a similar vein, extols the Bakr ancestors of Hammad's patrons.[
The collection appears to have consisted of the same seven poems which are found in modern editions, composed respectively by ]Imru' al-Qais
Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi ( ar, ٱمْرُؤ ٱلْقَيْس جُنْدُح ٱبْن حُجْر ٱلْكِنْدِيّ, ALA-LC: ''ʾImruʾ al-Qays Junduḥ ibn Ḥujr al-Kindīy'') was an Arab king and poet in the 6th century, an ...
, Tarafa
Tarafa ( ar, طرفة بن العبد بن سفيان بن سعد أبو عمرو البكري الوائلي / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarafah ibn al-‘Abd ibn Sufyān ibn Sa‘d Abū ‘Amr al-Bakrī al-Wā’ilī''), was a 6th century Arabian poet of the ...
, Zuhayr, Labīd
Abū Aqīl Labīd ibn Rabīʿa ibn Mālik al-ʿĀmirī (Arabic: أبو عقيل لَبيد بن ربيعة بن مالك العامِري) (c. 505 – c. 661) was an Arabian poet.
He belonged to the Bani Amir, a division of the tribe of the Hawa ...
, 'Antara Ibn Shaddad, 'Amr ibn Kulthum
ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm ibn Mālik ibn ʿAttāb ʾAbū Al-ʾAswad al-Taghlibi ( ar, عمرو بن كلثوم; 526–584) was a poet and chieftain of the Taghlib tribe in pre-Islamic Arabia. One of his poems was included in the ''Mu'allaqat''. He is t ...
, and Harith ibn Hilliza Al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥilliza al-Yashkurī ( ar, الحارث بن حلزة اليشكري) was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet of the tribe of Bakr, from the 5th century. He was the author of one of the seven famous pre-Islamic poems known as the ''Mu'all ...
. These are enumerated both by Ibn Abd Rabbih
Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih () or Ibn ʿAbd Rabbihi (Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd Rabbih) (860–940) was an arab writer and poet widely known as the author of '' Al-ʿIqd al-Farīd'' (''The Unique Necklace'').
Biography
He was born in Cordova, now in Spain ...
(860–940 CE), and, on the authority of the older philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
s, by Nahhas; and all subsequent commentators seem to follow them. There is, however, evidence of the existence, at an early period, of a slightly different arrangement. The ''Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab'' claims that two of the most competent ancient authorities on Arabic poetry, al-Mufaddal (d. ''c.'' 790) and Abu ʿUbaidah (d. 824 CE), had already assigned to the "Seven" (i.e. "the seven Mu'allaqat") a poem each of al-Nabigha
Al-Nābighah (), al-Nābighah al-Dhubiyānī, or Nābighah al-Dhubyānī; real name Ziyad ibn Muawiyah (); was one of the last Arabian poets of pre-Islamic times. "Al-Nabigha" means "genius or intelligent" in Arabic.
His tribe, the Banu Dhubyan ...
and al-A'sha
Al-A'sha ( ar, ٱلْأَعْشَىٰ) or Maymun Ibn Qays Al-A'sha (d.c. 570– 625) was an Arabic Jahiliyyah poet from Najd, Arabia.
He traveled through Mesopotamia, Syria, Arabia and Ethiopia. He was nicknamed Al-A'sha which means "weak-sig ...
in place of those of 'Antara and Harith. The learned Ibn Qutaiba (9th century), in his book ''Of Poetry and Poets'', mentions as belonging to the "Seven" not only the poem of 'Amr, which has been reckoned among the ''Mu'allaqat'' (ed. de Goeje, p. 120), but also a poem of 'Abid ibn al-Abras (ibid. 144). The variance in the lists of poets may have been due to tribal rivalries.
Nabigha and A'sha were more famous than any of the poets represented in the ''Mu'allaqat'', with the exception of Imru' al-Qais, so it could be that scholars of a somewhat later date appended a poem by each of these to the ''Mu'allaqat'', without intending by this to make them an integral part of that work. This is indicated by the introductory words of Yahya ibn Ali Tibrizi Yahya may refer to:
* Yahya (name), a common Arabic male given name
* Yahya (Zaragoza), 11th-century ruler of Zaragoza
* John the Baptist in Islam, also known as Yaḥyā ibn Zakarīyā
See also
* Tepe Yahya
Tapeh Yahya () is an archaeological ...
(d. 1109 C.E.) to his commentary on the ''Mu'allaqat''. Appended to this he gives a commentary to a poem of Nabigha, to one of A'sha, and moreover one to that poem of 'Abid which Ibn Qutaiba had counted among the seven. Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab
The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...
(1332–1406 CE), in his ''Muqaddimah
The ''Muqaddimah'', also known as the ''Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun'' ( ar, مقدّمة ابن خلدون) or ''Ibn Khaldun's Prolegomena'' ( grc, Προλεγόμενα), is a book written by the Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ...
'', speaks of nine Mu'allaqat, but this was probably due to a misunderstanding.
The hanging of the poems
Ibn Abd Rabbih in the ''Al-ʿIqd al-Farīd
''al-ʿIqd al-Farīd'' (''The Unique Necklace'', ar, العقد الفريد) is an anthology attempting to encompass 'all that a well-informed person had to know in order to pass in society as a cultured and refined individual' (or '' adab''), c ...
'' ("The Precious Necklace") states, "The Arabs had such an interest in poetry, and valued it so highly, that they took seven long pieces selected from the ancient poetry, wrote them in gold on pieces of Coptic linen folded up, and hung them up (''allaqat'') icon the curtains which covered the Kaaba. Hence we speak of 'the golden poem of Imru' al-Qais
Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi ( ar, ٱمْرُؤ ٱلْقَيْس جُنْدُح ٱبْن حُجْر ٱلْكِنْدِيّ, ALA-LC: ''ʾImruʾ al-Qays Junduḥ ibn Ḥujr al-Kindīy'') was an Arab king and poet in the 6th century, an ...
,' 'the golden poem of Zuhayr.' The number of the golden poems is seven; they are also called 'the suspended' (''al-Muʻallaqāt'')." Similar statements are found in later Arabic works. Al-Nahhas, however, denied this in his commentary on the ''Muʻallaqāt'': "As for the assertion that they were hung up in the Kaaba, it is not known to any of those who have handed down ancient poems."
No trace of this story is found in early sources about Mecca or the customs of pre-Islamic Arabia. There are records of other items being hung in the Kaaba: a Meccan was reported to have hung a spoil of battle on the Kaaba (Ibn Hisham
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Hishām ibn Ayyūb al-Ḥimyarī al-Muʿāfirī al-Baṣrī ( ar, أبو محمد عبدالملك بن هشام ابن أيوب الحميري المعافري البصري; died 7 May 833), or Ibn Hisham, e ...
, ed. Wiistenfeld, p. 431), and an important document may have been deposited there (ibid. p. 230). A passage of late origin claims that the poems were taken down after the capture of Mecca by the Prophet (De Sacy, Chrestom. ii. 480), but the event is not otherwise attested.
While the poems were almost certainly transmitted orally before being recorded in writing, scholars such as Brown see no reason why significant change through the oral transmission should exist—because the poems were held in high regard, there would be more social pressure to repeat them precisely.
Another version of the legend, also given by Nahhas, is as follows:
However, there was no king of all the Arabs, and it is unlikely that any Arabian king attended the fair at Okaz. The story that the poems were written in gold originated in the name "the golden poems" (literally "the gilded"), a figurative expression for excellence. The designation "suspended" may be interpreted in the same way, referring to those (poems) which have been raised, on account of their value, to a specially honourable position. Another derivative of the same root is ''ʻilq'', "precious thing." Another name sometimes used for these poems is ''assumut'', "strings of pearls". From this usage it became popular, even in ordinary prose, to refer to speech in rhythmical form as ''naqm'' "to string pearls." The selection of these seven poems is unlikely to have been the work of the ancient Arabs, but rather some one writing at a later date.[
Another hypothesis is given by Robson, who argues that the title was given by Hammad to indicate that the poems are "suspended" from their rightful place—that is, like a disrespected wife denied her place by a husband of multiple wives (Qu'ran 4.128), the poems are denied their proper place: a diwan.] Regardless of meaning, most scholars doubt the poems were physically hung at the Kaaba.
Authorship
The seven renowned ones
The lives of these poets were spread over a period of more than a hundred years. The earliest of the seven was Imru' al-Qais
Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi ( ar, ٱمْرُؤ ٱلْقَيْس جُنْدُح ٱبْن حُجْر ٱلْكِنْدِيّ, ALA-LC: ''ʾImruʾ al-Qays Junduḥ ibn Ḥujr al-Kindīy'') was an Arab king and poet in the 6th century, an ...
, regarded by many as the most illustrious of Arabian ''Muʻallaqah'' poets. His exact date cannot be determined; but probably the best part of his career fell within the midst of the sixth century. He was a scion of the royal house of the tribe Kinda
Kinda or Kindah may refer to:
Politics and society
*Kinda (tribe), an ancient and medieval Arab tribe
*Kingdom of Kinda, a tribal kingdom in north and central Arabia in –
Places
* Kinda, Idlib, Syria
* Kinda Hundred, a hundred in Sweden
* Kinda ...
, which lost its power at the death of its king, Harith ibn ʻAmr, in the year 529. The poet's royal father, Hojr, by some accounts a son of this Harith, was killed by a Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
tribe, the Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah
Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah ( ar, ابن أسد بن خزيمة ) is an Arab tribe. They are Adnanite Arabs, powerful and one of the most famous tribes. They are widely respected by many Arab tribes, respected by Shia Muslims because they have burie ...
. The son led an adventurous life as a refugee, now with one tribe, now with another, and appears to have died young. A contemporary of Imruʻ al-Qais was Abid ibn al-Abras, one poem of whose is by some authorities reckoned among the collection.[
The ''Muʻallaqah'' of 'Amr ibn Kulthum hurls defiance against the king of ]al-Hirah
Al-Hirah ( ar, الحيرة, translit=al-Ḥīra Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of I ...
, 'Amr III ibn al-Mundhir
Amr III ibn al-Mundhir ( ar, عمرو بن المنذر, ʿAmr ibn al-Mundhir; gr, Ἄμβρος ὁ ἱός τοῦἈλαμουνδάρου), more commonly known by the matronymic Amr ibn Hind ( ar, عمرو بن هند, ''ʿAmr ibn Hind''), w ...
, who reigned from the summer of 554 until 568 or 569, and was afterwards killed by the poet. This prince is also addressed by Harith in his ''Muʻallaqa''. Of Tarafa
Tarafa ( ar, طرفة بن العبد بن سفيان بن سعد أبو عمرو البكري الوائلي / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarafah ibn al-‘Abd ibn Sufyān ibn Sa‘d Abū ‘Amr al-Bakrī al-Wā’ilī''), was a 6th century Arabian poet of the ...
, a few satirical
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 shaming or e ...
verses have been preserved, directed against this same king. This agrees with the fact that a grandson of the Qais ibn Khalid, mentioned as a rich and influential man in Tarafa's ''Muʻallaqah'' (v. 80 or 81), figured at the time of the Battle of Dhi Qar
The Battle of Dhi Qar ( ar, يوم ذي قار), also known as the War of the Camel's Udder, was a pre-Islamic battle fought between Arab tribes and the Sassanid Empire in Southern Iraq. The battle occurred after the death of Al-Nu'man III by the ...
, in which the tribe Bakr routed a Persian army. This battle falls about 610 CE.[
The ''Muʻallaqah'' of ]Antarah ibn Shaddad
Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi ( ar, عنترة بن شداد العبسي, ''ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād al-ʿAbsī''; AD 525–608), also known as ʿAntar, was a pre-Islamic Arab knight and poet, famous for both his poetry and his adventurous life ...
and that of Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma
Zuhayr bin Abī Sulmā ( ar, زهير بن أبي سلمى; ), also romanized as Zuhair or Zoheir, was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet who lived in the 6th & 7th centuries AD. He is considered one of the greatest writers of Arabic poetry in pre-I ...
contain allusions to the feuds of the kindred tribes Banu Abs
)
, type = Ghatafan, Qays, Adnanite
, image = Antarah ibn Shaddad & Abla.jpg
, image_size =
, alt =
, caption =
, nisba = Al-ʿAbsī
, location = Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Eritrea, Kuwait, Jordan, Unite ...
and Banu Dhubyan
Dhubyan or Banu Dhubyan ( ar, بنو ذبيان) are an Arabian tribe of Ghatafan branch,
one of the Adnani branches. Banu Dhubyan inhabited the Hijaz region and were mostly Christian.
Influential people of Dhubyan
*Al-Nabigha
References
D ...
. Famous as these contests were, their time cannot accurately be ascertained. But the date of the two poets can be approximately determined from other data. Ka'b bin Zuhayr
Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr ( ar, كعب بن زهير) was an Arabian poet of the 7th century, and a contemporary of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Ka'b ibn Zuhayr was the writer of ''Bānat Suʿād (Su'ād Has Departed)'', a qasida in praise of Muhammad. ...
, composed first a satire, and then, in the year 630, a eulogy on the Prophet; another son, Bujair, had begun, somewhat sooner, to celebrate Muhammad. Antara killed the grandfather of Ahnaf ibn Qais
Abu Bahr Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays () was a Muslim commander who lived during the time of Muhammad. He hailed from the Arab tribe of Banu Tamim and was born of two noble parents. His father named him ad-Dhahhak, but everybody called him ''al-Ahnaf'' (the ...
, who died at an advanced age in 686 or 687; he outlived 'Abdallah ibn Simma, whose brother Duraid was old when he died in battle against Muhammad's army (early in 630 CE); and he had communications with Ward, whose son, the poet Urwah ibn al-Ward, may perhaps have survived the flight of Muhammad to Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
. From these indications, German scholar Theodor Nöldeke
Theodor Nöldeke (; born 2 March 1836 – 25 December 1930) was a German orientalist and scholar. His research interests ranged over Old Testament studies, Semitic languages and Arabic, Persian and Syriac literature. Nöldeke translated several ...
placed the productive period of both poets in the end of the 6th century. The historical background of Antara's ''Muʻallaqat'' lies somewhat earlier than that of Zuhayr's.[
The poems of ]'Alqama ibn 'Abada 'Alqama ibn 'Ubada, ( ar, علقمة بن عبدة), generally known as 'Alqama al-Fahl (), was an Arabian poet of the tribe Tamim, who flourished in the second half of the 6th century.
The name al-Fahl literally means "the stallion" which he be ...
and Al-Nabigha
Al-Nābighah (), al-Nābighah al-Dhubiyānī, or Nābighah al-Dhubyānī; real name Ziyad ibn Muawiyah (); was one of the last Arabian poets of pre-Islamic times. "Al-Nabigha" means "genius or intelligent" in Arabic.
His tribe, the Banu Dhubyan ...
are from the same period. In Al-Nabigha's poem sometimes reckoned as a ''Muʻallaqah'', he addresses himself to the king of al-Hirah, al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir Al-Nuʿmān III ibn al-Mundhir ( ar, النعمان بن المنذر), also transcribed Naʿaman, Nuʿaman and Noman and often known by the patronymic Abu Qabus (), was the last Lakhmid king of al-Hirah (582 – ) and a Nestorian Christian Ara ...
, who reigned in the two last decades of the sixth century. The same king is mentioned as a contemporary in one of poems of ʻAlqama.[
The poem of ]al-A'sha
Al-A'sha ( ar, ٱلْأَعْشَىٰ) or Maymun Ibn Qays Al-A'sha (d.c. 570– 625) was an Arabic Jahiliyyah poet from Najd, Arabia.
He traveled through Mesopotamia, Syria, Arabia and Ethiopia. He was nicknamed Al-A'sha which means "weak-sig ...
, sometimes added to the ''Muʻallaqāt'', contains an allusion to the battle of Dhi Qar (under the name "Battle of Hinw", v. 62). This poet, lived to compose a poem in honour of Muhammad, and died not long before 630 CE.[
]Labīd
Abū Aqīl Labīd ibn Rabīʿa ibn Mālik al-ʿĀmirī (Arabic: أبو عقيل لَبيد بن ربيعة بن مالك العامِري) (c. 505 – c. 661) was an Arabian poet.
He belonged to the Bani Amir, a division of the tribe of the Hawa ...
is the only one of these poets who was still alive by the time Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
began preaching the Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
, and later converted to Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. His ''Muʻallaqa'', however, like almost all his other poetical works, belongs to the pre-Islamic period. He may have lived until 661 or later.[
]
Hammad Ar-Rawiya's seven poets
#Imru' al-Qais
Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi ( ar, ٱمْرُؤ ٱلْقَيْس جُنْدُح ٱبْن حُجْر ٱلْكِنْدِيّ, ALA-LC: ''ʾImruʾ al-Qays Junduḥ ibn Ḥujr al-Kindīy'') was an Arab king and poet in the 6th century, an ...
#Labīd
Abū Aqīl Labīd ibn Rabīʿa ibn Mālik al-ʿĀmirī (Arabic: أبو عقيل لَبيد بن ربيعة بن مالك العامِري) (c. 505 – c. 661) was an Arabian poet.
He belonged to the Bani Amir, a division of the tribe of the Hawa ...
#Tarafa
Tarafa ( ar, طرفة بن العبد بن سفيان بن سعد أبو عمرو البكري الوائلي / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarafah ibn al-‘Abd ibn Sufyān ibn Sa‘d Abū ‘Amr al-Bakrī al-Wā’ilī''), was a 6th century Arabian poet of the ...
#Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma
Zuhayr bin Abī Sulmā ( ar, زهير بن أبي سلمى; ), also romanized as Zuhair or Zoheir, was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet who lived in the 6th & 7th centuries AD. He is considered one of the greatest writers of Arabic poetry in pre-I ...
#Antara Ibn Shaddad
Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi ( ar, عنترة بن شداد العبسي, ''ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād al-ʿAbsī''; AD 525–608), also known as ʿAntar, was a pre-Islamic Arab knight and poet, famous for both his poetry and his adventurous life ...
#Amr ibn Kulthum
ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm ibn Mālik ibn ʿAttāb ʾAbū Al-ʾAswad al-Taghlibi ( ar, عمرو بن كلثوم; 526–584) was a poet and chieftain of the Taghlib tribe in pre-Islamic Arabia. One of his poems was included in the ''Mu'allaqat''. He is t ...
#Harith ibn Hilliza Al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥilliza al-Yashkurī ( ar, الحارث بن حلزة اليشكري) was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet of the tribe of Bakr, from the 5th century. He was the author of one of the seven famous pre-Islamic poems known as the ''Mu'all ...
Poets sometimes numbered amongst the seven
#Al-Nabigha
Al-Nābighah (), al-Nābighah al-Dhubiyānī, or Nābighah al-Dhubyānī; real name Ziyad ibn Muawiyah (); was one of the last Arabian poets of pre-Islamic times. "Al-Nabigha" means "genius or intelligent" in Arabic.
His tribe, the Banu Dhubyan ...
#al-A'sha
Al-A'sha ( ar, ٱلْأَعْشَىٰ) or Maymun Ibn Qays Al-A'sha (d.c. 570– 625) was an Arabic Jahiliyyah poet from Najd, Arabia.
He traveled through Mesopotamia, Syria, Arabia and Ethiopia. He was nicknamed Al-A'sha which means "weak-sig ...
# 'Abid ibn al-Abras
The poems
The seven Mu'allaqat, and also the poems appended to them, represent almost every type of ancient Arabian poetry. Tarafa's poem includes a long, anatomically exact description of his camel
A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...
, common in pre-Islamic poetry. The ''Mu'allaqat'' of 'Amr and Harith contain ''fakhr'' (boasting) about the splendors of their tribe. The song of Zuhayr is presented as the "practical wisdom of a sober man of the world."[ The other poems are fairly typical examples of the customary ]qasida
The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; is originally an Arabic word , plural ''qaṣā’id'', ; that was passed to some other languages such as fa, قصیده or , ''chakameh'', and tr, kaside) is an ancient Arabic word and form of writin ...
, the long poem of ancient Arabia. The ''Mu'allaqat'' of 'Antara has a warlike tone, in contrast to the peaceful themes of Labid.
There is a high degree of uniformity in the ''Mu'allaqat''.[ The poets use a strict metrical system. The only poem which shows unusual metrical freedom is the song of 'Abid. However, Abid's contemporary Imru' al-Qais, in a poem which in other respects also exhibits certain coincidences with that of 'Abid, also shows considerable licence in the use of the same rare metre. The deviations from the schema in 'Abid may be due to incorrect transmission by compilers who failed to grasp the metre. The other poems ascribed to 'Abid, together with all the rest attributed to Imru' al-Qais, are constructed in precise accord with the metrical canons.][
The last poet in the ''Mu'allaqat'' is Hammad, the compiler of the ''Mu'allaqat''. Hammad may have altered the text and transposed some verses. Some of the Mu'allaqat have several preambles: so, especially, that of 'Amr, the first eight verses of which belong not to the poem, but to another poet. Some of the poems exhibit great divergences (both in the order and number of the verses and in textual details) from their exemplars in other poetic anthologies. This is particularly the case with the oldest ''Mu'allaqat'', that of Imru' al-Qais. According to Nöldeke, the most accurate text is that of the latest Mu'allaqat, the song of Labid.][
The Mu'allaqat exist in many manuscripts, some with old commentaries. Printed editions include that of ]Charles James Lyall
Sir Charles James Lyall (9 March 1845 – 1 September 1920) was a British Arabic scholar, and civil servant working in India during the period of the British Raj.
Life
Charles James Lyall was born in London on 9 March 1845. He was the eldest ...
with the commentary of Tibrizi (Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
, 1894).[ Johnson's detailed translation, published by the Bombay Education Society in 1893, includes an introduction and analysis by Arabic scholar Shaikh Faizullabhai.][Johnson F E (1893), The Seven Poems Suspended In The Temple At Mecca, Translated From The Arabic, Bombay Education Society.]
See also
*Hamasah
The Hamasah (; ) is a genre of Arabic poetry that "recounts chivalrous exploits in the context of military glories and victories".
The first work in this genre is Kitab al-Hamasah of Abu Tammam.
Hamasah works
List of popular Hamasah works:
* ''Ha ...
*Kitab al-Aghani
''Kitab al-Aghani'' ( ar, كتاب الأغاني, kitāb al-‘aghānī, The Book of Songs), is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions, attributed to the 10th-century Arabic writer Abu al-F ...
*Mufaddaliyat
The ''Mufaddaliyyat'' (Arabic: المفضليات / ALA-LC: ''al-Mufaḍḍaliyāt''), meaning "The Examination of al-Mufaḍḍal", is an anthology of ancient Arabic poems which derives its name from its author Mufaḍḍal al-Ḍabbī,
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
Translations
*A. J. Arberry, ''The Seven Odes'': London, 1957
*Lady Anne Blunt and W. S. Blunt,
The Seven Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia
': London, 1903
*Sir William Jones,
The Mo'allakat or Seven Arabian Poems
': Calcutta, 1782
*F. E. Johnson,
The Seven Poems Suspended in the Temple at Mecca
': Bombay, 1893
*Michael Sells, ''Desert Tracings'': Wesleyan University Press 1989
External links
Introduction to The Hanged Poems and Full Text of three of them
* The seven poems suspended in the Temple at Mecca (Arabic and English parallel texts)
The Arabic text of ten Muallawqat
{{Authority control
Medieval Arabic poems
Arabic anthologies
8th-century Arabic books