Safi al-Din al-Hilli

Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥillī ( ar, صفي الدين الحلي; 26 August 1278 – 1349), more fully known as Safi al-Din Abd al-Aziz ibn Saraya al-Hilli, al-Ṭāʾī al-Sinbisī, Abu ’l-Maḥāsin, was a 14th century Arab poet.

Life

Despite his being one of the most famous poets of his century, the historical record of Al-Hilli's life is often vague. Al-Hilli's birth is recorded as 26 August 1278 in most sources, though one of his contemporaries gives his birth as October or November 1279. He was born in Hillah, modern-day Iraq, to a Shii family. Early in his life, one of his uncles was murdered, and Al-Hilli fought in a battle to avenge his death. He wrote a poem about his family's exploits in this battle, which won him some fame.

After he achieved his initial success as a poet, wars and disasters forced him to leave Iraq in 1302, leaving behind his wife and family. At this time, he became a court poet in Mardin, Turkey under the Artuqids. He made his living through commerce and by writing eulogies of wealthy princes. Al-Hilli died in 1338 or 1349.

Poetry

Al-Hilli, alongside Ibn Nubata, was one of the two most celebrated Arab poets of the 14th century. Al-Hilli's poetic style was innovative and experimental, integrating established poetic traditions with new vocabulary.

Al-Hilli is perhaps best remembered for the poetic lines which inspired the Pan-Arab colors: "White are our deeds, black are our battles, / Green are our tents, red are our swords." These lines are from Al-Hilli's ''fakhr'' ("boasting") poem written to celebrate his family's victories in the battle to avenge his uncle.

His major poetic works are a collection of eulogies titled ''Durar al-Nuhur'' ("Jewels for Necks") and his '' Diwan'' ("Poems"). In his ''Diwan'', he organizes his poems into twelve categories: 1. Boasting and bravery. 2. Eulogy, praise and thanksgiving. 3. Hunting poems and other description. 4. Friendship. 5. Elegy and condolence. 6. Ghazal and other erotic themes. 7. Wine and flower/nature poems. 8. Complaints and chiding. 9. Gifts, apologies and requests for leniency. 10. Riddles and complex ideas. 11. Adab, asceticism and other things. 12. Funny and satirical anecdotes.

Al-Hillī is also noted for composing one of four collections of epigrammatic ''maqṭūʿ''-poems that were seminal for the development of the genre in the fourteenth century: his twenty-chapter ''Dīwān al-Mathālith wa-l-mathānī fī l-maʿālī wa-l-maʿānī'' ('The Collection of Two-liners and Three-liners on Virtues and Literary Motifs'). This was composed between 1331 and 1341 at the princely court in Hama, and dedicated to al-Malik al-Afḍal (r. 1332–41).Adam Talib, ''How Do You Say “Epigram” in Arabic? Literary History at the Limits of Comparison'', Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures, 40 (Leiden: Brill, 2018); . In addition to writing poetry, he wrote several works of literary criticism on poetic forms.

External links

Poetry Collection of Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥilli
(in Arabic) at ''World Digital Library''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:al-Hilli, Safi
1278 births
1349 deaths
13th-century Arabs
14th-century Arabs
Place of death unknown
Iraqi writers
Arabic-language poets
People from Hillah