Zuhayr bin Abī Sulmā ( ar, زهير بن أبي سلمى; ), also romanized as Zuhair or Zoheir, was a
pre-Islamic Arabian
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
poet who lived in the 6th & 7th centuries AD. He is considered one of the greatest writers of
Arabic poetry in
pre-Islamic times. Zuhayr belonged to the
Banu Muzaina
Banu Muzaina ( ar, بنو مزينة) was an Arab tribe during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. They were involved in the Expedition of Zayd ibn Harithah (Al-Jumum), Expedition of Zayd ibn Harithah September, 627 CE, 6AH of the Islamic ca ...
. His father was a poet and his elder son
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. ...
also became a poet, reading his works to
the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monothe ...
.
Zuhayr's poems can be found in
Hammad Ar-Rawiya's anthology, the ''
Mu'allaqat'' ("the Suspended"), a collection of pre-Islamic poetry. He was one of the ''
Seven Hanged Poets'' who were reputed to have been honoured by hanging copies of their work 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 ...
at
Mecca. He was
Umar ibn Khattab's favourite poet.
Zuhayr's poetry was written when two
Arabic tribes ended a longstanding hostility. His poems deal with raids and other subjects of
nomadic desert life. He also wrote
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 ...
poems and poems about the glory of his tribe, but in his verses he was less satiric than most of his brother poets. He strove to express deep thoughts in simple words, to be clear and by his clear phrases to teach his people high and noble ideas. He was a man of rank and wealth, the foremost of a family noted for their poetic skill and religious earnestness.
Cultural reception
Zuhayr's poetry inspired Saudi land artist
Zahrah al Ghamdi's 2018 installation ''After Illusion'' which was shown as part of the
Venice Biennale.
References
* Arberry, A. J., ''The Seven Odes'', (London, 1957).
The Poem of Zuhair
520 births
609 deaths
6th-century Arabic poets
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