'Alqama ibn 'Ubada, ( ar, علقمة بن عبدة), generally known as 'Alqama al-Fahl (), was an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

ian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

of the tribe Tamim, who flourished in the second half of the 6th century. The name al-Fahl literally means "the stallion" which he became known by when won a poetic contest against

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 ...

, in addition Imru wife thought that he completely surpassed Imru in that contest, then Imru divorced her and 'Alqama married her. What happened became so popular in the peninsula and people started to call him by that title. His poetic description of

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There ...

es is said to have been famous among the Arabs. His '' diwan'' consists of three ''

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 ...

s'' (

elegies An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

) and eleven fragments. Asma'i considered three of the poems genuine. The poems were edited by

Albert Socin Albert Socin (13 October 1844 in Basel – 24 June 1899 in Leipzig) was a Swiss orientalist, who specialized in the research of Neo-Aramaic, Kurdish and contemporary Arabic dialects. He also made contributions to the geography, archaeology, r ...

with Latin translation as ''Die Gedichte des 'Alkama Alfahl'' (Leipzig, 1867), and are contained in

Wilhelm Ahlwardt Wilhelm Ahlwardt (4 July 1828, Greifswald – 2 November 1909, Greifswald) was a German orientalist who specialized in research of Arabic literature. He was the son of philologist Christian Wilhelm Ahlwardt (1760–1830). Biography He ...

's ''The Diwans of the six ancient Arabic Poets'' (London, 1870); cf. Ahlwardt's ''Bemerkungen über die Echtheit der alten arabischen Gedichte'' (Greifswald, 1872), pp. 65–71 and 146–168.

References

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates 6th-century Arabic poets Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown