Al-Harith ibn Abi’l-ʿAlaʾ Saʿid ibn Hamdan al-Taghlibi (932–968), better known by his

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Abu Firas al-Hamdani ( ar, أبو فارس الحمداني), 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, ...

prince and poet. He was a cousin of

Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī ( ar, علي بن أبو الهيجاء عبد الله بن حمدان بن الحارث التغلبي, 22 June 916 – 9 February 967), more commonly known ...

and a member of the

Hamdanid dynasty The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a Twelver Shia Arab dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern A ...

, who were rulers in northern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...

during the 10th century. He served Sayf al-Dawla as governor of

Manbij Manbij ( ar, مَنْبِج, Manbiǧ, ku, مەنبج, Minbic, tr, Münbiç, Menbic, or Menbiç) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, 30 kilometers (19 mi) west of the Euphrates. In the 2004 census by the Cen ...

as well as court poet, and was active in his cousin's wars against the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. He was captured by the Byzantines in 959/962 and spent several years at their capital,

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, where he composed his most famous work, the collection of poems titled (). He was ransomed in 966, and was killed in 968, when he raised a revolt against his nephew Sa'd al-Dawla, Sayf al-Dawla's successor. He is considered among the greatest figures of classical

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 ...

Life

Abu Firas was born in 932 or in 933, probably in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and specifically in

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 ...

, as his father Abi'l-Ala Sa'id—a son of the

Hamdanid The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a Twelver Shia Arab dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern ...

family's founder, Hamdan ibn Hamdun—occupied a distinguished position in the court of 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-Mutta ...

caliph

al-Muqtadir Abu’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Ahmad al-Muʿtaḍid ( ar, أبو الفضل جعفر بن أحمد المعتضد) (895 – 31 October 932 AD), better known by his regnal name Al-Muqtadir bi-llāh ( ar, المقتدر بالله, "Mighty in God"), w ...

(reigned 908–932). Abu Firas's mother was a

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...

slave concubine (an , freed after giving birth to her master's child). His maternal descent later was a source of scorn and taunts from his Hamdanid relatives, a fact reflected in his poems. Abi'l-Ala Sa'id was killed in 935, during a dispute over possession of

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

with his nephew,

Nasir al-Dawla Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Abu'l-Hayja Abdallah ibn Hamdan al-Taghlibi ( ar, أبو محمد الحسن ابن أبو الهيجاء عبدالله ابن حمدان ناصر الدولة التغلبي; died 968 or 969), more commonly known simpl ...

, and Abu Firas's mother fled to the protection of Nasir al-Dawla's brother,

. When the latter occupied

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

and northern

in 944/5, Abu Firas was welcomed at his cousin's court. There he was raised under the supervision of Sayf al-Dawla, who also married his sister Sakhinah. Aside from being a renowned warrior, Sayf al-Dawla was famous for his patronage of scholars and poets, and the young Abu Firas grew up in a culturally vibrant atmosphere. Some of the finest minds of the Muslim world were assembled at the court of Aleppo: the preacher

Ibn Nubata Abu Bakr Jamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Sharaf al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ṭāhir ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Khaṭīb ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Nubāta, better known simply as Ibn Nubāt ...

, the philosopher and musician

al-Farabi Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi ( fa, ابونصر محمد فارابی), ( ar, أبو نصر محمد الفارابي), known in the West as Alpharabius; (c. 872 – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951)PDF version was a renowned early Isl ...

, and the great poet

al-Mutanabbi Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mutanabbī al-Kindī ( ar, أبو الطيب أحمد بن الحسين المتنبّي الكندي; – 23 September 965 AD) from Kufa, Abbasid Caliphate, was a famous Abbasid-era Arab poet at th ...

, while the grammarian

Ibn Khalawayh Abu Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Hamadhani, better known simply as Ibn Khalawayh (; 890s, in Hamadan – 980/81) was a 10th-century scholar of Arabic grammar and Quranic exegesis. He was active at the court of Sayf al-Dawla, the Hamda ...

served as Abu Firas' tutor. Arab-Byzantine frontier zone

Abu Firas soon gave proof of both his martial as well as his literary ability, and in 947/8, when he was only 16, Sayf al-Dawla appointed him governor of

, close to the border with the

, to which the governorship of

Harran Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border ...

was later added. Despite his youth, Abu Firas distinguished himself in the conflicts with the

Nizari The Nizaris ( ar, النزاريون, al-Nizāriyyūn, fa, نزاریان, Nezāriyān) are the largest segment of the Ismaili Muslims, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasize independent ...

tribes of the

Diyar Mudar Diyar Mudar ( ar, دِيَارُ مُضَرَ, Diyār Muḍar, abode of Mudar) is the medieval Arabic name of the westernmost of the three provinces of al-Jazira ( Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being Diyar Bakr and Diyar Rabi'a. According to ...

and the

Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of so ...

, as well as in his cousin's frequent raiding campaigns into Byzantine territory. Thus, in 952, he defeated the Byzantines under

Bardas Phokas the Younger Bardas Phokas (or Phocas) ( el, ) (–13 April 989) was an eminent Byzantine general who took a conspicuous part in three revolts for and against the ruling Macedonian dynasty. First rebellion Bardas was a scion of the Phokas family, the mo ...

or his son Constantine Phokas, when the latter tried to interfere with Sayf al-Dawla's refortification of the towns of Ra'ban and Mar'ash in the frontier zone. Abu Firas' captivity by the Byzantines is variously dated by the Arabic sources. According to Ibn Khallikan, he was first captured by the Byzantines in 959, but escaped captivity at the fortress of Kharshana by jumping into the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

; this tale is however dismissed by some modern commentators. Most sources place his capture in 962 (in November, according to

Ibn al-Athir Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian ...

). The Byzantine general Theodore Parsakoutenos led a raid of 1,000 or 1,300 men in the vicinity of Manbij, and when Abu Firas set out with only 70 men to obstruct their plundering, he was captured. Ibn Shaddad reports the story with slight differences, but states that the event took place in 959/960. Parsakoutenos tried to have his high-ranking prisoner exchanged for his own brother and father, taken prisoners by Sayf al-Dawla at

Hadath Al-Ḥadath al-Ḥamrā' (Arabic for "Hadath the Red") or Adata ( el, ) was a town and fortress near the Taurus Mountains (modern southeastern Turkey), which played an important role in the Byzantine–Arab Wars. Location The town was located ...

in 954. Despite sending repeated letters to his cousin pleading for his release, Abu Firas spent several years as a captive at the Byzantine capital

, as Sayf al-Dawla did not consider it proper to ransom him while leaving thousands of other captives to languish in captivity. Abu Firas was eventually released as part of a general

prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conventions Under the Geneva Conven ...

Samosata Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Rūm was the Arab name for the Byzantines). In the meantime, Abu Firas's mother had died, her passing a source of lamentation in Abu Firas's poetry. After his release, Abu Firas was restored to his position and was named governor of

Homs ar, حمصي, Himsi , population_urban = , population_density_urban_km2 = , population_density_urban_sq_mi = , population_blank1_title = Ethnicities , population_blank1 = , population_blank2_t ...

, but the situation was rapidly changing: less than a year after his release, Sayf al-Dawla died, and the Hamdanid emirate of Aleppo began to crumble. Abu Firas quickly quarreled with Sayf al-Dawla's 15-year-old heir, Abu'l-Ma'ali, the son of Abu Firas's sister, Sakhinah. Overestimating the support he enjoyed among the Arab tribes, Abu Firas revolted against his nephew, but was defeated and killed on 4 April 968 by Abu'l-Ma'ali's general Karghawayh. At the news of his death, Sakhinah was reportedly so overcome with grief, that she plucked out one of her own eyes.

Work and legacy

Abu Firas enjoys a prominent position among the greats of classical

. His near-contemporary, the eminent scholar and statesman

Sahib ibn Abbad Abu’l-Qāsim Ismāʿīl ibn-i ʿAbbād ibn-i ʿAbbās ( fa, ابوالقاسم اسماعیل بن عباد بن عباس; born 938 - died 30 March 995), better known as Ṣāḥib ibn-i ʿAbbād (), also known as Ṣāḥib (), was a Persian sc ...

, summed up the esteem in which Abu Firas was held already in the 10th century in a phrase that was frequently quoted by later authorities: "Poetry began with a king (i.e. Imru al-Qays) and ended with a king (i.e. Abu Firas)". The corpus of his works was edited after his death by Ibn Khalawayh, who also attached a commentary, largely written by Abu Firas himself. Nevertheless, in later times several manuscript versions of his works with significant variations between them were extant, which indicates that Ibn Khalawayh's edition was not the only one. Abu Firas's early work comprises poems in the classical form in praise of the Hamdanids and their deeds—the 225-line is perhaps the most notable—and shorter poems in the form on courtly themes of love, wine, hunting and friendship. He also produced several pro-

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...

poems attacking the Abbasids. Although his early works and the inevitably show al-Mutanabbi's influence, Abu Firas was the great poet's rival, encouraged by his tutor Ibn Khalawayh, a bitter opponent of al-Mutanabbi. According to

H. A. R. Gibb Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb (2 January 1895 – 22 October 1971), known as H. A. R. Gibb, was a Scottish historian and Orientalist. Early life and education Gibb was born on Wednesday, 2 January 1895, in Alexandria, Egypt, ...

, the poems "are remarkable for their sincerity, directness, and natural vigour", in contrast to the elaborate style of al-Mutanabbi, while the poems are merely "elegant trifles, formal and unoriginal". It is the , however, and their "combination ..of pathos, dignity, and pride" (El Tayib) that have secured Abu Firas's place among the greats of Arabic poetry. In addition, according to H. A. R. Gibb, his personal traits helped spread his reputation: from his noble descent and fair appearance, his bravery and generosity, to his tendency to egotism and over-reaching ambition, "he lived up to the Arab ideal of chivalry which he expressed in his poetry".

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Firas al-Hamdani 930s births 968 deaths 10th-century Arabs 10th-century Arabic poets 10th-century Shia Muslims Arab people of Greek descent Arab people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Arab rebels Hamdanid dynasty Medieval Arabs killed in battle People of the Hamdanid emirate of Aleppo Poets from the Abbasid Caliphate Prisoners of war held by the Byzantine Empire Sayf al-Dawla Syrian people of Greek descent Syrian Shia Muslims