'Alqama ibn 'Ubada, (), generally known as 'Alqama al-Fahl (), was an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

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 () was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet from Najd in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, and the last King of Kinda. He is sometimes considered the father of Arabic poetry. His qaṣīda, or long poe ...

. Imru's wife thought that he completely surpassed Imru in that contest, so Imru divorced her and then 'Alqama married her. What happened became so popular in the peninsula and people started calling him "The Stallion". His poetic description of

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

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

qasida The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; plural ''qaṣā’id'') is an ancient Arabic word and form of poetry, often translated as ode. The qasida originated in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and passed into non-Arabic cultures after the Arab Mus ...

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, ...

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-language poets Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown