ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm ibn Mālik ibn ʿAttāb ʾAbū Al-ʾAswad al-Taghlibi (; 526–584) was a poet and chieftain of the

Taghlib The Banu Taghlib (), also known as Taghlib ibn Wa'il, were an Arab tribe that originated in Jazira. Their parent tribe was the Rabi'a, and they thus traced their descent to the Adnanites. The Taghlib were among the most powerful and cohesive no ...

tribe in

pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension in the Syrian Desert before the rise of Islam. This is consistent with how contemporaries used the term ''Arabia'' or where they said Arabs lived, which was not limited to the ...

. One of his poems was included in the ''

Mu'allaqat The Muʻallaqāt (, ) is a compilation of seven long pre-Islamic Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, they were named so because these poems were hung in the Kaaba in Mecca. Some scholars have also suggested th ...

''. He is the grandson of the poet Abu Layla al-Muhalhel.

Taghlibs

The great Basus War, which was between the Taghlibs and the Bakrs, lasted for approximately forty years until the

Lakhmid The Lakhmid kingdom ( ), also referred to as al-Manādhirah () or as Banū Lakhm (), was an Arab kingdom that was founded and ruled by the Lakhmid dynasty from to 602. Spanning Eastern Arabia and Sawad, Southern Mesopotamia, it existed as a d ...

s king of

al-Hirah Al-Hira ( Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient Lakhmid Arabic city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq. The Sasanian Empire, Sasanian government established the Lakhmid state (Al-Hirah) on the edge of the ...

, 'Amr ibn Hind, urged them to make peace with each other on condition that some of their children were to be taken hostages by the king. The King of Hira said one day to his drinking companions, "Do you know anyone among the Arabs whose mother declines serving my mother?" They replied, "Yes, Amr Ibn Kulthum." The king asked, "Why is that?" His companions replied, "Because her father is Abu Layla al-Muhalhel, her uncle is Kulaib ibn Rabiah , her spouse is Kulthum Ibn Malik Ibn Etab an astounding knight of Arabs and her son is Amr ibn Kulthum chief of his clan." After that the king sent for Amr Ibn Kulthum asking him to visit along with his mother Layla. Ibn Kulthum accepted the king's invitation and visited him with his companions and his mother. After they arrived and while Layla was sitting, the mother of the king (the aunt of Imru' al-Qais) Hind asked her to pass the plate, to which Layla replied, "let the one in need go to her need" and when Hind insisted, Layla shouted saying: "What a humiliation!" Her son heard her and was so deeply stirred by the insult that he took his sword and decapitated the king of

and killed his guards then left. This exploit may be a legend of the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

era.

Ode

In his ode, the first eight verses are a wine song which perhaps were added later but suit the poem very well. The next thematic section narrates his lady's departure on her litter (a chair placed on camel's back that veiled women from strangers, dust and sun), and the joy of the sword-fight. Finally he deals with several types of grief - camels over their young, mothers for sons, the departure of lovers and the grief brought by fate. At this point in the ode he covers the philosophy of the uncertainty of life and fate. Next, he addresses the grandfather of the victim - Amr b. Hind - and discusses Arab ideals and defends his mother again. He lauds his ancestors as well. The following is the opening section of his ode:

Works

He has only four poems that have survived: *
ALA HOBEY BESAHNEK FASBAHINA
' ( Muallaqah) *
AAGMA` SOHBATY
' *
ALA MIN MOBALGHA
' *
EN NASRKOM GHADA
''

References

External links

Poem Text & Audio (in Arabic)

Another recitation
of the poem * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amr ibn Kulthum 526 births 584 deaths 6th-century Arabic-language poets Year of birth unknown Banu Taghlib