Biography
Abū Jaʿfar is said to have been taught by, amongst others, the twelfth-century poet Ibn Khafāja. He served as a prominent court secretary for the Almohad governor of Granada, Abū Saʿid ʿUthmān. "Unfortunately for Abū Jaʿfar, his powerful boss also fell in love with Ḥafṣa, and our poet's position in the ensuing love triangle seems to have forced him to flee Granada." Joining Ibn Mardanīsh's rebellion against al-Muwaḥḥid rule in al-Andalus, Abū Jaʿfar was captured and in 1163 executed.Work
An example of Abū Jaʿfar's poetry, as translated by A. J. Arberry, is 'Wine, my Love':''Moorish Poetry: A Translation of ’The Pennants’, an Anthology Compiled in 1243 by the Andalusian Ibn Saʿid'', trans. by A. J. Arberry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953), p. 100. For the original see ''El libro de las banderas de los campeones, de Ibn Saʿid al-Magribī'', ed. by Emilio García Gómez (Madrid: Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, 1942). :: Ho, bring her hither, happy boy, :: For in her presence is my joy, :: But (and does love need further proof?) :: I grieve when she remains aloof. :: I speak upon the wine: when she :: Departs, the bowl weeps bitterly, :: But when the glass beholds her near :: It broadly smiles for the good cheer.References
Poets from al-Andalus 12th-century Arabic writers 1163 deaths Year of birth unknown {{Al-Andalus-writer-stub