Al-Amir Muṣṭafa ad-Dawla Abī al-Fityān Muhammad, better known as Ibn Ḥayyûs () (December 1003–January/February 1081), 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, ...

poet from Syria. He was well known for writing panegyrics to the

emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...

s and nobility of Syria, particularly the

Mirdasids The Mirdasid dynasty ( ar, المرداسيون, al-Mirdāsiyyīn), also called the Banu Mirdas, was an Arab dynasty which ruled an Aleppo-based emirate in northern Syria and the western Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) more or less continuously fro ...

of Aleppo.

Biography

Ibn Hayyus was born in Damascus in December 1003.Ibn Khallikan, ed. De Slane 1868, p. 143. He received his name from his grandfather, Hayyus. Ibn Hayyus was styled ''al-amir'' (prince/commander) because his father, Sultan,Ibn Khallikan, ed. De Slane 1868, p. 138. was a commander of the Bedouin. The family descended from the

Banu Ghani The Banu Ghani () was an Arab tribe that inhabited the area between Bisha and Diriyah in pre-Islamic Arabia and parts of which migrated to Syria during the Muslim conquest of that region. History Origins According to Arab genealogical tradition, ...

, a

Qaysi Qays ʿAylān ( ar, قيس عيلان), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe does not appear to have functioned as a unit in the pre-Islamic er ...

tribe. Ibn Hayyus's home was located in the Zuqaq-Attaf neighborhood of Damascus. In 1016, the Fatimid officer,

Anushtakin al-Dizbari Sharaf al-Maʿālī Abu Manṣūr Anūshtakīn al-Dizbarī (died January 1042) was a Fatimid statesman and general who became the most powerful Fatimid governor of Syria. Under his Damascus-based administration, all of Syria was united under a si ...

, resided in the family's home for roughly a year; Ibn Hayyus later dedicated numerous

panegyrics A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of grc ...

to Anushtakin, who had become governor of Fatimid Syria in 1029. In the course of his writing career, Ibn Hayyus became acquainted with several local rulers, Fatimid officials and other dignitaries. He dedicated to them

and in turn, was rewarded by them with riches. In the process, he gained the surname "Mustafa ad-Dawla" (the chosen of the state). He became particularly associated with the

Mirdasid The Mirdasid dynasty ( ar, المرداسيون, al-Mirdāsiyyīn), also called the Banu Mirdas, was an Arab dynasty which ruled an Aleppo-based emirate in northern Syria and the western Jazira ( Upper Mesopotamia) more or less continuously f ...

emirs of Aleppo, where he moved in 1072. One of the Mirdasid emirs, Mahmud ibn Nasr, once rewarded him with one thousand gold dinars. Following Mahmud's death in 1075, Ibn Hayyus developed a close friendship with his son,

Nasr ibn Mahmud Nasr ibn Mahmud ibn Nasr ibn Salih ibn Mirdas ( ar, نصر بن محمود بن نصر المرداسي, Naṣr ibn Maḥmūd ibn Naṣr ibn Ṣaliḥ ibn Mirdās) (died 1076) was the Mirdasid emir of Aleppo in 1075–1076. Family Nasr was the el ...

. In one of his poems, Ibn Hayyus wrote "Mahmud gave me one thousand pieces of gold out of his treasury; I know for certainty his son Nasr will do the same." Nasr was honored by the elegy and exclaimed "if he bn Hayyushad said Nasr would double the sum several times over, I should certainly have done it!" The wealth Ibn Hayyus accrued from the Mirdasids of Aleppo enabled to build a residence for himself in the city. On a panel atop the house's doorway, he inscribed the following ode:

We built this abode and in it we resided, enjoying the bounty of the Mirdasids, a family which delivered us from adversity and the tyranny of fortune. Say to the sons of Earth: 'Let men act thus towards their fellow-men'.

In 1079, the Uqaylid emir of

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 ...

, Muslim ibn Quraysh, granted Ibn Hayyus an '' iqtaʿ'' (fief) in

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 ...

in gratitude for an elegy Ibn Hayyus wrote for him.Ibn Khallikan, ed. De Slane 1868, pp. 143–144. Ibn Hayyus died in his home in 1081.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control 1003 births 1081 deaths 11th-century Arabic poets Mirdasid emirate of Aleppo 11th-century people from the Fatimid Caliphate People from Damascus Muslim panegyrists Poets from the Fatimid Caliphate