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Muʿallaqa
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 that the hanging is figurative, as if the poems "hang" in the reader's mind. Along with the ''Mufaddaliyat'', '' Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab'', '' Asma'iyyat'', and the '' Hamasah'', the ''Mu'allaqāt'' are considered the primary source for early written Arabic poetry. Scholar Peter N. Stearns goes so far as to say that they represent "the most sophisticated poetic production in the history of Arabic letters." History Compilation The original compiler of the poems may have been Hammad al-Rawiya (8th century). The grammarian Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Nahhas (d. 949 CE) says in his commentary on the ''Mu'allaqat'': "The true view of the matter is this: when Hammad al-Rawiya saw how little men cared for poetry, he collected these seven pieces, urg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry
Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry is a term used to refer to Arabic poetry composed in pre-Islamic Arabia roughly between 540 and 620 AD. In Arabic literature, pre-Islamic poetry went by the name ''al-shiʿr al-Jāhilī'' ("poetry from the Jahiliyyah" or "Jahili poetry"). This poetry largely originated in the Najd (then a region east of the Hejaz and up to present-day Iraq), with only a minority coming from the Hejaz. Poetry was first distinguished into the Islamic and pre-Islamic by Ḥammād al-Rāwiya (d. 772). In Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid times, literary critics debated if contemporary or pre-Islamic poetry was the better of the two. Pre-Islamic poetry constitutes a major source for classical Arabic language both in grammar and vocabulary, and as a record of the political and cultural life of the time in which it was created. A number of major poets are known from pre-Islamic times, the most prominent among them being Imru' al-Qais. Other prominent poets included Umayya ibn Abi as-Salt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 nomadic tribes of the pre-Islamic era and were known for their bitter wars with their kinsmen from the Banu Bakr, as well as their struggles with the Lakhmid kings of al-Hira in Iraq ( Lower Mesopotamia). The tribe embraced Miaphysite Christianity and remained largely Christian long after the advent of Islam in the mid-7th century. After early opposition to the Muslims, the Taghlib eventually secured for themselves an important place in Umayyad politics. They allied with the Umayyads and engaged in numerous battles with the rebellious Qaysi tribes during the Qays–Yaman feuding in the late 7th century. During Abbasid rule, some individuals from the tribe embraced Islam and were given governorships in parts of the Caliphate. By the mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
'Abid Ibn Al-Abras
ʿAbīd ibn al-Abraṣ Al Asadi ( was an Arab poet of the Jahiliyya (pre-Islamic period), thought to have lived in the first half of the sixth century CE. Biography Little is known about ibn al-Abraṣ; Charles James Lyall provides an English survey of medieval stories of his life and times, but their reliability is generally doubtful.Dīwāns of ʿAbīd Ibn al-Abraṣ, of Asad and ʿĀmir Ibn at-Tufail, of ʿĀmir Ibn Saʿsaʿah', ed. and trans. by Charles James Lyall, E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series, 21 (Leiden: Brill, 1913). Ibn al-Abraṣ's tribe was the Banū Asad. Legends about him have him as a contemporary (and victim) of the Lakhmid king al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'mān, who died in 554, and Imru' al-Qays, likewise of the late fifth and earlier sixth centuries. Imru' al-Qays, whose father Hujr, king of Kinda, was killed by the Banū Asad, is portrayed as a rival to ibn al-Abraṣ.F. Gabrieli, 'ʿAbīd b. al-Abraṣ', in ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', ed. by P. Bearman and ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Jan De Goeje
Michael Jan de Goeje (August 13, 1836 – May 17, 1909) was a Dutch orientalist focusing on Arabia and Islam. Early life Michael Jan de Goeje was born in Dronrijp, Friesland. He devoted himself at an early age to the study of oriental languages and became especially proficient in Arabic, under the guidance of Reinhart Dozy and Theodor Juynboll, to whom he was afterwards an intimate friend and colleague. He took his degree of doctor at Leiden in 1860, and then studied for a year in Oxford, where he examined and collated the Bodleian manuscripts of al-Idrisi (part being published in 1866, in collaboration with Dozy, as ''Description de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne''). About the same time he wrote ''Mémoires de l'histoire et de la géographie orientales'', and edited ''Expugnatio regionum''. In 1883, on the death of Dozy, he became Arabic professor at Leiden, retiring in 1906. Career Though perhaps not a teacher of the first order, he wielded great influence during his long te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ibn Qutaiba
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī al-Marwazī better known simply as Ibn Qutaybah (; c. 828 – 13 November 889 CE/213 – 15 Rajab 276 AH) was an Islamic scholar of Persian descent. He served as a judge during the Abbasid Caliphate, but was best known for his contributions to Arabic literature.Abd Allah Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Muslim al-Dinwari Ibn Qutaybah from The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. , Copyright © 2013. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-A'sha
Al-A'sha () or Maymun Ibn Qays Al-A'sha (d.c. 570– 625) was an Arabic Jahiliyyah poet from Al-Yamama, Arabia. He claimed to receive inspiration from a jinni called ''Misḥal''. Although not a Christian himself, his poems prove familiarity with Christianity. He traveled through Mesopotamia, Syria, Arabia and Ethiopia. He was nicknamed al-A'sha which means "weak-sighted" or "night-blind" after he lost his sight. He continued to travel even after becoming blind, particularly along the western coast of the Arabian peninsula. It was then that he turned to the writing of panegyrics as a means of support. His style, reliant on sound effects and full-bodied foreign words, tends to be artificial. His love poems are devoted to the praise of Huraira, a black female slave. He is said to have believed in the Christian eschatological themes of Resurrection and Last Judgment, and to have been a monotheist. These beliefs may have been due to his interactions with the bishop of Najr� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Nabigha
Al-Nābighah (), al-Nābighah al-Dhubiyānī, or Nābighah al-Dhubyānī; real name Ziyad ibn Muawiyah (); was one of the last pre-Islamic Arabian poets. "Al-Nabigha" means genius or intelligent in Arabic. Biography His tribe, the Banu Dhubyan, belonged to the district near Mecca, but he spent most of his time at the Lakhmid court of al-Hirah and the court of the Ghassanids. In al-Hirah, he remained under al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith, and then his successor in 562. After a sojourn at the court of Ghassan, he returned to al-Hirah under al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir. Owing to his verses written about the Queen he was compelled to flee to Ghassan, but returned ca., 600. When Numan died five years later he withdrew to his own tribe. His date of death is uncertain, but seems to predate Islam. His poems consist largely of eulogies and satires, and are concerned with the strife of Hirah and Ghassan, and of the Banu Abs and the Banu Dhubyan. He is one of the six eminent pre-Is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu Ubaidah (scholar)
Ma'mar ibn al-Muthanna (728–825) also known as Abu Ubayda () was an early Muslim scholar of Arabic philology. He was a controversial figure; later scholar Ibn Qutayba remarked that Abu Ubayda "hated Arabs," though his contemporaries still considered him perhaps the most well-rounded scholar of his age. Whether or not Abu Ubayda was truly a supporter of the Shu'ubiyya is a matter of debate. Life Ma'mar was originally of Persian Jewish descent. In his youth, he was a pupil of Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', Yunus ibn Habib and Al-Akhfash al-Akbar, was later a contemporary of Al-Asmaʿi, and in 803 he was called to Baghdad by the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. In one incident recounted by numerous historians, the Caliph al-Rashid brought forth a horse and asked both Al-Asmaʿi and Abu 'Ubaida (who had also written extensively about zoology) to identify the correct terms for each part of the horse's anatomy. Ma'mar excused himself from the challenge, saying that he was a linguist and antholo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Mufaddal Al-Dabbi
Al-Mufaddal ibn Muhammad ibn Ya'la ibn 'Amir ibn Salim ibn ar-Rammal ad-Dabbi, commonly known as al-Mufaḍḍal aḍ-Ḍabbī (), died –787, was an Arabic philologist of the Kufan school.First Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 6pg. 625 Eds. Martijn Theodoor Houtsma, R. Bassett and Thomas Walker Arnold.Leiden: Brill Publishers: 1993. Al-Mufaddal was a contemporary of Hammad ar-Rawiya and Khalaf al-Ahmar, the famous collectors of early and pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and tradition, and was somewhat the junior of Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', the first scholar who systematically set himself to preserve the poetic literature of the Arabs. He died about fifty years before Abu ʿUbaidah and al-Asma'i, to whose labours posterity is largely indebted for the arrangement, elucidation and criticism of ancient Arabian verse; and his anthology was put together between fifty and sixty years before the compilation by Abu Tammam of the '' Hamasah''. Life The exact year of al-Mufaddal's birth is not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of literary texts and oral and written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning. A person who pursues this kind of study is known as a philologist. In older usage, especially British, philology is more general, covering comparative and historical linguistics. Classical philology studies classical languages. Classical philology principally originated from the Library of Pergamum and the Library of Alexandria around the fourth century BC, continued by Greeks and Romans throughout the Roman and Byzantine Empire. It was eventually resumed by European scholars of the Renaissance, where it was soon joined by philologies of other European ( Romance, Germanic, Celtic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ibn Abd Rabbih
Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Rabbih (; 860–940) was an Arab writer and poet widely known as the author of ''al-ʿIqd al-Farīd'' (''The Unique Necklace''). Biography He was born in Cordova, now in Spain, and descended from a freed slave of Hisham I, the second Spanish Umayyad emir. He enjoyed a great reputation for learning and eloquence. Not much is known about his life. According to Isabel Toral-Niehoff, He came from a local family whose members had been clients (mawālī) of the Umayyads since the emir Hishām I (788–796). His teachers were Mālikī ''fuqahāʼ'' and '' muḥaddithūn'' who had travelled to the East in search of knowledge: Baqī b. Makhlad (816–889), Muḥammad b. Waḍḍāḥ (815–899), and a scholar named Muḥammad b. ʻAbd al-Salām al-Khushanī (833–899), who is said to have introduced much poetry, ''akhbār'' and ''adab'' from the Islamic East to Andalusia. Ibn ʻAbd Rabbih himself is said to have never left the Peninsula. In spite of h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
'Antara Ibn Shaddad
Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi (; 525–608 AD), also known as ʿAntar (), was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet and knight, famous for both his poetry and his adventurous life. His chief poem forms part of the '' Mu'allaqāt'', the collection of seven "hanging odes" legendarily said to have been suspended in the Kaaba at Mecca. The account of his life forms the basis of a long and extravagant romance. Life ʿAntarah was born in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. His father was Arab, Shaddād al-ʿAbsī, a respected warrior of the Banu Abs under their chief Zuhayr. His mother was an Ethiopian woman named Zabībah. Described as one of three "Arab crows" (''Aghribah al-'Arab'') - famous Arab with a black complexion, ʿAntarah grew up a slave as well. He fell in love with his cousin ʿAblah, but could not hope to marry her owing to his position. He also gained the enmity of his father's wife Sumayya. He gained attention and respect for himself by his personal qualities and courage in battle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
