Sulayman Ibn Hassan al-Ghazzi (also Solomon of Gaza or Samunas, ca. 940 - 1027) was an Arab Christian poet and

bishop of Gaza The Diocese of Gaza (Latin: ''Dioecesis Gazensis'') was a bishopric in the Holy Land. Its episcopal see was the city of Gaza and it is now a vacant Latin Catholic titular see. Early history According to Dorotheus of Tyre, the first bishop was a ...

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

Palestine. His work provides insights into the life of Melkite Christians in the Holy Land during the persecutions of caliph al-Hakim and his diwan is the earliest known collection of

Arabic poetry Arabic poetry ( ''ash-shi‘r al-‘arabīyy'') is one of the earliest forms of Arabic literature. Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry contains the bulk of the oldest poetic material in Arabic, but Old Arabic inscriptions reveal the art of poetry existe ...

dealing specifically with Christian religious themes.

Life

Though there are no outside sources about Sulayman's life, his life has been reconstructed from his highly personal verses by

Néophytos Edelby Néophytos Edelby (born on 10 November 1920 in Aleppo, Syria - died on 10 June 1995) was Archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Life Elias (baptismal name) was the eldest of six children ...

. It seems that Sulayman entered a monastery as a youth after his father (called Hasan, Basila or possibly both) abandoned his mother. However, shortly after taking his vows he left the monastery to lead a secular life (possibly working as a

Katib A katib (, ''kātib'') is a writer, scribe, or secretary in the Arabic-speaking world, Persian World, and other Islamic areas as far as the Indian subcontinent. In North Africa, the local pronunciation of the term also causes it to be written ke ...

), got wealthy and married. In his old age he lost not only his wife, but also his son and then only grandson (named Ibrahim) as well as his wealth. Sulayman finally returned to the monastic life and was eventually

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

bishop around the age of eighty, not least due to his great learning which becomes evident from his writing. He died some time after 1027.

Work

Though there have been other important Christian Arab poets such as the pre-Islamic al-Nabigah al-Dubyani or the court poet al-Akthal al-Taghlibi, Sulayman al-Ghazzi is the first to compose poetry on specific Christian themes and speaking about his Christian faith. His writings provide insights into the lives of Christian Arabs during the

Fatimid Caliphate The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa and West Asia, i ...

and protest the persecutions under caliph al-Hakim as well as the discrimination endured by the Christian population and the destruction of Christian sides such as the

Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Some ...

in Jerusalem or the church of Saint George in Lydda. Sulayman also mentions the Palestinian monasteries he visited and wrote apologetic treatise of a

Chalcedonian creed The Chalcedonian Definition (also called the Chalcedonian Creed or the Definition of Chalcedon) is the declaration of the dyophysitism of Hypostatic union, Christ's nature, adopted at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. Chalcedon was an Early cen ...

against various heresis. Nevertheless, Sulayman's most important literary achievement is his Diwan. It consists of 97

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 amounting to over 3,000 lines encompassing various religious topics, dating to the last third of the 10th century to the first third of the 11th century. The poems deal with various topics the sins of his youth and personal tragedies, the defence of orthodoxy, the persecution and humiliation endured by the Christians during his time. The dominant themes are the interconnectedness of his personal tragedy, his Palestinian environment and his highly developed theology of Incarnation. Central are two

Christological In Christianity, Christology is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would be in the freeing of ...

ideas: first, that Christ is God, present as well in the

New New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

as the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

and second, that Christ is fully united to humankind. This unity is achieved in that when Christ died, humankind died, and when he ascended into Heaven, he brought humankind with him. The oldest manuscript that record his work dates to the year 1116. The poems of Sulayman were frequently sung or set to music.

References

External links

Translated treatise of Sulayman al-Ghazzi on the Cross
{{Authority control Arab Christians People from Gaza City 10th-century births 1027 deaths 10th-century Arabic-language poets 11th-century Arabic-language poets 11th-century bishops Eastern Orthodox Christians from the Fatimid Caliphate