al-Mutanabbi

Abū t-Tayyib Ahmad ibn al-Husain ibn al-Hasan bin ʿAbd al-Samad al-Juʿfī al-Kindī al-Kūfī al-Mutanabbī ( Arabic أبو الطيب أحمد بن الحسين بن الحسن بن عبد الصمد الجعفي الكندي الكوفي المتنبّي, DMG Abū ṭ-Ṭaiyib Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusain b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAbd aṣ-Ṣamad al-Ǧuʿfī al-Kindī al-Kūfī al-Mutanabbī ; * 915 / 917 in Kufa ; † 965 near Dair al-ʿAqūl near Baghdad ) was an Arabic poet of the Abbasid period who influenced and shaped all subsequent poets through his works and his use of the Arabic language.

His life

Al-Mutanabbī was born in 915 or 917 in Kufa, Kinda district. He came from a poor background and his father is said to have been a water carrier. He grew up in Kufa and received his first training there after his alert mind was recognized. Since the Qarmatians invaded Kufa and sacked the city at the end of 924 , Abū t-Tayyib left the city with his family as a child and spent about two years in the Samāwa, the desert region between Kufa and Palmyra .

In the desert he learned the subtleties of the Arabic language from the Banū Kalb . In 927 he returned to Kufa and decided to become a poet. Abū t-Tayyib made contact with the Qarmatians because he was interested in their Shiite teachings and joined Abū l-Fadl, who appears to have been a follower of the Qarmatians. He had a lasting impact on the religious and philosophical ideas of al-Mutanabbī.

At the end of 928 Abū t-Tayyib left Kufa and turned to Baghdad , where he was the eulogist of Muhammad ibn ʿUbaid Al-ʿAlawī. Then he left the metropolis and lived as a traveling poet in Syria . Abū t-Tayyib felt that he was not receiving enough recognition. He therefore wanted to achieve his goals by force. He went to Latakia , where he started a riot. He took up the qarmatic ideology, which was popular with the Banū Kalb. The Banū Kalb supported and hid Abū t-Tayyib. After initial success, he and his Banū Kalb were beaten by the Ichschidid troops from Homs in 933 and after a trial he was sentenced and imprisoned. His nickname al-Mutanabbī also comes from this time.

After about two years of imprisonment, and after revoking his views, he was released and resumed his life as a wandering poet in Syria in 937. In 939 he was the praise poet of the emir Badr al-Harschānī in Damascus , who promoted him for about two years. The relationship between the two was compromised by intrigue, so that al-Mutanabbī sought refuge in the desert. It was not until 948 that he found a new patron in the Hamdanid Saif ad-Daula , with whom he stayed in Aleppo for nine years . Both showed extraordinary respect and Abū t-Tayyib occupied a privileged position at the court of Saif ad-Daula. Here, too, the good relationship broke up as a result of intrigues and rivalries.

After a short stopover in Damascus, he went to Fustāt , today's Cairo . There he became the praise poet of the regent Kāfūr , whom al-Mutanabbī despised. Abū t-Tayyib probably only came to his court because Kāfūr had promised him the governorship of Sidon . When his hopes were disappointed, he left Kāfūr and looked for a new patron without success. On January 20, 962 he secretly left Fustāt after having written a bitter satire on Kāfūr.

He migrated to Kufa, where he spent some time before going to Baghdad. Al-Mutanabbi tried the favor of Buyids - vizier to gain al-Muhallabī, but what failed. In 964 he was back in Kufa every now and then and spent the days writing poetry and lecturing. In 965 he found a new patron in the Buyid vizier Ibn al-'Amīd in Arraǧān ( Behbahān ). Shortly afterwards he joined the Buyiden Adud ad-Daula in Fars . For unknown reasons, he then left the Shiraz court again and went back to Baghdad. At Dair al-'Aqūl , southeast of Baghdad on the Tigris , Abū t-Tayyib and his family were attacked by Bedouins and died in battle together with his son in late summer 965 (end of Ramadan 354 H. ). His murderer was probably Fātik ibn Abū Jahal al-Asadī, who killed him in revenge for a vicious poem on his Qarmatian tribal leader.

His views

Al-Mutanabbi grew up in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood and his two-year stay with the Bedouins brought him into contact with Qarmatian teachings. When Abū t-Tayyib then returned to Kufa, he specifically sought contact with the Qarmatians. He joined Abū l-Fadl, who may even be a Qarmatian himself. This man had a lasting effect on al-Mutanabbī's attitude to life: From then on, his life was shaped by a stoic and pessimistic attitude. He was of the opinion that the Arabs were far superior to the “barbaric foreigners” and that the southern Arabs outdid the northern Arabs . His family is said to go back to the Yemeni Jufi, a South Arabian tribe. Furthermore, he perceived the world as a place of seduction and evil, in which only unreason reigns and only death could offer a way out of this torment. This meant that he was more than just aware of his talent and he came across as very conceited. Al-Mutanabbī also seems to have been a very ambivalent personality: on the one hand, he strived for wealth and power and, on the other hand, he rejected both from the bottom of his heart. In addition, Abū t-Tayyib is said to have distinguished himself through an extraordinary moral rigor and straightforwardness in his actions.

His works

Al-Mutanabbī as a poet belongs to the final phase of the early Abbasid court poetry and, along with al-Buhturī and Abū Tammām, is one of the “neoclassics” who were based on the poetic traditions. His life can be roughly divided into four creative periods. Al-Mutanabbī's first manner began during his years of wandering (around 928) when he was looking for a suitable field for his poetry. The works of this phase are generally considered to be mediocre and immature, although they already give an idea of ​​his real abilities. During this time he mainly wrote neo-classical cassids , but also a lamentation poem and some occasional poems, which are under the poetic influence of al-Buhturī and Abū Tammām, which he greatly admired.

His second creative period begins around the time when he was inclined to thoughts of rebellion. It was incomprehensible to him why he was denied recognition. These poems are characterized by an original, poetic look. The form is very free and the style reflects al-Mutanabbī's rebellious thoughts.

When Badr al-Harschānī al-Mutanabbī became a patron, roughly his third manner began. During this time he wrote many poems of praise and occasional poems that show his great talent. He tends to lapse back into his first manner, but takes over the new knowledge of form and style from the second phase. During this time, only cassids and a hunting poem were written.

His last creative phase began around 940, when he had fallen out with Badr al-Harschānī. He remained true to this style until his death. It represents a compromise between the purely neo-classical tradition and a freer form that he had adopted during his time of rebellion. During this time, poems of praise and mourning were written, but also occasional ones. The Orientals see the poems from the time with Saif ad-Daula as the highlight of his work. Al-Mutanabbī wrote beautiful and substantial, downright epic verses, even if they are sometimes marked by pessimistic tendencies. He knew how to describe a battle like no other and at the same time to incorporate atmospheric images and comparisons, so it is once said about Saif ad-Daula: “He is beautiful, but uglier in the eyes than his guest for the camels when they see him . ”(According to the Arab tradition, a camel is slaughtered when a guest comes into a Bedouin's tent.) Furthermore, al-Mutanabbī used medical expressions to describe something:

Al-Mutanabbi statue in Baghdad

"He (the fever) pleased you with your noble being, that's
why it took a long time to look at (your) limbs,
not to torment them."

- Wagner, Plan of Classical Arabic Poetry II, p. 104

Sometimes he wrote racist verses against non-Arabs:

“People are like their kings; therefore, Arabs whose kings are non-Arabs are unsuccessful; because (these non-Arab barbarians) have no education, no reputation, no contractual loyalty and no sense of responsibility (towards the subjects).
In every country that you enter (you will find) peoples who like sheep are tended by slaves. "

- Wagner, Plan of Classical Arabic Poetry II, p. 154

He was also a master of self-praise:

“The people who sit with me know
that I am the best who ever walked on my feet.
It is me, whose education the blind also looks,
and my words penetrate the deaf's ear. "

- von See, New Handbook of Literary Studies, p. 389

In total, al-Mutanabbī is said to have written about 326 cassids, and his Dīwān (collection of poems) contains praise poems, self-praise, lamentations, satires, advertisements and wisdom, with three quarters of his works being panegyric (praise poems).

His names

Al-Mutanabbī's maiden name was Ahmad, son of Husain, son of Hasan, son of ʿAbd as-Samad (Ahmad ibn al-Husain ibn al-Hasan ibn ʿAbd as-Samad). When his son was born, he was given the honorable name "Father of Tayyib" (Abū t-Tayyib). He also had several surnames that refer to his place of birth. So he was called the one belonging to “Kinda” because he came from the “Kinda” (al-Kindī) district of the city of Kufa (al-Kūfī). The nickname of the Juʿfītische (al-Juʿfī) can be traced back to the fact that he and his family should be descended from the Yemeni Juʿfī, who are among the southern Arabs.

According to oriental writers, Abū t-Tayyib is said to have given himself the nickname al-Mutanabbī, which means something like "he who pretends to be a prophet". Others believe that it was obtained from the Ichjidid troops. Another thesis is that this nickname already existed in the 9th century, since many people passed themselves off as prophets, and that "al-Mutanabbī" had already degenerated into a kind of nickname in the time of Abū t-Tayyib.

Anecdotes

Al-Mutanabbī was an extraordinary personality, about whom many stories and anecdotes circulate. It is still unclear to what extent these stories are true or where they come from. With some it can be assumed that Abū t-Tayyib brought them into circulation himself, since he tried throughout his life that the listeners or readers of his poems perceived them in the context of his autobiographical anecdotes. Of course, al-Mutanabbī also had envious people, some of whom may not have been entirely innocent of various stories that portrayed him in a bad light or mocked him. It is possible that some of the stories can also be interpreted as a kind of adoration to the poet.

One story tells that in the moment of princely splendor Abū t-Tayyib stood aloof from the admiring crowd. But when someone threw some coins into the crowd, al-Mutanabbī let go of his dignity and he grabbed the scattered dirhams on the ground. Another tells the anecdote that he bravely went into battle with Saif ad-Daula and his army, but lost his head completely when his turban caught on a low-hanging branch. That he accompanied Saif ad-Daula on his campaigns is well documented.

An anecdote describes the last moments of his life. On the way to Baghdad, al-Mutanabbī and his family were attacked by Bedouins. When he saw her, he is said to have turned to flee. One of his servants asked him what the verse "I am known by horse, night and desert, by sword and lance, by parchment and pen" was all about. Abū t-Tayyib is said to have turned around again and fought until his death.

Honors

Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, known for its book market, bears his name.

swell

• Julia Ashtiany, TM Johnstone, JD Latham, RB Serjeant, G. Rex Smith (Eds.): 'Abbasid Belles-Lettres. (The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature). Cambridge University Press, New York / Port Chester / Melbourne / Sydney 1990, pp. 300-314. ISBN 0-521-24016-6
• Günther Barthel, Kristina Stock (eds.): Al-Mutanabbī , in: Lexikon Arabische Welt , Wiesbaden 1994, p. 438.
• Régis Blachère : al-Mutanabbī. In: M. Th. Houtsma et al. (Ed.): Enzyklopädie des Islam. Vol. III, Leiden / Leipzig 1913, pp. 844-847.
• Régis Blachère, Charles Pellat: al-Mutanabbī , in: Clifford Edmund Bosworth et al. (Ed.): Encyclopédie de l'Islam , Vol. VII, Leiden / New York / Paris 1993, pp. 770-774.
• Helmut Gätje (Ed.): Outline of Arabic Philology. Vol. II, Wiesbaden 1987, pp. 41-42, 49-51.
• Geert Jan van Gelder: Of Dishes and Discourse. Classical Arabic Literary Representations of Food , Curzon, Richmond, Surrey 2000. ISBN 0-7007-1174-0 , pp. 53-55
• Hamilton Alexander Roskeen Gibb: Arab Poet and Arabic Philologist , in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 12 (1948) 574-578.
• I. Ja'qūb (Ed.): Aš-Šu'arā 'al-'arab. Vol. I, Beirut, n.d., pp. 5, 174-182.
• Adam Mez: The Renaissance of Islam. Hildesheim 1968.
• Šarh dīwān al-mutanabbī , 2 vols., Beirut, undated
• Klaus von See (ed.): New handbook of literary studies. Volume 5: Oriental Middle Ages. Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89104-053-9 , pp. 233-234, 388-389.
• Ewald Wagner: Fundamentals of classical Arabic poetry. Volume 1: The Old Arabic Poetry. Darmstadt 1987, ISBN 3-534-01896-6 .
• Ewald Wagner: Fundamentals of classical Arabic poetry. Volume 2: Arabic poetry in the Islamic era. Darmstadt 1988. ISBN 3-534-03874-6
• Wiebke Walther: A short history of Arabic literature. From the pre-Islamic period to the present , Munich 2004.
• al-Yāziğī, Šarah, Mūğaz Dīwān al-Mutanabbī, Damascus 1960 (?)

Web links

• Information and a. on the biography ( memento from March 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
• Curriculum vitae ( memento of February 26, 2001 in the Internet Archive ) (Arabic)
• CV (English)
• A poem as an audio sample (English / Arabic)