Ibn al-Farid

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ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī Ibn al-Fārid ( Arabic عمر إبن علي إبن الفارض, DMG ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī Ibn al-Fāriḍ ; * 1181 ; † 1235 in Cairo ) was one of the greatest mystical poets in Arabic literature . He lived and died in Cairo, where he is buried in the al-Qarafa cemetery on the edge of the Muqattam Mountains (in the southern city ​​of the dead ). Like many important Sufis , he was venerated as a saint after his death and in earlier times a so-called Maulid , the celebration of his birthday, took place with processions. His grave has been preserved to this day and is visited.

biography

The external dates of Ibn al-Farid's life are well attested by Arab historians, some of whom were still his contemporaries. However, the image of the poet in the Islamic tradition is primarily determined by his grandson Ali, the son of a daughter. He collected the verses of his grandfather in a divan and put a biographical report as a "preface" ( dībāğa ) in front of this collection , in which he often relies on his uncle Kamal ad-Din († 1290), one of the poet's two sons . However, the report must be viewed with skepticism on many points. It contains few facts, but numerous miracle stories, and forms the basis for the later veneration of Ibn al-Farid as a saint.

The poet's family belonged to the class of religious scholars and at the same time had been associated with Sufism for generations. His father was a lawyer specializing in the inheritance shares of women ( furūḍ ), hence the job title al-Fāriḍ in the name of the son. He received a thorough training in classical Arabic literature and in the religious sciences and was introduced to Sufism at an early age, to which he developed a special inclination. So he often retired to solitude in the Muqattam Mountains on the outskirts of Cairo and devoted himself to mystical exercises. He is said to have emerged as a poet at a young age and, in addition to mystical verses, also wrote profane poems. He worked as a religious scholar and taught hadith , the traditions of the Prophet Mohammed; names of students from this time are known.

After the death of his father Ibn al-Farid made the pilgrimage to Mecca ; the timing is controversial. He stayed at the holy places, in the Hejaz and Nejd , for 15 years , a time he remembers with great longing in his later poems. The reason for the departure is associated by his grandson with a simple greengrocer ( baqqāl ) who asked the poet to go to Mecca, where he would experience his enlightenment. Ibn al-Farid realized that it was a saint and followed the instruction. The return to Egypt 15 years later is also associated with the greengrocer in the “Preface”. The poet heard the voice of the saint, who was dying, and asked him to come to Cairo and arrange for his funeral. This time, too, he followed the call, but we know from his verses that he no longer felt comfortable in his homeland and that he was homesick for his friends, the Sufis in Hejaz and Nedjd, until his death. In Mecca in 1231 he is said to have met the famous Sufi Abu Hafs Umar as-Suhrawardi (1145–1234), who gave his two sons the Chirqa , the coat of the Sufis.

The poet spent the last few years (1231–1235) in high honor in Cairo, where he lived in the "House of the Preachers" ( dār al-ḫațāba ), a hospice near the mosque al-Azhar . The religious and political elite of the city took part in his recitations and mystical sessions ( dhikr ) and showed him the greatest respect. Even the Ayyubid sultan, al-Malik al-Kamil (ruled 1218-1238), tried to draw him near and offered him gifts, but Ibn al-Farid is said to have withdrawn from the ruler's attention and rejected his gifts. According to the statements in his verses, he must have had students, but no school was formed through which his teachings were passed on.

The divan

Ibn al-Farid's poetry has come down to us in numerous manuscripts and various editions, of which the editorship of the grandson is the basis for most previous editions. However, it also contains texts that were subsequently ascribed to the poet. According to the critical edition by Giuseppe Scattolin (2004), a collection that precedes the editing of the grandson is to be regarded as authentic. It consists of 15 poems with a total of approx. 1500 verses. These include 13 love poems, mystical texts, some of which have been read as profane love poems, as we know from historiographical sources. The divan also contains a mystical wine song ( ḫamrīya ) and a didactic poem of 761 verses entitled “The order of the way” ( Naẓm as-sulūk ), also known as “the great Tāʾīya ” ( at-Tāʾīya al-kubrā ) , "The great poem with the rhyming letter Tāʾ ", in contrast to the "small Tāʾīya ", a shorter poem of the divan, which also rhymes with Tāʾ .

“The order of the way” is the most important text of the divan, since Ibn al-Farid describes and interprets his own way to unity with God up to the highest level. The path begins with a declaration of love to the “divine beloved”, with whom he seeks union, and ends with the highest level, at which the mystic identifies with the cosmic principle to which the world owes its creation. The basis of his mysticism are the monistic ideas of late Sufism, the unity of God and the world, as postulated in the theosophy of Ibn al-Arabi (1165–1240), in whose school the poet was wrongly classified. Ibn al-Farid, however, differs from his more famous contemporary in many ways. His pronounced sense of beauty, which is closely related to his mysticism, is characteristic of him. Since God manifests himself in the world, the contemplation of earthly beauty according to Ibn al-Farid is a way to experience God. In the Islamic tradition he is called the “prince of lovers” ( sulțān al-ʿāšiqīn ), but in the end his path leads him beyond the mysticism of love, because it still contains a trace of dualism which disappears in perfect unity.

literature

  • Th. Emil Homerin: From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint: Ibn al-Fāriḍ, His Verse and His Shrine. American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, New York City 2001, ISBN 977-424-668-3 .
  • Giuseppe Scattolin (Ed.): The Dīwān of Ibn al-Fāriḍ: Readings of its Text Throughout History: A Critical Edition. (= Textes Arabes et Études Islamiques. 41). Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Le Caire 2004, ISBN 2-7247-0371-5 .
  • Ibn al-Fāriḍ: The Divan: Mystical Poetry from the 13th Century. Translated from Arabic and edited by Renate Jacobi. Verlag der Welteligionen im Insel Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 3-458-70037-4 .

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