Akiko Motoyoshi Sumi - Description in Classical Arabic Poetry_ Wasf, Ekphrasis, and Interarts Theory (Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures) (Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures) (2003).pdf
Akiko Motoyoshi Sumi - Description in Classical Arabic Poetry_ Wasf, Ekphrasis, and Interarts Theory (Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures) (Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures) (2003).pdf
Akiko Motoyoshi Sumi - Description in Classical Arabic Poetry_ Wasf, Ekphrasis, and Interarts Theory (Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures) (Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures) (2003).pdf
CLASSICAL ARABIC
POETRY:
WASF, EKPHRASIS,
AND INTERARTS
THEORY
BRILL
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BRILL STUDIES IN
MIDDLE EASTERN LITERATURES
SUPPLEMENTS TO THE
JOURNAL OF ARABIC LITERATURE
The series Studies in Arabic Literature has now expanded its purview to include
other literatures (Persian, Turkish, etc.) of the Islamic Middle East. While
preserving the same format as SAL, the title of the expanded series will be Brill
Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures (BSMEL). As in the past, the series aims to
publish literary critical and historical studies on a broad range of literary
materials: classical and modern, written and oral, poetry and prose. It will also
publish scholarly translations of major literary works. Studies that seek to
integrate Middle Eastern literatures into the broader discourses of the humanities
and the social sciences will take their place alongside works of a more technical
and specialized nature.
EDITED BY
Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych
VOLUME XXV
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DESCRIPTION IN
CLASSICAL ARABIC
POETRY
WA‘F, EKPHRASIS, AND INTERARTS THEORY
BY
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2004
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PJ7541.S84 2003
892.7’1009—dc22
2003057806
ISSN 0169-9903
ISBN 90 04 12922 7
CONTENTS
Preface ........................................................................................ ix
Acknowledgments ........................................................................ xv
A Note on Translation and Transliteration ............................ xvii
Introduction ................................................................................ 1
Chapter One
Contest as Ceremony: A Pre-Islamic Poetic Contest in
Horse Description of Imru" al-Qays vs. 'Alqamah
al-Fa˙l ...................................................................................... 19
Chapter Two
Remedy and Resolution: Bees and Honey-Gathering in
Two Hudhalì Odes ................................................................ 61
Chapter Three
Reality and Reverie: Wine and Ekphrasis in the 'Abbàsid
Poetry of Abù Nuwàs and al-Bu˙turì .................................. 92
Chapter Four
Sensibility and Synaesthesia: Ibn al-Rùmì’s Singing
Slave-Girl ................................................................................ 122
Chapter Five
Poetry and Portraiture: A Double Portrait in a Panegyric
by Ibn Zamrak ...................................................................... 155
Conclusion .................................................................................. 194
PREFACE
1
The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., s.v. “frame of reference.” For its further
meaning, see pp. 124–25 in Chap. 4.
Motoyoshi/f1/v-xvii 9/10/03 10:02 AM Page x
x
xi
2
Hilda M. Ransome, The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and Folklore (London: George
Allen and Unwin, 1937).
Motoyoshi/f1/v-xvii 9/10/03 10:02 AM Page xii
xii
3
Andrew Sprague Becker, The Shield of Achilles and the Poetics of Ekphrasis (Lanham,
Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1995).
4
al-Jà˙iΩ 'Amr ibn Ba˙r, “Kitàb al-Qiyàn,” Rasà"il al-Jà˙iΩ, ed. with commen-
tary, 'Abd Muhannà, 2 vols. (Beirut: Dàr al-Óadàthah, 1987–88).
5
Lawrence Kramer, Music and Poetry: The Nineteenth Century and After (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1984).
6
Richard Brilliant, Portraiture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991).
Motoyoshi/f1/v-xvii 9/10/03 10:02 AM Page xiii
xiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xvi
to finish this book. Thanks go to Dr. Ruth I. Meserve for her care-
ful, thorough proofreading of the entire manuscript and Trudy
Kamperveen and Tanja Cowall of Brill Academic Publishers for their
kindness and patience. I thank my parents and siblings for their con-
stant aid during my long term of study abroad. Finally, my special
gratitude goes to my husband Katsunori Sumi who constantly sup-
ported me with affection and understanding.
I would like to express my appreciation as well to the editors
and publishers for their permission to reprint previously published
articles that, in revised form, are part of the present book. My paper
in Japanese, “Shôchôteki hyôgen to shite no waßf: Ekphrasis ni tera-
shiawaseta rironteki kôsatsu (Waßf as Symbolic Expression: Theoretical
Examination in Comparison with Ekphrasis),” Kansai Journal of Arabic
and Islamic Studies 2 (2002), pp. 53–69, partly forms the basis for the
Introduction. My essay in Arabic, “Al-Mubàràh ˇaqsan I˙tifàliyyan:
Mubàràh Shi'riyyah Jàhiliyyah fì Waßf al-Khayl bayna Imri" al-Qays
wa 'Alqamah al-Fa˙l (Contest as Ceremony: A Pre-Islamic Poetic
Contest in Horse Description of Imru" al-Qays vs. 'Alqamah al-
(Fa˙l),” Al-Ab˙àth 50–51 (2002–2003), pp. 95–144, is placed with
some revision as Chapter 1. My article, “Remedy and Resolution:
Bees and Honey-Collecting in Two Hudhalì Odes,” Journal of Arabic
and Middle Eastern Literatures 6, no. 2 (2003), pp. 131–57, with some
revision appears as Chapter 2. In revised form “Reality and Reverie:
Wine and Ekphrasis in the 'Abbàsid Poetry of Abù Nuwàs and al-
Bu˙turì,” Annals of Japan Association for Middle East Studies 14 (1999),
pp. 85–120, appear as Chapter 3. My essay, “Sensibility and
Synaesthesia: Ibn al-Rùmì’s Singing Slave-Girl,” Journal of Arabic
Literature 32, no. 1 (2001), pp. 1–29, is placed with some revision as
Chapter 4. My article “Poetry and Portraiture: A Double Portrait
in an Arabic Panegyric by Ibn Zamrak,” Journal of Arabic Literature
30, no. 3 (1999), pp. 199–239, with slight revision, forms the last
chapter.
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xvii
All translations of the Arabic odes and anecdotes in the text are my
own, unless otherwise indicated. I have aimed to provide at least
adequate and readable English versions of the literal meaning of the
originals. Moreover, the original Arabic texts of the odes are pro-
vided as an Appendix.
For the transliteration of Arabic names, terms, and bibliographi-
cal citations I have followed the Library of Congress system with
slight modification.
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1
INTRODUCTION*
2
that was different from their own, which was based on eighteenth-century Western
ideas. The qaßìdah relies on a whole set of intertextualities which contains repeti-
tions and variations; variation is allowed but strictly controlled. The qaßìdah poet
reworks older conventional motifs—he does not or should not create entirely new
matter.
5
On the negative reception to the qaßìdah in the West, Jaroslav Stetkevych has
an insightful study, “Arabic Poetry and Assorted Poetics,” in Islamic Studies: A Tradition
and Its Problems, ed. Malcolm H. Kerr (Malibu, CA: Undena Publications, 1980),
103–23. In his article, he points out that there was a favorable response before tra-
ditional Orientalists’ criticism, such as by Goethe. For the two quotations on the
following page illustrating the negative reception of the qaßìdah by traditional
Orientalists, I have relied on Michael Sells, “The Qaßìda and the West: Self-Reflective
Stereotype and Critical Encounter,” Al-'Arabiyya 20 (1987): 307–57.
6
Some representative works are: Jaroslav Stetkevych, The Zephyrs of Najd: The
Poetics of Nostalgia in the Classical Arabic Nasìb (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1993), and Suzanne Stetkevych, The Mute Immortals Speak: Pre-Islamic Poetry and the
Poetics of Ritual (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993). For oral-performative
studies of early Arabic poetry, see James Monroe, “Oral Composition in Pre-Islamic
Poetry,” Journal of Arabic Literature 3 (1972): 1–53, and Michael Zwettler, The Oral
Tradition of Classical Arabic Poetry: Character and Implications (Columbus: Ohio State
University Press, 1978). About their further contributions, see Sells, “Qaßìda,” 331–46.
Also, Stefan Sperl has a fine study, demonstrating thematic unity and coherence in
the qaßìdah, “Islamic Kingship and Arabic Panegyric Poetry in the Early Ninth
Century,” Journal of Arabic Literature 8 (1977): 20–35.
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3
7
Michael Sells, “Guises of the Ghùl: Dissembling Simile and Semantic Overflow
in the Classical Arabic Nasìb,” in Reorientations/Arabic and Persian Poetry, ed. Suzanne
Stetkevych (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994), 130–64.
8
For the atomism hypothesis of R. A. Nicholson and the barbarism hypothesis
of Ignaz Goldziher as ways of devaluing the qaßìdah, see Sells, “Qaßìda.”
9
F. Krenkow, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1st ed., s.v. “˚aßìda,” ed. M. Th.
Houtsma, et al., 9 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 1927).
10
A. S. Tritton, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1st ed., s.v. “shi'r.”
Motoyoshi/f2/1-17 9/10/03 3:58 PM Page 4
4
11
Gustav E. von Grunebaum, “The Response to Nature in Arabic Poetry,” Journal
of Near Eastern Studies 4 (1945): 139–40.
12
See Jaroslav Stetkevych, “Arabic Poetry,” 116–17.
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5
13
Ibn Rashìq al-Qayrawànì, Al-'Umdah fì Ma˙àsin al-Shi'r wa Àdàbih wa Naqdih,
2nd ed., 2 vols. (Cairo: Al-Maktabah al-Tijàrìyyah al-Kubrà, 1955), 2: 294. The
translation is mine. The Arabic text corresponding to the first half of the quote is
“al-shi'r illà aqalluh ràji'un ilà bàbi-l-waßf.”
14
Modern scholars also have a number of works on the topic of waßf, e.g., Iliyyà
al-Óàwì, Fann al-Waßf wa Ta†awwuruh fì al-Shi'r al-'Arabì, 3rd ed. (Beirut: Dàr al-
Kitàb al-Lubnànì, 1980), and Alma Giese, Wasf bei Kushàjim (Berlin: K. Schwarz,
1981).
15
Edward William Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Islamic Texts
Society Trust, 1984), w-ß-f.
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6
In order to get a clear overview of waßf and grasp its operation, the
criticism of ekphrasis and the perspectives of interarts theory will be
helpful, inasmuch as ekphrasis can be considered a Western coun-
terpart of waßf. The term can be employed in two ways: first in its
original meaning and second in its modern sense. Originally, as a
term in Classical rhetoric, ekphrasis is understood as “clear and dis-
tinct description” of any object, standing almost as firm and long in
the traditions of Occidental civilization as waßf does in the Arabic.
The term in the title of this book intends this broader meaning of
ekphrasis. But the last three chapters deal with poetic descriptions
of works of art or artistic performance, and here the term also applies
to its current, narrower usage in the transdisciplinary field of inter-
medial and interarts studies which is concerned with the relations
among music, architecture, sculpture, painting, poetry, and other arts
and media. In this modern understanding, ekphrasis is “the verbal
representation of non-verbal texts.” The term “text” is here used to
refer to a complex sign in any culturally produced semiotic system.
The objects of description in the Arabic poems studied in Chapters
One and Two, the horse and the bee and honey-gathering, are nat-
ural objects and therefore not “texts” according to the narrower
understanding of ekphrasis in interarts studies, while they would be
acceptable subjects for rhetorical ekphrasis. The objects of poetic
description in the last three chapters—the design on a wine cup, the
wall painting (Chapter Three), the performance of a song (Chapter
Four), and the palace (Chapter Five)—are all man-made objects that
can be read as “texts.” If one finds these “verbal representations of
16
Lane, ß-n-f and ˙-w-l.
17
Lane, n-'-t.
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7
18
See two articles in Pictures into Words: Theoretical and Descriptive Approaches to
Ekphrasis, ed. Valerie Robillard and Els Jongeneel (Amsterdam: VU University Press,
1998): Bernhard F. Scholz, “ ‘Sub Oculos Subiectio’: Quintilian on Ekphrasis and
Enargeia,” 73–99 and Claus Clüver, “Quotation, Enargeia, and the Function of
Ekphrasis,” 35–52. All the quotations in this paragraph are from Fritz Graf, “Ekphrasis:
Die Entstehung der Gattung in der Antike,” in Beschreibungskunst—Kunstbeschreibung:
Ekphrasis von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, ed. G. Boehm and H. Pfotenhauer (München:
Wilhelm Fink, 1995), 143–55, as translated by Scholz (76) or Clüver (36–37).
19
Scholz, 83.
20
Ibid., 77.
21
Jean H. Hagstrum, The Sister Arts: The Tradition of Literary Pictorialism and English
Motoyoshi/f2/1-17 9/10/03 3:58 PM Page 8
8
Poetry from Dryden to Gray (1958; reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1987), 11.
22
Ibn Rashìq, 2: 295. In this poem the word “reveal” corresponds to wußifat (the
passive voice of waßafat) in Arabic. See the Appendix for the Arabic text.
23
Quoted by Scholz, 77.
24
For Quintilian’s idea in this paragraph, I rely on Scholz, 78. According to
Scholz, Quintilian shows in the procedure of achieving enargeia, a shift from the
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9
“outer” ear to the inner eye, which is parallel to the shift from “mere” narration
to a specific type of description, 78.
25
Scholz, 79.
26
Ibid.
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10
27
Hagstrum, 12.
28
Charles Sanders Peirce, “On Representations,” Writings of Charles S. Peirce, 6
vols. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1857–90), 3: 62.
Motoyoshi/f2/1-17 9/10/03 3:58 PM Page 11
11
29
W. J. T. Mitchell, “Representation,” Critical Terms for Literary Study, ed. Frank
Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1995), 14.
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12
30
Leo Spitzer, “The ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn,’ or Content vs. Metagrammar,”
in Essays on English and American Literature, ed. Anna Hatcher (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1962), 67–97.
31
Ibid., 72.
32
Murray Krieger, Ekphrasis: The Illusion of the Natural Sign (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1992), 265–66.
33
James A. W. Heffernan, Museum of Words: The Poetics of Ekphrasis from Homer to
Ashbery (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 3. Heffernan also states, “Where
Krieger defines ekphrasis as an impulse toward illusionistic word-painting, I treat it
as a kind of poetry that deliberately foregrounds the difference between verbal and
visual representation—and in so doing forestalls or at the very least complicates any
illusionistic effect,” 3 n. 191.
Motoyoshi/f2/1-17 9/10/03 3:58 PM Page 13
13
34
See K. A. C. Creswell, “The Lawfulness of Painting in Early Islam,” Ars Islamica
11–12 (1946): 159–66.
35
Jaroslav Stetkevych claims, “It is only in the instances where the Horatian sim-
ile ut pictura poesis shows its semblance that form and content seem to unite more
closely under the general intention of mimetic function,” in his article “The Arabic
Qaßìdah: From Form and Content to Mood and Meaning,” Harvard Ukrainian Studies
3/4 (1979–80): 775.
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14
36
Claus Clüver, “Ekphrasis Reconsidered: On Verbal Representations of Non-
Verbal Texts,” in Interart Poetics: Essays on the Interrelations Between the Arts and Media,
ed. Ulla-Britta Lagerroth, Hans Lund, and Erik Hedling (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1997),
19–33, definition 26. Clüver temporarily revised his definition to read “verbaliza-
tion” instead of “verbal representation”; see “Quotation,” 49 and “The Musikgedicht:
Notes on an Ekphrastic Genre,” in Word and Music Studies: Defining the Field, ed.
Walter Bernhart, Steven Paul Scher, and Werner Wolf (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1999),
187–204, def. 188. He has meanwhile returned to using the more effective “verbal
representation.”
37
Spitzer’s definition is more limited because he speaks only of literary texts and
visual art, whereas Heffernan includes all kinds of verbal texts and visual repre-
sentation; however, Heffernan’s definition excludes architecture, which he does not
consider as representational.
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15
ing that it is generally assumed that, though “the literal sense of the
word ‘image’ is a graphic, pictorial representation, a concrete, mate-
rial object,” notions like mental, verbal, or perceptual imagery are
not derived from this literal sense. Conversely, however, one can
also understand “the literal sense of the word ‘image’ as an absolutely
non- or even anti-pictorial meaning,” which originates with the
account of man’s creation “in the image and likeness of God.” The
original words translated now as “image” (Hebrew tselem, Greek eikon,
and Latin imago) are correctly understood, not as referring to any
material picture, but to an abstract, general, spiritual “likeness.” As
Mitchell formulates it: “image is to be understood not as ‘picture,’
but as ‘likeness,’ a matter of spiritual similarity.”38
By this token, the Arabic concept of ßùrah, usually translated as
“image,” has etymologically a similar meaning to the “images” of
the above-mentioned foreign cultures: “mental image, a resemblance
of any object, formed or conceived by the mind, an idea, a mean-
ing of frequent occurrence in philosophical works,” in addition to a
meaning of “a shape,” “a picture,” “an effigy.”39 A derivative verb
of ßùrah, ßawwara (form II) means “to form, shape; to paint, draw;
to illustrate; to describe, represent,” and its verbal noun is taßwìr,
which is understood as representation. On the other hand, tamthìl,
a synonym of taßwìr and waßf, is listed as meaning, “representation;
exemplification; likening, comparison; picturing, description,” in an
Arabic-English dictionary, and its derivative verb (II) maththala means
“to make (something) like something, to compare, liken; to illustrate
something with pictures (ßawwara) to the extent as if it were seen.”40
For traditional Orientalists, the function of waßf would have been
tamthìl, which is likewise used by Ibn Rashìq for the explanation of
waßf: “to see a waßf is how it consists in (qàma bi) itself and represents
38
W. J. T. Mitchell, Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1986), 30–31.
39
Lane’s dictionary defines the meaning of ßùrah: “an effigy; an image, or a
statue; a picture; anything that is formed, fashioned, figured, or shaped, after the
likeness of any of God’s creatures, animate or inanimate: it is said that the maker
of an effigy or image will be punished on the day of resurrection, and will be com-
manded to put life into it; and that the angels will not enter a house in which a
ßùrah is present.” Lane, ß-w-r.
40
See Lane, m-th-l and Mu˙ammad ibn Mukarram Ibn ManΩùr, Lisàn al-'Arab,
15 vols. (Beirut: Dàr Íàdir, 1955–56), m-th-l. Tamthìl has a figurative and metaphor-
ical meaning in the classical Arabic rhetoric, balàghah. Here I do not deal with the
concept of tamthìl in terms of balàghah.
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16
41
Ibn Rashìq, 2: 294.
42
Sells, “Ghùl,” 130–31. See also Roman Jakobson, “Two Aspects of Language
and Two Types of Aphasic Disturbances,” in Language: An Enquiry into Its Meaning
and Function, ed. Ruth Nanda Anshen (New York: Harper, 1957), 99–100.
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sentation, and the other on the level of intangible, abstract, and sym-
bolic representation. Mimetic representation proceeds through rela-
tions of resemblance; abstract representation functions through symbolic
relations. Mimetic representation is seen, for example, in the com-
parison of a beloved to a gazelle, while symbolic representation is
revealed in such instances as establishing a metonymic relationship
between the Alhambra palace and the ruler. In the poetic tradition,
mimetic representation and symbolic representation operate simulta-
neously and complement each other to create an integrated multi-
layered imagery. In this study, I hope to demonstrate in a way that
is consistent with contemporary Western criticism that waßf is not
merely mimetic, but operates also metaphorically and metonymically
to generate and convey symbolic and emblematic meanings.
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CHAPTER ONE
The Horse
God created the horse from the wind. Many prophets have proclaimed
the following: When God wanted to create the horse, He said to the
South Wind: “I want to make a creature out of you. Condense.” And
the wind condensed. Archangel Gabriel immediately appeared and
took a handful of that stuff and presented it to God, Who made a
brown bay or burnt chestnut (kumayt—red mixed with black) upon say-
ing: “I call you Horse; I make you Arabian and I give you the chest-
nut color of the ant; I have hung happiness from the forelock which
hangs between your eyes; you shall be the lord of other animals. Men
shall follow you wherever you go; you shall be as good for pursuit as
for flight; you shall fly without wings; riches shall be on your back
and fortune shall come through your mediation.” Then He put on the
horse the mark of glory and happiness (ghurrah)—a white mark in the
middle of the forehead.
Letter of the Emir Abd-el-Kader to General E. Daumas
(General E. Daumas, The Horses of the Sahara)1
* An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the annual meeting of the
Middle East Studies Association of North America, Orlando, Florida, November,
2000, and appeared in Arabic as Akiko Motoyoshi Sumi, “Al-Mubàràh ˇaqsan
I˙tifàliyyan: Mubàràh Shi'riyyah Jàhiliyya fì Waßf al-Khayl bayna Imri" al-Qays wa
'Alqamah al-Fa˙l,” Al-Ab˙àth 50–51 (2002–2003), pp. 95–144.
1
General E. Daumas, The Horses of the Sahara, trans. Sheila M. Ohlendorf, revised,
augmented with commentary, The Emir Abd-el-Kader, 9th ed. (Austin: University
of Texas Press, 1968), 7. Daumas relied on the Emir Abd-el-Kader (1808–83) for
the information on the horse because he was a noted Algerian horseman and scholar
as well as an illustrious chieftain. There is a similar ˙adìth in 'Alì ibn 'Abd al-
Ra˙màn ibn Hudhayl al-Andalusì, Óilyat al-Fursàn wa Shi'àr al-Shuj'àn, ed. Mu˙ammad
'Abd al-Ghinà Óasan (Cairo: Dàr al-Ma'àrif lil-ˇibà'ah wa al-Nashr, 1951), 27–28.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 20
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fertility, and vital force. It is said that the horse is called khayl in
Arabic for its ikhtiyàl (pride, arrogance, haughtiness) in walking, and
al-Jà˙iΩ (776–869), the prominent classical Arab littérateur, relates
that its natural disposition is likewise zahw (splendor, pride, haugh-
tiness, arrogance, vanity) in walking.2
Imru" al-Qays ibn Óujr and 'Alqamah ibn 'Abadah al-Tamìmì
al-Fa˙l, the celebrated Jàhilì (pre-Islamic) poets, bequeathed to us
qaßìdahs of the chivalrous hunt in the context of the poetic contest,
mu'àra∂ah. Mu'àra∂ah (opposition, contest) indicates literary imitation
or emulation in the Arabic poetic tradition.3 A poet composes a work
in the same rhyme and meter as those of his target poem, while
attempting to outdo that original. The imitation of another poet’s
work was considered an act of homage. In imitation and emulation,
waßf or description plays an important role, for it offers a basis for
comparison in deciding the victor of a contest. The concept of
mu'àra∂ah existed already as early as the Jàhiliyyah or the pre-Islamic
era. A well-known khabar (anecdote) concerns a poetic contest in the
waßf of the horse between the two Jàhilì poets, Imru" al-Qays and
'Alqamah al-Fa˙l; 'Alqamah fought and won a verbal duel in describ-
ing horses with Imru" al-Qays, judged by Imru" al-Qays’s wife Umm
Jundab;4 as a result, Imru" al-Qays divorced her and then 'Alqamah
married her, whereupon 'Alqamah was given the honorific title,
“fa˙l”—“stallion” or “master poet.” This chapter aims to explore
the waßf of the chivalrous hunt in the two qaßìdahs in association with
the khabar, investigating the function and role of the waßf. This horse
description is considered ekphrasis in its original meaning, “clear and
distinct description” of any object.
2
See al-Andalusì, 28–29.
3
Information about mu'àra∂ah in this paragraph is largely taken from, A. Schippers,
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “mu'àra∂a.” According to A. Schippers there
are related notions of mu'àra∂ah: naqì∂ah, mufàkharah, and munàfarah. Naqì∂ah is under-
stood as a contradicting poem, flyting; a form of poetic dueling in which tribal or
personal invectives are exchanged, usually in pairs, using the same rhyme and meter.
Mufàkharah is meant either as a self-praise or a contest for precedence and glory.
G. J. H. van Gelder, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “na˚à"i∂.” As a con-
test, mufàkharah occurred at definite times after the pilgrimage or at random (espe-
cially, at the sùq of 'UkàΩ) generally between groups, tribes and clans and occasionally
between families and individuals. Bichr Farès, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed.,
s.v. “mufàkhara.” There is a book on Persian poetry dealing with mu'àra∂ah: Paul
Losensky, Welcoming Fighànì: Imitation and Poetic Individuality in the Safavid-Mughal Ghazal
(Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 1998).
4
For the vocalization of the name of Imru" al-Qays’s wife, though some ver-
sions of the khabar give “Jundub,” most versions vocalize it as “Jundab.”
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 21
21
5
Cf. pp. 2–4 in the Introduction.
6
The German Orientalist Wilhelm Ahlwardt raised the issue in his book Bemerkungen
über die Aechtheit der alten Arabischen Gedichte (Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1972), 68–71.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60
The overlapping verses in the odes of Imru" al-Qays and 'Alqamah al-Fa˙l
22
Imru" al-Qays
9/10/03
nasìb
nasìb ra˙ìl
ra˙ìl fakhr
1 • • • • • • 8 9 10 • • • • 15 • • • 19 20 21 • • • • 25 26 27 28 • 30 • 32 • • 35 • • • • • 41 42 43 44 45 • • • • 50 • 52 53 • 55
3:59 PM
Page 22
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 • • 13 14 • 16 17 18 19 20 • • • 24 • 26 • 28 • • • 32 • • 35 36 37 38 39 • • 42 43 44 45 46
23
Imru" al-Qays ibn Óujr and 'Alqamah ibn 'Abadah al-Tamìmì al-
Fa˙l are among the most celebrated poets in the pre-Islamic era.
Imru" al-Qays, who is said to have died in circa 550 C.E., has been
considered the foremost poet of pre-Islamic Arabia. He is the author
of one of the Mu'allaqàt (The Suspended Poems), the anthology of
seven canonical masterpieces, “Golden Odes,” transmitted through
ràwìs (reciters) in the eighth century C.E., to which three other poems
7
Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture (Boston: The
Beacon Press, 1962). Walter J. Ong, Fighting for Life: Contest, Sexuality, and Consciousness
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981). Ward Parks, Verbal Dueling in Heroic
Narrative (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990).
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 24
24
8
See H. A. R. Gibb, Arabic Literature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), 22 and
Reynold A. Nicholson, A Literary History of the Arabs (1930; reprint, Richmond: Curzon
Press, 1995), 101 n. According to Nicholson, the best edition of the Mu'allaqàt is
Sir Charles Lyall’s A Commentary on Ten Ancient Arabic Poems (Calcutta, 1894). It con-
tains the seven Mu'allaqàt by Imru" al-Qays, ˇarafah, 'Amr ibn Kulthùm, Óàrith
ibn Óillizah, 'Antarah, Zuhayr, Labìd and three other poems by A'shà, al-Nàbighah,
and 'Abìd ibn al-Abraß. For a translation and analysis of the Mu'allaqah of Imru"
al-Qays, see Suzanne Stetkevych, Mute, 241–85.
9
Information about Imru" al-Qays in this paragraph is largely taken from
S. Boustany, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “Imru" al-ays b. Óudjr.”
10
This date is according to Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, vol. 2,
Poesie bis ca. 430 H. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975), 120–22.
11
Information about 'Alqamah in this paragraph is largely taken from G. E. von
Grunebaum, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “'Al˚ama b. 'Abada al-Tamìmì.”
12
Khabar functions as etiological myth, “Why was 'Alqamah called ‘al-Fa˙l’?—
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 25
25
because one day. . . .” Others were given the title “al-fa˙l” in the Arabo-Islamic
tradition (Imru" al-Qays, etc.), cf. ˇabaqàt Fu˙ùl al-Shu'arà"; for 'Alqamah, it is also
an epithet “'Alqamah al-Fa˙l.”
13
Isnàd assumes the form of X told me that he heard Y telling a story which
he had heard from Z.
14
For mnemonic features of Arabic poetry, see Monroe, “Oral Composition,”
Michael Zwettler, Oral Tradition, and Suzanne Stetkevych, Mute, 81.
15
The interpretation of the khabar as a sexual double-entendre is discussed in
Suzanne Stetkevych, “Pre-Islamic Panegyric and the Poetics of Redemption,”
Reorientations/Arabic and Persian Poetry, ed. Suzanne Stetkevych (Bloomington, IN:
Indiana University Press, 1994), 20. See also James E. Montgomery, “'Alqama al-
Fa˙l’s Contest with Imru" al-Qays: What Happens When a Poet Is Umpired by
His Wife?” Arabica: Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 44 (1997): 144–49 and
Mu˙ammad ibn 'Abd al-Ra˙man al-Hadlaq, “Qißßat Naqd Umm Jundab li-Imri"
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 26
26
'Alqamah was alive in the dawn of the Jàhiliyyah and its traditions.
He was a friend of Imru" al-Qays and visited him one day. One of
them asked his ['Alqamah’s] companion, “Which of us is a better
poet?” One of them said, “I am,” and the other said, “I am.” They
reviled each other until Imru" al-Qays said, “Describe your she-camel
and horse, and I will describe my she-camel and horse.” 'Alqamah
al-Qays wa 'Alqamah al-Fa˙l,” Majallat Jàmi'at al-Malik Sa'ùd, Al-Àdàb 2–1 (1990):
3–35 on the variants of this khabar.
16
B. Farès says that murù"ah is one of the Arabic terms whose meaning is impre-
cise, being understood as “good nature and observance of Qurànic laws,” “dignity
and compassion,” “urbanity,” “ideal manhood.” Murù"ah, according to Farès, con-
tains both the physical qualities of man mar" and his moral qualities by a process
of spiritualisation and abstraction. B. Farès, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v.
“murù"a.”
17
Abù al-'Abbàs al-Mufa∂∂al ibn Mu˙ammad al-Îabbì, Dìwàn al-Mufa∂∂alìyàt,
commentary by Abù Mu˙ammad al-Qàsim ibn Mu˙ammad ibn Bashshàr al-Anbàrì,
2 vols., Arabic Text, ed. Charles James Lyall (Beirut: Ma†ba'at al-Àbà" al-Yasù'iyyìn,
1921), 2: 763–64. 'Abd Allàh ibn Muslim Ibn Qutaybah, Kitàb al-Shi'r wa al-Shu'arà",
2 vols., ed. with commentary A˙mad Mu˙ammad Shàkir (Cairo: Dàr al-Ma'àrif,
1966), 218–19.
18
All translations of the three khabars are mine.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 27
27
answered, “Yes, I will do it, if the judge between you and me is this
woman behind you.” The woman was Imru" al-Qays’s wife from ˇayyi".
'Alqamah said,
When they finished reciting their poems, they turned to the wife of
Imru" al-Qays. She said, “The stallion of Ibn 'Abadah 'Alqamah is
better than yours.” Imru" al-Qays asked her how was it better. She
said, “Because you goaded him and kicked him with your legs, while
he went straight after the quarry.” He ['Alqamah] said,
Then, Imru" al-Qays got angry with her and divorced her.
Imru" al-Qays got married to a woman from ˇayyi", and she hated
him. On the wedding night, she detested him and started saying: “O
night, become morning! O best of youth, it’s morning! [Get up!]” He
looked around and saw it was still night, so he stayed [in bed] till
morning. Then 'Alqamah, who was one of the master poets of the
Jàhiliyyah and his friend, visited him. They narrated the tradition which
was above-mentioned, except that they related as follows:
28
When they finished their poems, they turned to the woman from
ˇayyi", Imru" al-Qays’s wife. She said that 'Alqamah’s horse is better
than yours. Imru" al-Qays asked her how was it better. She said,
“Because you goaded him and kicked him with your legs, while he
['Alqamah] went straight after the quarry.” He ['Alqamah] said, “When
we hunt,” (the above-mentioned verse). Then he was mad at her and
said, “You hate me. What made you that?” She said, “You are heavy
in the chest, light in the hips. You come too fast and you are very
slow to get an erection.” When he heard this, he divorced her.
'Alqamah said,
19
This is line 45 of the version of al-Sandùbì, 48; Imru" al-Qays, Shar˙ Dìwàn
Imri" al-Qays, ed. Óasan al-Sandùbì (Cairo: Ma†ba'at al-Istiqàmah, 1939).
20
According to Lane, fa˙l has the meanings of a male animal of any kind,
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 29
29
particularly a stallion or a he-camel, and the verb of form I, fa˙ala iblahu, means,
“He sent a male camel among the [she-] camels.” In other words, fa˙l signifies
masculinity as opposed to femininity. Fa˙l, therefore, should emphasize “being a
male.” Another meaning of fa˙l is “a poet,” or “anyone who, when he vies with a
poet, is judged to have excelled him is called a fa˙l.” Therefore, fa˙l itself means
being or becoming a male, having won a (poetic) contest, and incorporates with
the three meanings, a stallion, masculinity, and a contest. Lane, f-˙-l.
21
See Ong, 62–63. See also The Portable Faulkner, ed. Malcolm Cowley (New
York: Viking Press, 1954), 367–439.
22
Quoted by Ong, 63. Emphasis is mine.
23
See Suzanne Stetkevych, Mute, 35–36.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 30
30
24
Lane, kh-ß-y and f-˙-l.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 31
31
25
Monroe, “Oral Composition,” 39.
26
See Monroe, “Oral Composition,” 1–2. ˇàhà Óusayn, Fì l-Adab al-Jàhilì (Cairo:
Dàr al-Ma'àrif, 1958), 63. D. S. Margoliouth, “The Origins of Arabic Poetry,”
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1925): 417–49.
27
Monroe, “Oral Composition,” 39. Zwettler also has a book on the same sub-
ject, Oral Tradition.
28
The concept of inti˙àl can be applied to the case of Imru" al-Qays and 'Alqamah.
Although it is often interpreted as forgery or falsification of verses, Zwettler believes
that inti˙àl should be understood as “one of false, dubious, or mixed attribution:
that is, verses judged to be by one poet were thought to have been wrongly claimed
by, or ascribed to, another,” 197.
29
Ahlwardt, 68–71.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 32
32
30
Monroe, “Oral Composition,” 8.
31
Zwettler believes that early Arabic poems were transmitted by memory before
they were written down, 31. See also Monroe, “Oral Composition,” 40.
32
Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 1977), 94–95. Furthermore, Mary Douglas’s paradigm of ritual
also is applicable to the qaßìdah structure: the tertiary structure metaphorically rep-
resents “the three stages of psycho-social development—childhood, adolescence, and
adulthood” and “some concept of its narrative embodiment in the heroic quest,”
Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1966), 96–97. For these applications, see Suzanne Stetkevych,
Mute, 6–8.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 33
33
society. The journey in the ra˙ìl shows his liminal stage. In the fakhr,
aggregation is consummated through the hunt scene.
1. O my two friends,
pass by Umm Jundab with me
and we will fulfill
the needs of a tormented heart.
2. For surely
if you wait for me a while
it will be good for me
[to visit] Umm Jundab.
4. The loveliest of
all her companions,
neither short nor,
when you consider her, stout.
33
The meter of this ode is †awìl. Though there are many published versions of
this poem, I mainly use a version found in Imru" al-Qays, Dìwàn Imri" al-Qays, ed.
Mu˙ammad Abù al-Fa∂l Ibràhìm (Cairo: Dàr al-Ma'àrif bi-Mißr, 1964), 40–55. I
have also consulted al-Sandùbì’s edition. See the Appendix for the Arabic text.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 34
34
or is she swayed by
the words of the deceiver?
10. They have covered their howdahs with the An†àkì cloth
over the red embroidered cloth,
[till they looked] like the dates of palm trees
or the date groves of Yathrib.
34
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 9) is not exactly identical with this line: the
second word of the first hemistich is matà in this line, while in 'Alqamah it is in.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 35
35
35
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 13) is not exactly identical with this line: the
second word of the second hemistich is ghuduwwin in this line, while in 'Alqamah
it is bukùrin. We can find an additional four lines between lines 15 and 16 in the
version of al-Sandùbì.
36
The first hemistich is identical with the first hemistich of line 53 in Imru" al-
Qays’s Mu'allaqah.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 36
36
37
The first hemistich is identical with the second hemistich of line 53 in Imru"
al-Qays’s Mu'allaqah.
38
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 28) is not entirely identical with this line: the
first three words of the second hemistich are wa yakh†ù 'alà ßummin ßilàbin in this
line, while in 'Alqamah they are wa sumrun yufalliqna Ω-Ωiràba.
39
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 26) with this line is not entirely identical: the
first two-thirds of this line is kafalun ka-ddi'ßi labbadahu n-nadà ilà ˙àrikin, while in
'Alqamah it is qa†àtun kakardùsi l-ma˙àlah ashrafat ilà sanadin. Imru" al-Qays’s line 32
also overlaps with 'Alqamah’s line 26.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 37
37
40
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 16) is not exactly identical with this line: the
first part of the first hemistich is wa 'aynun in this line, while in 'Alqamah it is bi-
'aynin.
41
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 24) is not entirely identical with this line: the
second word of the first hemistich is udhunàn in this line, while in 'Alqamah it is
˙urratàni.
42
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 17) is not entirely identical with this line: the
first hemistich is wa as˙amu rayyànu l-'asìbi ka"annahu in this line, while in 'Alqamah
it is ka"anna bi-˙àdhayhà"idhà mà tashadhdharat; also the second word of the second
hemistich is qinwin in this line, while in 'Alqamah it is 'idhqin.
43
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 26) is not entirely identical with this line: the
first three words in the first hemistich are yudìru qa†àtan ka-l-ma˙àlati in this line,
while in 'Alqamah they are qa†àtun kakurdùsi al-ma˙àlati.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 38
38
44
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 32) is not entirely identical with this line: the
first two words of the first hemistich are fabaynà ni'àjun in this line, while in 'Alqamah
they are ra"aynà shiyàhan.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 39
39
45
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 35) is not entirely identical with this line: the
second half of the first hemistich is fì mustanqa'i l-qà'i là˙iban in this line, while in
'Alqamah it is 'an mustarghabi l-qadri là"i˙an.
46
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 36) is partly different from this line: the entire
line is khafàhunna min anfàqihinna ka"annamà khafàhunna wadqun min 'ashiyyin mujallibi in
this line, while in 'Alqamah it is khafà l-fa'ra min anfàqihi faka"annamà takhallalahu
shu"ùbu ghaythin munaqqibi.
47
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 39) is not entirely identical with this line: the
second hemistich is wa bayna shabùbin ka-l-qa∂ìmati qarhabi in this line, while in
'Alqamah it is wa taysin shabùbin ka-l-hashìmati qarhabi.
48
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 37) is not entirely identical with this line: the
second word of the second hemistich is al-samharì in this line, while in 'Alqamah it
is al-na∂ì.
49
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 38) is not entirely identical with this line: the
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 40
40
41
50
'Alqamah’s overlapping line (l. 44) is not entirely identical with this line: the
second word of the first hemistich is ka-taysi in this line, while in 'Alqamah it is ka-
shàti.
51
This line is identical with line 63 of Imru" al-Qays’s Mu'allaqah poem except
of the last word.
52
Jaroslav Stetkevych states that the phrase is a characteristic, micro-paradig-
matic opening motif of “setting out” of the hunt poetry and is proper of the sub-
jective style. “The Hunt in the Arabic Qaßìdah: The Antecedents of the ˇardiyyah,”
in Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Language and Literature, ed. J. R. Smart (Sussex:
Curzon, 1996), 109. See also his article, “The Hunt in Classical Arabic Poetry:
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 42
42
from Mukha∂ram Qaßìdah to Umayyad ˇardiyyah,” Journal of Arabic Literature 30, no.
2 (1999): 116.
53
Daumas, 187.
54
Al-Andalusì, 27.
55
Al-Andalusì, 63–67. According to al-Andalusì, al-Aßma'ì relates that Harùn
Rashìd, who had heard that twenty names of birds were used to depict the parts
of the horse, asked him to take his horse by the forelock and describe the horse
from poll to hoof. Then al-Aßma'ì recited for him a poem. See also Janet C. E.
Watson, Lexicon of Arabic Horse Terminology (London: Kegan Paul International, 1996),
4–11.
56
Daumas, 14.
57
Jaroslav Stetkevych, “Name and Epithet: The Philology and Semiotics of Animal
Nomenclature in Early Arabic Poetry,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 45, no. 2 (1986):
104, 112–25.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 43
43
58
Ibid., 100. He finds that the word nàqah itself is rare in the earliest Arabic
poetry.
59
Ibid., 110. He further mentions, “The word nàqah was as yet latent and incu-
bating, waiting to emerge as some unexpressed future meaning that would subsume
the often disjointed, functional aesthetic of the countless epithets.”
60
Saràt is the highest part of a horse. See al-Andalusì, 53.
61
Al-Andalusì, 72.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 44
44
ass is known for the strength of its legs, particularly its pastern-joints.
The horse’s body is like the wood of a cloth rack in its leanness,
smoothness, and firmness.
The poet portrays the steed’s body using similes, as if it were a
collage, i.e., a collection of best parts from other animals: “the two
flanks of an antelope, the (two) legs of an ostrich and the withers of
a wild ass standing on a lookout peak” (l. 24). Al-Andalusì claims
that Imru" al-Qays in his Mu'allaqah was the first poet to compare
the horse to those animals. The ideal characteristics for a horse are
modeled on what is distinctive in each of these species: the ante-
lope’s slender waist, the ostrich’s short thighs, the wild ass’s wide
back.62 They are signs of good breeding. One can imagine these as
(mnemonic) “rules of thumb” among horsemen in an oral society.
Jaroslav Stetkevych argues that many epithets for animals in the qaßì-
dah are “idealizing selective perceptions that are strung out some-
times in close semantic interdependence and sometimes paratactically
as glimpses of illuminations.” He further claims that “such a pres-
ence of a protagonist animal is as powerfully and imaginatively insin-
uated as it is diffused and deconcretized in the sense that would
denote a separate palpable individual.”63
Similar remarks concerning the epithets of the horse can be applied
as well to Imru" al-Qays’s string of similes. He selects distinctive parts
from the other animals and forms them into an idealized image.
Though the parts of the horse are individually enumerated, they are
to be unified in an ideal figure, visualized through the imagination
of the audience. Just as the epithets encapsulate the “respective
model’s enacted semblance and ‘meaning,’” so too, as I see it, do
the similes.64 The epithets, or similes, are “aimed at a constructed
ideal image: the type beyond the individual, the archetype beyond
the type, and the symbol beyond the archetype.”65 The audience of
the oral tradition was educated and cultivated through the intertex-
tuality and interreferentiality of the qaßìdah so that they intuitively
grasped the full subject, despite the seemingly scattered, diverse
images. When they were listening, they could easily imagine the
complete image of the ideal creature.
62
Ibid., 80–81.
63
Jaroslav Stetkevych, “Name,” 118.
64
Ibid., 116–17.
65
Ibid., 118.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 45
45
66
A sharp-pointed ear is a symbol of ˙usn and 'itq (beauty and excellence). See
al-Andalusì, 81.
67
Watson, xv.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 46
46
68
Suzanne Stetkevych, Mute, 274.
69
Daumas, 11–20.
70
Ibid.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 47
47
71
See Daumas, 7.
72
Lane, kh-y-r.
73
Adnan Haydar finds the complete identification of poet and horse in the end
of the fakhr section of the Mu'allaqah of Imru" al-Qays; however, in both that poem
and this one, the poet is present with the horse, hence my preference for the term
“overlapping.” See Adnan Haydar, “The Mu'allaqa of Imru" al-Qays: It’s Structure
and Meaning, I,” Edebiyàt 2, no. 2 (1977): 244.
74
Daumas, 20.
75
Ibid., 12.
76
See Theodor H. Gaster, Thespis: Ritual, Myth, and Drama in the Ancient Near East
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1977), 23. Suzanne Stetkevych, Mute, 277, 258–59.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 48
48
hunt and feast constitute the sacrifice that signals aggregation and
the commensal meal that celebrates it.”77 The chivalrous hunt is an
expression of virility—generating new life through male aggression.
One day the horse chases a herd of white, wild oryx cows and
another day wild asses with foals (l. 34). Naqì (pure) is an epithet for
white oryxes, and baydànah is an epithet for a wild she-ass in a dan-
gerous desert, which no one wants to draw near. The game emerges,
and the hunt panel begins. There wild cows graze in a thicket, going
like a procession maidens in white robes (l. 35). Ni'àj (“intensely
white” or “women”) is likewise an epithet for wild cows. This use
of epithet, by not mentioning the word “the cow,” allows the verse
to create a (subliminal) picture of a strong male assaulting a virgin
maiden. The hunt is described so as to suggest a sexual act: the
steed playing the male role, the oryx cows like virgins.
Having shown incredible power and energy, the steed wins his
game. During the hunt the steed’s gallop is likened to the down-
pour of an evening raincloud—the fierce, abundant rain symbolizes
again fertility, vigor, and speed. The hunters begin to make a tent
for shade with their cloth, mail, and spears in order to have a feast
with the slain quarry. The chain mail is used for pegs (i.e., to weight
down the corners of the tent) and the spears, from Rudaynah, the
name of a woman who was selling them, are for the poles. The
spearheads are made by Qa'∂ab who was said to have been a hus-
band of Rudaynah.78 It looks to the persona as if the game’s eyes
are like black and white onyx beads that are unbored—an unbored
one is pure and beautiful (l. 50).79 If the bull were alive, his eyes
would have been only black. But he is dead; they roll back to show
both black and white.80 The hunters wipe their hands on their horses’
manes when they stand up from their rare roast meat. This is the
ritual marking the end of the feast.
The she-camel is loaded with the freshly-killed game,81 like camels
laden with bags of dates returning from Juwàthà at evening (l. 52)—
Juwàthà is a place where people buy dates and put them in two
77
Suzanne Stetkevych, Mute, 277.
78
See line 47’s shar˙ in Ibràhìm’s edition.
79
See line 50’s shar˙ in Ibràhìm’s edition.
80
Ibid.
81
Hunters used to use horses only for the hunt itself; to go to and return from
a hunt, they ride she-camels, which also carry the game, while leading their horses
with ropes.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 49
49
sacks on a beast’s croup on their return. When the horse shakes his
head, he smells like a buck feeding on rabl (autumn herbage). The
rabl shrubs sprout green leaves at the end of a hot season without
rain. Since a buck of the rabl eats both spring-herbage and autumn-
herbage, he has great energy and power.82 This line suggests fertil-
ity and strength through metaphors of the fruitful land and the buck
that is grazing on it. Bloodstains on the horse’s chest reveal his tri-
umph in the chase. Suzanne Stetkevych claims that the comparison
of the bloodstains to henna upon an old man’s hair (white) presents
the intended analogy of “the revitalizing effect of blood shed in the
hunt to the rejuvenating effect of henna on hoary locks,” and fur-
ther associates the subject with “the Islamic use of henna in accor-
dance with the Sunnah of the Prophet a symbolic expression of the
immortality conferred by Islam.”83 The association of the bloodshed
of the hunt with the blood shed by deflowering a virgin also has a
place here. The ending line shows that the steed has a thick, long
tail that blocks the gap between his hind legs. According to Ibn
Qutaybah, the horse’s tail ought to be long and abundant enough
to cover the gap,84 but never to reach the ground, which was regarded
as a flaw.85 Imru" al-Qays’s horse has a reddish tail that reaches just
a bit above the ground.
82
See line 53’s shar˙ in Ibràhìm’s edition.
83
Suzanne Stetkevych, Mute, 277.
84
Watson, xiv.
85
A horse’s tail reaching the ground is considered a defect, for a horse may
tread on the tail. See Shar˙ al-Mu'allaqàt al-'Ashar wa Akhbàr Shu'arà"ihà, ed. A˙mad
ibn al-Amìn al-Shinqì†ì (Beirut: Dàr al-Andalus, 1970), 88 and Abù 'Abd Allàh al-
Óusayn ibn A˙mad al-Zawzanì, Shar˙ al-Mu'allaqàt al-Sab', ed. Mu˙ammad 'Alì
Óamd Allàh (Damascus: Al-Maktabah al-Umawiyyah, 1963), 118.
86
I mainly rely on an edition found in Shar˙ Dìwàn 'Alqamah b. 'Abadah al-Fa˙l,
ed. Lu†fì al-Íaqqàl and Wariyyah al-Kha†ìb, with a commentary by Abù al-Óajjàj
Yùsuf ibn Sulaymàn ibn 'Ìsà known as al-A'lam al-Shantamarì, with review of Fakhr
al-Dìn Qabàwah (Aleppo: Dàr al-Kitàb al-'Arabì, 1969), 79–100. I also consult a
version in Shar˙ Dìwàn Imri" al-Qays, ed. Óasan al-Sandùbì (Cairo: Ma†ba'at al-
Istqàmah, 1939), 42–47. See the Appendix for the Arabic text.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 50
50
3. She is slender
as if her delicate jewelry were
on [the neck of ] a pet gazelle
fawn from Íà˙ah.
51
87
Lines 16 and 17 overlap with lines 27 and 30 of Imru" al-Qays’s poem. Imru"
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52
al-Qays uses these descriptions for a horse, while 'Alqamah employs the same
descriptions for a she-camel.
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 53
53
54
55
40. We said,
“The hunters have bagged game;
dismount and raise the extra clothes
over us as a tent.”
88
This line is found in line 45 of the edition of al-Sandùbì, 48. I include it in
the poem because the line is introduced in the khabar, though it is not in other
editions.
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56
89
See information on the horse’s color in Daumas, 17.
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57
Contest as Ceremony
90
Suzanne Stetkevych, Mute, 277.
91
Ong, 15.
92
See Huizinga, 53. The ancient Arabs had a custom similar to mu'àra∂ah, called
mumàjadah, “a public and apparently quite structured ‘vying in glory’” by wagering
property including animals, food, and wine. See Jaroslav Stetkevych, “Sacrifice and
Redemption in Early Islamic Poetry: Al-Óu†ay"ah’s ‘Wretched Hunter,’” Journal of
Arabic Literature 31, no. 3 (2000): 101–4. As an analogous custom to mumàjadah,
Huizinga introduces potlatch, “a great solemn feast, during which one of two groups,
with much pomp and ceremony, makes gifts on a large scale to the other group
Motoyoshi/f3/18-60 9/10/03 3:59 PM Page 58
58
play.93 Johan Huizinga explains, “In play there is something ‘at play’
which transcends the immediate needs of life and imparts meaning
to the action.”94 Ong also cites Alvin W. Gouldner’s idea that the
ancient Greek way of life was characterized by three elements: “1.
the quest for fame through 2. personal action in 3. a contest system
or operation setting person against person.”95 This characterization
of ancient Greek society can be applied fruitfully to pre-Islamic tribal
Arabia and in particular to the poetic contest between Imru" al-Qays
and 'Alqamah. The fakhr or boast is one of the major themes of the
pre-Islamic qaßìdah. Thus we can see that the competing poets 1.
quest for fame through 2. personal action—that is, composing poetry—
in a contest system that sets poet against poet. Even when a fakhr
qaßìdah appears to stand by itself, the idea of competition is inher-
ent in the genre, for the goal of fakhr is to establish the superiority
of the virtue and might of the persona and his tribe over compet-
ing tribes, that is, as a genre, fakhr or boast implies mufàkharah (boast-
ing contest, flyting). Within the sphere of poetry itself, such poems
are intrinsically competitive.
The verbal dueling process in Homeric epics also helps us under-
stand the contour of the khabar. Ward Parks has formulated the
process for Homer: 1. engagement, 2. flyting (a) eris (the heroes con-
tend for kleos or glory), (b) contract, 3. trial of arms, 4. ritual reso-
lution (retrospective speech and symbolic action).96 The same elements
can be detected in the khabar: 1. engagement, the khabar brings the
two poets to the arena of the poetic contest; 2. flyting (a) the poets
contend for glory and (b) consent to compete in the description of
horse; 3. they vie by reciting the odes; 4. Umm Jundab’s judgment,
the conferring of the title “fa˙l” on and marrying 'Alqamah, which
fulfill the function of ritual resolution both in terms of retrospective
speech and symbolic action.
Ong points out that the contest functioned to transmit conceptual-
ized knowledge from one generation to another.97 By taking a form
for the express purpose of showing its superiority,” which was practiced by Indian
tribes in British Columbia, 58.
93
See Huizinga, 65.
94
Huizinga, 1.
95
Ong, 21, citing Alvin W. Gouldner, Enter Plato: Classical Greece and the Origins
of Social Theory (New York: Basic Books, 1965), 43–55.
96
See Parks, 45.
97
Ong, 29.
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59
98
Ibid., 45.
99
Parks, 63.
100
See Parks, 29.
101
Parks, 27.
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60
102
Parks states, “the public conferral of this excellency, it can be gained or estab-
lished in a competitive (and thus public) sphere,” 28.
103
See Parks, 30.
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61
CHAPTER TWO
* An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the annual meeting of the
Middle East Studies Association of North America, Chicago, Illinois, December,
1998, and appeared as Akiko Motoyoshi Sumi, “Remedy and Resolution: Bees and
Honey-Collecting in Two Hudhalì Odes,” Journal of Arabic and Middle Eastern Literatures,
vol. 6, no. 2 (2003): 131–57.
1
See Hilda M. Ransome, The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and Folklore (London:
George Allen and Unwin, 1937), 38.
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62
2
We do not know for sure when Sà'idah was alive, except that he was a pre-
Islamic poet and older than his ràwì, Abù Dhu"ayb.
3
G. E. von Grunebaum, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “Abù Dhu"ayb
al-Hudhalì.” All the information on Abù Dhu"ayb in this paragraph is taken from
this source. We can find Abù Dhu"ayb’s elegy in al-Mufa∂∂al, Dìwàn al-Mufa∂∂alìyàt,
Dìwàn al-Hudhaliyyìn, 3 vols. (Cairo: Al-Dàr al-Qawmiyyah al-ˇibà'ah wa al-Nashr,
1965), and A˙mad Kamàl Zakì, Shi'r al-Hudhaliyyìn fì 'Aßrayn al-Jàhilì wa al-Islàmì
(Cairo: Dàr al-Kàtib al-'Arabì lil-ˇibà'ah wa al-Nashr, 1969).
Motoyoshi/f4/61-91 9/10/03 10:20 AM Page 63
with eroticism and immortality. The motif of bees and honey was
not very popular with other Hudhalì poets—it was exclusive to these
two poets in the tribe—nor with other Arab poets.4
The concepts of mu'àra∂ah (literary imitation and contest) are
involved in the description of honey-bees and honey collecting. In
the mechanism of contest, the younger Hudhalì poet attempted to
emulate and outdo the elder Hudhalì poet by using the same theme,
bees and honey-gathering. This form of contest is different from the
case of Imru" al-Qays and 'Alqamah, who at least according to the
khabar, competed in one and the same arena. It can be assumed that
Abù Dhu"ayb, who had learned poetry-composition from Sà'idah,
not only tried to imitate, but also to outdo his master. In doing so,
Abù Dhu"ayb could succeed his master and transmit the literary
theme to posterity.
Sà'idah’s qaßìdah is bipartite, consisting of the nasìb (elegiac pre-
lude) and the fakhr (boast). By contrast, Abù Dhu"ayb’s presents the
nasìb section only, although we do not know if the piece is a frag-
ment of a formally complete qaßìdah or an independent amatory ode
in an intentionally truncated form. In both poems the description of
the bee and honey-gathering is embedded in the nasìb section, which
is the object of my comparative examination. As the images of the
bees gathering nectar in both odes are somehow related to the image
of the beloved that is the main motif in the nasìb, I also explore the
relationships between the images of the beloved and those of the
honey-bees.
4
See Grunebaum, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Abù Dhu"ayb al-Hudhalì” and
F. Viré, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “na˙l.” There is an anecdote in
relation to honey and the Hudhalì tribe, called “Ghàr al-'Asal” (“The Cave of
Honey”) about the pre-Islamic poet Ta"abba†a Sharran. The story tells us that
Ta"abba†a Sharran plundered the honey in a cave on the territory of the Hudhalì
tribe, his enemy, who found him and locked up him in the cave. However, he
managed to escape from it through a crack in which he emptied his honey, allow-
ing himself slide to on the honey. The poet boasts of this adventure in nine verses.
Abù al-Faraj al-Ißbahànì, Kitàb al-Aghànì, 25 vols., ed. 'Abd al-Sattàr A˙mad Farràj
(Beirut: Dàr al-Thaqàfah, 1955–61), 21: 158–59. Another pre-Islamic poet, Shanfarà
has a poem mentioning the honey-gatherer (mu'assil). Al-Shanfarà, Làmiyyat al-'Arab,
ed. Mu˙ammad Badì' Sharìf (Beirut: Manshùràt Dàr Maktabat al-Óayàt, 1964),
43. E. Bräunlich discusses honey-gathering in the poetry of Sà'idah and Abù Dhu"ayb
in his article, “Versuch einer literargeschichtlichen Betrachtungsweise altarabischer
Poesien,” Der Islam 24 (1933), 201–69, esp. 222–26. There is also an Arabic arti-
cle on honey-collecting in the qaßìdahs of Sà'idah and Abù Dhu"ayb: Mu˙ammad
b. Sulaymàn al-Sudays, “Waßf Ishtiyàr al-'Asal fì Bi∂'at Nußùß min Shi'r Hudhayl,”
Majallat Ma'had al-Makh†ù†àt al-'Arabiyyah 33–1 (1989), 149–68.
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64
5
The meter of this ode is kàmil. Dìwàn al-Hudhaliyyìn, 167–91. I also rely on Abù
Sa'ìd al-Óasan ibn Óusayn al-Sukkarì, Kitàb Shar˙ Ash'àr al-Hudhaliyyìn, ed. 'Abd al-
Sattàr A˙mad Farràj, rev. Ma˙mùd Mu˙ammad Shàkir, 3 vols. (Cairo: Maktab
Dàr al-'Urùbah, 1963), 3: 1097–1121; and Bernhard Lewin, A Vocabulary of the
Hu≈ailian Poems (Göteborg: Kungl. Vetenskaps-och Vitterhets-Samhallet, 1978). See
the Appendix for the Arabic text.
6
According to Dìwàn al-Hudhaliyyìn, there is a variant of yata˙abbabu: yatajannabu.
Motoyoshi/f4/61-91 9/10/03 10:20 AM Page 65
5. An awkward fawn
with languid gaze and dark eyes;
its back dark-striped,
new to the grazing lands, deep-hued.
7
For the meaning of mutarabbabù (tent-reared), there is a variant of mutarabbab fì
n-nabt, mutarabbab fì l-bayt. See the shar˙ of Dìwàn al-Hudhaliyyìn.
Motoyoshi/f4/61-91 9/10/03 10:20 AM Page 66
66
68
8
Ta˙abbà (translated here as “wrapped in their coats”) actually means “with a
garment or piece of cloth, when sitting, to be like him who is leaning [his back
against a wall],” according to Lane, ˙-b-w.
Motoyoshi/f4/61-91 9/10/03 10:20 AM Page 69
40. It is because
the swollen tribal gatherings from different clans
cannot withstand
the vicissitudes of fate [and the clans disperse].
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70
9
The word corresponding to “is protected and forbidden” is tu˙ùmiya which is
a derivative verb of al-˙imà (consecrated tribal precinct). Al-˙imà is the ancient insti-
tution of a forbidden sacred pasture-land in Arabia. See Jaroslav Stetkevych, Zephyrs,
32–33, 81–82, and William Robertson Smith, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites
(New York: Macmillan, 1927), 112, 140–47.
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72
10
In this verse, Sà'idah uses the verb 'asala twice for the meaning of “to quiver.”
It may suggest a punning connection between the use of this verb and a theme of
this poem, 'asal or honey.
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The first section (ll. 1–12) presents the persona’s love for his mis-
tress and the extended simile comparing her to a gazelle fawn.
Following the Arabic qaßìdah convention, Sà'idah opens the nasìb with
the persona’s separation from his beloved, Gha∂ùb. The persona,
addressing himself as “you,” states that Gha∂ùb, his beloved, has
forsaken him due to some obstacles. Gha∂ùb is derived from the
verb gha∂iba (to be angry) and can be an epithet for an angry man
or woman. This name suggests that she is angry with him. After he
declares that he will not leave off the memory of her, a young gazelle,
which is a simile for the beloved, is portrayed (l. 4). The compari-
son of the beloved to a gazelle is one of the highly conventional
motifs in the nasìb. The poet creates the image based on the phys-
ical analogy between the beloved and the gazelle by using the epi-
thet for the gazelle fawn 'àqid (bending the neck in lying down) in
line 4. The poet describes the beloved very little; instead, he elab-
orates upon the gazelle—her physical appearance, her actions, and
her environment (ll. 4–8). The persona makes an oath to love her
by sacrificial she-camels from whose breasts blood flows (ll. 9–12)
and confesses that he is madly in love with her (l. 12).
The poem moves to the description of a storm cloud flashing with
lightning (l. 14). The persona asks if this lightning is from the direc-
tion of where his beloved resides—he is trying to locate his beloved’s
tribe. In other words, the description of the travelling cloud is still
in the context of the image of the beloved. “Sà'idah” loses sight of
the clouds in the direction of Najd (l. 20). He recollects the mem-
ory of her again—her hair is as black as coal and likened to soft
rushes in a stream. He describes her front teeth and their cold saliva.
The comparison of the beloved’s saliva to the best wine is one of
the established motifs in pre-Islamic poetry. Up to this point, Sà'idah
presents a string of similes for the beloved: she is like a gazelle fawn;
her hair is like reeds; her saliva is like wine. These similes are based
on physical likeness which also connotes abstract likeness, such as
vulnerability, softness, and youth. The imagery the poet intends to
produce consists of the various sorts of descriptions: the persona’s
state of affairs with his beloved, the gazelle, his passion for her, the
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74
11
Dìwàn al-Hudhaliyyìn, 177.
12
Mu˙ammad ibn Mùsà al-Damìrì, Kitàb Óayàt al-Óayawàn al-Kubrà, 2 vols.
(Cairo: n.p., 1861–62), 2: 467.
13
See Suzanne Stetkevych, “Intoxication and Immortality: Wine and Associated
Imagery in al-Ma'arrì’s Garden,” in Critical Pilgrimages: Studies in the Arabic Literary
Motoyoshi/f4/61-91 9/10/03 10:20 AM Page 75
Tradition, Literature East and West 25 (1989), ed. Fedwa Malti-Douglas, 32. See also
Sells, “Ghùl,” 131.
14
Qur"àn 47: 16. The Koran Interpreted, trans., Arthur J. Arberry, 2 vols. (1955;
reprint, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 2: 221.
15
Al-Damìrì, 2: 470.
16
Ransome, 146.
17
Sells, “Ghùl,” 130.
18
Qur"àn 16: 69–70. Arberry, 1: 293–94.
19
Abù Ja'far Mu˙ammad ibn Jarìr al-ˇabarì, Jàmi' al-Bayàn fì Tafsìr al-Qur"àn,
30 vols., 1st ed. (Cairo: Al-Ma†ba'ah al-Kubrà al-Amìriyyah, 1905–11), 14: 88–89.
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76
20
Aristotle, Historia Animalium, trans. A. L. Peck, 2 vols. (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1965–1970), Book V, 4: 21. Aristotle called a chief bee
(queen bee) a “king bee” because he believed that it was a male bee.
21
Al-Damìrì, 2: 470. This quotation is from Ransome, 71–72.
Motoyoshi/f4/61-91 9/10/03 10:20 AM Page 77
22
Al-Damìrì, 2: 470.
23
See '-s-l in Lisàn al-'Arab and Lane.
24
See Lane, '-s-l.
25
Abù al-Óusayn Muslim ibn al-Óajjàj al-Qushayrì al-Naysàbùrì, Ía˙ì˙ Muslim,
4 vols., 1st ed. (Dàr "I˙yà" al-Kutub al-'Arabiyyah, 1955–56), 2: 1057–58.
26
Lisàn al-'Arab, '-s-l.
27
Sells, “Ghùl,” 131.
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78
in our poem purity and sexuality in the bee and honey are inter-
mingled. Honey implies simultaneously ablutionary water and sexual
water. On the other hand, from the distinct sexual signification of
'asal in the ˙adìth, the honey collecting suggests the quest for eroticism
and immortality. In a deeper meaning, what the honey-gatherer actu-
ally pursues is not the honey, but the beloved, the lost meadow, and
immortality.
By the depiction of the bees and their honey, “Sà'idah” tries to
heal himself and to overcome his unrequited love for Gha∂ùb.
Although the nasìb changes motifs—his separation from the beloved,
a gazelle fawn, rainstorm, wine, and bees and honey—these motifs
converge on one theme, the beloved. Throughout the nasìb, from
the opening to line 40, the persona recalls the memory of Gha∂ùb
and simultaneously attempts to recover from the lovesickness that
torments him. Also, based on the symbolic implications of the bee
and honey—industry, social organization, and righteousness—the waßf
may also function as a restraint to the persona’s ardent passion for
Gha∂ùb. These implications generated from the bee and the honey
can suggest that through the waßf of them the persona directs him-
self toward a righteous path. That is, his reason and mind are inspired
by viewing the diligent work of the bees and by pursuing the honey.
If the description of the bees can be understood as the expression
of healing, the scene of the man’s collecting of honey signifies the
persona’s resolution to get his beloved off his mind. In doing so, the
persona seeks immortality in the honey. Although the persona is not
the collector and is merely an observer of the collector’s action, the
persona makes up his mind through the process of viewing the scene.
The man appearing in line 31 is ready for the honey-collecting,
equipped with a water-skin, a leather vessel, and shining wood sticks.
His collecting honey is a perilous task because the honey is located
in some caves on a precipice. Actually, there are prehistoric rock
paintings (approximately 5000 B.C.E.) in eastern Spain and South
Africa, in which primitive people are climbing up a ladder to gather
honey in a bees’ nest located in a high location on some precipice.28
28
See the paintings in Eva Crane, The Archaeology of Beekeeping (Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 1983) 19–23. Crane also introduces ancient Egyptian beekeeping
practices with some wall-paintings of 2400 B.C.E. and 1450 B.C.E. that depict
honey being harvested from hives and packed into containers, thus, some of the
earliest recorded beekeeping scenes, 35–39.
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80
and thematic significance of key images, shared by the poet and the
community of the audience. Although all the motifs with their waßfs
in the nasìb appear disjointed, they are connected both structurally
and thematically.
Line 39 marks a transition from the evening to the morning, which
parallels a transition from erotic infatuation to social responsibility.
A shift from night to morning expresses not merely a change in tem-
poral state, but also changes in ritual or psychological states, with
the morning attack as a conventional qaßìdah characteristic, indicat-
ing the transition from the ra˙ìl to the fakhr.29 This line of Sà'idah
is the turning point for the persona both in his feelings and his poetic
form. The beloved’s mouth is sweeter than the honeyed wine, but
his affairs with her is in the past. Because of seasonal migration,
clans must disperse, and so the relationship with the beloved, how-
ever passionate, is also fleeting. Though he is captivated by her
astounding beauty and charm, his passion eventually wanes, for tribal
responsibilities and heroic pursuits beckon.
Line 39 indeed demonstrates the poet’s transition from individual
concern to communal contribution. In the nasìb, his interest and con-
cern are exclusively for his departed beloved. He is dreaming and
is immersed in the sweet memory about the time he spent with her.
By contrast, in the fakhr, the poet boasts of his tribe with the descrip-
tion of the tribal assembly and the battle. Through the praise of his
own tribe, he can contribute to his tribe and society. This is a pro-
gression in him from individual self-absorption in the nasìb to col-
lective participation in the fakhr. This movement in the qaßìdah
demonstrates the persona’s psychological and social transformation.
In the nasìb, his recollection, disappointment, dreaming, and resolu-
tion are presented. On the other hand, in the fakhr, we witness brav-
ery, confidence, and pride. In lines 39 and 40, Sà'idah explicitly
presents the transition from separation to aggregation or from indi-
vidual to collective concerns.
The fakhr section describes an attack of the persona’s tribe, the
Banù Hudhayl, on its enemy. It opens with the opponents’ tribal
assembly. The poem portrays their arms and excellent steeds, show-
ing how strong and valiant they are. A scout of the adversary tribe
29
See Suzanne Stetkevych, Mute, 228.
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comes back and reports agitation and vigor of the Hudhalì squadron
to his men (l. 54). The battle scene between the two tribes with the
description of spearshafts and spear-tips continues till the Hudhalì
party destroys the other party. The ode ends with the Hudhalì tribe’s
victory over its enemies in plundering the enemies’ camel herds and
women as booty (ll. 62–63).
5. My heart disobeyed me
and went to her;
certainly I was obedient to its command,
but I did not know if seeking her was right.
6. I said to my heart:
I wish you all the best,
30
The meter of this poem is †awìl. Dìwàn al-Hudhaliyyìn, 70–81. I have also con-
sulted al-Sukkarì’s recension, 1: 42–55. See the Appendix for the Arabic text.
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82
31
After line 6 an additional line is given in al-Sukkarì’s recension: I swear it
must be a jar of musk whose mouth diffuses its odor, at the door of Persian per-
fume merchants.
32
The italic indicates that this line is the beginning of the series of extended
similes, ending with an elative form, comparing the beloved’s saliva to the wine
and honey. It is connected to lines 26 and 27, saying that her saliva is more tasty
than the wine and honey.
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84
33
I use a variant of ta˙ayyazat (gathered) (that is found in al-Sukkarì’s recension),
ta˙ayyarat (confused). See al-Sukkarì, 6 n. 79.
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34
See Dìwàn al-Hudhaliyyìn, 5 n. 70.
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86
says that merchants brought the wine from Sha"m (Damascus, Syria)
to Sùq 'UkàΩ (the market of 'UkàΩ). Sùq 'UkàΩ took place in Dhù
al-Óijjah (the month of the pilgrimage), a sacred month, when war
or fighting was forbidden. Because of the sacred month, the clan of
Àl Mu'attib cannot take the wine by force.35 The exquisite taste
satisfies the people of Àl Mu'attib that the wine was worth the dear
price that they paid.
The wine is then mixed with honey, thereby leading the way to
the description of the bees and honey-collector. Abù Dhu"ayb’s
description of bees is functionally and structurally similar to that of
Sà'idah and, like it, conveys the concepts of immortality and eroti-
cism, and the image of the lost garden. However, Abù Dhu"ayb’s
waßf of the honey-collector is more subjective and emotional than
that of Sà'idah. While Sà'idah portrays his honey-collector from the
viewpoint of an objective observer, Abù Dhu"ayb’s persona seems to
identify with the collector. Abù Dhu"ayb specifies that the collector
is from the Khàlid clan (l. 19) who, according to the shar˙, were
famous for their honey-collecting.36 The bees are described from the
point of view of the Khàlidì; for him they are like pebbles thrown
in the air. The collector makes up his mind to approach the bee
hive and certainly knows that if the rope breaks, he will fall to the
earth (l. 20). His clansmen try to dissuade him (l. 21). Despite the
danger, the size of the honeycombs entices him (l. 21). He is relieved
that he has descended successfully to one rock, because he was afraid
that the ropes might fail him. Danger remains though, for the rock
he reaches is as slippery as a leather cloth.
The Khàlidì, unlike the honey-gatherer in Sà'idah’s poem, uses
fumigation to sedate and drive out the bees. In Sà'idah’s poem, the
man approaches the honeycombs in the daytime when the bees are
away. By contrast, Abù Dhu"ayb’s honey-gatherer goes to the cave
when the bees are present, armed with a cultural weapon, smoke.37
Honey is a symbol of female sexuality, that is, the beloved. At the
same time, the scene of collecting honey is a locus for resolution.
35
Dìwàn al-Hudhaliyyìn, 74.
36
Dìwàn al-Hudhaliyyìn, 1 n. 78.
37
According to Ransome, one passage is found concerning fumigation in the
Talmud. It refers to the medaph which was employed as a vessel for burning cow-
dung. One commentator explains that people used the medaph to smoke out the
bees when gathering honey. See Ransome, 70.
Motoyoshi/f4/61-91 9/10/03 10:20 AM Page 87
88
signaling thereby his inability to leave behind his sorrow and pas-
sion and to achieve the sense of self-confidence and accomplishment
of the fakhr.
Honey taken by the Khàlidì is mixed with pure wine (l. 25). Line
26 marks the end of the long extended simile of the beloved that
goes back to line 7. It turns out that all the waßfs of the wine, the
bees’ gathering nectar, and the honey-collecting are to show the
beloved’s beauty to advantage. This technique, common in the Arabic
qaßìdah tradition, is called the “elative extended simile” because it
uses the structure, “such is ‘more than’ such.” The second half of
line 27 reinforces the reading of the waßf of the bee and honey as
eroticism, for it clearly denotes that her mouth is even sweeter than
the honeyed wine “when you [the persona] come [to her] at night,
and her robe is wrapped around you.” The final two lines present
the poet’s affection and tenderness toward Asmà". He would not
have blamed her, even if she had been harsh with him. Neither his
dog nor he would have barked at her people to drive them away,
even if her dogs or people had barked or slandered him. The per-
sona appears very generous towards her and her people. If he endures
the people’s slander of him and thus gives the beloved peace and
comfort, he will do it. The last remarks show that he is incapable
in the end of recovering from his lovesickness.
Since we do not know whether this ode is a fragment (the nasìb
part) from a complete tripartite qaßìdah or constitutes the whole ode,
it is difficult to interpret the meaning of the ode. Nevertheless, Abù
Dhu"ayb’s ode appeals to me as a complete amatory ode rather than
a fragment of a qaßìdah. This can be accounted for by the fact that
if the honey-collecting can serve as a ra˙ìl-like function, and even
right after the nasìb, the poem should move up to the fakhr, having
left the memory of the beloved behind. As stated above, von
Grunebaum mentions that Abù Dhu"ayb tends to elaborate the nasìb
into a complete ode.38 The ode ends full of his passion and sorrow.
“Abù Dhu"ayb” may even continue desiring to love her and suffering
from the lovesickness. This ode expresses the insatiable desire and
the heartrending lamentation in “Abù Dhu"ayb.”
38
Grunebaum, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “Abù Dhu"ayb al-Hudhalì.”
He also mentions that Abù Dhu"ayb was not good at the description of a hunt
scene.
Motoyoshi/f4/61-91 9/10/03 10:20 AM Page 89
90
39
The ode is found in al-Sukkarì, Kitàb Shar˙ Ash'àr al-Hudhaliyyìn, 1: 4–14.
40
Kamal Abu-Deeb, “Toward A Structural Analysis of Pre-Islamic Poetry,”
International Journal of Middle East Studies 6 (1975), 178–79.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 92
92
CHAPTER THREE
Having left the waßfs of natural objects––the horse, the bee and
honey-gathering––behind, we enter the world of ekphrasis in its mod-
ern conception, the verbal representation of non-verbal texts. That
is, the domain of ekphrasis in its broader meaning, clear and dis-
tinct description of any object, now takes a step forward into the
domain of ekphrasis in the sphere of interarts and intermedial stud-
ies. Our first concern of interartistic relevance lies in the waßfs of
visual arts produced under the 'Abbàsid reign of the Islamic era.
In the Arabo-Islamic tradition, poetry—“licit magic”—as well as
the visual arts and music all express artistic powers that are sup-
posed to be in conflict with the Almightiness of God. Only God is
to possess all power and might. Nevertheless, poetry, particularly the
qaßìdat al-mad˙ (panegyrical ode), was allowed to flourish in the tra-
dition, because it glorified and exalted the mamdù˙s (patron-rulers)
who were legitimized by God, whereas music and painting (consid-
ered unlawful in Islam) were actively discouraged.1 Above all, the
idea that painting is unlawful in Islam is widely accepted.2 Therefore,
it is relatively rare for us to encounter qaßìdahs containing the ren-
ditions of paintings or other kinds of visual art, but there are such
poems of non-Arabic motifs or by poets who are of non-Arab descent.
Due to the fact that both the qaßìdah and the visual portrait serve
to legitimize a ruler while preserving the social and cultural values
* An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the annual meeting of the
Middle East Studies Association of North America, Providence, R. I., November
1996, and appeared as Akiko Motoyoshi, “Reality and Reverie: Wine and Ekphrasis
in the 'Abbàsid Poetry of Abù Nuwàs and al-Bu˙turì,” Annals of the Japan Association
for Middle East Studies 14 (1999): 85–120.
1
See Johann Christoph Bürgel, The Feather of Simurgh: The “Licit Magic” of the Arts
in Medieval Islam (New York: New York University Press, 1988), 1–4.
2
See Creswell, 159–66.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 93
3
See Suzanne Stetkevych, “The Qaßìdah and the Poetics of Ceremony: Three
'Ìd Panegyrics to the Cordoban Caliphate,” in Languages of Power in Islamic Spain,
ed. Ross Brann, Occasional Publications of the Department of Near Eastern Studies
and the Program of Jewish Studies, Cornell University, vol. 3 (Bethesda: CDL Press,
1997), 25. She also maintains that the panegyric qaßìdah in the Arabo-Islamic tra-
dition is comparable to royal portraiture in the European context, 27.
4
This definition is by Claus Clüver. The description of the wine cup and the
wall painting by our Arab poets also fit the understanding of ekphrasis by Spitzer
and Heffernan, “the verbal representation of the visual art works.” For further dis-
cussion on the definitions of ekphrasis, see pp. 11–14 in the Introduction.
5
Andrew Sprague Becker, The Shield of Achilles and the Poetics of Ekphrasis (Lanham,
Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1995).
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 94
94
6
The term qaßìdah is usually defined according to its length, that is, between
fifteen and eighty lines, as stated earlier. In this light, Abù Nuwàs’s ode, consisting
of eight lines, is not considered a qaßìdah but rather a khamriyyah (wine poem).
Nevertheless, I would view his poem in terms of thematic and structural aspects as
a condensed qaßìdah. It neither contains the subtlety of wine poems nor shows a
monothematic poetic form as a conventional khamriyyah does. Rather, this poem
evokes a fuller, longer qaßìdah by alluding to its tripartite and polythematic form.
For Abù Nuwàs’s other khamriyyàt, see Philip F. Kennedy, The Wine Song in Classical
Arabic Poetry (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).
7
Jaroslav Stetkevych, “Arabic Poetry,” 116.
8
Hideaki Sugita, Jibutsu no koe, kaiga no shi (The Voice of Things and the Poetry
of Painting) (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1993), 247–48, 409–10.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 95
Ekphrasis as Madì˙
96
1. Many an abode,
whose drinking companions forsook it
and set out at nightfall,
still bears their traces, both recent and old:
9
Information on Abù Nuwàs in this paragraph is largely taken from Ewald
Wagner, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s. v. “Abù Nuwàs.”
10
Al-Óasan ibn Hànì" Abù Nuwàs, Dìwàn Abì Nuwàs, ed. A˙mad 'Abd al-Majìd
al-Ghazàlì (Beirut: Dàr al-Kitàb al-'Arabì, 1966), 37.
11
Ibid. See the Appendix for the Arabic text.
12
Íàbà† is a Persian city near al-Madà"in.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 97
7. On the bottom,
inside of the cup, is Kisrà;
On its sides,
an oryx that horsemen are hunting with bows.
13
Lines 6–7 use the present tense in the Arabic text, and logically and gram-
matically, line 5 casts the rest of the poem into the past tense. However, the effect
of the imperfect in line 6 and 7 gives us a feeling of the past being relived much
as the use of historical present does in English.
14
See M. Morony, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “Kisrà.”
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 98
98
depicting the vestiges found in the a†làl of the tavern, the trail of a
wine jar and bundles of herbs, he reminisces about the Sàsànians.
ˇibàq (antithesis) is found in the first two lines—a recent trace and
an old trace (l. 1), fresh and dry bundles of basil (l. 2). These antithe-
ses suggest the poet’s intention to reduce the temporal distance
between his time and that of the Sàsànians. The old trace and the
dry basil present a vestige of the Sàsànians, whereas the recent trace
and the fresh basil could have been left by people who had just
recently visited. “Abù Nuwàs” recollects, or rather imagines, the
Sàsànian pomp that is now past, transporting himself back to the
splendor of the Sàsànian Kings and their boon companions. The per-
sona states that he does not know anything about the people who
used to reside there, except for what the deserted abodes testify
(l. 4). The sole entities that can attest to them are the deserted
abodes. The abodes, however, cannot tell much, for they are merely
ruins.
“Abù Nuwàs” is engrossed in the mood of loss and yearning,
which is the main theme of the nasìb.15 The persona and his com-
panions stayed for four days at the Ìwàn Kisrà where the tavern
was located and then departed (l. 5), which suggests the ra˙ìl, jour-
ney. It should be noted that here, as is increasingly the case in
'Abbàsid poetry, the ra˙ìl is only alluded to in the nasìb-motif of
departure. The poet then begins to present a drinking scene and
describes a golden wine cup which was made by a Persian. Here
an ekphrastic technique is employed. Abù Nuwàs describes figures
of Kisrà or Khusraw and his horsemen’s oryx-hunt incised on a
golden goblet. At the end of the qaßìdah, the persona pours wine
and water into the goblet.
The figures of Kisrà and his horsemen hunting an oryx can be
interpreted as a panegyric to the Sàsànians, for such images of the
ruler and the hunt are conventions of the madì˙ of the classical qaßì-
dah form. Moreover, according to M. Morony, for the Arabs, “Kisrà
was a poetic symbol of past glory and fate that overtakes even mighty
kings.” The Arabs viewed Kisrà with admiration and awe for his
splendor and valor. The great audience hall in Ctesiphon, the Ìwàn
Kisrà, was well-known by the Arab people: they spoke of the crown,
treasure, dazzling carpet, sword and armor of Kisrà, and golden
15
See Jaroslav Stetkevych, Zephyrs, 2.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 99
16
M. Morony, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Kisrà.”
17
Prudence Oliver Harper, The Royal Hunter: Art of the Sasanian Empire (New York:
The Asia Society, 1978), 17. Harper shows a number of actual figures and designs
of the hunting scene on various materials in her book.
18
See ibid.
19
M. Morony, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Kisrà.”
20
See S. Enderwitz, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “shu'ùbiyyah.”
21
Ewald Wagner, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Abù Nuwàs.”
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 100
the ekphrastic motif, I argue that Abù Nuwàs subtly suggests the
conventional tripartite qaßìdah structure by manipulatively setting up
the incised motif of the goblet as the madì˙. The description of the
golden goblet is situated at the end of the poem after the departure
scene. However, the drinking scene seems to have occurred before
the departure, and the persona appears to look back on the scene
of drinking parties during his stay in the a†làl of the tavern with his
boon companions. He places the motif of the golden wine cup near
the end of the ode, despite the chronologically inappropriate sequence
of the occurrences, thereby achieving a sequence of topics that is
consistent with the traditional tripartite structure.
In the finale, an ekphrastic moment is achieved. The poured liq-
uid (wine) halts for a second at the line of the horsemen’s collars,
and at that moment merely the faces of the horsemen remain in the
goblet. Then the water is added, which covers their caps. This descrip-
tion allows the readers to “see” the object with their inner eyes.
That is to say, it is ekphrastic. Moreover, by indicating the liquids’
quantity, the line stresses that the mixture of wine and water should
have a lot of wine and only a little water—it is as strong as possi-
ble. So the last line suggests the persona’s intent, “Let’s drink and
enjoy wine!”
22
Retranslated with close reference to A. J. Arberry’s translation. Arabic text:
A. J. Arberry, Arabic Poetry: A Primer for Students (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge
University Press, 1965), 72–80. See also Abù 'Ubàdah al-Walìd ibn 'Ubayd al-
Bu˙turì al-ˇà"ì, Dìwàn al-Bu˙turì, 5 vols., ed. Óasan Kàmil al-Íìrafì (Cairo: Dàr al-
Ma'àrif, 1963–78), 2: 1152–62. See the Appendix for the Arabic text.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 101
2. I stood firm
when fate shook me,
seeking to bring me ill-luck
and overthrow me.
5. As if capricious fate
has come to favor
the vilest
of the vile.
23
Information on al-Bu˙turì in this paragraph is largely taken from Charles Pellat,
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “al-Bu˙turì.”
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 102
6. In my purchasing Iraq
I was duped
after my selling al-Sham
at a loss.
12. I am consoled
for my own bad luck
as I grieve for the ruined abode
of the Sàsànians.
28. My curiosity
concerning them increases
until I explore
and touch them.
24
“Fates” can be the gods (Mazda, Anahita) that commonly hover above Sàsànian
rulers in paintings and rock inscriptions.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 105
when I reached
the limit of my perception,
In the opening, the ode presents the persona’s lament over his past
misfortune, a traditional theme of the nasìb. The misfortune was
largely caused by his past patron, Caliph al-Muntaßir (r. 861–62), as
we learn in line 9 from the word “my cousin” which refers to the
caliph’s ancestral tribe, the Banù 'Adnàn, who are “cousins” to the
poet’s ancestral tribe, the Banù Qa˙†àn.25 He blames the caliph for
having treated him harshly and for not having offered him even
sufficient money to live (l. 3). In fact, al-Bu˙turì was deserted by al-
Muntaßir. The caliph is like one who enjoys his second drink of
water every day, while the persona is like one who drinks it only
once every fourth day (l. 4), a metaphor from bedouin life that
alludes to the caliph’s avarice toward his kinsman. Since generosity
is considered one of the crucial elements of nobility in Arabo-Islamic
culture, the mentioning of the caliph’s stinginess expresses the per-
sona’s profound resentment of the caliph. He regrets that he came
to Baghdad, having left al-Shàm (Damascus) (l. 6). His entreaty to
al-Muntaßir not to test him any more underscores his misery. His
melancholic lament over his past misfortune shows a parallel with
the traditional nasìb theme, weeping over the desolate ruins.
25
Arberry, Arabic Poetry, 74.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 109
After the nasìb section, filled as it is with his grief and complaint,
the ra˙ìl section—again, in keeping with its diminished 'Abbàsid
role—consists in explicit terms of one line only, line 11. It never-
theless functions with great poetic force and concision. The poet car-
ries his grief over to a decayed abode of the House of Sàsàn. Usually,
when a panegyric poet departs to his destination, he carries himmah
(aspiration) for his mamdù˙ (patron), and not the humùm (cares) that
attend the persona’s mount in his ra˙ìl. Although the two words are
derived from the same root, hmm, the meanings are quite dissimilar.
These cares forewarn the reader that the speaker’s journey may devi-
ate from the conventional teleological ra˙ìl. And indeed, we soon
realize that, to assuage the cares that accompany his mount, he turns
not toward a mamdù˙, but to the white palace of al-Madà"in, the
ruined palace of the Sàsànian king Khusraw. Where the structural
connections of the qaßìdah would lead us to expect a madì˙ (pane-
gyric) to a contemporary mamdù˙ (patron), the poet places instead
an extended ekphrasis, thus ironically generating hijà" (satire, invec-
tive), which I will discuss later.
After a brief ra˙ìl, al-Bu˙turì begins to describe the ruins of al-
Madà"in. Although the a†làl is a nasìb convention, the depiction of
the ruins is structurally situated here in the ra˙ìl. In the nasìb, he
expresses his sorrow and grief, while in the ra˙ìl he thinks of the
age of Sàsànian splendor as evoked by its a†làl. However, the poet
appears to desire to present the a†làl motif, in spite of its location
in the ra˙ìl, for the sake of his upcoming “madì˙” for the Sàsànian
king. In addition, his sorrow for his misfortune caused by his for-
mer patron resonates in his grief over the ruined abode of the
Sàsànians; both the poet and the Sàsànians were crowned with glory
in the past, while their present is sadly desolate.
The delineation of the wall painting (ll. 22–27) can be regarded
as panegyric for the Sàsànians in light of both theme and structure.
That is, what begins as part of a journey through a wasteland (ra˙ìl )
becomes gradually the poet’s goal and the subject of his madì˙ (praise).
The wall painting presents the scene of the Battle of Antioch, which
occurred in 540 between the Sàsànians and the Byzantines. The
nasìb and ra˙ìl precede the ekphrasis of the battle scene. The battle
scene, where the valor and might of the Sàsànian ruler, Khusraw
or Kisrà Anùshirwàn, are dynamically presented, signifies eulogy for
the king, like Abù Nuwàs’s use of ekphrasis, but with a different
motif.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 110
away from the tone of eulogy, being constantly involved in nasìb ele-
ments. In other words, he goes back and forth repeatedly between
the nasìb and the madì˙, and because of the mixture it is very hard
to say which prevails. For example, in line 35, the persona cele-
brates the amazing workmanship of the Ìwàn, and immediately there-
after he mentions his melancholy. The Ìwàn meant, for the 'Abbàsid
audience, the marvellous hall on the ground floor, opening through
a high arched entrance, onto a courtyard in Kisrà’s palace, that is,
a symbol of the glory of the Sàsànids. Hence, the poem features a
vacillation representing the persona’s psychological state.
As the speaker’s intoxication heightens, the poem securely approaches
true madì˙. The phrase, “when I reached the limit of my percep-
tion,” suggests that he sees hallucinations of the ranks of the Sàsànian
people, singing girls, and the compartments, as his intoxication attains
its peak (ll. 45–47). We can say that the power of the wine helps
to take the speaker to madì˙ proper. That is, the persona has recourse
to the intoxicating effect of wine to find his goal because he is lost.
Al-Bu˙turì started his ode with the persona’s complaint over his
defeat by his former patron and then aimed at the glory of the
Sàsànians instead of that of a new patron. Through the deviation
from the traditional qaßìdah, both in form and in theme, he presents
an indirect hijà" (satire, invective) against the 'Abbàsid Dynasty,26 for
which he is supposed to be a panegyrist. At the same time, he pro-
jects his guilt over both his deviation from the poetic tradition and
not composing panegyrics for the 'Abbàsid Dynasty. This guilt makes
the persona vacillate and wander around without having a goal until
he seeks a recourse in wine.
Finally, after all the vacillations, wandering about, and hallucina-
tions, “al-Bu˙turì” reaches the rightful madì˙, starting at line 52. The
ultimate expression of the proper madì˙ is al-Bu˙turì’s proclamation
that “my ode is the Arabic qaßìdah.”27 He displays his individuality
26
See Richard Serrano, “Al-Bu˙turì’s Poetics of Persian Abodes,” Journal of Arabic
Literature 28, no. 1 (1997): 68–87. Serrano also argues, “al-Bu˙turì transforms the
trope of the abandoned encampment into a vehicle for harsh criticism of the Arab
culture of his own day.” He goes on to say, “the traces of the encampment become
a reconstructed imperial Persian city which both precedes and nearly precludes the
abandoned encampment as a source for an 'Abbàsid poetics,” 69.
27
Gian Biagio Conte, The Rhetoric of Imitation: Genre and Poetic Memory in Virgil and
Other Latin Poets, trans. ed. Charles Segal (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 112
rather than his traditionality in this ode, which accounts for his great
deviation from the traditional form and theme. The presentation of
the proper madì˙ in the end is his manifestation of the desire to
prove his victory and to certify himself as a poet of the qaßìdah.
Nonetheless, eulogizing the past glory of the Sàsànians instead of the
currently ruling 'Abbàsids implies the decline of the latter. He does
not want to admit his defeat, which triggered the first deviation in
the ode, nor explicitly acknowledge the decline of the 'Abbàsids.
That is why he chose an indirect way to defame them. His persona
does not wish to face the severe reality in terms of both his per-
sonal (misfortune) and public reality (the decay of the 'Abbàsids). His
goal is a past glory that no longer exists. This ode cannot completely
escape from the concept of the qaßìdah of the losers that shows struc-
tural nonteleology with disjunction and digression.28 The closing line
attempts to synthesize contemporary 'Abbàsid decline with past
Sàsànian glory by going beyond distinctions of race and chronology
to express his admiration of nobility from any age or race.
Both waßfs of the visual motifs of Abù Nuwàs and al-Bu˙turì achieve
enargeia, that is, they transform the reader into a viewer. Though
Abù Nuwàs’s ekphrasis is composed of brief denotation, it is still
forceful enough for the reader to elicit the image of the Sàsànian
nobility and bravery through the depiction of the hunting scene in
which Kisrà and his horsemen hunt an oryx with bows. The indi-
cation of the material of the goblet, gold, helps the reader to visualize
1986), 70. Conte maintains that if a poem exhibits the traditional poetic opening
of its cultural tradition, it means that the poetry asserts “This is Poetry.” Although
here al-Bu˙turì’s ode does not suggest that “my ode is the Arabic qaßìdah” by using
the opening line, it suggests so more by its structure.
28
David Quint, Epic and Empire: Politics and Generic Form from Virgil to Milton
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993), part 1, chapt. 4. Analyzing epics
of Lucan (65 C.E.), Ercilla, and d’Aubigné, Quint argues that the epics of the
defeated are nonteleological and exhibit narrative disjunction and episodic digres-
sion, in contrast to the epics of the victors, which are informed by teleology. Although
Quint’s study is based on classical Western epics, the qaßìdah is likewise character-
ized by a coherent thematic-structural development directed at a goal, showing the
teleology. I am aware that the Arabic qaßìdah is not narrative, but in terms of its
tripartite structure, al-Bu˙turì’s poem shows disjunction and digression.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 113
29
See Becker, 33.
30
Ibid., 25, 27.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 114
Abù Nuwàs’s ekphrasis hardly makes the reader feel the existence
of the speaker—he is restrained. In other words, its description is
objective and scarcely shows the describer’s response to the object.
Becker, using Aelius Theon (a Greek rhetorician, maintained that
the absence of explicit interpretation in ekphrasis contributes to
achieving the desired transparency of language), claims that in rhetor-
ical ekphrasis, “the describer encourages the audience to accept the
illusion and, in so doing, diminishes attention to the medium or lan-
guage and the mediator’s experience.”31 Although explicit interpre-
tation is almost absent in Abù Nuwàs’s ekphrasis—we sense the
description, but not the world described—the description does not
seem to create the illusion. This can be in part accounted for by its
concision. However, it is possible that a contemporary audience would
supply much information that a modern reader does not possess, so
that the description may have appeared to them much more com-
plete and thus may possibly have come closer to achieving an illu-
sion. They would have known such visual representations on other
goblets, and the compressing power of the waßf with its intertextual
implications will have evoked the memory of the glorious Sàsànians.
Unlike the description in Abù Nuwàs’s poem, al-Bu˙turì’s depic-
tion of the wall painting is subjective, and the reader can sense the
existence of the describer. Nevertheless, his ekphrasis comes closer
to creating an illusion for the reader than that of the earlier poem.
Contrary to what Aelius Theon argued, other rhetorical handbooks
implied that an ekphrasis is not only to be a clear and distinct rep-
resentation of visible phenomena but should also draw the audience’s
attention to the response of the describer, which lies between the
audience and the world described.32 It is possible to say that al-
Bu˙turì’s description calls attention to the world depicted and to the
manner of visual depiction rather than to the description itself, by
presenting the persona’s interpretation of the wall painting. By hear-
ing the describer’s interpretation, the reader may come close to expe-
riencing the illusion of mentally seeing, if not the world depicted,
then the depiction itself. Again, it is to be assumed that the audi-
ence would supply many details from other accounts or paintings of
the event they have seen; but with the explicit description provided
31
Ibid., 27.
32
Ibid., 29.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 115
33
Becker, 85.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 116
draws the reader back to the world of reality in the end of his poem,
with line 8: “The wine, [pour it] up to where the collars are but-
toned; The water, [pour it] up to their caps!” In other words, the
point of contact between the wine cup and the liquid represents the
point of contact between reverie and reality, art and life.
As for al-Bu˙turì, he recites, “My curiosity concerning them in-
creases until I explore and touch them” (l. 28). Starting with line
22, the poem invites the reader into the world of visual art, the rep-
resentation of the Battle of Antioch, through ekphrastic technique.
Al-Bu˙turì produces the illusion of visual representation. Despite the
poet’s achievement in producing the illusion, he himself informs the
reader of the existence of the medium, and so breaks the illusion.
He is going to touch the picture, which makes the reader realize
that what he is viewing is mere illusion, and not real. That is, al-
Bu˙turì spontaneously breaks the illusion that has intoxicated the
reader. Al-Bu˙turì succeeds in turning art into life. Nevertheless, he
wants to say that “the lifelike image is still a replica,” thereby fore-
grounding his poetic technique.34
Becker explicates this phenomenon by saying that “identity between
depiction and depicted is not the goal—we are explicitly directed
not to forget the mediating presence of art.” He also asserts that,
by doing so, “the discourse increases the admiration of the audience
for the mimetic capabilities of the work of art.” Both al-Bu˙turì and
Abù Nuwàs seek to make the reader realize the strength of their
verbal power and the mimetic power of the visual art, because the
reader is not aware of the world of illusion until the poets signify it
by making the objects in the world of reality appear. Becker’s con-
clusion of the discussion of defamiliarization is that the “celebration
of the process, of what art can do, rather than a need for illusion
or a struggle for mimetic primacy, characterizes the mode of mime-
sis in the Iliad and specifically the Shield of Achilles.”35 Abù Nuwàs
and al-Bu˙turì too, I argue, desire to confirm their verbal, i.e., poetic
power.
Al-Bu˙turì’s “defamiliarizing effect” or “the effect of breaking the
illusion” appears subtle because the poet is still in the world of reverie
after line 28, though it has a strong impact in traversing reality and
34
Ibid., 84.
35
Ibid., 84–85.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 117
Structural Intent
The concept of reality and reverie within the investigation of the tri-
partite structure of the qaßìdahs is intimately associated with the polit-
ical intent of the poets, particularly for al-Bu˙turì. The structure of
the classical Arabic qaßìdah is generally grounded on the real politi-
cal situation of the poet. A poet stands in the a†làl recalling his mem-
ory of the lost love in the nasìb, endures the difficult journey in the
ra˙ìl aiming toward his patron, and finally reaches his destination in
the madì˙ praising his mamdù˙. Generally speaking, this sequence is
predicated on the poet’s political relationship to his mamdù˙, while
the qaßìdah is the expression of an ideal Islamic polity. If the con-
struction follows the regular, conventional sequence, the poet’s polit-
ical relationship to his patron should be soundly established. By
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 118
36
Ignaz Goldziher, Muslim Studies, ed. S. M. Stern. Trans. C. R. Barber and
S. M. Stern., 2 vols. (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1967),
137.
37
See S. Enderwitz, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “shu'ùbiyyah.”
38
Quint, 120. Quint mentions “nonnarratable” in the sense of epic because an
epic is a narrative. However, in our case of the Arabic qaßìdah, which is lyrical, it
is difficult to say that it is a narrative.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 119
39
Jaroslav Stetkevych, Zephyrs, 21.
40
Jaroslav Stetkevych, “The Arabic Lyrical Phenomenon in Context,” Journal of
Arabic Literature 6 (1975): 72–73. He argues that the lyrical “I” in the Arabic qaßì-
dah tradition does not bare the lyrical “persona.”
41
Ibid., 73–74.
Motoyoshi/f5/92-121 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 120
appear in the second half of the nasìb (ll. 14–21). The only “I” is
found in line 17, and the entire mood of the nasìb is very conven-
tional and collective rather than personal. As for Abù Nuwàs’s poem,
unlike al-Bu˙turì’s, the only “I” we find is the collective. The con-
trast—a real “I” and a fallacious “I”—corresponds to subjective ver-
sus social.
Each of the topoi of the conventional tripartite form indicates not
only individuality and subjectivity, but also the publicness of society,
memory, emotion, and feelings, i.e., collective memory. For instance,
the traditional nasìb shows description of the ruined abode and lost
mistress, which can be taken both as an individual memory and as
a public/social memory that evolved in the entire tradition and cul-
ture. In Abù Nuwàs’s ode, the antithesis can be seen: the subjec-
tivity of the poet and socialness of his society. The a†làl of Ìwàn
Kisrà joins both the memory of the poet as individual, and of the
society as public, in recollecting the age of the Sàsànians. Furthermore,
when the poet says that there are recent and old traces from them
[boon companions] in line 1, he suggests “old traces” as the traces
of his ancestors. Here the poet alludes to the traditional nasìb motif,
a†làl. He establishes the authenticity of his poem, not only by employ-
ing the motif of the ruined abode, but also by mentioning antiquity
and novelty. That is to say, he integrates “old” and “new” elements
by mentioning the ancient traces and recent traces, and fusing them
in his mind when he recollects the memories of the two (l. 3). By
this operation, the opposites, “old” and “new,” no longer contradict.
The poet succeeds in the assimilation of his innovation to the antiq-
uity of tradition.
Moreover, the ekphrasis in the two qaßìdahs constitutes a metaphor-
ical madì˙. A metaphor generally has two different kinds of mean-
ing at once: a literal and a figurative meaning. These two would be
defined by Conte as the letter (the literal meaning of the sign) and
the sense (the meaning).42 If we regard the ekphrastic motif of “A†làl
Óànah” as a metaphor or trope of the classical rhetoric of the madì˙
motif in the Arabic qaßìdah, we can say that the visual motif is the
letter, and a concept of the madì˙ is the sense. In short, the two
poets’ use of the ekphrastic motif is a type of metaphor. For example,
Abù Nuwàs employs the incision of the goblet as a description of
42
Conte, 38.
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43
Ibid., 59.
44
Ibid., 55.
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122
CHAPTER FOUR
* An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the annual meeting of the
Middle East Studies Association of North America, Washington D.C., November,
1999, and appeared as Akiko Motoyoshi, “Sensibility and Synaesthesia: Ibn al-
Rùmì’s Singing Slave-Girl,” Journal of Arabic Literature 32, no. 1 (2002): 1–29.
1
Lawrence Kramer, Music and Poetry: The Nineteenth Century and After (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1984).
2
George Dimitri Sawa, Music Performance Practice in the Early 'Abbàsid Era 132–320
AH/750–932 A.D. (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1989). He
deals with historical Middle Eastern musicology and performance practice with ref-
erence to court musicians of the early 'Abbàsid era, in combination with the analy-
sis of classical Arabic theoretical works on music by al-Fàràbì (circa 872/3–950),
including Kitàb al-Mùsìqà al-Kabìr (Grand Book of Music), Kitàb al-Ìqà'àt (Book of
Rhythms), and Kitàb I˙ßà" al-Ìqà'àt (Book for the Basic Comprehension of Rhythms).
3
The poem I will investigate is often introduced as an excellent model of waßf
in works on Ibn al-Rùmì and other poetry studies. For instance, in the preface of
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 123
Dìwàn of Ibn al-Rùmì, the editor A˙mad Óasan Basaj introduces the poem under
the categorization of waßf. Dìwàn of Ibn al-Rùmì, ed. with notes, A˙mad Óasan Basaj,
3 vols. (Beirut: Dàr al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah, 1994), 1: 12–13.
4
See p. 4 in the Introduction for a quotation of Grunebaum’s idea.
5
ˇarab derives from †arraba, to sing, in Arabic. This argument is predicated on
the original meaning of mu†rib, “singer” in Arabic. For further etymological discus-
sion, see p. 147.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 124
6
See Sawa, 195.
7
See M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 6th ed., s.v. “Reception-Theory”
(Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1993), 272–73.
8
Ibid.
9
For the discussion of horizons of reading, see Hans Robert Jauss, chap. 5 of
Toward an Aesthetic of Reception (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982).
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 125
The ode I am dealing with is Ode 593 in the Dìwàn Ibn al-Rùmì,
entitled “Wa˙ìd, the Singing Slave-Girl of 'Amhamah,” composed
by the 'Abbàsid poet Abù al-Óasan 'Alì ibn al-'Abbàs ibn Jurayj,
known as Ibn al-Rùmì, born in Baghdad in 836 C.E. and died in
896 C.E. His father, al-'Abbàs, was a Byzantine freedman and a
client of 'Ubayd Allàh ibn 'Ìsà b. Ja'far. Al-'Abbàs was perhaps the
first member of the family to be a Muslim. His mother, Óasanah,
was the daughter of 'Abd Allàh al-Sijzì who was of Persian origin.
It is said that the poet studied with Mu˙ammad ibn Óabìb, a friend
of his father. Although he made his name as a poet at the age of
twenty, he was unable to gain the favor of the court till the end of
his life because of his ardent Shì'ism and his Mu'tazilism. In spite
of his being a Muslim, his Byzantine and Christian origin, and his
aggressiveness and arrogance also helped to repel possible patrons.
As a result of his long opposition to the party in power, Ibn al-
Rùmì had to seek rich patrons outside the court. According to
S. Boustany, Ibn al-Rùmì was a society poet, compared to his
10
Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols, 2nd ed.
(Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1976), 37.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 126
1. O my two friends,
Wa˙ìd has enslaved me,
till my heart is tormented
and broken by love.
11
Information on Ibn al-Rùmì in this paragraph is largely taken from S. Boustany,
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s. v. “Ibn al-Rùmì.” There is an extensive study
on Ibn al-Rùmì’s poetry by Robert McKinney, “The Case of Rhyme v. Reason:
Ibn al-Rùmì and His Poetics in Context” (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1998).
12
The meter of this ode is khafìf. Though I rely mainly on Fàrùq Aslìm’s edi-
tion, I use four published versions of the Arabic text. Ibn al-Rùmì, Ode 593, Diwàn
Ibn al-Rùmì, ed. with notes, Fàrùq Aslìm, 6 vols. (Beirut: Dàr al-Jìl, 1998), 2: 576–83.
Abù al-Óasan 'Alì ibn al-'Abbàs ibn Jurayj Ibn al-Rùmì, Ode 593, Diwàn Ibn al-
Rùmì, ed. with notes, Óusayn Naßßàr, 6 vols. (Cairo: Ma†ba'at Dàr al-Kutub, 1974),
2: 762–65. Bu†rus al-Bustànì, ed., Muntaqayàt Udabà" al-'Arab fì al-A'ßur al-'Abbàsiyyah
(Beirut: Maktabat Íàdir, 1948), 252–55 (This version presents only 33 lines out of
58.). A˙mad al-ˇabbàl, Ibn al-Rùmì, Diràsat Nußùß wa Khaßà"iß 'Àmmah (Tripoli,
Lebanon: Dàr al-Shamàl lil-ˇibà'ah wa al-Nashr wa al-Tawzì', 1986), “Al-Waßf wa
al-Ghazal: Wa˙ìd al-Mughanniyyah,” 10–19. See the Appendix for the Arabic text.
13
“Zahà” (to be radiant, shine) can also be “to pride oneself in.”
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 127
grazing on them,
and she is a singing canary.
everything of hers
bears witness to this.
14
According to the shar˙ of Aslìm, Ma'bad and Ibn Surayj were renowned singers
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 130
in the Umayyad era, whereas Zalzal and 'Aqìd were slave-girls famous for their
excellence in playing instruments and producing beautiful rhythm. Sawa records
their high-quality performance based on the Kitàb al-Aghànì. The poet’s aim of men-
tioning their names here seems to be to show that Wa˙ìd’s singing is as excellent
as theirs.
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40. To my right,
to my left,
in front of me and behind,
how can I get around him?
48. O Wa˙ìd,
may God take from you,
for my heart,
what the avenging victor takes!
Since the poet devotes the entire ode to the delineation of Wa˙ìd’s
beauty, including her singing, this ode could be termed a ghazal or
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 134
15
The term qaßìdah is generally defined according to its length—that is from
fifteen to eighty lines. In this broad sense the poem under exploration is a qaßìdah,
while in a narrow structural-thematic sense it is a ghazal, an erotic lyric that con-
stitutes an entire (usually short) poem rather than serving as a prelude to further
thematic sections.
16
For information about singing-girls, see al-Jà˙iΩ 'Amr ibn Ba˙r, “Kitàb al-
Qiyàn,” Rasà"il al-Jà˙iΩ, ed. with commentary, 'Abd Muhannà, 2 vols. (Beirut: Dàr
al-Óadàthah, 1987–88), 94–117, and al-Jà˙iΩ, The Epistle on Singing-Girls of Jà˙iΩ, ed.
with translation and commentary, A. F. L. Beeston (Warminster, Wilts, U.K.: Aris
& Phillips, 1980), and 'Abd al-Karìm al-'Allàf, Qiyàn Baghdàd fì al-'Aßr al-'Abbàsì wa
al-'Uthmànì al-Akhìr (Baghdad: Ma†ba'at Dàr al-Ta∂àmun, 1969). All quotations in
the text relating to al-Jà˙iΩ’s book are from Beeston’s translation.
17
Al-Jà˙iΩ relates some episodes proving that poems were sung in pages 104–6
of 'Abd Muhannà’s edition. Relating to this, Owen Wright maintains that the rela-
tionship between music and verse in the early Islamic period cannot be confirmed
with precision because discussions on the subject do not exist; the study of music
is inclined either toward the theoretical or the performer and his environment.
Owen Wright, “Music and Verse,” in Arabic Literature to the End of the Umayyad Period,
ed. A. F. L. Beeston et al., The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature (Cambridge,
U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 433–59. However, Sawa gives a com-
prehensive study by combining the music theory and practice of musical perfor-
mance in his book.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 135
18
According to C. Pellat, the first female slave-singers among the Arabs appeared
as early as the Jàhiliyyah period. See for more details C. Pellat, The Encyclopaedia
of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “˚ayna.”
19
Beeston, 2.
20
For more information on singing slave-girls’ education, see Pellat, The Encyclopaedia
of Islam, s. v. “˚ayna.”
21
Al-Jà˙iΩ, “Kitàb al-Qiyàn,” ed. 'Abd Muhannà, 116.
22
Abù al-Faraj al-Ißbahànì, Kitàb al-Aghànì, ed. Ibràhìm al-Abyàrì, 31 vols. (Cairo:
Dàr al-Sha'b, 1969–79). This is one of the most important compilations composed
under the 'Abbàsid Caliphate, comprising poetry, poets’ biographical information,
and the melody of poems.
23
A notation or tablature of a song cannot be found in Arabic books on music
until the time of Íafì al-Îìn 'Abd al-Mu"min (d. 1294). Henry Farmer, The Encyclopaedia
of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “ghinà".”
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 136
24
Sawa states that the musical majlis was not invented in the 'Abbàsid era, but
that it was already common in Umayyad times, during the rule of the Orthodox
Caliphs, and in the pre-Islamic Arab kingdoms, 111–12. For more information on
majlis, which derives from the verb jalasa “to sit,” see Sawa, 111.
25
Said Boustany, Ibn al-Rùmì, sa vie et son oeuvre (Beirut: Publications de l’Université
Libanais, 1967), 304–5. The information on Ibn al-Rùmì in the rest of the para-
graph is taken from this source.
26
The poet has a number of madì˙ (praise) poems as well as hijà" (ridiculing)
odes for singers, such as Salàmah b. Sa'ìd al-Óàjib, Durayrah, and Ja˙Ωah. Boustany
assumes that it was the poet’s passion that urged him to accept the position, in
spite of the symbolic salary of two dinars per month, 304.
27
Boustany mentions that Ibn al-Rùmì’s judgment of singing performance described
in his poems is presented with poetic and literary expressions rather than the tech-
nical terminology of music, 305. These characteristics are likewise seen in the poem
under exploration.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 137
28
See Sawa, 134.
29
See Sawa, 112.
30
See Sawa, 113. He also states that male and female slave musicians were part
of the patron’s household in general (115); Wa˙ìd would have lived in 'Amhamah’s
house.
31
Sawa, 119.
32
To be a nadìm, Sawa further enumerates as required knowledge: prosody, gram-
mar, history, narration of anecdotes, Qur"àn, Óadìth, jurisprudence, astrology, med-
icine, and horse-breeding, in addition to being well-versed in all sorts of games and
entertainments, such as backgammon, chess, buffoonery, and magic, 119.
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33
Sawa lists such musician-poets as Is˙àq al-Mawßilì and 'Ulayyah bint al-Mahdì,
or such patrons as the caliphs al-Ma"mùn and al-Mu'tazz, 142. He further says
that musicians were male and female slave singers or free singers who could be
Arabs, non-Arabs, or of mixed descent, 114.
34
Sawa, 142.
35
See Sawa, 169.
36
See Sawa, 126.
37
Sawa introduces the following anecdote as an example: “'Ulayyah was asked
by Umm Ja'far to help her regain the love and attention of Hàrùn al-Rashìd, who
had left her for a beautiful new jàriyah. 'Ulayyah composed a song, and taught it
to the jàriyahs, who entered and surprised Hàrùn with their performance,” 126–27.
38
It was common for a patron to fall in love with a jàriyah; Sawa indicates an
anecdote: “One night, the singer-composer 'Allùyah (d. 850 C.E.) invited the poet
Abù al-Asad (d. 835) and a jàriyah whom 'Allùyah loved,” 117.
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move its audience, its effect was increased by the force (†arab) of its
performance.
Ibn al-Rùmì’s poem is found in Diwàn Ibn al-Rùmì, the collection
of his poems; however, his works, including the poem under inves-
tigation, were not included in the Kitàb al-Aghànì (Book of Songs).
But this does not mean at all that the poem was composed only for
reading.39 We have seen that the poet lived in the company of singers
and composers, and his Dìwàn contains poems about other musi-
cians.40 It is quite likely that he expected the poem to be set to
music and performed, especially as it describes a singer. Songs would
be circulated and preserved in an oral-performance tradition: musi-
cians would learn their repertoire by listening to other musicians.
Therefore, while the poem has come down to us only as a written
text, without a melody, it may well have existed as a song in the
repertoire of performers and may even have been known for some
time as a song by readers of the poem, just as we know melodies
that have been composed for poems found in the collected works of
more modern poets.
The poem opens with the persona addressing his friend, “O my two
friends, Wa˙ìd has enslaved me, till my heart is tormented and bro-
ken by love.” The first line reveals that he is greatly infatuated with
the singing-girl. Also, this opening condenses the theme of the ode:
the persona’s passion for his beloved and her beauty. The description
of his beloved and his unrequited love constitute the main skeleton
39
Ode 1318 in Naßßàr’s edition has the following introductory remarks: “He [Ibn
al-Rùmì] said congratulating al-Mu'tamid upon the Feasts of al-A∂hà (Immolation)
and al-Mihrijàn. . . . He [Ibn al-Rùmì] used to compose poems for the singer Bunàn,
and the latter incited the former to do so [write a poem for the occasion of the
two feasts for the ruler], and he [Bunàn] conveyed it [the poem] [to al-Mu'tamid],”
2444. This episode supports the fact that Ibn al-Rùmì actually would compose for
singers. Also, it can be a good example of the role of singers in communicating a
message between parties.
40
In Naßßàr’s edition, we can find a number of poems about singers and musi-
cians; for instance, the title of Ode 142 is “the praise (mad˙) of Durayrah (the female
slave singer-player) and the invective (hijà") of Nuzhah (the female musician),” 179,
and there are other odes about the singers Shan†af (e.g., Ode 1499, p. 1932) and
Ja˙Ωah (e.g., Ode 739, p. 984).
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 140
41
For the discussion of the lyrical or the fallacious “I” in Arabic poetry, see
Jaroslav Stetkevych, “Lyrical Phenomenon,” 57–77.
42
Erika von Erhardt-Siebold, “Harmony of the Senses in English, German, and
French Romanticism,” PMLA 47 (1932): 584. For more discussion of literary synaes-
thesia, see Nicholas Ruddick, “ ‘Synaesthesia’ in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry,” Poetics
Today 5, no. 1 (1984): 59–78.
43
T. V. F. Brogan, New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, s.v. “synaesthesia.”
44
Erhardt-Siebold, 580–81. See also Ruddick, 61.
45
See for the definition of synaesthesia, Brogan, New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry
and Poetics, s.v. “synaesthesia.”
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 141
46
According to the shar˙ by Óusayn Naßßàr, the line is associated with the
Qur"ànic verse on Ibràhìm, “O fire, be cool and be peace upon Ibràhìm” (Qur"àn
21: 69). In the Óadìth (Prophetic tradition), Ibràhìm had been burned at the stake
by the Assyrian King Nimrud, but was saved by Allàh’s protection.
47
Actually, Boustany suggests that the poet may have been a pupil of this promi-
nent intellectual, 117. McKinney, however, claims that there is no evidence in the
sources to support this, 5.
48
Al-Jà˙iΩ, ed. trans. Beeston, 30–31.
49
Ibid., 31.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 142
shows that the glamour of Wa˙ìd is recognized not only by the opti-
cal, but also by the olfactory and auditory organs. For instance, line
45 states, “She is to be gazed at, heard, and relished like sweet
water; she’s always ready to provide the entertainment that we love.”
Being fully exposed to the synaesthetic impact, the admirer is cap-
tivated by her through his whole body. Since appealing to vision is
not the sole weapon for Wa˙ìd, Ibn al-Rùmì employs the synaes-
thetic force in order to express the surging passion of her audience.
Wa˙ìd is ambivalent—she is simultaneously hot and cool (ll. 4–5).
Although her beauty is like fire, it never stains her face, which is
like water, i.e., cool and clear. The power of the fire is so great that
it can melt hearts as hard as iron. Clearly here the visual and the
tactile descriptions, eliciting the imagery of being ablaze in fire (hot)
and smooth in water (cold), serve not merely mimetically to describe
the physical attributes, but affectively to evoke emotional states. Her
sweet kisses (saliva) are the only thing that can cool down the heat
of passion produced by her cheeks (l. 7). At the same time, the poet
suggests a comparison of the magic of Wa˙ìd’s cool fire to the divine
command to the fire to be “cool and peace” to Ibràhìm.50 The cool
saliva of a beloved, which is again one of the classical motifs of the
qaßìdah tradition, can extinguish the fires of passion. The contrast
between heat (her beauty, fire, the enthusiasm of her admirers) and
coolness (her peacefulness, water, her kisses and saliva) is skillfully
shown with a string of correlations among these motifs in the first
part (ll. 1–8). She is unique, as embodied in her tell-tale name Wa˙ìd
(unique, matchless, incomparable), and is a distraction for men who
are frantically in love with her.
One allured by her beauty challenges Ibn al-Rùmì in line 9:
“Íifhà!” (Describe her!). With the phrase “Íifhà,” the poet calls the
reader’s/listener’s attention to the medium of expression, i.e., his ver-
bal expression, and its power. In other words, the poet tries to
emphasize his poetic skill in fascinating the reader/listener. The inter-
locutor’s imploring the poet to “Describe her” is metapoetic because
the poem itself is “the waßf (description) of Wa˙ìd.” With this phrase,
he asks himself if he is capable of describing her as he intends. There
is an implicit contest between her physical beauty and song and the
poet’s verbal work of art. Can he convey with mere words in poetry
50
Qur"àn 21:69. See also Aslìm’s edition, 577.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 143
what the five senses convey in the physical world? Can he elicit the
same emotional response? By the same token, Ibn al-Rùmì’s oper-
ation suggests a competition between the verbal art and the musi-
cal vocal art. Through the ekphrastic technique, he challenges himself
to outdo another art (singing) with his own art (poetry) by transforming
an auditory (or multi-sensory) performance into a verbal text.
In fact, the milieu surrounding the qaßìdah tradition has its roots
deep in the paradigm of contest. Its most salient feature is in the
institution of a poetic majlis—a social and cultural gathering or assem-
bly in the Arab world. The poetic majlis is devoted to poetry recita-
tion and literary discourse, while other majlises are devoted to
jurisprudence ( fiqh) and scholastic theology (kalàm), not to mention
the musical majlis, which is committed to musical performance. The
context of the musical majlis consists of a gathering of the audience
and musicians, the physical setting of performance, and the occa-
sion and purpose of music-making.51 The greatest incentive for the
performer to participate in the majlis is to obtain a reward, either
material or in prestige, from the audience, including its patron-host.
Even when the context is not in the explicit form of a contest, i.e.,
the singer or the musician is the only performer in the arena with-
out other contestants, the context of majlis itself contains the concept
of competition, for in the end, the audience or the other partici-
pants judge the performer by demonstrating their reactions. In the
context of our poem, Wa˙ìd sings before the audience, and it is
obvious that the judge is the poet, whose index is the reaction of
the singer’s audience. On a higher sphere, the poet vies with other
poets, both contemporary and past, trying to show that he is the
best in describing his own poetic object and in convincing his audi-
ence of that fact.
The poet responds to “Íifhà!” by saying that the beauty of the
singing-girl is indescribable. In reply to the request, the poet does
not describe her physical attributes, but answers that describing her
is both “easy and difficult” (l. 9). Here again the poet suggests the
ambivalence and the mysterious charm of her attributes. He continues
to state, “It’s easy to say that she’s the most beautiful of creatures,
without exception, but it is difficult to define her beauty” (l. 10).
The poet tries to define her beauty, yet he asserts that her beauty
51
See Sawa, 111.
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52
Al-Jà˙iΩ, ed. trans. Beeston, 24.
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her to sing again; whoever tastes her kisses asks for more.” Her
charm and beauty are represented in the description of her listen-
ers/viewers. Verses 12 and 23 are among many lines portraying the
singing-girl’s effect on her audience. Thus, the poet uses the view-
ers as a medium for his artistic expression. In doing so, the poet
does not try to create an objective pictorial image, but rather he
attempts to elicit complete emotions by way of her (male) audience.
There is another technique of indirection in evidence in Ibn al-
Rùmì’s description of the beloved. If passion or emotion is consid-
ered among the poetic elements most highly dependent on the poet’s
own experience, the Arabic qaßìdah lyricist somehow must prove that
his expressions are sincere, notwithstanding the restraint of the pre-
scribed Arabic lyrical mode on the poet. Ibn al-Rùmì does this by
creating a third party on his theatrical stage within the ode: he
entrusts his personal feelings to Wa˙ìd’s audience. The audience’s
reaction is a mirror of his feelings of infatuation for the singing-girl.
Through the presentation of the viewers’ reaction, the poet is capa-
ble of escaping from the tyranny of the fallacious “I,” for he is
allowed to use “they” for Wa˙ìd’s admirers. At least ostensibly, or
even actually, then, the lyricist is able to attest poetic sincerity with-
out any condition. On the side of the singing-girl’s admirers, on the
other hand, insofar as al-Jà˙iΩ maintains that the passion of love (in
both senses, for singing slave-girls and for the question of love in
general) is a malady that is uncontrollable, Wa˙ìd’s hearers’ strong
feelings for her are authentic and true.53 Yet I believe that the dis-
course on poetic sincerity is itself rather unfruitful in regard to clas-
sical Arabic poetry, because, as Jaroslav Stetkevych argues, the tradition
conforms to the Aristotelian premise of mimesis, which distinguishes
between form and content, or means and object, rather than the
Platonic premise, which intends the unity of form and content.54
Aristotle argues that a poet is not a copier of reality but a creator,
for he/she can envision a deeper and higher order of nature than
an ordinary person can.55 The subject of poetic sincerity that was
often an object of attack with respect to the qaßìdah genre, thus, does
53
Ibid., 27.
54
Jaroslav Stetkevych, “Arabic Qaßìdah: From Form and Content to Mood and
Meaning,” Harvard Ukrainian Studies 3/4 (1979–80): 775–77.
55
The thoughts of Plato and Aristotle are concisely presented in T. V. F. Brogan,
The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, s.v. “representation and mimesis.”
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 146
not vitiate the aesthetic quality of the genre. The poem evokes a
sense of true infatuation towards Wa˙ìd by Ibn al-Rùmì and all the
audience. In the fictional realm, their passion is real and sincere.
If a musician’s goal is to drive the audience to a state of †arab
(acute emotion of grief, joy, or ecstasy), the theatrical setting of the
poem Ibn al-Rùmì prepared is adequate and powerful.56 On the
stage, the slave-girl sings before the audience, and the poet is not
only one of them, but also an observer of the whole drama. The
poet combines the †arab effect of the song and the performance con-
text for the purpose of conveying to us the audience’s affective
response. Although the pure description of Wa˙ìd’s singing com-
prises merely nine out of fifty-eight lines (ll. 14–22 and l. 28), it is
important to note that the rest of the poem speaks about the reac-
tion of her audience toward her singing; that is, all the remaining
portion is the mirror of Wa˙ìd’s singing, including gesture and voice.
In this respect, the poem mentions words like “song” (l. 22) and
“singing” (ll. 28–29) to remind us that the audience’s response remains
directed at her singing. The audience’s reactions are an index for
judging the quality of the performance’s execution, and they con-
tain textual and extra-musical skills, such as facial expressions and
gestures. A beautiful face, elegant clothes, coquetry, and the motion
of the eyes are among the important elements in appraising a musi-
cian’s performance.57 The theatrical setting enables us to analyze the
drama in the context of performance, because the performance is
based on communication between the singer and the audience. In
addition, as the disposition of music is found in the expression of
passion, the representation of Wa˙ìd’s beauty through the expres-
sion of feelings helps achieve the poet’s goal. The synergistic effects
of the power of music, the performance context, and the applica-
tion of conventional motifs combine to produce a poem that touches
and moves the reader’s heart.
Kramer suggests that music is the expression of feelings and states
that music possesses “the power to embody complex states of mind
as they might arise pre-verbally in consciousness.”58 He also refers
56
See for the function of †arab, below, p. 147.
57
Sawa mentions that the reactions are seen in verbal, physical, emotional, imag-
inational, and economic aspects, 206, 173–74.
58
Kramer, 6. Before the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although the cen-
ter of theoretical issues on music was constantly changing from as early as the time
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 147
of Plato, affect theories of music, that is, that music ought to arouse specific emo-
tions in the listeners, remained through the respective discussions of Aristotle,
Descartes, Kircher, and Rameau. See John Neubauer, The Emancipation of Music from
Language: Departure from Mimesis in Eighteenth-Century Aesthetics (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1986), especially, chap. 3, “Music and the Affects,” 42–59.
59
Ibid., 16.
60
See †-r-b in Lane and Lisàn al-'Arab.
61
See Sawa, 173, 206.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 148
62
Kramer, viii.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 149
63
Ibid., 11.
64
Al-Jà˙iΩ, ed. trans. Beeston, 24.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 150
65
Glenn O’Malley, “Literary Synesthesia,” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 15
(1957): 391.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 151
66
Erhardt-Siebold, 584.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 152
67
See J. C. Bürgel, “The Lady Gazelle and Her Murderous Glances,” Journal of
Arabic Literature 20 (1989): 9.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 153
68
See ibid., 6.
69
Ibid.
70
See Suzanne Stetkevych, chap. 7 of Mute. Stetkevych finds “arrested develop-
ment” in Imrù al-Qays’s Mu'allaqah due to its precocious sexuality and prolonged
adolescence.
Motoyoshi/f6/122-154 9/10/03 10:21 AM Page 154
CHAPTER FIVE
* An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the annual meeting of the
Middle East Studies Association of North America, San Francisco, California,
November, 1997, and appeared as Akiko Motoyoshi, “Poetry and Portraiture: A
Double Portrait in an Arabic Panegyric by Ibn Zamrak,” Journal of Arabic Literature
30, no. 3 (1999): 199–239.
1
This definition is by Claus Clüver.
2
Richard Brilliant, Portraiture (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), 7.
According to Brilliant, the “intended relationship” is created by the portraitist.
3
See ibid., 45.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 156
4
Explicit self-portraits by the poet are generally not frequent in the madì˙.
However, the 'Abbàsid poet al-Mutanabbì (915–65) often praises himself in the
madì˙ section. He also uses the first-person “I” in the madì˙, which seldom occurs
there. For instance, in his 'ìd-poem, al-Mutanabbì presents a relationship between
himself and his patron and boasts of his own poetic power (ll. 34–38). See Suzanne
Stetkevych, “'Abbàsid Panegyric.”
5
Richard Brilliant, “Portraits: A Recurrent Genre in World Art,” in Likeness and
Beyond: Portraits from Africa and the World, ed. Jean M. Borgatti and Richard Brilliant
(New York: The Center for African Art, 1990), 14.
6
I prefer Clüver’s definition, for it is not limited as to the kind of verbal rep-
resentation and makes a convincing case for including architecture. For other
definitions of ekphrasis by Spitzer and Heffernan, see pp. 11–14 in the Introduction.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 157
7
García Gómez. Ibn Zamrak: El poeta de la Alhambra (Madrid: Maestre, 1975).
James T. Monroe, Hispano-Arabic Poetry: A Student Anthology (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1974). See also R. Blachère, “Le visir-poète Ibn Zumruk et son
oeuvre,” Annales de l’Institut d’Études Orientales 2 (1936): 291–312.
8
'Alì Ibn al-Jahm (d. 863 C.E.) and al-Sarì al-Raffà" (d. 976 C.E.) describe foun-
tains and palaces in their full qaßìdahs. In al-Andalus, Ibn Óamdìs (d. 1132 C.E.)
has some poems with the depiction of buildings and fountains. Jaroslav Stetkevych
investigates some garden poems in chap. 5, “In Search of the Garden,” Zephyrs.
For fountain odes, Hideaki Sugita discusses a number of poems describing foun-
tains and animal-shaped fountains in 'Abbàsid and Andalusian poems in his book
Jibutsu no Koe, Kaiga no Shi (The Voice of Things and the Poetry of Painting).
9
Suzanne Stetkevych, “Qaßìdah,” 25.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 158
After introducing the poet and the Alhambra palace, I first dis-
cuss the poetic text in terms of what it appears to tell us in the
framework of the Arabic qaßìdah tradition both in structure and
theme. I then move on to the main argument of this study, inter-
preting the ode as a portrait of Sultan Mu˙ammad V and as a self-
portrait of Ibn Zamrak. Because Arabic literary conventions have
had a great impact on this ode, without understanding the qaßìdah
within that tradition, it would be quite difficult and confusing to
interpret this long panegyric.
10
See Monroe, Hispano-Arabic Poetry, 64.
11
His reign was interrupted by Ismà'ìl II then Mu˙ammad VI. See Fernández-
Puertas, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “Naßrids.”
12
See F. de la Granja, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “Ibn Zamrak.”
Monroe, Hispano-Arabic Poetry, 64–65. Khayr al-Dìn al-Ziriklì, Al-A'làm, s.v. “Ibn
Zamrak.”
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 159
13
See Antonio Fernández-Puertas, The Alhambra, From the Ninth Century to Yùsuf I
(1354), 2 vols. (London: Saqi Books, 1997), 1: 143–45.
14
Ibid., 1: 146.
15
Andrew Peterson, The Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, s.v. “Alhambra,” 15. All
the information on the Alhambra in this paragraph is taken from this source.
According to Peterson, the Sala de los Reyes consists of a series of rooms opening
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 160
present form of the largest and best known of the palaces, the Palacio
de Comares, is the result of Mu˙ammad V’s rebuilding in 1365.
The sultan also created the Patio de los Leones which leads to the
Sala de los Reyes which was a center for ceremonials. Ibn Zamrak
chose to describe the Alhambra not only because his patron owned
it, but also because he actually (re)built it.
onto a larger vaulted area, which in turn opens on to the Patio. Although Ibn
Zamrak does not mention the names of the sections of the Alhambra in his poem,
we can assume that the Patio characterized by the fountain in its center as well as
the Tower of Comares are described in his qaßìdah based on the fact that the
description of the materials and forms accord with those of the actual Alhambra.
Therefore, it may be assumed that the portions in the Alhambra complex that are
depicted in Ibn Zamrak’s ode were largely created by Mu˙ammad V. On the
eleventh century Jewish origines of the Alhambra, see Frederick P. Bargebuhr, The
Alhambra: A Cycle of Studies on the Eleventh Century in Moorish Spain (Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter & Co., 1968).
16
The description of a building as praise is not, however, entirely without
antecedents. See, for example, the description of the ruins of Ìwàn Kisrà (the res-
idence of the Sàsànian Kings) in the madì˙ of al-Bu˙turì. See chap. 3.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 161
17
The meter of this ode is †awìl. The translation is a cooperative effort by myself
and Suzanne Stetkevych. There are three published versions of the Arabic text: by
al-Nayfar, James T. Monroe, and al-Maqqarì. Unless otherwise noted, we have fol-
lowed Monroe’s version. Ibn Zamrak al-Andalusì, Ode 105, Dìwàn Ibn Zamrak al-
Andalusì, ed. with notes, Mu˙ammad Tawfìq al-Nayfar (Beirut: Dàr al-Gharb al-Islàmì,
1997), 519–26. Monroe, Hispano-Arabic Poetry, Ode 40, 346–65. A˙mad ibn Mu˙ammad
al-Maqqarì al-Tilimsànì, Naf˙ al-ˇìb min Ghußn al-Andalus al-Ra†ìb—wa Dhikr Wazìrihà
Lisàn al-Dìn Ibn al-Kha†ìb, ed. Mu˙ammad Mu˙yì al-Dìn 'Abd al-Óamìd, 10 vols.
(Beirut: Dàr al-Kitàb al-'Arabì, 1949), 10: 49–56. See the Appendix for the Arabic
text.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 162
18
The second hemstich literally means “the only thing they shot at the targets
was my heart (qalb).”
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 165
19
Dhà can mean either “possessing” or “this” (hàdhà).
20
This line follows al-Nayfar’s vocalization.
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21
In al-Maqqarì’s text, there is a variant of mawà"ilan (that is found in Monroe’s
text): mawàthilan (standing). We adopt mawàthilan.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 172
22
In al-Maqqarì’s version, the second hemistich is “Mußàrifatu n-naqdayni fìhà bi-
mithlihà, ajàza bi-hà al-naqdayni min-hà kamà hiyà.” Two currencies are dirham (silver)
and dinar (gold).
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 173
by their voices
were dictating their songs to them.
121. O my lord,
pride of kings,
in whom the religion of God
attains what it desires!
23
We use al-Nayfar’s version, “Ka"anna burùja l-ufqi (See 4 n, 525.) ghàrat wa-qad
ra"at.” In Monroe’s version, “It is as if the flashes of lightning hit the earth and
had revealed the towers of the palaces you built rising [to the sky].”
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24
See al-Nayfar’s edition, 6 n. 525. It says that the patron’s five sons are Abù
al-Óajjàj Yùsuf, Sa'd, Naßr, Mu˙ammad, and 'Alì.
25
We use al-Nayfar’s vocalization, “wajha” as the direct object of “yuqabbil.”
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26
Qur"ànic and Qur"àn-related diction identifies his poem with the Holy Qur"àn.
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27
Brilliant, “Portraits,” 14.
28
Ibid., 15. Brilliant further says, “Iconic portraits rely heavily on the represen-
tation of the recognizable face and body as the primary vehicles of the portrait
repertory,” 15. The Arabic qaßìdah usually does not describe the physical features
of a mamdù˙ (one praised), but rather presents his inner attributes in the madì˙ sec-
tion. However, I consider the presentation of a patron’s inner attributes as an
“iconic” portrait, because it is based on “a strong likeness shared by the image and
its referent.” Also, it is much more “realistic”and descriptive than an “emblematic
portrait” which relies on an arbitrary, abstract symbol.
29
Ibid., 14.
30
M. H. Abrams, Glossary, 68–69.
31
The only vague physical description in the ode occurs in line 128: “. . . his
[the sultan’s] comeliness filling [the beholders’] eyes. . . .”
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 181
praise. Nevertheless, the relationship between the nasìb and the madì˙
is important for understanding the poet’s entire thematic enterprise.
If we view the ode from the perspective of Stefan Sperl’s dialectical
paradigm, the contrast between barrenness in the nasìb and fertility
in the madì˙ is clearly shown in the panegyric;32 that is, as Monroe
states, “the poem progresses from initial despair to final consolation
found in the glory of the sovereign.”33 In the former the persona is
the protagonist, and his unrequited love is rendered in lines 4–28.
The nasìb part shows conventional concepts of love and scarcely devi-
ates from the convention. 'Udhrite love, an early Islamic revival of
Bedouin lyricism expressing passionate, sentimental, and idolatrous
love, is the central theme of the nasìb.34 The poet employs conven-
tional clichés: he is snared by the beloveds’ glances (l. 5) and com-
pares his mistresses to gazelles (l. 12). Yet, Monroe states that Ibn
Zamrak employs these well-worn clichés in a very fresh and origi-
nal way.35 His unhappy love is then overcome by the integration of
the persona into the sphere of his patron, Mu˙ammad V, in the
madì˙. Starting with line 29, which is the beginning of the madì˙,
the persona turns to the sultan, seeking his protection from the deadly
glances of the seductresses. The feeling of loss in the nasìb is assuaged
by the patron’s generosity. The description of the pool and trees (ll.
78–86) presents the echoes of the nasìb and makes the palace the
ultimate compensation for the persona’s lost loves.
Ibn Zamrak’s rhetorical strategy is to compare art to nature and
to elevate the arts of poetry and architecture by making them supe-
rior to nature. Monroe rightly observes that this strategy contrasts
with that of the other Andalusian poets, such as Ibn Khafàjah and
al-Rußàfì, who admire and poeticize nature.36 In the first line, Ibn
Zamrak has entrusted the horizon adorned with flowers of stars to
convey a message about himself—the persona casts the horizon and
the stars as his servant. The stars continue to appear throughout the
ode. For instance, line 32 says that when the persona stayed up late
32
Sperl, 25. Sperl’s work on the bipartite nasìb-madì˙ qaßìdah of the 'Abbàsid
period shows a coherent thematic development by identifying a dialectical “strophe/
antistrophe” structure and relating this to ancient Near Eastern kingship rituals.
33
Monroe, Hispano-Arabic Poetry, 365.
34
See Jaroslav Stetkevych, Zephyrs, 113.
35
Monroe, Hispano-Arabic Poetry, 65.
36
Ibid.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 182
eulogizing his sovereign, his pearls of poetry competed with the stars.
The shining stars are capable of exalting the ruler of Granada by
illuminating him, whereas the poet can glorify him through his art,
poetry. The poet not only compares nature to art, but also makes
use of nature to magnify his patron. Although humans normally use
the stars for guidance, line 43 reverses the order and has erring stars
seeking the ruler’s guidance. This concept conveys the message that
since you cannot rely on the stars, you must follow the commands
of Mu˙ammad V, who is the divinely guided sovereign. The poet
returns to this topic in the ekphrastic section, where the wandering
stars want to establish themselves in the ruler’s palace (l. 62). This
line implies that his abode is a permanent abode and, that signifies
the perfect political realm of the Islamic kingdom, in contrast to the
unreliable abode of the stars.37
Ibn Zamrak devotes so many lines (60–105) to the description of
the Alhambra palace, including its garden, not only to show how
magnificent the building is, but also to make it symbolize the Naßrid
kingdom and at the same time the ideal heavenly polity where every-
one desires to live. The architecture stands as a representation and
a portrait of the sovereign as the artist of its perfection. The poet
opens his description of the Alhambra by presenting a general visual
image of the palace, which is evoked by external, material, and phys-
ical qualities, excellence and beauty, while it is simultaneously metaphor-
ical (see figure 1, between the pages 198 and 199. Lines 61–62
emphasize the internal, spiritual, and metaphysical qualities of solace
and comfort. The poet compares the palace with the vault of the
sky and shows the superiority of the palace by the fact that the stars
will now come to the comfortable palace as guests and even as ser-
vants (l. 63). Drawing a parallel between the heavens and the palace
(l. 67), Ibn Zamrak expresses a parallel between God and his patron.
The elaborately carved capitals of the columns have become prover-
bial for their rare wonders (see figure 2, between the pages 198 and
199). The poet projects the imagery of the illuminating light of pol-
ished marble (ll. 69–70). The description of the fixed abode as a
match for heaven is an original eulogy to create the ideal image of
an Islamic polity and its ruler.
If the creator of the universe is God, the creator of the recon-
structed palace is Mu˙ammad V, who is not merely its owner but
37
See Suzanne Stetkevych, Abù Tammàm, 151.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 183
also its architect, responsible for its design and decoration. On the
metaphorical level, he emerges as the builder of the rightly guided,
eternal Islamic polity and thus deserves to be the leader of the realm.
The comparison of the ruler of Granada to the Creator of the world
constitutes one of the main themes in this panegyric. The poem not
only compares them, but even shows them as rivals. Of course, the
sovereign cannot declare himself a rival of God, who is matchless,
but his power is legitimized by God. Nevertheless, the ode occa-
sionally implies that the sovereign attempts to surpass Him on var-
ious levels, as in the allusive comparison of his garden to the Garden
of Eden which is discussed below.
A parallel is also implicitly drawn between the artistry of the patron
and of the poet. Ibn Zamrak introduces this parallel by his use of
the verb banà (to build) for composing poetry in line 30. Banà is usu-
ally employed for a building. Therefore, the poet suggests that his
“construction” of the poem is like the patron’s building of the palace.
Both their works are in the sphere of art, i.e., one is a poetic artist,
and the other is an architectural artist. The poetic artist uses poet-
ical means to express another art, architecture. Through the use of
ekphrasis, he fashions the Alhambra marvelously, by rhetorical devices,
to the extent that nobody has ever seen such beauty before.
Moreover, it is worth noting that some of the verses of the pan-
egyric (lines 60–70, 87–89, 92–93, 103–5, 123) were actually inscribed
on the wall of the Sala de las Dos Hermanas in that palace circa
1350 (see figure 3, between the pages 198 and 199).38 The inscribed
verses are intertwined with the ornamentation of the palace. They
demonstrate complex interreferentiality among the visual art (the
architecture), the verbalized visual art (the ode), and the visualized
verbal art (the inscribed verses). In other words, the architecture was
verbalized, and in turn, the verbalized art was returned to the archi-
tecture; the ekphrasis of the palace has become a part of ornamen-
tation in the architecture and has been assimilated into the building.
38
Monroe, Hispano-Arabic Poetry, 346–47 and Desmond Stewart and the Editors
of the Newsweek Book Division, The Alhambra (New York: Newsweek, 1974), 138–45.
According to Stewart, there are three kinds of inscriptions in the Alhambra: verses
from the Qur"àn, traditional religious sayings, and verses from Ibn Zamrak’s odes.
See Stewart, 140. The inscribed verses should have a cumulative aesthetic effect,
for the ekphrasis of the palace or the verbalized architecture has become a part of
ornamentation in the architecture and has been assimilated into the building.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 184
39
See Mitchell, Iconology (esp., chap. 2) for the discussion of word and image.
40
In the future, I hope to work on the subject of the inscribed verses in terms
of their mutual and composite effect, consisting of both visual and verbal arts, i.e.,
as a natural sign and an arbitrary sign, on the beholder and the reader.
41
See Ibn Shuhayd, Risàlat al-Tawàbi' wa al-Zawàbi', ed. Bu†rus al-Bustànì (Beirut:
Maktabat Íàdir, 1951). For example, he personifies a wind as a lovely woman in
the first line of p. 130.
42
Jaroslav Stetkevych finds the evocation of a maiden from the Garden of Eden
in a poem of Ibn al-Rùmì (d. 896), Zephyrs, 173.
43
Sperl says, “Blood and water symbolize the new fertility which the Caliph cre-
ates in the land; they overcome the grief of barrenness expressed in the tears,” 30.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 185
serves the ruler and his palace. The persona has a greater effect and
merit than the stars; that is why the stars envy the position of the
persona who is standing in the marvelous palace (l. 106). Height is
an important criterion for nobility to serve the ruler (l. 105); the
tower rises exceeding even the stars in height (l. 104). In 107–13 the
images of the flowers and the stars are employed ambiguously through
the use of the female third-person form (which is used for nonhu-
man plurals in Arabic) in verb conjugation; the poet plays both in
such a way that “they” can be either the flowers or the stars. The
ambiguity gives the phrases a poetic effect. In lines 108–9, however,
“they” are the flowers which try to ascend to the level of the clouds
(l. 108), i.e., their thirst is quenched as shown in line 107, “The
[flowers] suckled the breast of the clouds before this in the precinct
of the gardens in which they had grown.” The poet skillfully manip-
ulates the conjunction of flowers, clouds, lightning, and stars through
the use of space (the earth and the air), as well as the passing of
time. He is not merely an observer of the garden on the earth, but
also an observer of the garden in the heavens, as if the Alhambra
had two gardens. Now the persona is a stargazer, standing in his
patron’s court.
Then he reintroduces the building, emphasizing the strength and
loftiness of the fortress (ll. 115–17), as opposed to the imperfection
of the stars and the flowers. This presentation is in keeping with the
contemporary view that an attribute of monumental Islamic archi-
tecture, including palaces, citadels, and fortifications, is “the expres-
sion of power.”44 Oleg Grabar also argues that the Alhambra as a
building complex has three symbolic and ceremonial meanings: as
a fortress it signifies power, its waters fertility, and the mosque the
faith in Islam and allegiance to God and the ruler.45 Lastly, the long
description of the Alhambra ends with the good omen of a bird
perched at the summit of the palace (l. 120).
Ibn Zamrak does not describe objects as they are; rather, he enno-
bles and idealizes them. He uses similes likening the water emitted
from the jet of the fountain to scattered pearls (l. 74) and rose blos-
soms to a necklace decorating the top of the branch (l. 85). The
44
Oleg Grabar, “The Architecture of Power: Palaces, Citadels, and Fortifications,”
Architecture of the Islamic World, ed. George Michell (London: Thames and Hudson,
1995), 65.
45
Oleg Grabar, The Alhambra (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978), 103–35.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 186
46
For the word, enargeia, “pictorial vividness,” see Hagstrum, 11. According to
Hagstrum, the Greek word enargeia “was used to describe the power that verbal
visual imagery possessed in setting before the hearer the very object or scene being
described,” 11. For further discussion on enargeia, see pp. 7–10 in the Introduction.
47
Hagstrum, xx.
48
I understand that “likeness” is not only based on physical attributes but also
on internal ones.
49
Brilliant, Portraiture, 46.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 187
The nasìb section of the ode constitutes the beginning of the poet’s
self-portrait. Here, it is mostly controlled by the Arabic panegyric
convention. The persona fashions himself, creating his self-image as
that of a miserable and immature man discarded by his beloved.
That image is intimately connected to the conventional thematic
relationship between the nasìb and the madì˙, as I have discussed
earlier. A persona can hardly be satisfied and happy in the nasìb
because he must be saved by his patron in the madì˙. Poetic con-
vention also influences the madì˙. Ibn Zamrak has to portray the
sultan as an ideal ruler and his palace as the ideal and eternal Islamic
abode for his subject. This tradition, however, also fits the poet’s
poetic enterprise through his real experience and ambition.
In the madì˙, the panegyrist praises the sovereign and at the same
time prides himself on his poetic skills. A poet’s boasting of himself,
in addition to praising his ruler, became increasingly conventional
after 'Abbàsid poets, such as al-Mutanabbì (915–65), established the
theme. Ibn Zamrak’s poem says that the stars, like the flowers, envy
the position of the persona who is standing in the marvelous palace
(l. 106). He is proud of having been chosen as the court poet of his
patron and of the privilege to be in the glorious palace. What was
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50
The poet uses the verb a'jaza that means “to outdo” or “to speak in an inim-
itable way.” The concept of i' jàz (the verbal noun of the verb) is inimitability, the
wondrous nature of the Qur"àn. He implies that his poem is entering the realm of
the religious text.
51
Of course, the poet can never equate his ruler with God or his ode with the
Sacred Qur"àn because that would be blasphemy; his manner is skillfully sugges-
tive and allusive.
52
See Stephen G. Nichols, “Ekphrasis, Iconoclasm, and Desire,” Rethinking the
Romance of the Rose: Text, Image, Reception, ed. Kevin Brownlee and Sylvia Huot
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992), 133.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 189
53
Simon Goldhill, The Poet’s Voice: Essays on Poetics and Greek Literature (Cambridge,
U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 165–66.
54
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method, 2nd revised ed., trans. revised. Joel
Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall (New York: Continuum, 1995), 144. This
idea indicates that Gadamer also places visual portraits and poems composed for
someone into the same category, which supports my argument that the Arabic pan-
egyric is a verbal portrait.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 190
to exploit a particular occasion that made the ode effective only for
Mu˙ammad V. Neither occasionality nor conventionality should be
seen as a negative aspect of the tradition. Conventionality, which
governs the occasionality of the qaßìdah genre, could be considered
as a demerit in light of aesthetic value; a century ago, an Orientalist
like Ignaz Goldziher could claim that the preservation of a conven-
tional motif like Ωa'n (departing women) was a sign of “slavish imi-
tation of the old qaßìdah.”55 I have already indicated that a skillful
poet would work variations on conventional motifs; and the use of
panegyrical conventions in creating the portrait of a ruler has to be
understood in terms of its larger functions and not as a blemish on
the poet’s art.
When they praise an undeserving monarch with extravagant com-
pliments by following rigorous conventional rules, Arabic panegyrists
have been questioned as to their sincerity. This doubt has certainly
impeded the appreciation of the Arabic qaßìdah, as Sperl has pointed
out.56 I believe that sincerity should not be defined as truthfulness
to the ruler as an individual. An Arabic panegyric should still be
understood as a portrait even when the original is very far from the
poetic image. The question of whether a poet’s patron is truly as
wonderful as the poet presents him hardly matters. The portrayal
should be seen as the image of a ruler, not as the image of an indi-
vidual. As Gadamer maintains, “by way of its own pictorial content,
a portrait contains a relation to its original. This does not simply
mean that the picture is like the original, but rather that it is a pic-
ture of the original.”57 The qaßìdah poet does not intend to offer a
likeness of his patron, but rather to present “a picture of the origi-
nal” as a ruler much more than an individual. The qaßìdah was the
major literary genre in Arab culture for a long period because it
functioned to maintain “the basic values and political ideals” of each
age and “to exalt the role of Kingship.”58 Also, the image of a sov-
ereign portrayed in his panegyric can be a model for him; he should
attempt and seek to emulate and achieve the perfect image when
55
Goldziher, “Alte und Neue Poesie im Urtheile der arabischen Kritiker,”
Abhandlungen zur arabischen Philologie (Leiden: Buchhandlung und Druckerei vormals
E. J. Brill, 1896–99), part 1, 123–24. See also Jaroslav Stetkevych, “Arabic Poetry,”
120–23.
56
Sperl, 34.
57
Gadamer, 145.
58
Sperl, 33.
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 191
59
Grunebaum says that the motif of buildings was accepted as a legitimate inde-
pendent poetic theme in the 'Abbàsid period. Grunebaum, “Response to Nature,”
144. Until then, the description of buildings had been seen as merely the devel-
oped motif of the a†làl (the deserted encampment) in the nasìb. He further states
that in the ninth century C.E., literary modernism in Arabic literature began to be
interested in waßf (description/“pictorial” poetry) including the description of build-
ings. Grunebaum, “Aspects of Arabic Urban Literature mostly in Ninth and Tenth
Centuries,” Islamic Studies 8 (1969), 285–87. He lists Ibn al-Mu'tazz’s (d. 908 C.E.)
ode describing the Palace of the Pleiades that was erected by the Caliph Mu'ta∂i∂
(892–902), and al-Íanawbarì’s (d. 945 C.E.) poem with the description of the cathe-
dral mosque of Aleppo.
60
Al-Bu˙turì (821–97), the 'Abbàsid poet, composed an ode dedicated to the
'Abbàsid caliph al-Mutawakkil, describing the Ja'farì castle that was built by the
caliph. The ode consists of ten lines and only describes the castle. Although it does
not show either a traditional bipartite or tripartite form like Ibn Zamrak’s, the entire
ode may be considered as waßf (description) or the madì˙ for the building, i.e., for
the caliph, rather than a full qaßìdah. However, it might be hard to read it as a
portrait because it has no reference to the ruler as an architect. Al-Bu˙turì also
has a poem describing the pond of the Ja'farì castle composed for al-Mutawakkil.
It consists of sixteen lines and only presents the description of the pond, although
there are more varieties of the motifs, such as birds and fish (cf. Badawì, Al-Bu˙turì).
Motoyoshi/f7/155-193 9/10/03 4:00 PM Page 192
60 chapter two
3
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194
CONCLUSION
195
poems. The khabar, providing for the two qaßìdahs a suitable milieu
in the framework of a poetic contest, attempts to explain why the
two odes are so alike. With the employment of the concept of “play,”
the poetic or technical trait of a contest implies the idea that there
actually occurred a mu'àra∂ah. The female judge appears to play the
pun of a “stallion” and a “master poet” in the meaning of the fa˙l.
The khabar stresses sexual prowess, which is prominent enough to
make a joke, but what the tradition tries to convey most is murù"ah,
mature manhood, manly perfection or male aggression through the
waßf of the horse. Epithets express not only the physical appearance
of the target, but also its qualities and metaphorical meanings. This
chapter tells us that the physical description can be metaphorically
and emblematically understood.
Chapter Two aimed to explore the functions and symbolism of
waßf of the bee, honey, and its collectors in two Hudhalì odes, one
by the pre-Islamic poet Sà'idah ibn Ju"ayyah and the other by the
Mukha∂ram poet, Abù Dhu"ayb al-Hudhalì. Based on Arabic poetic
conventions and other ancient literary traditions, the bee and honey-
gathering can form symbols of remedy and resolution in both poems;
the bee and honey with the wine motif express healing for the two
poets, while the men’s honey-gathering is presented as a locus for
trial and quest. The waßf of the bee and honey is also a metaphor
for the lost meadow. I have demonstrated that the stylistic and struc-
tural disparities between the two poems reflect a contrast in their
mood and meaning. Those differences also suggest that the full tribal
qaßìdah may have fallen into a period of crisis with changes in terms
of allegiance and leadership that accompanied the coming of Islam.
The chapter on the two 'Abbàsid poets Abù Nuwàs and al-Bu˙turì
confirms that the employment of the theory of ekphrasis is helpful
in the exploration of waßf, for the visual motifs of the goblet and
the wall painting can be categorized according to a general under-
standing of ekphrasis, the verbal representation of visual art.1 Since
the sister arts (poetry and painting) occupy a central place in the
sphere of the study of ekphrasis and interarts, there are many crit-
ical theories available. I have claimed that the ekphrasis in the two
1
This interpretation conceptually accords with both the definitions of Spitzer
and Heffernan. See pp. 11–14 in the Introduction.
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[1]
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INDEX
244
of, 61; the persona’s identification pervasiveness of, 57; poetic contest,
with, 87; as sacred, 61; as symbols 21, 25, 57–59, 197; in relation to
of purity, assiduity, rebirth, and musical majlis (social gathering), 143;
spirit, 61; as symbol of soul, 75; between Sà'idah and Abù Dhu"ayb,
sweetness and purity of the bee and 63; between the singing-girl’s
honey compared to the beloved’s physical beauty, song, and the poet’s
saliva, 74 verbal work of art, 142. See also
beloved: as apparent object of mu'àra∂ah (opposition, contest)
description, 16; cheeks of, 142; contract, 58–59
description of, 75; glances of, 152, Ctesiphon (al-Madà"in), 96–97, 99
181; hair of, 73, 140–41; the image cultural codes, 8–10, 74, 79, 90
of in relation to bees, 63; infatuation
with, 139; kiss of as sweeter than decoration, 159, 183
wine, 79; kisses of, 141–42, 152; defamiliarization, 115–17
kisses and nights with, 77; as departing women motif (Ωa'n), 85, 190
representative of, 140, saliva of, 73 description, 15–16, 20–21; the
bird: in association with horse, 42; as Alhambra palace, 160, 182, 191; as
bad omen, 85; in garden, 184; as allegorical, metaphorical, symbolic
good omen, 185 meanings, 11; bees, honey, and a
blood, 49, 73 honey-gatherer, 61–64; different
bragging and scoffing, 57 functions of description of
Brilliant, Richard, 155–56, 180, 186 honey-collecting in Abù Dhu"ayb’s
al-Bu˙turì (poet), 12, 94; biographical ode and Sà'idah’s, 89–91; ekphrastic
information, 100–101 description, 12, 41, 188; as element
al-Bu˙turì’s ode, 94, 195–97; in in traditional Orientalists’ negative
comparison with Abù Nuwàs’s ode, judgment of the qaßìdah, 3–4; as
112–17; defamiliarization, 115–17; expression of murù"ah (virility), 60;
description of wall painting as madì˙ garden and fountain, 184; horse,
(panegyric), 109–10; lyric “I” in, 31–32, 45–46, 60, 195; horse’s body
119–20; between nasìb and madì˙, parts, 45; iconic and emblematic
111; political intent of, 117–19; ra˙ìl descriptions, 192; by indirection,
( journey section), 109; reality and 123; Ìwàn Kisrà, 111; journey, 41;
reverie, 115; theoretical exploration mimetic description, 90; minute and
of ekphrasis, 113–14; translated, thorough description, 4; more than
101–8; nasìb (elegiac prelude), mere description, 94–95; objective
108–11 description of Abù Nuwàs, 114;
building, 16, 157, 183–85, 191, 197 objective, dispassionate description of
Sà'idah’s honey-collector, 76, 89; as
calligraphy, 184, 198 the objective hypothesis, 2, 4, 123;
chivalrous hunt, 19–20, 41–42, 56, 60, physical description, 56, 90, 194;
197 the question of in Ibn al-Rùmì’s
clear and distinct description, 6, 9, 15, ode, 142–44; subjective description
20, 62, 64 of al-Bu˙turì, 114; subjective,
concept, 15–16, 20–21, 23, 26, 43, emotional description of Abù
45–46, 60, 194 Dhu"ayb’s honey-collector, 86, 89;
color, 113, 140–41 travelling cloud, 73; visual
competition: idea of, 58; between description, 142; wall painting,
verbal art and musical performance, 109–10; wine goblet, 98–100.
123 See also waßf
contest, 20, 23, 57–60, 144; descriptiveness of the qaßìdah, 2–4, 94
ceremonial contest, 59; etymological desert, 24, 32, 48
origin of, 59; between the hunter dhù al-wizàratayn (double vizier of the
and the hunted, 56; narrative pen and the sword), 159
context of poetic contest, 21; dìwàn (poetry collection), 5
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Dìwàn al-Inshà" (writing office), 159 in, 60; mufàkharah (boasting contest,
double-entendre, 26, 29–30 flyting), 58; in Sà'idah’s poem,
drinking, 24, 98, 100, 117 80–81; Sà'idah’s poem as an
exemplary model of fakhr, 64
ekphrasis, 6–11, 14–15, 20, 192, fallacious “I,” 119–20, 145
194–98; the Alhambra, 160, 183; in fame, 58–60
association with the notion of reality feast, 48, 57
and reverie, 93, 113, 116–17; bees fertility, 19, 21, 41–43, 48, 57, 181,
and honey-collecting, 76, 91; bee 184
description as ekphrasis in its flower, 181, 185, 191
original sense, 61; definition of, 6, flyting, 57–58
12–13, 155; description of a palace fountain, 156–57, 191
as, 156; ekphrasis of bees offers a frame of reference, 124–25, 136, 198
visual picture before the hearer’s frame song/poem, 136–37
eyes, 63; ekphrastic force, 74;
etymological context of, 6–7; eyes Gadamer, Georg, 189–90
in, 113; as form of praise, 188; garden, 156–57, 160, 182, 192
illusion of, 113–14; letter and sense Garden of Eden, 183–84
of, 120–21; as madì˙ (panegyric), Garden of Paradise, 74–75, 79
98–100, 117; modern conception of, gazelle, 16, 73, 89, 152, 181
92–93; response of describer, 114; in generosity, 60, 108, 160, 181, 184
the Shield of Achilles in the gesture, 10, 146, 148, 150, 196;
Homeric Iliad, 93, 116; silence in, gestural, 122, 148–49
113; theoretical discussion on ghazal (amatory lyric), 5, 133–34, 154
ekphrasis in Abù Nuwàs’s ode and ghulàm (young male slave/servant),
al-Bu˙turì’s, 112–14; transparency of 137
language, 113–14; wine and water ghurrah (a white mark in the middle of
in a wine cup as ekphrastic, 100 the forehead of a horse), 19
emblem, 21; emblematic identification, glance, 152–53, 181
30; emblematic meaning, 17, 43; glory, 19, 41, 60, 99, 111–12, 118,
emblematic mode, 180; emblematic 180, 189; in opposition to
passage, 192; emblematic portrait, humiliation, 59
156, 160, 180, 186, 192–93, 196 goblet, 93, 98, 100, 112, 114, 121,
embroidery, 150–51 195
emotion, 122–24, 145–51; emotional God, 14, 19, 42, 47, 75, 92, 182–83,
description, 87; emotional 187–88
movement, 79; emotional response, Goodman, Nelson, 124
143; emotional state, 87, 142
enargeia (pictorial vividness), 7–9, Óadìth (Prophetic sayings and acts), 13,
112–13, 186, 194 62, 74–76
energeia, 9 Hagstrum, Jean H., 7, 186
engagement, 58 hijà" (invective, lampoon), 109, 111,
epithet, 42–45, 73, 195 118, 196, 198
eroticism, 63, 77–78, 86 honey: as eroticism and fertility, 77;
eye, 4, 7–8, 11, 113 honeycomb, 75, 86; medical effect
of, 76–77; sterilizing power of, 61;
fa˙l (stallion or master poet), 20, 24, symbol of celestial food, eloquence,
28, 58–60 eroticism, and immortality, 61;
fakhr (boast), 1, 19, 58; in 'Alqamah sweetness and purity of, 74; thawàb
al-Fa˙l’s ode, 56–57; chivalrous hunt (water, honey, or reward), 74; used
in, 21, 23, 32, 41–42, 47; goal of, as part of libation, 61. See also 'asal
58; honor and glory in, 46; horse honey-gathering, 76, 195; in Abù
as, 60; in Imru" al-Qays’s ode, Dhu"ayb’s ode, 76; danger and risk
41–49; purpose of horse description of, 79, 86–87; fumigation, 86–87;
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246
247
248
Mu˙ammad VII (sultan), 158–59 patron, 92, 109, 117, 134, 138, 154,
Mukha∂ram (which spans the 156–57, 187, 191, 193, 196
pre-Islamic and Islamic periods), 62, Peirce, Charles Sanders, 10
91 performance, 6, 122–24, 136, 138,
al-Muntaßir (caliph), 101, 108, 118 146, 150, 197
murù"ah (manly virtue, virility), 26, Persian elements, 94–95, 99, 118, 125.
60, 195; as the pre-Islamic tribal See also Sàsànian motifs
notion, 21; as prerequisite of nadìm physical appearance, 43, 73
(boon-companion), 137 picture, 15, 151, 190, 197; as
music, 14, 92, 122, 125, 146, 148–49, condensation of reverie, 115
151 plagiarism, 31. See also saraq, sariqah
music and poetry, 148, 198 play, 25, 58–59, 195; playfulness, 21,
al-Mutanabbì (poet), 187 59
poems: competing with stars, 182; as
nadìm (boon-companion), 137 cultural significance of, 57; more
nàqah (she-camel), 43 authentic than khabar, 25; poem and
nasìb (elegiac prelude), 1, 16, 23, song/voice complementing each
32, 41, 47, 62; in 'Alqamah other, 151; sincerity of, 145, 190; as
al-Fa˙l’s ode, 56; aspect of Abù a written text, 139
Dhu"ayb’s nasìb (elegiac prelude), poetic enterprise, 64, 90, 123, 187
62; in al-Bu˙turì’s ode, 108–11; poetic strategy, 60; comparing art to
in Ibn Zamrak’s ode, 180–81; nature, 181, representing reactions
as Ibn Zamrak’s self-portrait, 187; of audience, 124
in Imru" al-Qays’s ode, 41; poetry: composition in a contest
metapoetic intent in the word nasìb system, 58; ekphrastic poetry, 156;
in Ibn al-Rùmì’s ode, 154; nasìb in pursuit of kleos (fame) through, 60
(elegiac prelude) elements in Ibn poetry and painting, 10, 93, 196;
al-Rùmì’s ode, 134, 152–53; in paragone (contest) between, 13
Sà'idah’s ode, 73–80; 'Udhrite love, poets: poet’s inability to go beyond the
181 nasìb (elegiac prelude), 153; poet’s
Naßrid, 155–56, 158, 182, 188 poetic ability for defending and
nectar, 63, 74 maintaining himself as politician and
non-verbal text, 6, 11–13 court poet, 159; poet’s poetic
nostalgia, 136, 152 knowledge of the horse, 45; political
intent of, 117; political situations of,
oath, 59, 73 95; symbiotic relationship of horse
occasionality, 189 and poet, 47
Ong, Walter J., 23, 29, 57–59 portrait, 123, 155, 182, 189, 191;
oral-formulaism, 31 double portrait, 156, 188, 193, 196;
oral transmission, 21, 25, 32 emblematic portrait, 156, 160, 180,
originality, 4, 126, 156, 191 186, 192–93, 196; as an intended
ornamentation, 183 relationship between portrait image
oryx, 45, 48, 56–57, 89, 98 and the human original, 155;
overlapping verses in Imru" al-Qays self-portrait, 156, 158, 160; in
and 'Alqamah al-Fa˙l, 22 Western court culture, 157
portraiture, 13, 92, 155; theories of,
painting, 6, 9–10, 92 157
panegyric. See madì˙ (panegyric); qaßìdat power, 21, 48–49; as concept behind
al-mad˙ (panegyric ode) appearance, 43; expression of, 185;
Paradise, 74–76, 79 poetic power, 60
paronomasia, 150 praise and blame, 59
Parry-Lord theory, 31 pre-Islamic age, 1, 23, 62, 187;
passion, 29, 73, 87, 141, 146, 149–50, pre-Islamic poems, 23, 31;
153 pre-Islamic poetry, 31, 73;
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pre-Islamic poets, 45, 61–62, 195; ra"ìs (chief of department), 159, 188
pre-Islamic qaßìdah (ode), 91 ràqißah (dancing girl), 184
pride, 91, 151 ràwì (reciter, transmitter), 23, 32, 62,
prohibition of painting in Islam, 12, 85
92 reader, 8, 30, 79, 94, 99, 114, 116,
Prophet Mu˙ammad, 42, 49, 76–77, 122, 141, 144, 147, 149, 151
91 reality and reverie, 93, 95, 116–17,
prowess, 19, 29, 41; poetic prowess, 119
59–60. See also sexual prowess remedy, 64, 195
psychological movement, 79; representation, 6, 8, 10, 146, 180, 182,
psychological sphere, 149; 194; ekphrastic representation of
psychological state, 93, 111 palace, 156; emblematic
pun, punning, 28, 59 representation, 157, 196; graphic,
pictorial representation, 14; Islamic
qaßìdah (classical Arabic ode): 21, 23; prohibition of idolatry or
aesthetic, literary qualities of, 4; visual/pictorial representation, 12,
animals in, 44; authenticity of 113–14; mimetic representation, 16,
pre-Islamic, 31; bipartite structure, 194; symbolic representation, 16;
63, 156; in comparison with visual verbal and visual representation, 12;
portraits, 157; convention, 73, 98, verbal representation, 13, 92, 195;
134, 140, 152, 181, 187, 189–91; visual, verbal, or musical
creativity and convention, 191; representation, 155
descriptive passages of, 94; as resemblance, 10, 15–16, 21, 45, 74
expression of an ideal Islamic resolution, 64, 78–79, 89, 195
polity, 117; form of, 1; a fragment reward, 124, 143
of, 88; as genre, 1; life-world and rhyme, 20–21, 25, 195
cultural codes of, 8–9; losers’ qaßìdah rhythm, 135, 144, 149
showing nonteleology, 112, 118; rithà" (elegy), 118, 198
occasionality of, 189; in poetic ritual, 58–59
scheme, 10; as portrait, 197; as rivers of the Garden of Paradise,
similar power to the Qur"àn, 187; 74–75
sincerity of, 145, 190; tripartite ruqan (magical spells), 153
structure, 1; waßf of, 16. See also al-Rusàfì (poet), 181
specific subjects
qaßìdat al-mad˙ (panegyric ode), 13, 92, Sà'idah ibn Ju"ayyah (poet);
155, 189, 192; as verbal portrait of biographical information, 62
ruler, 93 Sà'idah ibn Ju"ayyah’s ode, 195, 197;
qi†'ah (short poem or fragment), 96 bees and honey as healing and
qiyàn (singing-girls), 135–36 restraint, 78; bees gathering nectar
quest: for fame, 58; for eroticism and signifying the lost meadow, 74–76;
immortality, and the beloved, 78, bipartite structure, 63; difference
87, 91 from Abù Dhu"ayb’s ode, 63,
Quintilian (Roman rhetorician), 8 89–91; erotic, sexual image of bees
Qur"àn, 12, 32, 62, 74–77, 91, 135, and honey, 76–78; honey-collecting
158, 187–88 as resolution, 78; fakhr (boast),
80–81; nasìb (elegiac prelude), 63,
ra˙ìl (the poet’s journey section), 1, 23, 73–80; the persona’s separation from
32, 41, 43, 98, 160 his beloved, 73; ra˙ìl-like function of
ra˙ìl-like motif: in the Alhambra palace bees and honey description, 79; the
description, 160, 192; in the bee sayings of Qur"àn and Hadìth,
and honey-collecting description, 62, 74–77; storm cloud scene, 73; a
64, 88–89 string of similes for the beloved,
rain, 42, 184; rain-cloud, 57; 73–74; translated, 64–73; transition
rainstorm, 74, 78, 89 from evening to morning, 80, 90;
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the ultimate goal is the lost garden, 196; transfer/translation effects of,
79 151
saraq, sariqah (theft, plagiarism), 31 synecdoche, 16, 180
Sàsànian motifs, 12, 94, 96, 98–100,
109–12. See also Persian elements al-ˇabarì (historian), 75
scarcity of pictorial representations in ta∂mìn (textual contamination), 21
the Arabo-Islamic tradition, 12 †àlib (apprentice), 159
sense, 140–41, 151; the auditory and †arab (strong emotion of joy or grief ),
optical, 147–48; auditory, sensuous, 123, 138–39, 151; etymological
intuitive dimensions, 123, 196; context of, 146–47
optical, olfactory, and auditory tashbìb (rhapsody over a beloved
organs, 142; sensation, 140; woman), 153–54
sensibility and sentiments, 152; tent, 48, 57
tactile and optical and auditory, text, 6, 32, 61, 93, 156; original
151; vision, touch, and hearing, 150 setting of, 125
sexuality, 21, 87 †ibàq (antithesis), 98, 149
sexual prowess, 25, 29–30, 60 traditional Orientalists, 2–5, 10, 15,
she-camel, 26, 32, 57; sacrificial 21, 94
she-camel, 73 transparency of language, 113–14
Al-Shi'r wa al-Shu'arà" (Book of Poetry trial, 64, 89
and Poets), 26, 28 tribal community, 21, 43, 47
Shu'ùbiyyah movement, 99, 118 trope, 11, 156
similarity, 21; in contrast to contiguity,
16; spiritual similarity, 15 'Udhrite love, 181
simile, 11, 16, 185; for the beloved, Umm Jundab (Imru" al-Qays’s wife),
73–74; elative extended simile, 88; 20, 26, 27, 41, 58
extended similes, 62, 73, 88; in ut pictura poesis, 12–13
honey-collecting scene, 76; in horse
description, 43–46 verbal art, 123, 143–44; verbal art and
singing, 122–24, 133, 136–38, 143–46, visual art, 12; verbal art and
152–53; posture of, 147. See also musical art, 122
song verbal duel, 20, 57, 60; in Homeric
singing-girl, 111, 122–23, 125, 134–35, epics, 58
141, 152, 196 verisimilitude, 9–11; mimetic
sky, 160, 182, 184 verisimilitude, 10
song, 14, 24, 135–39, 144–46, 151; as viewer, 123–24, 144–45
messenger, 138 virility (murù"ah), 21, 30, 59
spear, 48, 81, 113 vision, 7, 142, 150
speed, 19, 43, 45, 48, 57 visual art, 13, 92–93, 157, 195; visual
stallion, 20, 24, 27–28, 30 art, verbalized visual art, and
star, 181, 184–85, 191 visualized verbal art, 183
stargazer, 185 visual language, 184, 198
steed, 29, 44, 46–48, 56, 81; sleek, visual portrait, 92–93, 157
swift steed (munjarid), 42–43; physical voice, 123, 125, 141, 146–51
beauty of, 47
strength, 21, 30, 44 Wa˙ìd (the singing slave-girl in Ibn
ßùrah (image), 15 al-Rùmì’s ode), 123, 135–40,
symbol, 21, 99, 195; beyond the 142–47, 150–54, 196
archetype, 44; of masculinity, wall painting, 6, 93, 109–10, 195
reproduction, and immortality, 29; waßf (description), 194–98; the bee,
of speed, fertility, 57; symbolism of honey, and its collectors, 61, 74–79,
honey and bees, 76, 79; symbolism 86–88; as criterion for evaluation of
of waßf, 195 poetry, 5; as flexible and serviceable,
synaesthesia, 123, 140–42, 150–51, 90; in imitation and emulation, 20;
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