Like Joseph in Beauty Yemeni Vernacular Poetry An
Like Joseph in Beauty Yemeni Vernacular Poetry An
Like Joseph in Beauty Yemeni Vernacular Poetry An
Edited by
VOLUME XXXIII
Like Joseph in Beauty
by
Mark S. Wagner
LEIDEN . BOSTON
2009
Cover illustration: detail from Carsten Niebuhr, Beschreibung von Arabien
(Copenhagen, 1772)
Wagner, Mark S.
PJ8007.2.W34 2008
892.7��1099533��dc22
2008035393
ISSN 1571-5183
ISBN 978 90 04 16840 4
Acknowledgements ..................................................................
.......... xi
List of
Abbreviations .....................................................................
.... xiii
A Note on
Translation ......................................................................
xv
Introduction ......................................................................
.................. 1
PART ONE
THE POETICS OF H.
UMAYN�� VERSE
PART TWO
H.
UMAYN�� POETRY IN THE YEMENI CULTURAL
AND LITERARY LANDSCAPE
PART THREE
SHABAZIAN POETRY
Chapter Six: Shabazian Eroticism, Kabbalah and Dor De.ah ..... 195
The Spring and the
Snake ............................................................ 195
Esoteric Interpretation: Yah.y�� Qorah.��s Commentaries
on the
D��w��n ...........................................................................
.. 199
The Problem of the Exoteric Interpretation of
Shabazian
Poetry ....................................................................... 212
Dor De.ah and Shabazian Poetry ................................................ 219
Conclusion ........................................................................
.............. 239
PART FOUR
H.
UMAYN�� AND MODERNITY
Chapter Seven: H.
umayn�� Poetry and Revolution
The Four
Styles ............................................................................
.. 247
Revolutionary H.
umayn�� Poetry .................................................. 254
Continuity in Modern H.
umayn�� Poetry ................................... 259
contents
Mut..
................. 265
Conclusion ........................................................................
.................. 299
Bibliography ......................................................................
.................. 327
References in
Arabic ..................................................................... 327
References in Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew .................................. 330
References in European Languages ............................................ 334
Index .............................................................................
....................... 341
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many people in the United States and abroad have helped me write this
book. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the faculty members at New
York University who served on my dissertation committee: Bernard
Haykel, Marion Holmes Katz, Philip Kennedy and Everett Rowson, as
well as Raymond P. Scheindlin from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
I would also like to thank Afr��h. Sa.d Yusr for the time she spent with
me puzzling over archaic S..
BL OIOC
British Library, Oriental and India Office Collection.
HH
S��lim al-Shabaz��, H.afets h.ayim: Shire rabenu shalem shabazi
zats.��l ha-mekhuneh aba shalem u-meshorere teman,
Yehudah Jizf��n, Yehudah Mans..
u-Shlomo Muqayt.
on, 1968).
I Mutahhar .Al�� al-Iry��n��, al-Mu.jam al-yaman�� f�� l-lughah
wa l-tur��th, h.
..
ST
S��lim al-Shabaz��, Shirim h.adashim le-rabi shalem shabazi,
ed. Shalom Seri and Yosef Tobi (Jerusalem: Ben Tsvi Institute,
1975).
T
Tova Weitzman: personal communication.
Z
Zayd b. .Al�� al-Waz��r: personal communication.
A NOTE ON TRANSLATION
.the Arabic definite article elides, I have written only ��l.�� In translating
S..��n�� Arabic, I have adopted Serjeant and Lewcock��s transliteration
anhardly differentiate between dh��l, d.��d, and z��.., I have indicated these
letters using the standard ��dh,�� ��d.,�� and ��z.�� For purposes of clarity,
.I have classicized the ��e�� and ��o�� vowel sounds of Yemeni Arabic to
conform to the conventional d.amma, fath.a, and kasra. Exceptions to
this convention will be found in the poems of Rabbi S��lim al-Shabaz��.
In transliterating Hebrew, I have adopted the system outlined in the
Encyclopedia Judaica.
ahhar
h.awl mufrad��t kh��ssah min al-lahaj��t al-yamaniyyah and Peter Behn
.nois. I have
also referred to classical Arabic dictionaries. In cases where an Arabic
word means one thing in the dialect and another in fush..��, I have tried
to cite its dialectical meaning. My translations aim for accuracy over
beauty.
INTRODUCTION
The story of h.umayn�� poetry is, at first blush, the history of a genre of
Arabic literature. Muslim Arabs began composing h.umayn�� poetry in
fourteenth-century Yemen. Often consisting of strophic love poems set
to music, h.umayn�� poetry was written in a mixture of classical Arabic
and Yemeni dialects of Arabic. However, in the seventeenth century,
the story of h.umayn�� poetry acquired an intercultural dimension. As
Yemeni Jews began to reinterpret these poems and write their own, the
story of h.umayn�� poetry became a story of the interrelationship between
Arab and Jewish cultures. Accordingly, this book not only chronicles the
origins and development of a genre of Arabic literature, it also tracks
the ways in which this genre has influenced Jewish literature and has
bound together Arabic and Jewish traditions of poetry and song.
Given [the relevance of this poem��s] contents I would have produced[this entire
poem] were it not for your high station. I wonder why theword ��h.umayn���� was so
named, which of the known meters it employed,
whether they were among those enumerated by al-Khal��l, what era produced
this new form and who was responsible for its first appearance.
1 Muh.ammad Zab��rah, Nayl al-watar min tar��jim rij��l al-yaman f�� l-qarn al-
th��lith
.
.ashar (Beirut: D��r al-.Awdah, n.d.), 1:87.
introduction
In [these matters] this poor writer��s pen gallops off, digressing from the
h.umayn�� verses he has quoted, diverting you [readers] from amusementto [my]
recollection of similar [mysterious] matters.2
A.Z. Idelsohn, who in 1910 and 1911 recorded the songs of Yemeni
Jews in Jerusalem as part of what would later become his mammoth
Thesaurus of Oriental Hebrew Melodies, sought in Yemeni Jewish song
the musical traditions of ancient Israel.7 Thus, Yosef Tobi considers him
the founder of the ��romantic school in the study of Yemenite Jewry.��8
A Jewish archaeologist named Eduard Glaser, after pondering the fact
that Yemen��s aristocracy converted to Judaism in the sixth century,
advocated making Yemen the Jewish national home. Theodore Herzl
found this suggestion so distasteful that he nearly challenged Glaser
to a duel.9
4 Moritz Steinschneider, Die Arabische Literatur der Juden (1902; repr. Hildesheim:
Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1964), 259.
5 Tudor Parfitt, The Road to Redemption: The Jews of Yemen 1900�C1950 (Leiden:
E.J. Brill, 1996), 31�C32; Wilhelm Bacher, Die hebr.ische und arabische Poesie der
Juden
Jemens (Budapest: Adolf Alkalay and son, 1910), 4n1.
6 Yosef Tobi, The Jews of Yemen: Studies in Their History and Culture (Leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1999), 270�C271; Tobi, ��Beyn shirat teman le-shirat sefarad,�� in Yahadut
teman:
Pirke meh.kar ve-.iyun, ed. Yosef Tobi and Yisrael Yeshayahu, (Jerusalem: Ben
TsviInstitute, 1975), 306�C308.
7 Many of the earliest recordings of Yemeni music were destroyed during WWII.
Idelsohn��s recordings, housed in the Phonogram-Archiv der Kaiserliche Akademieder
Wissenschaft in Vienna, did not survive the war. Paul F. Marks, Bibliography
ofLiterature Concerning Yemenite-Jewish Music, Detroit Studies in Music
Bibliography 27(Detroit: Information Coordinators, 1973), 49. With the fall of
Berlin, the Red Armystationed troops in the Odeon factory, where the company��s
record collection (including
many recordings by Yemeni singers) was used for target practice.
of a Muslim faq��h, was eventually unmasked, and escaped by the skin of his teeth.
According to Goitein, Glaser thought that the plan to make Yemen a refuge for Jews
would solve the Jewish Question while preserving both Ottoman and Austro-
Hungarianambitions in the Middle East, whereas the Zionist settlement of Palestine
served British
interests. S.D. Goitein, ��Mi hayah eduard glazer,�� in Shvut Teman, ed. Yisrael
Yeshayahu and Aharon Tsadok (Tel Aviv: Hots.at ��mi-teman le-tsiyon,�� 1945), 154;
Yosef Tsurieli, ��Hertsl ve-tokhnit glazer li-medinah yehudit bi-teman,�� in
Pe.amim
65 (1995): 57�C76.
The study of Yemeni Jewry was also one of the many passions of
Shlomo Dov (Fritz) Goitein, an Islamicist and Hebraist best known for
his work on the Cairo Genizah. Living among members of the community
in Jerusalem and traveling to Aden on behalf of the Jewish
Agency, Goitein had a hands-on engagement with Yemeni Jewry. But
Goitein��s view of Yemeni Jews, like that of the writers of the First Aliyah,
was a paradoxical one. On the one hand, he worked in the ��romantic
school�� of Idelsohn, struggling to preserve every nuance of Yemeni Jews��
pronunciation of Hebrew in the belief that it reflected the language of
ancient Israel. In 1945, he said that Yemeni Jews were ��the most Jewish
of all of the Jewish communities,�� their spoken language was ��perhaps
the purest Semitic language in existence today,�� and that Yemen was
��the fortress of pure Semitism (mivtsar ha-shemiyut ha-t.
ehorah) as the
great traveler Joseph Hal��vy dubbed it.�� He felt that the social life of
Jews in Yemen gave them ��a way of life similar to that of our forefathers
in the Talmudic period.�� They were, all in all, ��closest to our earliest
forefathers.��15 On the other hand, Goitein also believed that the Jewish
and Arab civilizations enriched each other in a symbiotic fashion: not
only were Yemeni Jews the most Jewish of Jews, Yemeni Arabs were
also among the most Arab of Arabs.16
Taken together, his ideas on this subject can be read in two ways.
They may mean, in line with his statements of 1945, that the Jews and
Arabs of Yemen are simply the most primitive��and therefore the most
authentic��communities of their respective worlds. In keeping with his
concept of Jewish-Arab symbiosis, Goitein also may have meant that
Jews and Arabs in Yemen were somehow responsible for each other��s
cultural heritage. If the Jewish-Arab symbiosis had a geographical axis,
surely this was Yemen. If Yemen was the original site of this mutual
enrichment, Goitein optimistically saw the state of Israel as the locus
of a new Jewish-Arab symbiosis. And he thought of Yemeni Jewish
immigrants as the seasoned guides who would lead Palestinian Jews
and Arabs into a new era of cooperation and creativity. The holy land
of Jewish-Arab symbiosis, Yemen, was to be transferred to the Holy
Land.
These twin contradictions seem all the more glaring when one takes
into account the decades of near total separation between Yemeni Jews
15 S.D. Goitein, ��.Al erikh brauer z.l.,�� in Shvut teman, ed. Yisrael Yeshayahu
andAharon Tsadok, (Tel Aviv: Hots.at ��mi-teman le-tsiyon,�� 1945), 93.
16 Goitein, Jews and Arabs (New York: Schocken Books, 1964), 73.
17 A word about terms: I use the terms ��Yemeni Arab poetry�� and ��Yemeni
Jewishpoetry�� out of convenience. Most Yemeni h.umayn�� poetry could not be
described as��Muslim�� in anything but the broadest sense because its content is
lyrical or humorous.
Therefore, one is left with ��Arab.�� Since Yemeni Jews wrote much poetry in
Arabic, theirpoetry cannot accurately be described as being in Hebrew (to be
contrasted with MuslimYemenis�� Arabic). The term ��Arab Jew�� has little currency
outside small academic andpolitical circles and I have never come across any
formulation remotely resembling itin the works of Yemeni Muslims or Yemeni Jews.
Jewish writers in Yemen tended to
call their non-Jewish neighbors ��Ishmaelites�� or, less often ��Arabs.�� Muslim
authorscalled Jews ��Jews,�� ��the people of the Pact�� (ahl al-dhimmah), or, less
often, ��infidels��
(kuff��r). I have deliberately avoided the adjective ��Yemenite�� in that my intent
is totreat both Jewish and non-Jewish poetry under the rubric of h.umayn�� poetry.
Also,
the term ��Yemenite�� strikes me as redolent of the idea that those to whom it
refers to
are carry-overs from the ancient world, like Amorites or Hittites, an attitude
prevalentin much early twentieth-century scholarship on the Jews of Yemen (Tobi,
The Jews
of Yemen, 268�C269).
introduction
and Arabs since the Jews�� mass emigration to Israel, and the trials the
community faced adjusting to the social order of the new Israeli state.
In addition, due to a variety of complex factors that will be addressed at
length in Chapter Six, Yemeni Jews and their descendants in Israel have
held ambivalent attitudes towards Arab culture in general, particularly
insofar as it impacts their sacred poetry. Nevertheless, Yemeni Jewish
scholars like Yehudah Ratzhaby and Yosef Tobi have played central
roles in the reconstruction and renovation of Yemeni Jewish culture
in Israel. In recent publications, Tobi has emphasized that the reconstruction
of the culture of the Jews of Yemen necessitates familiarity
with Yemeni Arab culture.18
19 Ahmad Dallal has argued that the onus for the fact that Jewish and Arab
sourceshave not been integrated lies with Jewish scholars, who have not made
sufficient use
of Yemeni Arabic sources. Ahmad Dallal, ��On Muslim Curiosity and the
Historiography
of the Jews of Yemen,�� in Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies
1.2 (1999). One wonders what led Professor Dallal, who apparently does not
knowHebrew, to attempt a broad critique of scholarship on Yemeni Jewry, the
overwhelmingmajority of which is written in Hebrew. Indeed, Tobi��s articles that
promoted the use
of Arabic sources in scholarship on Yemeni Jewry render Dallal��s point moot. Alas,
he wrote them in Hebrew! See Isaac Hollander��s comments on Dallal��s argument in
Jews and Muslims in Lower Yemen: A Study in Protection and Restraint, 1918�C1949
the sense that poems respond poorly to being treated as sources for
historical change. This might be said to be particularly true of Arabic
poems that relish conventional motifs and rhetorical flourishes over
biographical or annalistic detail. After these poems grudgingly offer up
their factuality, their unfortunate researchers may have the feeling that
they could have reaped much greater yields from patently historical
works or archival documents, as well as having ignored the poetry��s
poetry, so to speak. Ann Jefferson and David Robey, among others, have
made this point.20 Despite these pitfalls, a historical-literary approach
is necessary to analyzing the historical development of this mysterious
genre and to determining its distinctive qualities as literature.
anfrom the Western Mosque Library of the Great Mosque of S..��., the
DEFINING THE H.
UMAYN�� POEM
Origins
1 James Montgomery, The Vagaries of the Qasidah: the tradition and practice of
earlyArabic poetry (Cambridge: E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Trust, 1997).
chapter one
abaq��t a.y��n al-yaman (BL OIOC 2425), 183r: ��. . . Wa-lahu d��w��n
shi.rin mumti.in yadkhul f�� mujalladayn d.akhmayn fa l-mujallad al-awwal f��
l-.arabiyy��tmurattaban .al��. h.ur��f al-mu.jam wa l-mujallad al-th��n�� f��-h��
siw�� l-.arabiyy��t minal-h.amaniyy��t wa l-s��h.iliyy��t wa l-b��lb��l wa l-
d��bayt��t. . . .��; Charles Rieu, Supplementto the Catalogue of the Arabic
Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: the British
Museum, 1894), 1:454; H.usayn al-.Amr��, Mas..
4 The idea that there were ��seven kinds of poetry�� may have its origins in the
��sevenarts�� of an earlier Arab poet, S..
5 His poetry, mainly panegyric, was printed as D��w��n Ab�� .Abdall��h Jam��l al-
D��n
Muh.ammad b. H.
imyar b. .Umar al-Wus��b�� al-Hamd��n�� (Beirut: D��r al-.Awdah,
1985).
6 Ibn Hutaymil, D��w��n Ibn Hutaymil: Durar al-Nuh.��r, ed. .Abd al-Wal�� al-
Sham��r��
(S..��.: Mu.assasat al-ibd��.
an li l-thaq��fah wa l-��d��b, 1997).
7 Copies of his adab collection, Kit��b lubb al-alb��b wa-nuzhat al-ah.b��b fi l-
ad��b,
are held by the D��r al-kutub al-mis....ramawt.
riyyah and the Ahq��f library in Tarim, HadThe waqf repository at the Great Mosque
of S..��..mad .Abd
9 Much Ras��lid poetry is now available in print. Ibn al-Muqr�� was a jurist, apoet
and a foe of Sufism. Alexander Knysh, Ibn Arabi in the Later Islamic Tradition
defining the h.13
umayn�� poem
the Ras��lid courts and chancery, producing secular poetry, adab works,
and literary epistles.10
(Albany: SUNY Press, 1999), Chapter 9. His d��w��n was printed in Bombay in 1888
as Majm��.at al-q��d.�� al-f��d.il sharaf al-d��n ism��.��l bin ab�� bakr al-
muqr��. Ibn al-Muqr��wrote a treatise demonstrating his verbal pyrotechnics
called .Unw��n al-sharaf al-w��f��
f�� l-fiqh wa l-nah.w wa l-ta.r��kh wa l-.ar��d. wa l-qaw��f�� (Ta.izz: Maktabat
Us��mah, 1987).
It was ostensibly a treatise on law. By reading along the first letter of each
line, thelast letter of each line, or along one of two columns running down the
middle of eachpage, the reader would find four additional treatises on prosody, the
history of theRas��lids, grammar, and rhyme. J.A. Dafari, (Ja.far .Abduh al-
Z.af��r��), ��H.umaini Poetryin South Arabia�� (PhD diss., School of Oriental and
African Studies, 1966), 208�C209.
Judging by the title of a work of his listed by Brockelmann (Rieu, Supplement,
2:255),
��al-H.umayniyy��t al-bad��.ah fi madh..ilm al-shar��.ah,�� he apparently wrote
h.umayn��poetry as well. Dafari, ��H.umaini poetry,�� 227n89. Ibn al-Muqr�� is the
subject of T.��h��
Ah.mad Ab�� Zayd, Ism��.��l al-Muqr��: Hay��tuhu wa-shi.ruhu (San.��.: Markaz al-
dir��s��t
.
.wa l-buh.��th al-yamaniyyah, 1986).
10 A full account of Ras��lid literature would have to take into account the
substantial
body of poetry and prose produced under the S..ids, the Ism��.��l�� dynasty that
ulayhwas the Ras��lids�� chief competitor in Lower Yemen. What Yemeni scholars
portray
as a Ras��lid cultural efflorescence ex nihilo may, in fact, represent a
continuation of acreative process that began under the S..
ulayhids.
11 ...
ay��t al-adab al-yaman�� f�� .as...��.: Wiz��rat
adr al-D��n b. Ma.he defines the difference between strophic poetry of Yemen and
that
of North Africa. He writes:
The people of Yemen have a kind of poetry which they call muwashshah.,
and which differs from the muwashshah.
of the people of the Maghreb.
The difference between them lies in that the muwashshah. of the peopleof the
Maghreb preserves the desinential inflections (i.r��b) . . . unlike that
of the people of Yemen, in which the i.r��b is totally omitted, and the
incorrect, ungrammatical language (al-lah.n) is even sweeter in it, as inthe
zajal.15
H.
umayn�� poetry is uninflected as will be seen in the preceding lineswhich are so
delicate that they almost flow away. This is what the post-
classical Arab literati (al-muwallad��n min udab��. al-.arab) like, especiallythe
poets of Yemen who are the horsemen of this racecourse and itsstandard-bearers.16
13 While Andalusian writers of strophic poetry used local dialects, these genres
wererapidly classicized as they were disseminated to other regions of the Arab
world.
14 Majd al-Afand��, al-Muwashshah��t f�� l-.asr al-.uthm��n�� (Damascus: D��r al-
Fikr,
..
adr al-D��n b. Mas��m, Sul��fat al-.asr f�� mah��sin al-shu.ar��. bi-kull misr,
ed.,
Ah.mad b. .Al�� ��l .Abdallah al-Th��n�� (Qatar: Mat��bi..Al�� b. .Al�� al-Radhah
1962/1963),
..
an1811 edition, Professor Lumsden of Fort William College wrote: ��I solicited and
obtainedfrom the General Council the liberty of employing the aid of a learned
Arab, ShykhAhmud, a native of Yumun [sic], who is now attached to the College est.
Added to anextensive acquaintance with the Arabian poets, this man boasts, in his
own person, ofno inconsiderable talents for poetry; and some original pieces of his
composition arepublished in the course of the following work.��
defining the h.15
umayn�� poem
This is a style that is not loved by the poets of Yemen. It is loved by thepeople
of Egypt and Syria. They have written so much of it that it hasbecome an ugly
thing. They take up the cause of weak themes, and sickly,
drooping expressions.17
One major poet and patron of h.umayn�� poetry in the eighteenth century,
Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad al-F��yi., quotes a strophic poem that he
describes as having been written ��according to the style of the people
of the Levant�� (al��. t.
21 Ibid., 44�C45.
22 Ibid., 15�C16.
23 Ibid., 153.
24 ..ibsh��, al-S...��.: Maktabat al-J��l
26 Al-Hibsh��, al-S.
.��fiyah, 32.
27 Ibid., 32.
28 Ibid., 32.
..
defining the h.17
umayn�� poem
these enemies were the Portuguese, whose influence in the Red Sea
and Indian Ocean was on the rise. In 1538, when Yemen became an
official Ottoman province, the Empire strengthened its forces in that
country.30 The simultaneous expansion of the Ottomans and the Zayd��
Sharaf al-D��n Im��ms into the Yemeni highlands brought an end to
the rule of the T.��hirids (1454�C1517), a dynasty that had been based in
Lower Yemen. Although the Sharaf al-D��n Im��ms��principally the de
facto Im��m Mut .
ahhar��s lame left leg and lack of training in Zayd�� doctrine disqualified himfrom
the Im��mate.
Contested, ed. Frederick De Jong and Bernd Radtke (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1999), 139.
35 Al-Q��sim b. Muh.ammad, H.
atf anf al-��fik, unpublished critical edition by BernardHaykel and Wilferd
Madelung, 3, line 22: ��fools want to rush to one who slurps drinkfrom the infidel
heretic.�� ��fa-taw��thaba l-aghm��ru yabgh��na l-ladh�� / laqafa l-saqiyyamin al-
kaf��ri l-mulh.idi��; Madelung, ��Zayd�� Attitudes to Sufism,�� 141.
chapter one
They speak of [God] to their [fellow] heretic as if the Lord loved with
the pining love of beautiful girls [. . .]
Or as if He was the king, united with virgins with white necks and flushed
cheeks, and with a beardless youth,
Then He stood alone with none beside Him��Exalted be the deity above
[consorting with] a nasal-voiced [singer] and a young [woman],
They [Sufis] say ��whosoever loves his Lord should visit virgins with soft
breasts.��
Al-Q��sim��s polemical poem shows that the days had come to an end
when Yemen��s rulers and common people both participated in Sufi
musical ceremonies.
In response to this poem attacking Sufism, the poet Ibn Sharaf al-D��n
(encouraged to one degree or another by the Ottoman official Sin��n
P��sh��), wrote a rejoinder, in which he defends singing and praises
Sin��n and Sultan Mehmet III.36 Sin��n��s advocacy for Sufism and his
relationship to Ibn Sharaf al-D��n are discussed by the Yemeni writer
al-Rash��d�� in a genealogical work. He writes:
Sin��n used to feign piety and Sufi attitudes, fast for the three months[Sha.b��n,
Ramad.��n, and Shaww��l] but despite this he busied himselfwith murder and
bloodshed, killing anyone who angered him. When the
Im��m al-Q��sim (peace be upon him) wrote his famous ode on Sufismand it reached
Sin��n, he said: ��Who will respond to the Im��m al-Q��sim?��
(peace be upon him) and it was said to him that the sayyid Muh.ammad
37 ...
umayn�� poem
While it is possible that Ibn Sharaf al-D��n was coerced into supporting
Sufism, as his opponents the Im��m al-Q��sim and al-Rash��d��
suggest, Ibn Sharaf al-D��n��s poem, taken at face value, seems to go far
beyond political expediency. The main line of argument in Ibn Sharaf
al-D��n��s response to the Im��m al-Q��sim��s attack on Sufism was that
the prophet Muh.ammad encouraged singing love poems, admiring
beardless youths, and dancing. Ibn Sharaf al-D��n also defended these
practices using Sufi technical terms, describing them as activities that
involved incarnation (h.ul��l) and union (ittih.��d). He recommended that
the Im��m al-Q��sim study the works of the Sufis to rectify his wrongheaded
prejudice against them.40
��r bi ll��h al-Q��sim (peace be upon him) in[the form of] his famous ode whose
opening line is ��the truth is more
luminous and clear to the rightly-guided . . .�� where he crossed the line
in insulting the Im��m and was excessive in [speaking of] that which is
not permissible among all of humanity: in support of tottering Sufismand
straightening its distorted tenets. Perhaps he repented to erase theenormity of
this sin. Sayyid Jam��l al-D��n ...
b. al-Im��m Sharaf al-D��n (may God have mercy on him) told me that
theaforementioned sayyid was extremely regretful about this and claimedto have been
coerced by the Pasha, Sin��n, for he was [both] feared andincorrect in his views.
The sayyid al-Mut..
ahhar b. Muhammad al-Jarm��z��
(may exalted God have mercy on him) related in his book, The S��rah of
the Im��m al-Mans.
39 Al-Q��sim b. Muh.ammad, H.
atf anf al-��fik, 2.
40 Ibid., 10.
41 Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad b. al-H.asan, Simt. al-la.��l f�� shi.r al-��l (BL OIOC
2426),
83r�Cv.
chapter one
Another piece of evidence for Ibn Sharaf al-D��n��s direct contact with
Sufism consists of an anecdote preserved in his fush..�� d��w��n, al-Rawd.
al-marh��m wa l-durar al-manz...
There was a man who made frequent trips between S... and Mecca
an��time, and even when Mullah .Al�� returned to Mecca, they continued to
correspond. .��s�� b. Lutf All��h records a fragment of one of Ibn Sharaf
With the lover��s parting from his beloved [the letter] brings with it everywonder.
What is asked concerning that which brings two souls together
��li., ed. Hal-Fikr, 1998), 712: ��. . . K��na m��.ilan il�� l-s.
��fiyya maylan z��.idan.��
44 Muhammad b. Abdallah Sharaf al-D��n, al-Rawd. al-marh��m wa l-durr al-manz��m
...
umayn�� poem
is that it bring together two bodies after their having been separated andthat it
lead to this subtle spirit from its allotted portion in the spiritualworld the
Beneficent and Merciful Paradisiac cooling breezes that descendfrom the Holy
Presence (al-h.ad.rah al-qudsiyyah) by means of provendivine expressions and
Throne-like powers (maras��t .arshiyyah kursiyyah).
Amen, O Lord of the Worlds.46
Ibn Sharaf al-D��n was neither the first nor the last Zayd�� gentleman
to practice Sufism.47 The Simt. al-la.��l f�� shi.r al-��l describes the poet��s
uncle, .Al�� b. al-Im��m Sharaf al-D��n48 (d. 1570/1571), by saying that
he ��had an inclination to learning and rite affiliation (madhhab) and a
preoccupation with Sufism and those recognized for it. He commented
upon something of Ibn .Arab����s.��49 Y��suf b. Yah.y��, al-H.asan�� in his
Nasmat al-sah.ar, says that the poet��s father, .Abdallah, wrote Sufi poems,
��had Sufism in him�� (wa-k��na fihi al-tas.
awwuf ).50
..al-D��n (d. 1638/1639). The son of one of the Sharaf al-D��ns who was
exiled to Istanbul, .��s�� worked in the Ottoman-supervised Sharaf al-D��n
court as an aide to the vizier Muh.ammad P��sh��. There, he composed
two histories: Al-Anf��s (or al-Nafh.ah) al-yamaniyyah f�� l-dawlah
al-muh.ammadiyyah, and R��wh. al-r��h. f��-m�� jar�� ba.d al-mi.ah al-t��si.ah
min al-fut��h.. .
��li., 462.
49 Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad b. al-H.asan, Simt. al-la.��l f�� shi.r al-��l, 206v.
50 Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan��, Nasmat al-sah.ar, 2:294�C295.
51 Ibid., 2:464.
chapter one
with them.��52 In one of his poems, .��s�� borrows the following pair of
lines in praise of Turks from Ibr��h��m b. Yah.y�� al-Ghazz�� (d. 1129/1130):
��Among brave young Turks who did not, in any circumstances, leave
a single sound or shred of their reputation to the thunder [of battle],
A people who, when greeted, were benevolent angels, but when fought
were demons.��53
After the Ottomans left Yemen, .��s�� swiftly adapted to the new order
by taking employment in the mountain fastness of Shah��rah with the
Im��m al-Mu.ayyad bi ll��h, the son of al-Q��sim b. Muh.ammad. According
to Muh.ammad b. .Al�� al-Shawk��n��, .��s�� b. Lutf All��h composed and
.Sufism and the Zayd�� Imams opposed it. There is a striking contrast
between .��s����s generous appraisal of the Sufi Mullah .Al�� and his quotation
of Mullah .Al��.s mystical correspondence with the poet in Ibn
Sharaf al-D��n��s d��w��n and his calumny against Sufism in the following
poem:
One may tentatively conclude that .��s�� b. Lutf All��h wrote the poem
late in his career while working in the Q��sim�� court due to the fact
anubu min
al-ittis..
.wa-l�� s..
��t�� / qawmun idh�� q��bil�� k��n�� mal��.ikatan / husnan wa-in q��til�� k��n��
.afar��t����;
Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan��, Nasmat al-sah.ar, 2:466.
54 Al-Shawk��n��, al-Badr al-t..
bin muh.ammad yatanassalu f��h�� .amm�� yunsabu ilayhi min tafd.��lih li l-dawlah
alturkiyyah
.al��. l-dawlah al-q��simiyyah.��
��t atlaqah�� f�� mu.allaf��tih mimm�� yaqdahu f�� l-dawla al-im��miyya yastah��
kath��ran.��
56 Quoted in Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan��, Nasmat al-sah.ar, 3:50�C51.
defining the h.23
umayn�� poem
that the Ottomans held Ibn al-.Arab�� in great reverence and forbade
slandering him.57 He may have also revised Ibn Sharaf al-D��n��s h.umayn��
d��w��n while in Shah��rah.58
from among the poets of the Maghreb who excel at the composition
of uninflected North African poetry�� (al-naz..
m al-malh��n al-maghrib��)
who composed a humorous imitation (mu.��rad.ah) of one of Ibn Sharaf
al-D��n��s poems.59 This portrayal of Mullah .Al�� as a witty dialect poet
differs substantially from his portrayal in Ibn Sharaf al-D��n��s fush..�� d��w��n
as a cerebral ascetic. This difference might be explained contextually;
after all, the h.umayn�� d��w��n deals with dialect poetry. However, the
fact that his employer opposed Sufism would have been a good reason
not to mention Mullah .Al����s mystical tendencies.
.��s��. b. Lutf All��h prefaces Ibn Sharaf al-D��n��s humayn�� d��w��n with
..
a fascinating disclaimer:
Know that my lord Muh.ammad b. .Abdallah (may Almighty God havemercy on him) did
not compose these famous love poems (qas��..id) inthe fashion of the masters of
description [in poetry], using allusions(kin��y��t) to the beloved that consist of
divine descriptions and propheticcharacteristics along the lines of what we find in
the poems of [Sufi poet]
.Abd al-Rah.m��n al-.Alaw�� and those who followed his path. All of themeanings
(ma.��n��) of most of their strophic poems (muwashshah.��t) andlove poems
(ghazaliyy��t) are allusions and do not deal with a specific
beloved. Instead they are allegories (ish��r��t) to the understanding oflove
prevalent among the Sufis (ahl al-t.
59 Ibn Sharaf al-D��n, D��w��n, 131. .��s�� also mentions that ��a (or some) North
Africannotable(s)�� (ba.d. a.y��n al-maghrib) was present at the majlis of the
vizier H.asan Pasha
in al-Rawd.ah. Ibid., 187.
chapter one
them said that Layl�� referred to the Ka.ba. One of them said: ��let us goand ask
him about this because he knows best.�� When they were standingin his presence they
told him the story and he said: ��You have all gone
astray in your imaginings. All I meant by .Layl��. was an allusion to a lovelygirl
of stunning, exuberant beauty and delicate pulchritude.��60
True to the promise of his disclaimer, .��s�� b. Lutf All��h peppered both
of Ibn Sharaf al-D��n��s d��w��ns with accounts of his successful and unsuccessful
love affairs. The Yemeni scholar J. Dafari first articulated the
idea that the editor of Ibn Sharaf al-D��n��s d��w��n deliberately obscured
the poet��s link to Sufism. He observes:
From the foregoing [disclaimer], one can sense a feeling of earnestnesson the part
of .Is�� to deny any connection of [Ibn Sharaf al-D��n] withthe Sufi doctrines of
his time . . . But one may question the authenticity of
some of the versions of .Is�� b. Lutf All��h. Most of the stories which he
narrates might have been the creation of his own in order to give an
earthlycolouring to some of the poems. Moreover, it is possible that he did
notinsert those poems in which Sufi principles are clearly manifested, andwhich
perhaps presented him with the problem of inventing appropriatestories that would
have given them a worldly background.61
..
.
60 Ibid., 17.
61 Dafari, ��H.umaini Poetry,�� 66�C67.
defining the h.25
umayn�� poem
Then came the jurist and im��m, the im��m of knowledge and of the[Sufi] path, .Abd
al-Rah.m��n b. Ibr��h��m al-.Alaw��. He was one of those
who passed the [wine] cup. His themes surpass a garden watered byever-present
clouds. He lived during the reign of Sultan .��mir b. .Abd
al-Wahh��b and he lived into the reign of my father the Im��m Sharafal-D��n. On him
and on his son the Caliph al-Mut..Alaw��] he
ahhar [alwrote
panegyrics whose place the stars would love to occupy and whosepaths the moons
covet.62
.
.Abd al-Rah.m��n al-.Alaw�� the paradigmatic writer of Sufi love poetry
and uses him as a foil for Ibn Sharaf al-D��n. In contrast, the passage
quoted above stresses al-.Alaw����s talent as a poet and his identity as a
courtier who served rulers, composed panegyric, and drank wine. In
this passage, al-.Alaw�� serves as a chronological bridge between the two
Ras��lid poets of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and Ibn Sharaf
al-D��n. Though the editor does not obfuscate al-.Alaw����s Sufism here,
he emphasizes this writer��s role as a courtly poet.
al-D��n, the father of the poet Muh.ammad, also composed Sufi poetry.65
Fourteen h.umayn�� poems can be found in the d��w��n of the Zayd��
poet M��s�� b. Yah.y�� Bahr��n (d. 1526/1527). Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad
.as the first to write h.umayn�� poetry could indicate either that the poet
introduced the compound muwashshah. (see p. 311) in its finalized form,
or that ��he was the man who gave h.umaini, as a whole, the right of
citizenship in the literary circles of South Arabia.��69 .��s�� b. Lutf All��h��s
.poet just as the Zayd�� Q��sim�� dynasty was emerging. He was a major
poet who lived at the right place and at the right time.71
69 Ibid., 90n43.
70 ��s��..
b. Lutf All��h at one point discussed the opulence and architectural audacityof the
T.��hirids. Ibn Sharaf al-D��n, D��w��n, 212.
71 Dafari locates a different but equally baffling account of h.umayn�� history in
a
manuscript copy of Ah.mad b. .Abdallah al-Shar.ab����s T.ir��z al-maj��lis wa-
sam��r kull
n��hid wa-��nis. This account places similar emphasis on the figure of Ibn Sharaf
al-D��n
defining the h.27
umayn�� poem
.of Ibn Sh��raf al-D��n��s work, h.umayn�� poetry migrated from Sufi sam��.
sessions to the parlors and wedding banquets of Zayd�� nobles.
Some of them dance to the [music of the lute��s] stringsquaffing wine from [their]
cups,
They enter an ecstatic state over every dark and doe-eyed[beauty], making amends
for their love [by drinking]
his saliva,
For the sake of ecstasy they have made the [lute��s] secondstring their companion
[and] at their dhikr the lah.n is [the only] inflection.72
and identifies courtly Lower Yemen as the wellspring of h.umayn�� poetry. Dafari,
��H.umaini poetry,�� 119�C120.
��li., 553.
73 Ibid., 555�C556.
74 Ibid., 556�C557.
75 .Abdallah al-Hibsh��, al-Adab al-yaman�� f�� .asr khur��j al-atr��k al-awwal min
bayt
tawsh��h.
taqf��l
6 My lovers reminded me that the watcher can never see that which is
hidden,
7 I said: send raisin [or date] wine to the one who is sober��fill him with
it until he cannot sober up.
bayt
umayn�� poem
tawsh��h.
taqf��l
The poem uses a pastiche of Arabic lyric themes. The pun at the end of
verse twelve (ma.n��-maghn��) suggests that this poem, like the Andalusian
muwashshah., was set to music.77 With its bacchic and homoerotic
themes, which suggest it may have been sung at symposia, the poem
flouts religious norms. However, it is virtually impossible to determine
whether the atmosphere of ecstasy the poem conjures has a secular or
a mystical purpose. Perhaps this ambiguity is deliberate. Lines five and
seven of this poem are largely incomprehensible to the poem��s Yemeni
anthologizer, Muh.ammad .Abd��h Gh��nim, and to me.
an.��n��, 221.
77 This paronomasia succinctly expresses an aesthetic ideal of h.umayn�� poetry.
As Jean Lambert stated: ��The aesthetic ideal of ghin��. s.
an.��n�� is founded on a majorprinciple which operates on two levels: the text and
the melody must unite so as toform a unity, ma.n�� wa-magn�� (more literally,
��meaning and chant��).�� Jean Lambert,
La m��decine de l��ame: Le chant de Sanaa dans la soci��t�� y��m��nite (Nanterre:
Soci��t��d��ethnologie, 1997), 126.
chapter one
In the first place, three distinct parts compose each of this poem��s two
strophes: ��verse�� (bayt), ��ornamentation�� (tawsh��h.), and ��lock�� (taqf��l).
This ��compound muwashshah.�� structure is particular to Yemen.78
Furthermore, the Arabic is uninflected and the poem uses at least one
Yemeni dialect, albeit sparingly: al-Mazz��h. uses ��h.��d/yih.��d�� (seeing)
in verses six, eight, and ten;79 ��dhahan/yidhhin�� (to awaken) in verse
seven;80 and an alternate version of line 11 incorporates the ��alif-mim��
definite article, a vestige of Sabaic that survived in some Yemeni dialects.
81 ��Yilabbis-mulabbas,�� the poem��s first pun and a double entendre,
relies upon Arabic diglossia, as does so much of h.umayn�� poetry.82
Music
H.
umayn�� poetry, which was often set to music, tends to use a great
deal of words associated with musical instruments, performance, and
appreciation. One of .Abd al-Rah.m��n al-��nis����s (d. 1834/1835) bayts
is particularly rich in this regard:
The tree was agitated and leaned towards the bird when the dawn breezeblew,
The sleeping nightingales awoke and repeated the pleasant melody,
A gang of nightingales that brought forth the tune of that which is sicklyand
stretched tight,
They caused a resurrection for love, and gave life to the market for joyand
ecstasy.83
79 This verb is particular to the Tih��mah��the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Al-
Mazz��h.,
writing in the Ras��lid heartlands of Lower Yemen and the Tih��mah, presumably
wouldhave been well-versed in this dialect.
80 P, 169.
.83 .Abd al-Rahm��n al-��nis��, Tarj��. al-aty��r bi-muraqqas. al-ash.��r, ed. Abd
al-Rahm��n
....
umayn�� poem
arab),
which might refer to the t.
anAbd al-Rahm��n
al-��nis��, Tarj��. al-at...
86 The first string of the S..��n�� lute is called the ��h��ziq�� (literally:
��stretched tight��)
an.��n��, 34.
88 Lambert, La m��decine de l��ame, 60�C70.
chapter one
89 Ibid., 109, cf. Philip D. Schuyler, ��Hearts and Minds: Three Attitudes toward
Performance
Practice and Music Theory in the Yemen Arab Republic,�� in Ethnomusicology
DIALECT IN H.
UMAYN�� POETRY
H.
umayn�� and Humor
an.Muh..(S..��..
At the watering hole I met a beast, a demon wearing a ragged wool pullover,
Black, bearing a big bucket, panting, a death-rattle echoing in her throat,
A monkey without a tail, her cheeks like old shoes.
she has fine black thighs sometimes they are hidden, sometimes in view,
suitable for [being covered with] crap.
3 Ibid., 130.
4 Ibid., 131.
5 J.A. Dafari catalogues the various dialectical elements that can be found in
h.umayn��
ghazal, the most common type of h.umayn�� poetry. These consist of the following:
theuse of y�� al-tas.
7 Ibid., 264.
umayn�� poetry
dialect was used at all had to do with a concept called ��lah.n,�� which
Dafari defines as the omission of case endings and the ��occasional use of
words, or particles, or homely expressions, that savour colloquialism.��9
Although Dafari is steeped in the tradition of h.umayn�� poetry, it is not
clear that his definition of ��lah.n�� would be comprehensible to premodern
Yemeni h.umayn�� poets. While writers frequently use the words
��lah.n�� and ��malh.��n�� to describe h.umayn�� poetry, only a few discussions
address the exact meaning of these terms. Ibn Bar�� and others explain
the word ��lah.n,�� which has a wide semantic range, in the following way:
��Lah.n has six meanings: an error in inflection; dialect word; singing;
intuition; allusion; and meaning.��10 To describe a h.umayn�� poem as
��malh.��n�� might mean that it is grammatically incorrect, it contains
a hidden message, or it is set to music. Any combination of these
meanings is also appropriate. Therefore, lah.n is too diffuse a concept
to account adequately for h.umayn�� poetry��s use of dialect, and Dafari��s
definition of lah.n, while focused, is too arbitrary and ahistorical to be
helpful. Indeed, Dafari underestimates the importance of dialect to the
aesthetics of h.umayn�� poetry.
..
9 Ibid., 9, 21.
10 Ibn Manz..
��r, Lis��n al-.arab (Beirut: D��r S��dir, 1994), 13:381: ��Q��la ibnu bar��yyiwa-
ghayruhu: li l-lah.n sitatu ma.��nin: al-khata..u f�� l-i.r��bi wa l-lughatu wa l-
ghin��.u wa
l-fit..u wa l-ma.n��.�� Al-Qurtub�� and Ibn Kath��r, among other exegetes,
11 According to B, 559, the ��si.l���� is ��a demon that climbs up a man��s chest
andpisses in his ears,�� and ��a succubus.�� This is also a classical Arabic word.
chapter two
Code-Switching
H.
umayn�� poetry shares this literary effect with the Andalusian muwashshah..
Poets in al-Andalus may have rounded off their muwashshah.��t
with a line containing the local Arabic vernacular or snippets of
Romance, often with an off-color intent. If, as Pierre Cachia surmises,
this kharjah was left for a dancing girl from among the Christian populace
to sing, the vaudevillian comedy could not have been missed by
even the most inebriated listener.12 The vernacular elements of Yemeni
h.umayn�� poetry are very rarely concentrated in a single line as they are
in the Andalusian muwashshah.. Instead, they are generally scattered and
scarce. Yet they share the technique of linguistic ��code-switching����a
poem��s humorous descent from the high register of scholars to the language
of the street��that distinguished Andalusian strophic poetry.13
uwar) are predominantly Negroid �C with sunburntfaces and curly hair (sha.r
mufalfal ). How far is this from the traditional
umayn�� poetry
saying: ��O Mu.��dh, when you reach the w��d�� of al-Husaib let your beast
..
trot�� [lest you become bewitched by the alluring beauty of its women].
(Y�� mu.��dh, idh�� dakhalta w��d�� al-h..
usayb fa-harwil) You ought toknow-may thy life be preserved��that the [?humaini?]
poets of Yamanmention the beauty of the women of Zab��d by way of imitation of
theirpredecessors, and in doing so, they act the role of the fool, the blind,
and the ignorant.14
For ruling class poets like Ibn Sharaf al-D��n who lived in the highlands,
a reference to the dark complexion and foreign accent of their wine
stewards, entertainers, and servants probably added a note of levity,
especially when it interrupted an otherwise serious meditation on
unrequited love.
Play the .��d, miss, with both right and left hands.
Bring that fingertip down and bring the other up like this.
Sing the ��d��n d��n�� and then whatever comes to your mind.
I saw you when you stood up, dancing, the best among the women.
15 See Anderson Bakewell��s entry on music in Francine Stone, ed., Studies on the
Tih��mah (Essex: Longman & Co., 1985). .Abdallah al-.Umar����s forthcoming La
po��siechant��e de la Tihama (CFAY) will hopefully shed more light on this
important question.
Dafari speculated that the ��s��h.iliyy��t�� mentioned by al-Khazraj�� as a genre
cultivatedby Ibn Fal��tah referred to a specifically Tih��man form of poetry.
Dafari, ��H.umaini
poetry,�� 28n5, 29. Tih��mans have their own kind of poetry possessing its own
pattern.
This area requires further research. Flagg Miller informed me that a great amount
ofsuch colloquial poetry exists in private collections in the Tih��mah today.
16 In classical Arabic, the word ��suwayd���� means the innermost chamber of the
heart or black bile. The fact that it also refers to a generic woman��s name and,
possibly,
to her ethnicity, is attested to by two puns from Yah.y�� b. Ibr��h��m al-
Jah.h.��f, D��w��n
(Durar al-as....
d��f min shi.r yahy�� b. ibr��h��m jahh��f ) (Codici Vaticani Arabici 1073), 97r:
��know that there is a chamber in [my heart], the delightful [girl] called al-
Suwayd����
(wa-.lam�� ann f��hi ghurfah / r��.iqah ismuh�� l-suwayd��.) and 117v: ��Go slowly
withthe heart that loves you, go slowly, for on its account you now dwell in its
innermostchamber. There is no longer any love for pretty girl[s] or slave[s]��look
[into it] andsee yourself, Suwayd��.�� (ruwayd�� bi l-fu.��d al-ladh�� yahw��k
ruwayd�� / fa-innak minhu
qad s...
irt s��kin f�� l-suwayd��, fa-m�� f��h hubb aghyad wa-l�� f��h hubb .abd�� / wa-
fattish
in turid an tar�� nafsak suwayd��); P, 237: suwayd������cant word for a pretty
girl��; R.B.
Serjeant and Ronald Lewcock, S.
an.��., an Arabian Islamic City (London: World of IslamFestival Trust, 1983), 12:
sw��dah��name of a female (al-Qafrah, H.ayd��n).
chapter two
You leaned over every time you danced, how you bobbed up anddown!
The ��d��n d��n�� refers to the opening trill that marks the singing of
Lower Yemen.17 Levantine Arabic music possesses similar trills such
as ��am��n am��n�� or ��y�� layl�� y�� layl.�� The poem also describes a dance.
The introduction to one of al-Jah.h.af ��s poems points out the asymmetry
of the love affairs that inspired many h.umayn�� poems: ��He recited
[this poem] on a slave girl named Ghaz��l whom he wanted to buy but
another person took her first�� (wa-q��la f�� j��riyatin ismuh�� ghaz��l ar��da
shir��h�� fa-akhadhah�� qablahu ghayruhu).18
Although the people of Lower Yemen seem to have borne the brunt
of the h.umayn�� poets�� satire, a nineteenth-century poet, al-Q��rrah, wrote
a mock rural qas.
I would give my soul for that young girl, slender like the crescent moon��
her beauty has captured my soul and my mind,
A modest woman with no equal among modest women, no! Neither is
there one like me among lovers,
When I asked her for a liaison, she said ��what is liaison and what do you
want with liaison? tell me,��
I said: ��Stop that��be generous with it in the dark of night and ennoble
my dwelling with your companionship,��
She said: ��It is forbidden for me to visit your place��my people would
not agree to allow me to do that,
Also, my father and my people would not understand what you say and
would zealously pursue your death and mine,��
I said: ��By the Prophet I do not fear death! Do not be afraid of death
on my account,
I fear neither sharp swords nor being struck by arrows (unless they are
from a glance that rendered my death licit),
I said: ��What is [your] name and what country do you hail from?�� She
said: ��Ghaz��l��my root[s are] in the East and it is my lot,
17 R.B. Serjeant, South Arabian Poetry: Prose and Poetry from H.ad.ramawt (London:
Taylor��s Foreign Press, 1983), 23�C25; P 162, (cf. al-Khafanj��, Sul��fat al-.adas
an.��n��, 327.
dialect in h.39
umayn�� poetry
20 From this point the text is in Gh��nim, Shi.r al-ghin��. al-san.��n��, but not
in Sharaf
al-D��n.
poverty of a certain faqih .��mir, who plugs up the roof with his hand
to keep the rain out of his ramshackle house in al-Rad��..22
Poems written ��in the language of a group of people�� (al��. lughat . . .)
also predominate in this period. The q��d.�� .Al�� b. Muh.ammad al-.Ans��
(d. 1726/1727), who was stationed as a judge in the Tih��mah, may have
been the forebear of such poems. His d��w��n contains a number of bitter
poems (��.al��. lughat ahli tih��mah��)23 that emphasize the boorishness
of the local populace. He writes:
My companions and I will leave tomorrow for the mountains, I do not
desire the coast.
Woe is me��my lord gave me a meaningful glance but I did not know
what it meant,
Would that I could see the mountain people and complain about your
windy heat,
By God, if you [addressing the hot wind] touched [the highlands] no one
in the mountains would drink sweet water anymore.
I drank among a people but remained thirsty, the[ir] brine never slakes
my thirst.
I was happy to cry with exhaustion so I could drink the tears from my
eyes.
The language of this poem has a rustic sound, as in the opening line:
��sh��b��k an�� wa m-rif��q bukrah.�� Its haughty tone is shared with most
of the other poems of this nature in .Al�� b. Muh.ammad al-.Ans����s d��w��n.
an. introduces this poem by saying ��this poem is also his (mayGod have mercy on
him) and he recited it while he was in the port city of Zab��d, in their
language�� (wa-lahu rah.imahu ll��hu ta.��l�� wa-huwa fi bandar zab��d .ala
lughatihim) .Al��
b. Muh.ammad al-.Ans��, D��w��n al-.ansi (MS Western Mosque Library, adab 41), 33v.
24 ..ammad al-.Ans��, W��d�� l-d��r (Beirut: D��r al-.Awdah and San.��.: D��r
Al�� b. Muh.al-Kalimah, n.d.), 60�C61.
dialect in h.umayn�� poetry
A century later, the Im��mic authorities posted the q��d.�� and poet .Abd
al-Rah.m��n al-��nis�� in H.ays, a town in the southern Tih��mah. Confronting
his situation, al-��nis�� seems to have drawn inspiration from
al-.Ans��, for he composed several poems that use the Tih��man dialect.29
He wrote this muwashshah. against H.ays:
[Here] bats bother men with their screeching and their stench.
Every mosque is poorly lit and is full of their odor.
[H.ays��s] market is a wasteland (except for al-Mifh.��r where you can find
half a camel-load of goods).
They have a great deal of perfume, pepper or ginger,
But no tailor is to be found, or a builder other than one who is passing
through.
There are no schoolmasters, literati, or wise men.
They are all naked beggars and peasants with neither turbans nor lovely
cloaks��Can you change them?
Whenever you see them you become perplexed, robbed of your certainty.
You would say of these people that they were jinn or the People of
al-Raq��m.30
Ibl��s himself jumps when he sees the old women wearing their bashk��rs
go down to the well.
Are they dressing to attract or to repel?31
The poem concludes with the following words: ��No one would come
to H.ays except one who has wandered off and become hopelessly lost,
Verily, it is where Satan fell when he was thrown out of the Garden.��32
Other than the hint of empathy in the lines where the poet wonders
why the poor are taxed so heavily, the poem is scathing. A number of
.Abd al-Rah.m��n al-��nis����s poems provide more positive experiences
of the Tih��mah, either in depicting vignettes on love affairs, or in two
poems that deal with a journey.33 The first of these is prefaced with the
words, ��From what [the poet] said (may God have mercy on him) on
the date harvest of the year 1781/1782.�� What follows is an unusual
travel poem:
30 Qur.��n 18:9.
31 Al-��nis��, Tarj��. al-at.
y��r, 213.
32 Ibid., 216.
33 A similar pose was struck by the nineteenth-century poet al-Muft��, a San.��n��
q��d.��
As for the palm, he who approaches it can relax his spirit and his worries
will flee,
An old man [resting among] its hills is like a playful white gazelle,
His youth has returned to him��his wood becomes green again and his
branches sprout leaves,
There the soul is at peace and the mind forgets every burden.
What a place in which to repose, giving the eyes respite from the things
that they see,
The sun is bright there but the dates keep ripening,36
I swear that the palms of al-Suh.��r�� bewitch every one who goes there,
Neither Na.m��n nor W��d�� Zab��d can approach it.
The poem follows a date crop to market, detailing the stopping points
along the way. In this poem, Tih��man words exoticize the poem��s
landscape, evoking a sense of wonder rather than providing ethnic
humor. Stylistically, the poem incorporates these dialectical elements
in a less obtrusive manner than the Tih��man poems of al-.Ans��, which
lack syntactic clarity. Thematically, dialect expresses a wider and more
nuanced range of experience. Snobbishness is still a dominant pointof-
view, to be sure, but this element of ethnographic discovery is new.
This may be due to the influence of the Saf��nah circle in the eighteenth
century and its founder, .Al�� b. al-H.asan al-Khafanj��.
fad.lihi wa-la.allakum tashkur��n.�� N.J. Dawood: ��The two seas are not alike. The
one is
fresh, sweet, and pleasant to drink from, while the other is salt and bitter. From
bothyou eat fresh fish and bring up ornaments to deck yourselves with. See how the
ships
plough their course through them as you sail away to seek His bounty. Perchance
youwill give thanks.��
36 ��Awq��tih ghurar l��kin sa.��t al-shur��q z��.id ��. This seems to be a pun on
a meaning
of ��shur��q�� in classical Arabic: ��to show ripening dates.��
37 P, 368: This is a Tihaman word.
dialect in h.umayn�� poetry
anHowever, Dafari and Taminian argue that al-Khafanj����s work also has
literary value. Taminian, quoting a poem of al-Khafanj����s that mocks
the traditional Zayd�� curriculum, argues that h.umayn�� poetry is a poetry
of rebellion.40 Although she overstates her claim by extending it to all
of h.umayn�� poetry, she is correct in that al-Khafanj����s poetry manifests
a strongly contrarian spirit.
39 AR, 208�C210; Taminian, ��Playing with words,�� 133; See also Sharaf al-
D��n��sintroduction to al-T.ar��.if al-mukht��rah. Jean Lambert also concentrated
on the lexicographical
importance of al-Khafanj����s poetry in his ��Aspects de la poesie dialectaleau
yemen�� (M��moire de Ma.trise, Universit�� de Paris, 1982), 9.
42 Ibid., 258.
43 Ibid., 259.
chapter two
bid for popularity with the common people.44 (Dafari, remember, finds
too much dialect in h.umayn�� poetry to be annoying.) In the second
place, he interprets Khafanj����s poetry as biography, arguing that it is a
��mirror of his life and his age.��45 Along these lines, the contemptuous
attitude towards Islamic piety and the sexually explicit homoeroticism
that emerge in al-Khafanj����s poetry can only be, at best, the product
of a poet ��prone to less respectable ways of life�� and, at worst, ��a
buffoon.��46
an��: Sanclassical Arabic, dialects of tribes from north and west of S..
an��, Turkish,
and even a little Hebrew. In addition, these poems also incorporate the
way women, farmers, or soldiers spoke.
By using this wide variety of dialects, the Saf��nah circle poets produced
a sophisticated body of satire. For al-Khafanj�� in particular,
dialects provided opportunities for parodying several genres of writing.
H.
umayn�� ghazal was the most common target for his acidic burlesques,
but al-Khafanj�� also derided panegyric, scholarly self-praise, and boasting
matches.
44 Ibid., 258.
45 Ibid., 256.
47 P, 151: das.a��walking or type of dance. The word also denotes the rhythmused in
the first section of the qawmah suite and thus the first section of the Yemeni
muwashshah..
48 A explained that the k��z, a smallish vessel used in San.�� a long time ago for
car
.rying water, had a faintly hourglass shape that might explain this image.
49 Al-Khafanj��, Sul��fat al-.adas, 14r. Bak��l and H.��shid are the two
confederations
of Yemen�� tribes.
dialect in h.47
umayn�� poetry
For the sake of a love-struck heart, you play hide and seek.
I spread out my goatskin for him, and may there be trouble for the
blamer!
If he tested my love he would have died inconspicuously.
50 P, 45: b��lah����a popular song sung in the moonlight by a group of men andwomen
dancing in two rows facing one another. While approaching and receding,
they sing ��y�� l-b��lah wa l-layleh al-b��l��. B��l b��l b��l����rhyme of S..��n��
songs called
analso S..��n��.��
an
51 A: Its inhabitants are the target of derision from S..��n�� people.
By the fawn of the tribes, bring forth what I have given you. Do you have
a few sorghum heads of Jihr��n?57
You have taken what you pleased of sorghum husks��how many sheaves
will remain?
She is a wonder when she goes by, and when she is generous, [when] you
stoop down [and when she] fills up jugs of water from the pools.58
Then you carry down the sieves slowly, sometimes you go up and sometimes
you go down.
A wild calf from .Iy��l Sanh.��n (a tribe), lovely, a beauty from the land of
.Amr��n, [her name is] Zaynab.
In Rah.h.��n she is a ruler, she lives in Yi.fur D.awr��n, and she is amazing,
How she harvests my [crops] in the land of Hamd��n, crying out that she
is being stoned by Satan, then she departs.
You can see a fine vintage in her wine cup (figuratively: mouth), on which
every learned Jew has made a legal ruling, and she is beautiful.
54 ��Arabic Muj��n Poetry: The Literary Dimension,�� in Verse and the Fair Sex:
Studies
in Arabic Poetry and the Representation of Women in Arabic Literature, ed.
Frederick
de Jong (Utrecht: M.Th. Houtsma Stichting), 8�C30.
58 Again, this may compare the hourglass shape of the k��z to the beloved��s shape.
dialect in h.49
umayn�� poetry
A fawn from among the Jews stalked my heart. He has a face like the
rising moon,
and his cheeks have blossomed with roses. I wish that he were generous
with his favors.
He has scarified spots59 adorning his cheeks and his eyes enchant lovers.
How many a lover has been given as a pledge to them, tears streaming
down his cheeks like a storm.
I cannot find one who is like him in beauty with his black sidelocks
hanging down.
He has become as slender as a ripe sorghum stalk��and he has wine in
his cool mouth.
A swaying branch held in a sand hill, his white and pearly teeth flash,
He has taken me prisoner with his miraculous gaze, a gazelle whose
glance takes lions captive.
Would that he became a Muslim and was rightly guided,60 then entered
the religion of Ah.mad.
[If he] followed the religion of Islam and there is no doubt that he would
win great happiness.
59 Mash��l����P, 265, 403; I, 514�C515; Carsten Niebuhr wrote: ��The women of Yemen
also make black punctures in their face to improve their beauty.�� Travels
ThroughArabia (1792; repr. Reading: Garnet Publishing, 1994), 2:236.
60 Yuhtad����a verb used in Yemen to describe Jewish conversion to Islam. Given the
popular etymology of the word Jew ��yah��d���� as being derived from the root
��h.d.w,��
this verb might allude cleverly to the suspicion of a convert��s potential for
religiousrecidivism. Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan��, Nasmat al-sah.ar, 3:291.
moon�� with cheeks that ��have blossomed with roses.�� When referring
to a Jew, the word ��face�� (muh.ayy��) may have called to mind the word
��wine�� (muh.ayy��), because Yemeni Jews sold wine surreptitiously to
Muslims. Both the description of the Jew��s cheeks, flushed from drinking,
and the image of ��cool wine in his mouth�� may have strengthened
this association.
When chanting, the Jew ��nods�� his head (yin��d). The verb ��n��d/
yan��d�� means ��to nod [the] head with sleepiness�� in fush..��. In the
vernacular, the word means ��to shake with illness.��62 This may represent
a diglossic double entendre that alludes to the Yemeni Muslim
popular belief that Jews wrapped phylacteries around themselves every
day to bandage themselves because they were ill.63 The conventional
piety that rounds out the poem may not be quite as conventional as it
seems. Because in al-Khafanj����s poetry, Ah.mad is one of the names of
the young male beloved, the phrase ��religion of Ah.mad�� (d��n ah.mad��)
may refer to this character rather than to the Prophet.64 The effect would
be to say, ��would that you were converted from your chaste behavior
to Ah.mad��s profligacy.��
62 P, 497�C8.
an.��., 539n83; P, 364: ��s��. al-yahawd�� al-maft��j�� (Like aJew with a bandaged
head).
umayn�� poetry
description suggests that the poem includes both a specific rural dialect
and a characterization of a tribe. The speaker recites:
Ibn Mi.s��r.67 said, responding to the frightening poem that arrived from
his kinsman from Musayyab,
It contained speech that would have enchanted a rock, [were it able to
read]��and as for a man, it would smite him with love,
It is in our nature, O H.ud.��r, not to tire ourselves in [the composition of ]
poetry or work songs,68 nor in singing or playing the pipe,
We only [busy ourselves with] bullets hotter than burning embers and
spears [that would make one] seek protection from certain death,69
Would that you had seen [us] the day we encountered the companions
of .Abd al-Rabb70 at the gate of Yifrus while Y��q��t was in Jiblah,
You would say that our raiding them was [like] a rising star��they did
not know about our presence until we had sneaked up on them,
By the name of God, today we will abase our enemies71��we will stick
more than forty penises in them!
I think the first of them [.Abd al-Rabb] flees towards Shar.ab while we,
already in al-S.
A: This category includes tribal songs sung at weddings and festivals and the
z��mil.
69 Literally ��at the time one turns toward Mecca.�� A: when a person is about to
die,
their body is pointed towards Mecca. The phrase ��waq.at al-qibleh�� means ��about
to
die.��
70 This almost certainly refers to the activities of the rebels Y��q��t al-Zayla.��
in
1739/1740�C1741/1742, and shaykh .Abd al-Rabb b. Ah.mad in 1745/1746. Muh.sin b.
al-H.asan Ab�� T��lib, Ta.r��kh ahl al-kis��. (published as Ta.r��kh al-yaman .asr
al-istiql��l
..
.an al-h.ukm al-.uthm��n�� al-awwal min sanat 1056 il��. sanat 1160 H.) ed.
.Abdallah
al-H.ibsh�� (San.��.: al-Mufad.al Offset Printers, 1990), 475�C483, 496�C497.
..d
71 A possible translation of the verse could be: ��By the name of God, we will set
upa chopping block to abase our enemies and they will lose more than forty penises
(or
testicles).�� See Serjeant and Lewcock, S.
an.��., 239n133.
72 Reading ��al-S....
But we did not realize that it was noon until we heard a loud noise from
their camp��I said ��by God something here is one-legged�� (i.e., we havea
problem),
Soon al-Z.ar��f arrived, calling for .Arhab��[the latter] said to him that
ourcompanions were planning to leave,
They all came, ready, to Marh.ab75 and there was no escape from them.76
Do not let the lord of the land of Arh.ab provoke you, He does not lookmenacing
once he throws off his wool shawl,
If, one day, you see him with the rolls of his waist-wrapper undone you
would think: ��is this the soldier who makes war on villages?��
He is a little donkey who would sell his own head [for] a stinging insect[i.e., an
insignificant thing] and his companions resemble what gets fartedover a big pile of
shit,
We are the ones who don��t tire in the midst of clamor and the fray andyou will not
see us shirking from the regime��s war . . .
This wasn��t the only poem of its kind that al-Khafanj�� composed.
In a poetic exchange between al-Khafanj�� and .Abdallah al-Sh��m��,
al-Khafanj�� begins with a martial ode ��in the language of H.ud.��r�� (.al��
an����n��
mothers tell their children ��wi-l�� m�� r��h.at lak,�� meaning ��even if you
escape I willstill punish you.��
umayn�� poetry
lughat h.ud.��r) much like the above poem.79 Al-Sh��m����s response, the
first part of which consists of a humorous description of al-Khafanj����s
physical appearance, was composed ��in the language of the [tribe of ]
Ban�� l-H.
��rith�� (.al�� lughat ban�� l-h.��rith). Poems such as these that
purport to speak in the voice of a particular tribe beg the question of
the relationship between al-Khafanj�� and his poetic compatriots, who
are cosmopolitan elitists, to the rural tribes and their poetry. The tone
of mockery and derision that characterizes the poem ��in the language
of H.ud.��r�� can be found in spades in another poem written by both
al-Khafanj�� and al-Sh��m��. Al-Khafanj�� supplies the first verse: ��The
tribesman��s asshole would not call for saddling80 were it not for the fact
that he takes shelter under the donkey.��81 The remainder of the poem,
composed by al-Sh��m��, offers a catalogue of the tribesman��s faults: he
is animalistic, amoral, uncharitable, irreligious, obsequious, and unable
to relax. In short, the tribesman is the antithesis of the type of man
welcome to al-Khafanj����s salon.
an, al-RawdBi.r al-.Azab, and causes it to degenerate into a quarrel between two
women.83
82 In many (if not all) regions of Yemen, the exclusion of women from the
publicsphere has led to a linguistic situation whereby certain expressions and
words aredesignated specifically for the use of women.
Abdallah al-Han
f�� l-muf��kharah bayn al-rawd.ah wa-bi.r al-.azab, ed. ..ibsh�� (S..��.: al-D��r
al-yamaniyyah li l-nashr wa l-tawz��., 1986).
chapter two
Bi.r al-.Azab responded in haste, saying, ��I possess all of the enchanting
beauty,
I have a good reputation among all of those whose grapes are harvested
in the Fall��these relationships are renewed every day,
As for grapes, they are found in [my] country, and [my] wood has
amber��now our friendliness is gone,
All of this goes beyond self-praise and your breakfast will be trouble.��
al-Rawd.ah said: ��You are praising yourself over me? You reproached me
and you want to drive me away?
You rebuke me incessantly while al-Jir��f 86 judges between us?
I am the place where H.��tim alighted and I am happy every day.
My Friday mosque contains crowds, [notable] people and more.��
Bi.r al-.Azab responded with a guffaw and strutted flirtatiously,
She said: ��I have a bathhouse, a marketplace, and a street, a caravanserai
for Hindu merchants (B��niy��n) and a place where inventory is taken,
What use is bragging about mosques when every kneeling worshipper
prostrates himself in the dark?
I will praise a swaying branch on which a black bird sings out its
secrets.��
al-Rawd.ah said: ��What a piece of work you are you shameless garbage-
picker!
You dull-witted feather brain��the Jews use you as their thoroughfare
and meeting place.
an.��., 133: A mixed (Muslim and Jewish) neighborhoodin S..��.. Given this fact, as
well as the semantic similarity of al-Quz��l�� and qazl (illicit
183.
dialect in h.55
umayn�� poetry
I know that you are not even an inhabited place��what is your obsession
with caravanserais?
Where do you get [the nerve] to brag��you and Umm Q��lid87 with your
skinny face.��
She replied: ��You cannot [even] be counted among old women with your
cheeks that look like fried fatty sheep��s tails,
Wrinkles crisscross your forehead��a sluggish woman88 is as heavy as a
packed saddle,
Don��t brag about [your] little ones, mama��the lady of the house is not
like the serving girl,
Patchy curls are not like locks of hair and gold-embroidered silk is not
like an old rag.��
Bi.r al-.Azab answered equitably: ��If you have one stream I have one
thousand,
Don��t come back you babbling crone��Is that your forehead or a burning
trench?
My air is more delicate than wine and doves warble in my branches,
Clouds weep over my gardens but you are merely a tribeswoman of the
provinces.��
Al-Jir��f stood up and left aside al-Khaz��.in89 and said: ��Bi.r al-.Azab has
advantages:
It has a mine of fresh air��there is not another like it in the world,
Its gardens are filled with song and excellent vines and the birds in theboughs
make love poems.
The clouds stand to greet them��its h.ad��th of beauty has become partof the Musnad
. . .��90
The young man said: ��Tell me what happened between the girls,
Both them and mature women who had given birth, people with errant
minds,��
[The narrator] answered and said: ��My neighbors told me yesterday
evening,
That something happened while they were sitting, around noon, which
shocked them,
This is the story of [what happened] on Thursday at the women��s party at
bayt al-bas��s on account of the las��s92 which all of the guests attacked,
They all jumped at once as soon as the pot was set down,
When one sluggish girl (dubdub��) came and knocked over the bundle of
rue,93 all of the matrons screamed,
90 The expressions ��you reproached me�� (qadish fid�� tishtay) and ��what a piece
ofwork you are�� (h.al�� wa-khatfih) are only used by the women of S..��.. Sharaf
al-D��n,
anal-jad��d, 1987), 221n2. Lucine Taminian says that this poem, ��Tafrut.
ah bayt al-basis��
is commonly invoked by Yemeni men today to describe such occasions. ��Playing
WithWords,�� 3�C4.
��n).
dialect in h.57
umayn�� poetry
[One of them] caught it [before it fell over] and said ��Watch out! It
almost struck the soft spot on the head of the little hoopoe94 (the baby)
next to me,��
[S]he said: ��He nearly fell on account of this crowd of sluts,��95
Listen you guests, what kind of people are you? Are you never satisfied?
Your bellies will explode! Why did you come here, O gluttons?��
You (s.) have become degraded, my kinswoman, [full of] empty, useless
talk,
What is the point in boasting all of the time, you bitches?��
The old woman stood up to her, her leg swelling up, ��Who will stand up
and bash her head in?��Those [girls] are truly shameless.��
��There is no doubt that there is little life [left in them]��but perhaps you
have some kh��liy��,98
They want to slurp m��miy��99 loudly.��
The old woman said: ��One with hardly any brains is pretty and contented,
these have no love for ugliness,
They all help each other [in their ugly deeds].
96 .Us.
afrutah.
98 P, 140: succus lycii, medicinal plant for the eyes or for melancholy.
99 Bitumen��Armin Schopen, Traditionelle Heilmittel in Jemen (Weisbaden: Steiner,
1983), 36; al-Maq��lih., Shi.r al-.��mmiyyah, 234n6: a mineral used to make a drink
for
madmen.
chapter two
[A young woman named] Ward al-Khud��d answered: ��O people, I haveneither good
fortune nor a [generous] neighbor [wearing] silver beads��
stop swooning, girls.
Why is this madness growing, even if it were to be smothered with ahead scarf? She
might die over there under the ceremonial decorations?101
Push her over [to the side] you loafers!��
The old woman said: ��Cease this stubbornness for my childrens�� sake,
Should my daughter see and hear this shocking speech?
Do the old receive any respect from the young any longer? Does a chief
among women still get some respect? Tell me, O quarrelers!��
The playful gazelle102 said: ��By God let her stay away,
Stop all of [her] miserable calamities, the old women are tiring us out.
We are guests who have come for the las��s, do not try to entrap us,
��Hoe and basket and plow��103��you came with arrogant attitudes.��
The old woman said: ��Enough! Away with you��you deserve to be slapped
with the old slapping shoe,104
Will the rest of you gossipers speak to me this manner?
100 This bayt only appears in the Vatican version. A: These are each expressions
thatbasically mean ��do not make a spectacle of yourself.��
101 Sij��f��A: A set of decorations for the shikmah. The new mother is seated on a
raised platform and prayer mats are hung on the walls behind her and the
shelvesoverhead contain various items; P, 216: carpets.
102 ��Khishf ����a diglossic pun. A: ��khushf �� means a dull-witted girl in the
S..��n��
andialect.
103 This seems like a proverb. Unfortunately, it is not discussed by q��d.��
Ism��.��l
al-Akwa. in his al-Amth��l al-yam��niyah (S..��.: Maktabat al-J��l al-jad��d,
1984).
an104 Al-khilfa.ah��P, 136. A: a shoe retired from use as footwear whose only use
wasslapping, generally kept by a S..��n�� mother for disciplining children. It had
to be old
an
and expendable in case she threw it and missed and it got lost.
105 [Khayrat] all��h .alayk��an expression said in anger. A: it means ��Don��t
go.��
106 ��Sal��..alayh�� A: ��Calm down.��
107 ��Al-b��r idh�� antayn gh��riq��t�� A: ��gh��riq�� means angry in S..��n��
Arabic.
an
dialect in h.59
umayn�� poetry
The old woman died with laughter from this wonderful speech��she would
have pissed herself if those present would not have complained.
afrutah
ceremony proceeds to the dancing portion but this too goes foul, leading
to a brawl:
[The old woman] turned around, wounded, and said, ��Qadariyah, youbeauty, finish up
your story��I deserve girls�� jokes,��
Then (an old woman) crouched down here because of the cunning of
the bastard girl and began to sing in the midst of the singers and three
��leveled�� [dancers] stood up,111
She stood and the girl picked up a stone in the blink of an eye, then
pierced the drum [with it] and all of the dancers sat down,
The tumultuous party began anew and everyone got up and struck eachother,112
Some were scratching each other, and four of them were biting,
109 ��Am��n am��nek y�� shar��f ����al-H.ibsh�� writes that the ��lord�� ��is the
vulture that
eats the corpse and this is a customary proverb for a person who is nearing
death.��
Majm��. al-maq��m��t al-yamaniyyah, 224n11; Z confirms the accuracy of al-
H.ibsh����s
interpretation.
110 I, 802.
111 ��Q��mayn thal��th mitd��rij��t.�� A: S..��n�� dances are best performed with
two
anor three dancers and often involve dancers standing (or kneeling) simultaneously,
aneffect that might be described as ��leveled.��
The girl grasped the old woman by the wall, wringing her out like a pieceof wet
laundry,113
��Help!�� she cried. ��This is not permissible��the young are still stronger[than
the old]!
Can you grab a woman, choking her until her face is contorted and herveins puff out
like clotheslines?��
They struggled with hair and head, the girl not noticing anything untilher pants
ripped. Still they continued to grapple.
She plucked off old shoes, and tripped over the coffee table,
The four cups on it shook on account of the mighty ladies . . .
She said to them: ��Be done with this, ��minah��even our coffee cups
are not safe,
Let there be peace in my house. There is nothing here for impious
people.��
She [the new mother] turned around and said, screaming: ��Do something
with my son S..
O Muh.sinah,115 why aren��t you ashamed? I know you don��t have anything
better to do,
You came here to laugh and joke, pretending that you were going to a
tafrut.
ah.
What, O stupid people, by the father of H.usayn116 you do not have good
lineages. What do you say Qab��l?117 Aren��t they base commoners?
Aren��t you ashamed when people pass by and see you clearly, right arm
drooping?
Those sluts have never done anything good for me,
113 ��Wa-lazzat al-bint al-.aj��z f�� l-jadr mazzath�� maz��z.�� This could also
mean
��squeezing her like a juicy piece of fruit�� (or ��like squeezing the juice from a
prune��).
114 Reading ��jil��fah�� with AR and ��kun mayyiz��n anf��sikin�� with Sul��fat
al-.adas.
115 A: Stereotypical woman��s name.
116 H.usayn b. .Al�� b. Ab�� T.��lib.
117 A: a woman��s name.
dialect in h.umayn�� poetry
By God, O legitimate girl, if men were here today, given what has gone
on, you would have slept soundly.118
The woman who had just given birth sought protection and if not for
the bridesmaid,119
I would have brought a man to arbitrate and rid the house of these awful
women.
Discover their state for yourself��[you will learn] their love for bullying,121
On the day they stain themselves with henna they will not forget, when
they come and swell up with pride,
Jumping up and down on the floor with the rage of animals let loose
from their yokes.��
She said to her, ��Be patient and do not worry,
I attest to your innocence��these horrible women just keep coming,
Don��t bother [us]. No one is home. We will close our door and thank
God for saving us and conferring blessings on us.��
Oddly, the only ��Ethiopian�� aspect of this poem seems to be the type
of dancing described. A poem quoted in a history of the Tih��mah
also uses words from an African language. .Abdallah al-H.ibsh�� comments
that such bilingual poems were common in the Tih��mah.124 A
poem addressed to a ruler, written in the nineteenth century by .Al��
Muh.ammad Z.��fir, contains the following stanza: (The italicized words
are written in an African language, which Z.��fir learned after having
lived there for a time.)
My lord, there is never any ��food�� in this house nor is there any��money��
with which I can buy humble greens,
The boys said to me ��go and get us some sweet dates�� and I said, ��I am
penniless,��
They said: ��Sell a donkey�� and I said, ��I would but you would be sorry
if I sold the donkey.��125
Some poets used Turkish words. For example, one poem in al-Khafanj����s
d��w��n by Muh.ammad b. Yah.y�� Luqm��n is composed ��.al�� lughat alturk.��
126 This poem, whose language is a mixture of Ottoman Turkish
and Arabic, purports to be Turkish, and the refrain is, ��This Turkish
poetry is unpleasant.�� (l�� ta.jib min naz.
But these were not the only foreign languages that populated these
poems. The redactor of al-Khafanj����s d��w��n describes the following
muwashshah. as having been composed ��in the language of Bak��l�� (.al��
lughat bak��l).
umayn�� poetry
Ibn Sha.l��n128 said: ��Bring the bellows��I will stoke the fire until evening,
O you who are generous with the dry oven-wiping cloth [the atmospherecontains] the
smell of morning winds from Sha.��b,129
If the cauldron gets hot, bring the potholders, and bring the spoon toyour mouth
when chewing,
Wash the stirrer and the serving spoon and feed the delicate playfulfawn.
The pot is not for the guests��it makes them rough when they chew
[such food],131
The best meat has no grease on it [nor does] any other dish, except for
h.an��dh.132
If you eat meat, grab the sheep��s waist, and if you like drink, have a drop
of wine,
How wonderful is the bowl��s burbling, and [how wonderful is] the perfume
and aroma of barbequed meat,
You should [have] grease, so leave aside the wine glass and stop perfuming
[yourself] with good-smelling things.
The chief indicator that the poem attempts to portray a ��foreign�� dialect
is the poem��s recurring use of the ��alif-mim�� definite article. A parody of
a wine poem, this poem captures the libertine spirit of the khamriyyah
(��if you eat meat, grab the sheep��s waist,�� ��leave the choice lambs to the
libertines��), but replaces wine with meat.133 The poem might accurately
128 AR has ��bin khawl��n.�� Khawl��n is a major subgroup of the Bak��l tribal
confederation.
129 Neighborhood in S..��.. The north gate to the (old) city is B��b al-Sha.��b.
an
130 A mixture of spices.
131 The second hemistich of this line is difficult: ��wa am-dast m�� h�� li-ahl am-
d.
uy��fah /
fa-h�� muqassi khaw��s..
Nuwas and the Rhetoric of Parody,�� in Festschrift Ewald Wagner Zum 65. Geburtstag,
ed. Wolfhart Heinrichs and Gregor Schoeler (Beirut: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1994),
2:250�C251, 254, 257.
chapter two
Conclusions
134 Mikhail M. Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination, ed. Michael Holquist, trans.
CarylEmerson and Michael Holquist, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981), 49,
67.
umayn�� poetry
The stark polarities of popular and elite that Gramsci and Bakhtin favor
possess clear parallels in the diglossic material in question.
136 Antonio Gramsci, Selections From Cultural Writings, ed. David Forgacs and
Geoffrey
Nowell-Smith, trans. William Boelhower (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UniversityPress,
1985), 183�C184.
137 Gavin Jones, Strange Talk: The Politics of Dialect Literature in Gilded Age
America
��143
For the price of the Sharh.142 you could get a carpet and for the Khubays.a slave
girl,
The Sh��t.
ibiyyah144 would get you a sack of locusts, [you might receive] ahandful of leeks
for the Sh��fiyah,145
The Tadhkirah146 will get you some cress and the K��fiyah147 a [bunch]
of cilantro,
A Nahj al-bal��ghah is worth a scanty supper, with marginal notes awholesome meal,
140 Reading with Sul��fat al-.adas: ��wa-l�� budd ilayy bi-.ilmek b��diyah�� rather
than
Sharaf al-D��n, al-T.ar��.if, ��wa-m�� bad�� lak bi-.ilmek b��diyah.��
141 Fiqh work by .Al�� b. al-H.usayn b. Yah.y�� (d. 1272). Sharaf al-D��n, al-
T.ar��.if,
74n1.
142 Ibid., 74n2: Sharh. al-azh��r by al-Mahd�� Ah.mad Yah.y�� al-Murtad.��.
143 Ibid., 74n2: A commentary on the Tahdh��b al-mantiq. by al-Khubays��..144
Ibid., 74n3: al-Sh��t ..
What is the use of black [ink] and white [paper]? The N��z.
ir��148 can be a
pledge for a little hill,
With the Shif��.149 you can buy on a bad day for the market or get twomeasures of
land in al-S.
��fiyah,150
You hang on to learning as ticks do, always conscientious and veryzealous,
[But you] did not get what [you wanted], leave the branches of learningto pure
minds [. . .]151
..
149 Haykel says that this could refer to one of the following three works: Jam��l
al-D��n
.Al�� b. Sal��h al-Tabar����s al-Shif��. ghal��l al-s��.il .amm�� tahmaluhu al-
k��fil on us��l al-fiqh,
b. .Abd al-Kar��m b. Ish.��q (d. 1849/1850), there were ten poets who
wrote h.umayn�� d��w��ns, eleven poets whose d��w��ns included h.umayn��
poetry, twenty poets whose h.umayn�� verse is preserved in saf��yin, and
seventeen poets whom Yemeni historians describe as having written
h.umayn�� poetry but whose contributions to the genre do not survive.1
Some or most of the remaining poets probably wrote h.umayn�� poetry
as well. Since this period produced a great deal more h.umayn�� poetry
than any other period in Yemeni history, it can be considered the
genre��s Golden Age.
During this time, the ability to compose h.umayn�� poetry was a common
credential for a Yemeni poet to possess. Therefore, the dramatic
rise in the popularity of h.umayn�� poetry was the result of a rise in the
fortunes of poetry as a whole. The main factor behind this change was
the Q��sim�� Im��ms��, their governors��, and Zayd�� nobles�� (s��dah) patronage
of poetry. H.umayn�� poetry also assumed a prominent role in other
activities in Yemen: namely, semi-formal gatherings in the home to
chew q��t or drink coffee and engage in witty conversation, and elaborate
wedding ceremonies. Yemenis insist that their wedding rituals, in
A rich tradition of poetry by and about the Zayd�� Im��ms began with
the Im��m al-H��d�� il��. l-h.aqq Yah.y�� b. al-H.usayn��s establishment of a
Zayd�� state in Yemen in 897 C.E. Such poems can generally be found
in the official biographies (s��rahs) of the Im��ms and in the d��w��ns of
those poets who wrote panegyrics about them. Both panegyrics and
poems of self-praise characterized the Im��ms in a way that underscored
the Zayd�� concept of Im��mah. They often described the Im��m as a just
and courageous descendant of the Prophet, who was capable of delivering
sound legal opinions (a mujtahid). On occasion, they described
him as one who knew esoteric matters (al-ghayb).3 Poets ascribed such
qualities to the Zayd�� Im��ms throughout this period. The Im��m��s .Alid
descent and courage dictated the subjects that Zayd�� panegyrists mined
in the Arabic poetic tradition. Recounting the Im��m��s lineage tapped
into traditions of Sh��.�� veneration of .Al�� b. Ab�� T.��lib and his son, the
martyr al-H.usayn.4 Poems about battles drew upon the Mutanabbian
tradition of war poetry.
.
al-azh��r in Serjeant and Lewcock, San.��., 77. References
to Im��ms�� esoteric knowledge (al-ghayb) by Zayd�� poets seem to have vexed
Shawq�� D.ayf, who lamented such examples of ��extremism�� (ghuluww) among Zaydis.
D.ayf, Ta.r��kh al-adab al-.arab�� 5: .Asr al-duwal wa l-im��r��t��al-jaz��rah
al-.arabiyyah,
.al-.iraq, ��r��n (Cairo: D��r al-Ma.��rif, 1980), 165, 171. Esoteric knowledge is
a theme
that Yemeni poets seem to have imported from the wider Sh��.�� corpus of laments
onthe .Alids. As documented by P. Smoor, the poets of the F��timid court made the
mostof such themes. P. Smoor, ��The Master of the Century��: F��t .
umayn�� poetry
(r. 1716�C1727).7 It was more common, however, for poets to seek out
several patrons. The Im��ms, their viziers, provincial governors, the
nobles of Kawkab��n, and the Zayd�� emirs of Mecca were all willing
to pay for panegyric poetry. Among the Im��ms, certain names occur
frequently as the employers of poets.8
During this period, the line between poet and civil servant was a
porous one, as some poets served administrative functions. Al-Mutawakkil
Ism��.��l b. al-Q��sim, for example, hired three professional panegyrists
.....
ir b. Al�� al-Kawkab��n��
(d. 1700/1701).
7 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 2:198�C199.
8 These are: 1) al-Mutawakkil Ism��.��l b. al-Q��sim (d. 1676), who employed .Al��
b.
S......mad
(d. 1718), who employed Ibn Ab�� l-Rij��l, Ibr��h��m al-Hind��, al-H.usayn b. .Al��
al-W��d��
(d. 1669/1670), H.aydar ��gh�� b. Muh.ammad al-R��m��, Ibr��h��m b. Ah.mad al-
Y��fi.��
(d. 1698/1699), Muh.ammad b. al-H.usayn al-H.amz�� (d. 1700/1701), Muh.ammad
b. H.usayn al-Mirhabi (d. 1701/1702), Ah.mad b. Ah.mad al-��nis�� (��al-Zanamah��)
(d. 1703/1704 or 1707/1708), .Al�� b. Muh.ammad al-.Ans�� (d. 1726/1727), .Abdallah
b.
.Al�� al-Waz��r (d. 1734/1735), and Zayd b. .Al�� al-Khayw��n�� (d. 1737/1738).
(Eleven poetsin all.) 3) al-Mutawakkil al-Q��sim b. al-H.usayn (r. 1716�C1727), who
employed Ibn Ab��l-Rij��l, Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad al-F��yi.
(d. 1188/1774), .Abdallah al-Waz��r, and H.usayn
b. .Al�� b. M��s�� ��al-Khayy��t�� (d. 1727/1728). (Four poets in all.) 4) his son
al-Mans��r
..al-H.usayn b. al-Q��sim (d. 1748)��Ism��.��l al-F��yi., and .Abdallah al-Waz��r.
(Twopoets in all.) 5) al-Mahdi al-.Abbas (1748�C1775)��Ism��.��l al-F��yi. (d.
1774/1775), hisbrother Muh.sin b. Muh.ammad al-F��yi. (d. 1780/1781), Ah.mad b.
Muh.ammad al-Q��tin .
There are those who belittle the rank of poetry but men, without poetry,
are nothing but beasts.9 Our Im��m, al-Mahd�� li-D��n All��h (may God
preserve and protect him) is one of those who knows eloquence. Hehas become well
known for his generosity and liberality and [should becounted] among those who
recited poetry, sanctioned it, heard it, andwere delighted by it. The poets arose
to recite in his presence and he knewthat man held [poetry] in contempt (text
corrupt). You are one of thosewho grew up in literature and became old with it and
crawled after andstrove steadily towards it.10
umayn�� poetry
al-Mans..
S..
This Im��m wanted to kill the writer Y��suf b. .Al�� al-Kawkab��n�� (d. 1704/
1705), but a slave girl intervened on his behalf, arguing that he would
become unpopular by killing .ulam��..13
in for two years.16 During this time, the mystically inclined jurist is
said to have unraveled one of the Sufi mysteries.17 The calumnies uttered
against this Im��m by a mentally ill poet named Ism��.��l b. al-H.asan b.
Ab�� l-Rij��l (d. 1776/1777) led to the man��s restriction in a limited area
of the city of S..��.
an.��., 82n122.
14 Ibid., 1:30�C31.
15 Ibid., 2:199.
16 Ibid., 1:277.
17 Ibid., 1:280. Zab��rah does not say what this mystery was but he read about the
incident in al-Q��t ....
of defending the man��s tongue from the depredations of the jinn and
protecting the Im��m��s good name. The poet Ism��.��l b. H.usayn Ja.m��n
.usayn b. ..
.city of Mocha and the H.ar��z mountains for the Im��m al-Mutawakkil
Ism��.��l.22 ��Many of the outstanding poets of his time panegyrized him
like the shaykh Ibr��h��m al-Hind�� and other Yemeni poets and a group
of poets from Bahrain and Oman,�� writes al-Shawk��n��. 23 To this list
al-H.asan b. .Al�� al-Habal should be added.24 Roughly a century later,
the poet, scribe, and architect .Al�� b. S��lih al-.Amm��r�� (d. 1798/1799)
..
an.��., 89.
20 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 3:368.
21 Al-Shawk��n��, al-Badr al-t��li., 450: ��Wa-huwa [bandar al-makh��.] akbaru
wil��yatin
.f�� l-qut.
ri l-yam��n��.��
22 Muh.sin b. al-H.asan Ab�� T.��lib, Ta.r��kh ahl al-kis��., 118.
23 Al-Shawk��n��, al-Badr al-t��li., 226: ��Wa-madahahu a.y��nu l-shu.ar��.i f��
zamanihi
..ka l-shaykhi ibr��h��ma l-hindiyyi wa-ghayrihi min shu.ar��.i l-yamani wa-
jam��.atun min
shu.ar��.i l-bah.rayna wa-.um��na.��
.
26 Zab��rah, Nayl al-wat.
ar, 2:136.
a golden age of h.77
umayn�� poetry
Poets also focused their attentions on the brothers .Al�� and Muh.sin b.
..usayn b. al-Q��sim
arfi.��
28 Al-Shawk��n��, al-Badr al-t.
��li., 441.
29 Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.as��n��, Nasmat al-sah.ar, 2:423; 3:343.
30 Ibid., 2:421.
31 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 1:408.
32 Al-Shawk��n��, al-Badr al-t.
��li., 595.
chapter three
who traveled from S..��. to Ta.izz in the company of its new governor,
Why did many of these men risk exile, imprisonment, and death to
write laudatory poems for important people? As biographical dictionaries
make clear, poetry was a means of upward mobility. One could
amass wealth as a panegyrist or use poetry as a stepping stone to high
33 Ibid., 596.
34 Ibid., 596.
35 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 1:753.
36 Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan��, Nasmat al-sah.ar, 1:299.
37 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 3:421.
38 Ibid., 1:75; al-Shawk��n��, al-Badr al-t.
��li., 55.
39 Al-H.ibshi, al-Adab al-yaman��, 272�C273.
40 Zab��rah, Nayl al-wat.
ar, 1:76.
41 Ibid., 1:288.
42 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 1:327.
43 Ibid., 2:92�C93.
a golden age of h.79
umayn�� poetry
..
this notion.44
(d. 1748/1749) hands were always black because he was a dyer.48 When,
in his old age, some people in Kawkab��n teased him, he composed the
following couplet: ��Honor is [to be found] in knowledge and in a hand
blackened by the dyer��s craft, not in the companionship of rulers. The
only reason that I have pursued all of these goals is to unite knowledge
and deed.��49 Although poets, such as Ibr��h��m b. Ah.mad al-Y��fi.�� and
Ah.mad b. Ah.mad al-��nis�� (al-Zanamah), became wealthy, poetry did
not guarantee economic self-sufficiency.50 Take, for example, the story
of Sha.b��n Sal��m b. .Uthm��n al-R��m��, a shopkeeper and physician who
made money with his poetry.51 In his old age, when he could no longer
earn a living any other way, he had to sell his poetry at a low price to
whomever would pay for it.52 He died poor.53
44 Al-Shawk��n��, al-Badr al-t��li., 450; Zab��rah, Nayl al-watar, 2:136.
��li., 71.
49 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 1:126: ��Al-majdu f�� l-.ilmi wa l-kaffi l-musawwadi
min /
fanni l-s...
ab��ghati l�� f�� suhbati l-duwali, fa-m�� sa.aytu il�� h��dh�� wa-dh��ka ma.an /
ill��
li-ajma.a bayna l-.ilmi wa l-.amali.��
.
53 Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan��, Nasmat al-sah.ar, 2:236.
chapter three
uraf��.
al-maj��n��n), possessed a tumultuous relationship with its patrons. This
expression appears in al-H.ad��.iq al-mut��la.ah min zuh��r abn��. al-.asr.
ar, 1:173.
56 Al-Shawk��n��, al-Badr al-t.
ar, 1:105.
59 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 1:185; al-H.ibsh��, al-Adab al-yaman��, 444�C445.
Stories concerning
wise madmen (.uqal��. al-maj��n��n) constitute a recognized genre of medievalArabic
literature.
61 Ibid., 1:185.
a golden age of h.81
umayn�� poetry
b. ..
Al�� ��al-Khayy��t�� was the victim of medical malpractice, which,
al-H.��th�� says, prevented him from sleeping for thirteen years and
��disturbed his temperament�� (ikhtalla miz��juhu).62 (The poet��s apparent
fondness for coffee leads one to suspect the veracity of this report.)63
Not every insane poet was tolerated. Al-H.��th�� said that Ism��.��l b.
al-H.asan b. Ab�� l-Rij��l (d. 1776/1777) was a mad fool who complained
of how the jinn had taken him over. Nevertheless, he was a prolific
composer of flawless poetry.64 The verbal attacks he launched against
the Im��m al-Mahd�� Muh.ammad led to the poet being gagged and
restricted to a limited area of S..��65
ahhar
.f All��h
al-Jah.h��f related how he became a Sufi in San.��., immersed himself in
He used to wrap a turban on and wear it for a long time, without undoingit, until
it was black and falling apart over his shoulders. It was topped
62 Ibid., 1:588.
65 Ibid., 1:349.
ar, 2:361.
67 Ibid., 2:359.
68 Ibid., 2:360.
69 Ibid., 2:361: ��Wa-k��na qal��la l-mub��l��ti bi-h.ifzi n��m��si l-adabi, fa-
yaqifu ma.a
.l-s...
70 Ibid., 2:362.
chapter three
with filth and birds sometimes loosed their droppings on it. He wore ashirt and
walked about in it for a year without washing it until it wasfilthy, wiping his
snotty nose on its sleeves and making a detestable sight
for whoever saw him.71
What made it so that someone like Ab�� l-T.ah.��tih.. could have been
welcome at the formal evening literary gatherings that were held by
the notables of S..��.
After nine [you may as well] pick nits from your hair.
71 Ibid., 2:361.
72 Ibid., 2:362.
uh wa-aqta..��
a golden age of h.83
umayn�� poetry
f saq��fatihi)
contrasts the carefully ordered atmosphere of the cosmopolitan salon
with the lives of tribesmen:
When someone speaks, everyone should listen to him, until his speechis entirely
consumed,
Discussion still rouses painful love in you and as for laughing, if onemakes a joke
everybody laughs,
[AR: Since speech requires careful crafting do not talk over one another,]
These are the rules of promotion and of demotion, and he who breaksthem is
considered a bleater,
If they are not followed it may as well be a meeting of the Ban�� Malkhaj75
who may, if they so choose, raid Bak��l.76
The poetry of coffee and q��t takes the classical wine poem (khamriyyah)
as its model. This association follows naturally from the word ��coffee��
(qahwah), a metonym for wine. The oxymoron of a licit ��qahwah��
became a stock motif. .Abdallah b. Ah.mad b. Ish.��q (d. 1777/1778), a
poet who seems to have celebrated both coffee and q��t, writes:
A coffee that would make one forget the daughter of the vine kept us
occupied past the evening prayer,
Its body is a melting agate, bubbles adorning its throats, like gold,
The nobles do not have to fear the raid of the rebuker when they drinkexcessively
of it,
Fill the glasses from its little pot! Pass them around��they are my furthest
hope!
Then, servant, sing the poem I composed on it with an enchanting versification,
For [the coffee] together with the poem with the singer is ecstasy within
ecstasy within ecstasy.78
H.usayn b. .
My friend, the nightingale cries out in the bushes and morning is mademanifest by
light,
Awake to a morning drink��dew has punctuated the ground and themorning clouds have
effaced the line of stars,
In the morning [the sound of] the grinder mesmerized us��It was a
concert that needed no strings,
Sip the liquor of the coffee bean that allows us to dispense with the first
pressings of the first fruits of a fine wine.79
umayn�� poetry
Here, the poet��s use of the word ��husk�� may indicate that he was describing
qishr, a drink made with the husks of the coffee bean. Ah.mad b.
al-H.usayn Sharaf al-D��n ��al-Q��rrah�� writes:
Pass to the lover some liquor from the pot, dressed in a silk robe adornedwith
gold.
Religiously permissible (there is no sin in it for the drinker)��and��.Usm��n��
boasts of its taste with ��Akhraf ��,82
From the 1660s until the mid-eighteenth century, Yemen was the center
of the international coffee trade.85 In al-Mu.allim����s imaginary debate,
a woman called Coffee says to a man called Q��t,
Don��t you know, rebel, that contention is a hard road to travel? You havemade me,
O disgusting one, one of your wives and a [constant] companionin your mornings and
in your evenings. Do you think I suffer you out of
pious dissimulation (taqiyyah) when my argument against you is brightand pristine?
I am the one who is lovely to drink and my nicknames haveovertaken the East and the
West. Merchants from the ports seek me andenter the dreaded seas to obtain me and
[then their] ships carry me to
Byzantium and all of the lands.86
Coffee��s introduction to Yemen and the world was associated with several
fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Sufis, one of them the h.umayn��
poet Ab�� Bakr al-.Aydar��s.87
82 This may be a proverb but I have not been able to locate any discussions of it.
83 Al-H.ibsh��, al-Adab al-yaman��, 217.
84 Ibid., 218.
85 Peter Boxhall, ��The Diary of a Mocha Coffee Agent,�� in Arabian Studies 1
(1974):
102�C118.
86 ..
The Sufi and h.umayn�� poet Muh.ammad b. .Al�� al-S��d�� (d. 1525/1526),
who ��loved to drink coffee night and day,�� used luxurious clothing
and valuables to keep a fire burning constantly for brewing coffee.88
Once, he fed the fire with a gift from the T.��hirid sultan, .��mir b. .Abd
al-Wahh��b. Confronted by the sultan, al-S��d�� withdrew the gift from the
fire unscathed.89 The Im��m al-Mahd�� Ah.mad b. al-H.asan (1676�C1681)
ordered coffee bushes uprooted in a display of zeal.90 Nevertheless, the
puritanical Ibn al-Am��r composed poetry in praise of coffee.91 Coffee
continued to be exported from Yemen in the nineteenth century (as
it is today) and, as al-Mu.allim����s work shows, exercised a hold on the
cultural imagination. Nineteenth-century Ottoman officials held out the
possibility of rejuvenating the Yemeni coffee industry.92 Today, liberal
opponents of q��t use also invoke this trope.
Q��t seems to have enjoyed far greater popularity than coffee. Like
coffee, q��t possessed a longstanding association with Islamic mysticism.
Like coffee, its poetic descriptions drew inspiration from descriptions
of wine. .Abdallah b. Ah.mad b. Ish.��q (d. 1777/78) writes the following
about q��t:
Among the intoxicants there is none like q��t to guide happiness to everyheart,
What a difference! What a difference! Red [wine] cannot compare to it
even if it is passed around to the companions in flagons.93
A poem that al-Mu.allim�� identifies as the work of the Sufi H.��tim al-
Ahdal (d. 1604/1605) can be found in takhm��s form in a manuscript
of Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad b. al-H.asan��s (d. 1699/1700) Simt. al-la.��l f��
shi.r al-��l.94 The author of the interpolated lines, .Abdallah b. al-Im��m
Sharaf al-D��n, was the father of the h.umayn�� poet Muh.ammad b.
.Abdallah Sharaf al-D��n. This enthusiastic and clumsy poem emphasizes
the numinous qualities of q��t. The lines of H.��tim al-Ahdal��s original
poem are indicated by bold print:
89 Ibid., 144.
an.��., 82; Dafari, ��Humaini Poetry,�� 228.91 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 3:68.
92 Thomas Kuhn��personal communication.
93 Al-H.ibsh��, al-Adab al-yaman��, 304.
94 Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan�� attributed the original poem to .Abdallah. Nasmat
umayn�� poetry
Consuming it clears my mind and seeing it clears my eye��It sweetensmy life and my
times,
It is an olive whose oil ignites the wick of the light in the lamp of my niche,
[Then] I saw that my heart was its heart, out of love, and it is noinnovation to
crave q��t,
You see that it is a rest for spirits and nourishment for hearts,
It feels like silk brocade and it has a fine bouquet,
And the mind has penetrated into the Sacred World,
All desires are gathered within it and thus all wills move toward it,
Eat it for what you wish from this world and the next, hoarding benefitsand driving
off harmful things,
In a bite of it, say the Guides, is a radiance that illuminates the secretof
praying for forty days in solitude,
It elevated me to their furthest truths and cleansed the filth from the
surface of my mirror,
O people of al-Nu.m��n from among the b��n branches of the sandy hillock,
If you want to arrive at a reserved pasture and you have a meeting there,
Q��t, on the path of the people of God, is the best thing to meet,
97 Professor G.J. van Gelder suggests that the poet is urging readers to see the
correspondence
between the word ��al-q��t��, which equals 532 and the word ��iltiq��.��, which
possesses the same numerical value.
98 This, the longest version of the poem that I have seen, comes from Ism��.��l b.
Muh.ammad b. al-H.asan, Simt. al-la.��l, 207v�C209r.
a golden age of h.89
umayn�� poetry
When [every] heart had inclined towards the beauty of the young man��smouth, with
q��t in it, I compared it��
[To white] pearls sprouting from a [red] agate, separated by a melting[green]
emerald.104
100 Al-Muh.ibb��, Khul��sat al-athar, 3:252; Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 1:122; al-
Hibsh��,
101 Another example of an ostensibly pious poem on q��t is the poem by Muh.ammad
102 Q��t is steadily chewed over a period of hours, a large viscous ball forming in
thecheek, new leaves and stems being added little by little. The corner of this
ball can beseen when the chewer speaks. It should be noted that, in keeping with
the elaboratedecorum of the q��t chewing session, the act of chewing itself is
meant to possess acertain grace. In Yemen today, facial tissues are among the
necessary supplies forthe chewer to bring to the session. They are used to swab the
green spittle from thecorners of his mouth.
103 A: A long time ago the servant (duwaydar), a person of low status, used to
sleepwith participants in such gatherings.
104 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 1:35.
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.Al�� b. S��lih b. Ab�� l-Rij��l (d. 1722/23) describes ��the color of an emerald
..
amidst pearls against the agate color of the lips�� (lah�� lawnu l-zumurrudi
bayna durrin / .al�� lawni l-.aq��qi mina l-shaf��ti).105 Muh.ammad
Zab��rah devotes a discussion to a poet of the last century who excelled
��at composing similes on q��t in the mouth of a beauty�� (tashb��hi l-q��ti
f�� fami l-mal��h.i). This man writes:
When he appeared, black-eyed and smiling, it was as if the moon droveoff dusk��s
darkness.
The q��t in his mouth was a turquoise, his lips were ruby, and his facewas like the
dawn.
I said in wonder: ��is his smile ��the turquoise of dawn or the ruby ofsunset?��
��106
b. S..
��lih b. Ab�� l-Rij��l likens it to a woman: ��A bundle shining like the
umayn�� poetry
full moon��[my] innards yearn for its golden q��t, free from the palms
of the envious, glimmering, as beautiful as a young girl, a virgin.��108
Like wine for earlier poets, q��t was the object for lavish description,
occasionally bordering on the mythological. Eroticism, both male and
female, inspires many q��t poems. The association between wine and q��t
was explicitly articulated through the use of the literary techniques of
the wine poem. This poem of Muh.sin b. .Abd al-Kar��m��s (d. 1849/50)
captures the libertine spirit of some khamriyy��t and redirects it in the
service of q��t:
May rain water the worthless (.��fish) and frowning (.ubas��.), sources ofq��t, so
they will never be miserable,109
For q��t gives energy whereas wine, when sipped, induces languor,
When the vapors of lethargy take the people and the eyes are about toshut,
Q��t scares them off just as the remembrance of God scares off Satanwhen he
whispers,
There is no time like its time��there is none more refreshing to thebreaths nor
more precious,
The happy doves of its boughs are hunted so that they will drive off this
sadness,
So give me [of it] rows of topazes clothed in silk brocade.110
110 Muh.sin b. .Abd al-Kar��m b. Ish.��q, Dhawb al-.asjad f�� l-adab al-mufrad min
shi.r
al-muh.sin bin .abd al-kar��m bin ah.mad (MS Western Mosque Library adab 62) 41v;
.Abdallah al-H.ibsh����s reading in al-Adab al-yaman�� 215�C216, is flawed.
111 Ibn Sharaf al-D��n, D��w��n, 206. This is a bit curious because q��t and
alcohol would
seem to cancel each other out. Contemporary Yemeni drinkers of hard liquor
oftenindulge in the evening to battle the insomnia that q��t produces.
112 The qualities of the various Yemeni grapes are the topics for several
poeticcompositions.
113 Al-Mufad.d.al b. Muh.ammad al-D.abb��, The Mufad.d.aliy��t: An anthology of
ancientArabian odes, ed. Charles Lyall (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1918�C1924), poems
12 and 55.
chapter three
Jews��and was, in fact, necessary for their Sabbath and holiday observances��
Muslim authorities permitted Jews to produce wine. 114
Weddings
114 Was Yemeni wine good? On this question we have the testimony of geologistPierre
Lamare, who worked in Yemen in 1922. Serjeant writes: ��From a Frenchmanone may
accept the statement that the wine resembled Chablis, and that the
localdistillation compared not too unfavorably with Marc du Burgogne.�� Serjeant
andLewcock, S.
an.��., 116.
115 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 3:36; Muh.sin b. al-H.asan Ab�� T.��lib, Ta.r��kh ahl
al-kis��.,
176.
116 Objets et Mondes, 13 (1973): 3�C34.117 Nissim Gamlieli, Ahavat Teman: Ha-Shirah
ha-.amamit ha-temanit, shirat hanashim
(Tel Aviv: Afikim, 1974), 139�C147; Yosef Q��fih., Halikhot Teman, passim; Erich
Brauer, Ethnologie der Jemenitischen Juden (Heidelberg: Carl Winters
Universit.tsbuchandlung,
1934), 127�C130.
a golden age of h.93
umayn�� poetry
On the third day (al-th��lith), the groom��s family hosts the bride��s
family in their house for a celebration. They may hire another fann��nah.
On the seventh day, the groom��s family serves a large lunch.
.qawmah suite) would, on its face, seem to show that the ceremony
had degenerated from the spiritual plane of the nashsh��d��chanting
a muzayyinah.
praises of the prophet Muh.ammad, the Ban�� H��shim, and the groom
to an all-male audience��to the thinly veiled sensuality of ghazal.
Weddings, of course, have functioned as outlets for sexual expression,
both controlled and uncontrolled, in other traditional societies. Susan
Rasmussen, an anthropologist who worked recently among the Tuareg
in the mountains of northern Niger, observed weddings that featured
��considerable social license.��124
124 Susan Rasmussen, ��Wedding of Calm and Wedding of Noise: Aging Performedand
Aging Misquoted in Tuareg Rites of Passage,�� in Journal of AnthropologicalResearch
57 (2001): 278.
umayn�� poetry
The mingling of spirituality and sexuality, and religious law and its
transgression, characterizes both the wedding ceremony and the singing
of h.umayn�� poetry in the penultimate act of the wedding. Thus, the
wedding ceremony serves as a counterpart to the Sufis�� sam��. session.131
A contemporary S..��n�� singer, .
The evening music festivals following Islamic wedding rituals feature arelaxing of
normally reserved conduct between affines. Much flirting and
courtship also occurs between persons of different social origins (nobles,
smiths/artisans, former slaves, and tributaries), who, in principle, are
notsupposed to intermarry. These festivals are conveyed in the Air dialectof
Tamajaq, the local language, by a separate term, erawen (denoting
130 A Yemen�� acquaintance of mine, a talented singer and .��d-player who earns
alow salary as a hospital clerk, has repeatedly turned down lucrative offers to
perform
at weddings because of this taboo.
131 Jean Lambert compares the formal gathering to Sufi sam��.. La m��decine de
l��ame, 53.
132 Ibid., 210.
133 Rasmussen, ��Wedding of Calm and Wedding of Noise,�� 277.
134 Ibid., 287�C288.
135 Ibid., 285�C286, 277.
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After the wedding, when the bride plants her right foot, wet with
the blood of a bull, inside the groom��s house, her movement is both
physical and metaphysical. In the village ritual Gamlieli describes, the
bride and groom each step in the blood of a slaughtered animal after
washing themselves in a river. At the conclusion of the ceremony and
the obligatory seven days of feasting, the bride and the groom shed
their wedding clothes at a rock by the river (h.ajar al-rad��d) and swim
across without looking back.
137 Separation of the sexes was more carefully observed in urban settings than
inthe villages.
a golden age of h.97
umayn�� poetry
Such poems are remarkably frank in their depiction of the bride��s trials.
One speaker says, ��O Mother, O Father, why did you let them sell
me��sell your cow and sheep��ransom me with the money!��140 Poems
depicting the bride��s frustration accompany the final procession (zaffah)
to the groom��s house, where they take the form of a dialogue between
the girl and her father. ��He said: What can I do, my daughter? A [bull]
has been slaughtered at the door. He said: What can I do, my daughter?
This is the law of girls.��141
These poems display irony: ��They made me their slave but the slave
girls abuse me. When I go downstairs they say, ��Who is that stranger?��
and when I climb up to the roof they say, ��Remarkable! remarkable!����142
Their imagery is often surprising: ��Mother, my heart is burning like ink
when it is written on paper, O Sind, O India, when it rains on you at
night do not think it rain��it is a flood of tears from my eyes.��143 Here,
ink stands for extreme heat, presumably because it appears to burn the
paper where it is applied. Tears like rain are a stock simile of Arabic
love poetry. The female composer��s partial familiarity with this tradition,
observing it furtively from an upper story window, explains both her
poems�� continuities and their divergences from the tradition.
Poems accompanying the cutting of the bride��s hair, her bathing, and
her adornment describe her beauty. They often employ erotic imagery,
138 The ceremonial dagger worn by tribesmen. Jews did not wear janbiyahs so the
presence of this image in a Jewish poem attests to the interconfessional nature of
Jewish
women��s poetry. William Brinner��s introduction to Mishael Caspi, Daughters
ofYemen (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985). Shoshanah T.��b��
(��Sham.ah��),
a singer of Yemeni women��s poetry who emigrated to Israel as a child, has
achievedwide renown in Yemen as a representative of an authentic local tradition.
and their spice and fruit metaphors emphasize the young woman��s
fertility. The bride is ��a lemon orchard�� (h.��.it. al-l��m), a ��clove orchard��
��nish rawiyyah),146
and her ��breasts are like pomegranates.��147 One poet asks, ��Where were
you, beauty? Where were you hiding? She was hiding in her father��s
house, behind the high windows.��148 Another poem follows a nearly
identical rendition of the preceding line with: ��Welcome O girl, [you
are] a spring under your house, a spring of yellow clarified butter, and
a garden of honey.��149
).150
��The dark youth with the silk turban captivated me.�� (wa-dah��n�� alar).
151
145 Ibid., 186: ��al-h.ar��wah jirbah .al�� ghayl, tizra. al-qirfah wa-hayl.��
148 Ibid., 175: ��wayn kunt�� y�� mal��h.ah, wayn kunt�� makhbiyyah, makhbiyyah f��
d��rab��h��, f�� man��zir..��liya.��
149 Ibid., 173: ��wa-rih.b�� y�� dhal binayah, taht d��rish s��qiyah, s��qiyah li-
samn al-asfar,
152 The nose (of a man or a woman) is invariably described as a sword in the
women��spoems collected by Nissim Gamlieli. He explains the metaphor thus: ��In
Yemen, theivory handle of a sword or dagger is decorated with granulated silver or
gold to makeit beautiful. The comparison of the nose to a sword is very widespread
in Yemenipoetry.�� Ibid., 171n4. The image conveys the white color of ivory, the
thinness of asword, and possibly the ornamentation of nose ring(s).
a golden age of h.99
umayn�� poetry
The penultimate line of this poem, from Damt in Lower Yemen, shows
Yemeni Jews�� esteem for S..��.. The Q��.
The description of the bride��s body does not always take the male
or female observer��s vantage point, however. In one poem, the woman
describes herself to her groom as part of a game of flirtation:
She left her father��s house and entered the neighbors�� house.
She wore a fashionable157 dress and her eyes were full of happiness.158
He said: O beauty, show yourself to me and let me delight in your hair.
She said: go away, naughty man, my hair is the camel��s reins.159
This refrain repeats throughout the poem and each time, the man
asks to see a different part of her body. She rebuffs him but nonetheless
describes it to him one part at a time. ��My forehead is a moon of
Sha.b��n,�� she says, ��my eyebrows are strokes of pens,�� ��my eyes are
red jewels,�� ��my nose is the sultan��s sword,�� ��my mouth is a string of
pearls,�� ��my neck is the gazelle of the orchard,�� ��my [upper] chest is
the town square��,160 ��my breasts are pomegranates,�� and ��my belly is
silky cloth.��161
160 The ideal of beauty here is that her upper chest is smooth and flat. A
hemistichin the Mu.allaqah of Imr�� l-Qays expresses this ideal: ��her breastbones
are like a burnished
mirror�� (tar��.ibuh�� mas.
q��latun ka l-sajanjali).
161 Gamlieli, Ahavat Teman, 169�C170.
162 Ibid., 176.
chapter three
a bough of the b��n tree.163 ��Where is your dove?��164 ��The dove chick
chirped.��165 Refuge is sought from Satan and from ��the hater�� (al-sh��n��).166
One poem recorded by Gamlieli displays a more marked intertextuality.
��O dove of D��r, O dove of the heights�� the speaker adjures.167 This likely
evokes the famous h.umayn�� poem of .Al�� al-.Ans��, ��O Warbler in W��d��
D��r�� (y�� mugharrid bi-w��d�� d��r). Al-.Ans�� mentions the Tih��man town
of al-.Udayn several times in his h.umayn�� poetry. The same woman��s
poem contains the verse, ��Who will be my messenger to .Udayn?��168
169 Lila Abu Lughod, Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin
Society(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 181, 28.
a golden age of h.101
umayn�� poetry
171 Brauer, Ethnologie, 166�C173 and passim also contains women��s poems.
172 Bernard Haykel, Revival and Reform in Islam: The Legacy of Muhammad al-
Shawkani (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
teleological strategy. The author says that his father told him of an
��extraordinary coincidence�� (.aj��b al-ittif��q). A guest among the notables
assembled in Sa..dah in the presence of Sharaf al-D��n al-H.usayn b.
al-H.asan, Yah.y�� b. Ah.mad b. al-Mahd��, recited a poem of self-praise that
contained a description of a roan stallion (h.is��n adham) that Ahmad
..
b. al-Mans.
��r bi ll��h owned. He described how the horse left marks on
the ground that made sparks. The writer��s father thought that he had
gotten the description of the horse just right (as...
Despite the raging debate over madhhab, the issue did not appear
often in h.umayn�� poetry. It is likely that many poets considered the
theme ill-suited to lyrical verse set to music. In a love poem addressed
174 Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad b. al-H.asan, Simt. al-la.��l f�� shi.r al-��l, 96r;
Y��suf b. Yah.y��al-H.asan��, Nasmat al-sah.ar, 1:231�C233.
176 G.J. van Gelder, The Bad and the Ugly: Attitudes Towards Invective Poetry
(Hij��.)
in Classical Arabic Literature (Leiden: E.J. Brill), 39.
a golden age of h.103
umayn�� poetry
May I be your ransom! You are leaving without good reason��My soul!
[you left] for my madhhab allegiance of all things,
I would become a Sh��fi.�� for you of the lustrous teeth, you pearl-toothed
gazelle,
So what if I raise my hand when I pray, Arab gazelle / I ask: does this
constitute madhhab?178
.��.
1801/1802, did the following while imprisoned:
177 Muh.sin b. al-H.asan Ab�� T.��lib, Dhawb al-dhahab bi-mah.��sin man sh��hadtu
f��
.as..
r�� min ahl al-adab (Waqf library 1936), 80 (MS not foliated): ��wa-k��na ka l-
hasan
al-habal f�� shi.ri l-tashayyu. wa l-madhhab.��
��li., 152�C153.
181 Zab��rah, Nayl al-wat.
ar 1:214�C215.
chapter three
He made uninflected odes, and delivered them to the chanters at the gatesand in the
markets and on the roads, that excoriated the governors andthe ministers and the
jurists and every person who was excessive in hisreligious observance as well as
those who were lax with an aspect of theShar��.ah. They gave [the poems] delicate
melodies. Children and adults,
men and women, scholars and commoners, memorized them.182
The following bitter report on the state of poetry which Y��suf b. Yah.y��
al-H.asan�� issued becomes intelligible against the backdrop of the various
historical developments that impacted the production of poetry in
seventeenth-nineteenth century Yemen, notably, the booming market
for panegyric poetry and the declining fortunes of traditional Zaydism.
This author describes the poet Ibr��h��m b. Ah.mad al-Y��fi.�� as ��following
the Zayd�� method of the people of [S..��.] in madhhab but not in
anpoetry.��183 During his time, writes Y��suf b. Yah.y��, ��the war songs of
the regime had gone slack.�� In addition, ��there was not a trace left of
virtue, and poetry did not even have a name, indeed, if you wished for
a summary one would have to say that knowledge had no lot.�� Y��fi.��
was a mercenary panegyrist and, perhaps for this reason, ��was the
standard-bearer of the poets in Yemen.��184 Here, Y��suf b. Yah.y�� turns
to more general commentary:
I (say): God bless him! He dealt with people according to what he knewof their
understanding, and [in contrast] the bane of poetry and thepoet is the poor
understanding of the listener. The ��standard�� today, inopposition to ��The
Standard�� of Ibn Rash��q is nothing but an ornamentation
(zakhrafah) and delicacy (riqqah) in poetry [that is] written withthe pen of
coarseness and hidden away. If a would-be poet can writethe name of the leader in
gold he is considered eloquent and honorable(even if [his work] is withered, unlike
the honorable shaykh). If one who
is intelligent and a fair judge is to be found [he would adjudge that] it
is, in the generations past, the Umayyad and .Abbasid caliphs who aresuperior to
those with whom we have been afflicted [in our own time] in
knowledge, understanding, breeding and virtue. Where is our Ma.m��n
with his breeding, forebearance, and perfection? [Where is our] Rash��d
with his breeding and courage or [our] valorous and intelligent Mu..
tasim?
an
184 Ibid., 1:90: ��huwa h.��milu liw��.i l-shu.ar��.i bi l-yamani��.
a golden age of h.105
umayn�� poetry
Even the Umayyads had a [more] perfect understanding and could tellpearls from
excrement.185
adr al-D��n b. Ma.address ��the blossoms of poetry and prose upon which the moist
and
1 Modern Arabic Literature, ed. M.M. Badawi. Volume 4 of The Cambridge History
of Arabic Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 36.
2 Ibid., 36�C37.
chapter four
cool East wind blows by [my] contemporaries and those who preceded
them a little.��3 ��For every age has its [great] men,�� he continues,
Say to him who thinks his contemporary has nothing [of value], who
thinks the Ancients take precedence,
That old [one] was once new and this new thing will become old!
Though [our] time is late, posteriority does not preclude quality, for raincomes
after thunder and a gift after a promise and the rank of numbersincreases with
their lateness.4
...
.as..
rahum qal��lan, min az��h��ri l-nazmi wa l-nathri l-lat�� habba .alayh�� nas��mu l-
qab��libal��lan.��
4 Ibid., 7.
assess the state of poetry under this Im��m.7 According to him, al-Hind��
was able to pilfer the work of poets such as the Egyptian Ibn Nub��tah
due to
[his having] known the people��s [low level of ] understanding and [the
low amount of ] memorization of poetry so he stretched out his arms
and legs and relaxed. This is not to say that he was unable [to compose]
but poetry has not had a market in Yemen since the days of the Isma.��l��
missionaries, the clans of Zuray. and Sab��. They were poet-kings andthey overtook
[poetry] and critiqued it. Our Zayd�� Im��ms do not havea great interest in it
except for the Im��m al-Mans.
7 He showed his lack of respect for this ruler when he added the phrase ��may
hisrule be diminished�� (qalla khil��fatuhu) after his name. Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-
H.asan��,
Nasmat al-sah.ar, 2:72.
8 Ibid., 2:82�C83.
9 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 3:16: ��k��na l-mawl�� muh.ammadu bnu ish.��qi idh��
unshidabi-h.adratihi l-shi.ru l-rak��ku tahaddara l-.araqu min jab��nihi wa-zahara
l-hay��.u f��
10 ��Tudl�� bi-s��biqatin����al-H.
asan al-Habal, D��w��n al-Habal, ed. Ah.mad b.
Muh.ammad al-Sh��m�� (Beirut: Mansh��r��t al-.as..
Hear the sad complaint of a notorious man who makes others notoriousif announcement
and raising up are still beneficial,
What has become of rhyme that its meeting-places are empty��was poetryspoiled by
vowel alteration in your time?
Who will raise it up from its state of debasement when the repetition ofwords
[literally ��trampling��] reaches it with its lowly shoes,
Rhyme is in a miserable and wretched state��one who owns her findsthat for him all
of the expanses of the earth are narrow,
[The] craft��s goods are sold for a pittance among us and its seller earns[only]
poverty and wretchedness,
Come, help one asking for help, for whom you are always the one hopedfrom when he
is afflicted by misery and misfortune.11
Al-Habal levels his criticisms at the Im��ms, poets, and poetry. Like
Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan��, his accusations against the Im��ms are religiously
motivated. He says that they have strayed from religious norms,
surrounding themselves with people who are hostile to .Al�� b. Ab��
T.��lib.12 Their payments to poets are arbitrarily decided and sporadically
disbursed. Since a high level of learning is a prerequisite for the
Im��mate, this point calls into question the legitimacy of Im��ms who
cannot distinguish good poetry from bad.
The verse, ��If you want success, do not say ��grandfathers and fathers
of mine have been killed before you,���� (l�� taqul in aradta l-nujh.a qad
qutilat / am��makum liya ajd��dun wa-��b��.u) likely refers to the genre
of poems recounting the suffering and martyrdom of past Sh��.�� Im��ms.
The Im��ms, al-Habal seems to say, are no longer interested in hearing
about their place in a chain of Sh��.�� Im��ms, and their poets are unwilling
to force the issue. Therefore, poets also compromise Zaydism.
12 Here he clearly means legal reformers like Ibn al-Am��r who found their
inspiration
in Sunni h.ad��th collections.
chapter four
My friend, young men are a people created from the wine of harmony,
with the embroidery of al-Raff��. and the amatory verse of Mihy��r, the
delicacy of al-Bah��. and the nature of al-Sul��m��,
Get up and halt with me at the dance floor of poetry and let us seek out
the path to love,
Like ��eyes of a gazelle�� and ��O fawn of the b��n tree�� ��won��t you give me
a drink?�� ��Circulate [the cup], my youth,��
And take me away from speech that holds its nose up with bravery and
marching,
like ��we dressed in iron and put the lance between the leg and the stirrup��,
��an alif of a straightened spear on top of a l��m��,
Or the pious, rolling up his sleeves [or] the jurist setting rulings in order,
Then spare me from ascending the heights of Rad.w�� (I mean the rugged
words),
Like ��let the two of us weep�� or ��O sons of my mother, raise up���� and
��these stones on the hills,��
Do we need to cry over the traces of a dwelling? Leave this to .Urwah
b. H.iz��m,
As long as you see the light touch of the wind when it has started blowing
like the complaint of a sleepless man crazed with love,
And gardens like young and tender (girls) that even have a slanderer
[puns with ��wild thyme��],
And as if the spring rain was a lover to whom was complained separation
along with love and passion,
Rising from it with thunder, a wail, showing insides of flashing white
lightning,
As if the flowers, while weeping, covered themselves with their calyxes,
They were ashamed, and the anemone��s cheeks were reddened with
bashfulness, bloodied,
So by the beauty of the gardens, rather by love for you, O my uppermost
desire, against Time,
Do not say that the night sky has raised a red twilight in the garden,
Mars guarded the roses and tempted the dark��s stars with them,
13 Suzanne Stetkevych, The Poetics of Islamic Legitimacy (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2002), 183.14 Al-Maq��lih., Shi.r al-.��mmiyyah f�� l-yaman, 163.
the status of h.umayn�� poetry
And the Forearm [a constellation] has borrowed the hand of the Pleiadesand plucked
the roses from under the husk of the clouds.15
l��l (abandoned
traces) motif calls to mind the famous lines of Ab�� Nuw��s on this
subject, as well as the various Maml��k poets who imitated him, as
.Abdallah al-H.ibsh�� has shown.16 The poem begins by naming a series
of poets who together make up ��youths,�� namely Ibn al-H.asan al-Sar��
al-Maws.
l��l.
Al-Shawk��n�� states that the biographical work T.��b al-samar f�� awq��t
al-sah.ar was made into saj. ��as in the work of most of the late historians��
(musajja..
Nashr al-.arf, 2:252�C253; Muh.sin b. al-H.asan Ab�� T.��lib, Dhawb al-dhahab, 80.
16 Al-H.ibsh��, al-Adab al-yaman��, 136�C137; Th. Emil Homerin, ��Reflections on
Arabic
Poetry in the Mamluk Age,�� in Maml��k Studies Review 1 (1997):66.17 Al-Shawk��n��,
al-Badr al-t.
��li., 477n2.
18 Muh.sin b. al-H.asan Ab�� T.��lib, Dhawb al-dhahab, 81�C87.
19 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 2:252.
20 Al-Shawk��n��, al-Badr al-t.
��li., 118.
chapter four
Verily, their expressions do not help determine the man and knowledgeof his times
or the apprehension of who he really was. It benefits theimaginative faculty in the
soul. Its effect is that of grasping or spreading
out in the manner of poetic analogies and imaginative metaphors.21
l-rajuli wa-l�� ma.rifata ah.w��lihi wa-l�� ittil��.a .al�� kunhi h.aq��qatihi wa-
innam�� tuf��dutakhy��lan f�� l-nafsi wa-ta.th��rah�� bi-qabd.in aw bastin .al��
namti l-qiy��s��t al-shi.riyyati
23 Ibid., 144: ��Wa l-h.aqqu anna l-ar��d.a min nazri l-f��.idati, qal��lu l-
h.ud��di.��
24 Ibid., 144.
25 Ibid., 144�C145.
the status of h.umayn�� poetry
Despite the fact that the sources do not draw the connection explicitly,
these scattered critical comments illuminate the literary climate in
which h.umayn�� poetry flourished. With major exceptions, its eschewal
of panegyric can be viewed as an analogue to the skepticism towards
praise poetry that al-H.as��n b. .Al�� al-Habal expressed. Its sentimental
focus on the individual and use of nature imagery calls to mind .Al��
Hazl
26 ��Hazl is a concept with fuzzy edges, and any attempt to define it is doomed
tofail�� writes G.J. van Gelder, ��Jest and Earnest in Classical Arabic
Literature,�� in Journal
of Arabic Literature 23 (1992): 86.
28 Al-J��h......
in their [scil. the true Arabs��] speech. One should not swerve from this
towards what does not enter their speech, apart from those barbarousand unusual
words found in it occasionally, which are considered weakand are [merely]
tolerated.29
Poetry that mixed jidd and hazl became a popular genre in Yemen
during the eighteenth century.30 Describing the genre as a mixture of
seriousness and humor is somewhat misleading because the introduction
of humor made these compositions humorous throughout. ��The division
into jidd and hazl is not a symmetrical one,�� van Gelder notes. ��Hazl
often plays the part of a parasite on jidd, by employing and exploiting
it and turning it into itself; but the reverse process does not occur.��31
29 H...
ariqatun mubtakiratun zar��fatun.�� The original source for the poemis al-Jah.h.��f
��s Durar nuh.��r al-h.��r al-.��n. It is also quoted in Zab��rah��s Nashr al-.arf
and,
according to J.A. Dafari (��H.umaini poetry,�� 114) is appended to al-Q��rrah��s
h.umayn��d��w��n. Muhsin b. .Abd al-Karim wrote a mu.��radah of the poem (Zab��rah,
Nashr al-.arf,
2:282�C285; Zab��rah, Nayl al-wat..
The hand of Fate has brushed off the designs on the ceilings like a wing,
[like] one who is not rich by any means paying off a debt,
The hand of decay has effaced the traces of the campsite and an army of
owls [has built] nest after nest there.
If you saw the bedbugs you would think they were vultures [due to their
size and numbers]
And the blood [of their victims] would seethe like a boiling pot,
Some of them are restless and some of them chew,
Some of them greet you ��in advance�� at your sleeping bag.
This poem uses the pre-Islamic motif of the deserted traces of a campsite
(at.
l��l) to ridicule the mosque. The contrast between the stately diction
of the classical lines and the short lines of homely h.umayn�� verse
operates primarily on the level of linguistic heteroglossia. That is, the
h.umayn�� lines abut the classical lines to amplify their humor. For
example, ��insects�� sets the stage for an extended description of bedbugs.
The poem��s registers of language vary considerably, from references to
cooking (��like a boiling pot��), to livestock (��some of them are restless
and some of them chew��), to the bathhouse (��some of them greet you
��in advance��).35
The poem goes on to describe the darkness of the mosque and the
mediocrity of its congregation and staff:
How many men with kuh.l on their eyes have knocked their foreheads
into the wall,36
Does the blind man��s groping with his cane even help?
How wonderful it is when the preacher lights his candle,
Were one to extinguish it you would hear a thousand shouts.
The historians claim that its light has been stored away since the 200s,
The heads of the community prostrate themselves as if the darkness hadpoured them
glasses of wine,
If the Greeks were around at this event, Aristotle and Plato would have
died from fright,
If .Antar the .Absite was among them his strength would have betrayedhim and he
would no longer have been satisfied with his sorrel and roanhorses.
, .shaykh of Bak��l.
38 A: a village in Ibb governorate.
the status of h.umayn�� poetry
The poem describes the water that fills the ablutions font as extremely
cold and dirty.39 The mosque is also drafty, it provides little protection
from the elements, and its well is virtually inaccessible:
One who wants to make a detailed account of this story should consult
the books of divination,
For in them is a text that the tongues of poetry are unable to verify,
Bitter cold stakes its tents in it and you can see the water taking out hair,40
As if a razor was in it so he who extends his hand to it is wounded bythe
greenness.41
How many travelers from a spring pasturage have headed towards it onlyto be
repelled by the victorious hands of Fate?
an
1984), 1:273.40 This puns with the hair tent and ��poetry�� in previous fush..��
verse.
41 ��Razor�� (m��s��), ��wounded�� (kal��m) and ��greenness�� (khid.r) pun on the
Qur.��nic
story of Moses and Khid.r (Qur.��n 18:61�C62).
42 A: Swords are used to decorate the walls of mosques.
43 Z: Place between .Amr��n and Kuh.l��n. Proverbially cold (Sharaf al-D��n, al-
T.ar��.if,
41n1).
chapter four
This is only what God has decreed and the predetermined cannot bewarded off with
summary judgement or cautions.
Why should we make ablutions with water when Shib��m has dirt?
It is better to perform ablutions [with the dust] of the street��half of
[the city] is a ruin,
There are two artesian wells but they are just a mirage,
They look to you like a gazelle but their stench betrays them [. . .]44
The remainder of this poem, in which the contrast between the classical
and h.umayn�� sections seems to be muted, is lyrical in nature. Both
express the same motifs. The poem seems to suggest that whereas the
stark contrast between h.umayn�� poetry and classical qas��dah provokes
.ironic humor, lyric love poetry and h.umayn�� poetry share the same
diction and ethos.
The close linkage between classical lyric poetry and h.umayn�� poetry
is manifested thematically and orthographically in a poem combining
jidd and hazl by al-H.asan b. Muh.ammad al-Fusayyil.45 The verse, ��How
to console in love the heart of a lover, [who] has spent a long time
away from he whom he loves [in] his separation�� (kayfa yasl�� f�� l-h.ubbi
qalbu muh.ibbin / t��l mimman yuhibbuhu hujr��nahu [sic]) runs verti
..
cally down the center of the page.46 The right side of the page contains
a jidd composition, where each verse begins with a word from the verse
in the middle. The left side of the page contains a hazl composition,
where each verse uses a word from the verse in the middle.
Jidd:
How can I not love him, O censurers, when he has appeared with his
decorated cheeks?
How to console a lover, tears flowing, to whom one cannot compare
driving rain?
How to console among the people a distressed lover��how his sorrows
are stirred by love,
How to console in love one who conceives ecstasy for a gazelle with an
orchard in his cheeks,
How to console in love the heart taken prisoner by a lover with pleasing
eyes,
How to console in love the heart of a lover whose eyes are sleepless
with passion,
How to console in love the heart of a lover [who] has spent a long time
How to console in love the heart of a lover, [who] has spent a long time
away��from his aggrieved heart a violent love [emanates],
How to console in love the heart of a lover, [who] has spent a long
time away from he who[se] boredom is hidden,
How to console in love the heart of a lover, [who] has spent a long time
away from he whom he loves, his orchard [untended],
How to console in love the heart of a lover, [who] has spent a long
time away from he whom he loves [in] his separation.
Hazl:
How can I not shun the censurer and defy him, when his delirious raving
about love is true?
How to console one whose heart is in the possession of a lover whose
beauty radiates solace,
How to console among the lovers is a wounded one whose teeth have
been pulled,
How to console in a love that makes [him] lose his mind, his madness
setting out for the hillocks of passion,
How to console in love a heart that is delicate after love has pierced its
ears [with abasement],
How to console in love the heart of a lover [who fell in love] after love��s
fatigue,
How to console in love the heart of a lover [who] has spent a long time
How to console in love the heart of a lover, [who] has spent a long
time away from a lover whose body is gold,
How to console in love the heart of a lover, [who] has spent a long
time away from he who[se] whose rebellion is fealty,
How to console in love the heart of a lover, [who] has spent a long
time away from he whom he loves [in] his giddiness,
How to console in love the heart of a lover, [who] has spent a long
time away from he whom he loves [in] his separation.
...Kayfa yasl�� f�� l-h.ubbi qalbu muhibbin t��la mimman yat��hi .isy��nuh,
....
chapter four
ubbi qalbu muhibbin t��la mimman yuhKayfa yasl�� f�� l-h.ubbi qalbu muhibbin t��la
mimman yuh.ibbuhu hujr��nuh.
..
..i.r��buhu wa-khat..
��hu saw��buhu.��
the status of h.umayn�� poetry
classical poetry (which he calls ��.arab����) ��is more beautiful in its dignified
diction and its serious and exalted themes.��48 In the eighteenth
century, Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan�� describes the poet H.aydar ��gh�� b.
Muh.ammad al-R��m�� as having written in ��the two arts�� (al-fannayn),
muwashshah. and ��a.rabiyyah.��49 Muh.ammad Zab��rah also uses this
terminology.50
..
52 Dafari, ��H.umaini Poetry,�� 238.
chapter four
....al bi-jaw��hir al-bay��n al-w��dih(MS Western Mosque Library, adab 110) 121v;
Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad b. al-H.asan,
Simt. al-la.��l f�� shi.r al-��l, 185, 193, 194; al-F��yi., Az��hir al-muh.ayy��.,
2v, 16v�C18v,
26r-v, 27v, 74v, 84v.
56 Ibid., 79r.
��] wrote this h��dah in praiseof [Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad al-F��yi.] and he had the
following speech tomake about the poet: ��The qas..usayn b. .Al�� has eight
metrical
��dah of Hfeet. It begins, .The one who charms me has put on a [word unclear]
encrusted with jewels.�� I found its line too long to sing and it was bulky.
The knowledgeable masters of this craft informed me [about this] so Iset out to
write [the following poem] and I delved into the melodies ofmen and of women, and
consulted my companions, asking them how toconceal what was bad of rhyme-letters,
to accept what was pleasing, toimprove it with the best appropriate saj. and
rhythms.58
��rih�� mushayyadah),
it occurred to me that this meter (lit. ��sea��) could be entered by the
tawsh��h. and taqf��l.��60
.min al-h...
..
ah).62
According to ..
While the very existence of h.umayn�� d��w��ns proves the high status of
the genre, other factors qualify this conclusion. For example, the bulky
copy of the d��w��n of Ah.mad al-��nis�� at the Great Mosque of S... does
an��not contain any h.umayn�� poetry. The copy of the same poet��s d��w��n
housed at the British Library contains a substantial amount in a section
at the end of the d��w��n. Similarly, one of the two copies of Yah.y�� b.
Ibr��h��m al-Jah.h��f ��s d��w��n in San.��..
64 Ibid., 226�C227.
Inspiration
Medieval Arab poets and critics were largely unconcerned with the
issue of poetic inspiration.68 The ancient belief that poets possessed
jinn�� familiars was likely abandoned soon after the rise of Islam.69
.Abbasid literati rationalized the jinn of pre-Islamic poetry. Al-H.��rith
b. al-H.illiza��s mu.allaqah contains the line, ��An .Iramite like one the
jinn uncovered / his appearance burning up his opponents.�� According
to Ab�� Zakariy�� al-Tibr��z��, ��jinn�� in this verse means ��the most
clever and heroic people.�� The commentator Ab�� Bakr al-Anbar��
quotes this interpretation alone in his discussion of the line.70 In his
Kit��b al-h.ayaw��n, al-J��h.iz. (d. 868/9) discusses the verse, ��We made
the dogs of the tribe (kil��bu l-h.ayyi) whimper��, saying, ��It is related as
��the dogs of the jinn�� (kil��bu l-jinni).�� He goes on to explain that ��one
who was very brave was compared to a jinn.��71 He notes in a different
66 Both Dafari (��H.umaini Poetry,�� 37n60) and Gh��nim (Shi.r al-ghin��. al-
san.��n��,
25) write that the word saf��nah first appears in Tha.lab����s Yat��mat al-dahr.
This is not
the case.
place that the masses (al-.��mma) refer to poets as the dogs of the jinn.72
Al-J��h.iz. adopts a skeptical position, attributing belief in jinn to the
masses and the Bedouin (al-a.r��b). He explains the appearance of the
jinn in a naturalistic way:
If a man is by himself and stands still, a small matter seems large, histhoughts
break up, his calm is shattered, and he sees what is not visibleand hears what is
not audible, imagining that a small insignificant thingis a great and exalted one.
Then they [the Bedouin] turn whatever [such
a person] imagined into poetry that they recite and tales that they pass onto their
descendents, [this transmission] making them more believable.
People grow up on them. A child grows up on them and then when heis in the middle
of the desert and the blackness of night descends, at thefirst strange feeling or
fright or an owl��s hoot or an echo, he actually seesevery deceit and fancies every
falsehood. Sometimes it is in the natureof man and in his natural disposition to be
a prolific liar, a patron of
calumny and of gross hyperbole, and to recite poetry that reflects
thischaracteristic. In this way he can say ��I saw ghouls�� or ��I spoke
withincubi!�� He [may] go even farther, saying ��I killed one�� or even further
than that by saying ��I befriended one�� or even further than that to thepoint
where he might say ��I married one!��73
The idea that a dream or mystical trance could inspire poetry also finds
little support in the mainstream of medieval Arabic literature. The Kit��b
al-agh��n�� contains at least one account of a poet, .Ab��d b. al-Abras, who
(d. 1465/1466), a Sufi h.umayn�� poet, reports that in one of his dreams,
Ibn al-.Arab�� himself gave him a h.umayn�� poem.75 A nineteenth-century
Yemeni source written by a pro-Sufi Zayd�� reports that .Umar b.
al-F��rid. visited the collector of his d��w��n in a dream to remind him
of a poem he had forgotten.76 The h.umayn�� poet of the Ras��lid period
.Abdallah al-Mazz��h., began reciting poetry only after being spoken to
by an anonymous figure in a dream. Muh.ammad b. .Abdallah b. Sharaf
al-D��n began composing h.umayn�� poetry only after being visited in a
72 Ibid., 6:229.
73 Ibid., 6:250�C251.
74 Ab�� l-Faraj al-Is...y��. al-tur��th al-.arab��,
75 ...
b. Muh.ammad al-.Ans�� was said to have had a jinn�� familiar.81 Lutf.All��h al-
Jah.h.��f said that the q��d.�� and poet Ah.mad b. Muh.ammad
al-Q��t....
in, who administered San����s awq��f for the Im��m al-Mahd��
al-.Abb��s, became so engrossed with Sufism that he began to see jinn
while attending the Im��m at court.82 Al-Jah.h.��f also reported that the
shayt..��l b. ..
79 The chronicler .Abd al-Q��dir al-.Aydar��s wrote: ��[al-S��d��] wrote his poems
on thewalls with charcoal and if he regained consciousness he erased what he had
written.
When his disciples learned of this they rushed to write down the poetry of his
thatthey found on the walls and joined them together.�� Ta.r��kh al-n��r al-
s��fir .an akhb��r
al-qarn al-.��shir (Beirut: D��r al-kutub, 1985), 143.
80 Dafari, ��H.umaini Poetry,�� 68, 96n69. The Leiden MS catalogs list one copy of
H.��tim al-Ahdal��s d��w��n: Or. 2771. They designate the manuscript described by
al-
Dafari as H.��tim��s d��w��n as an anonymous collection. Petrus Voorhoeve, Handlist
of
Arabic manuscripts in the Library of the University of Leiden and other collections
in theNetherlands (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 1980), 62, 65; Leiden
University Library,
Catalogus Codicum Arabicorum Bibliothecae Academiae lugduno-batavae (Leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1888�C1907), 749, 752.
81 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 2:252.
82 Ibid., 1:279.
83 Zab��rah, Nayl al-watar, 1:285. The poet��s Judaism seems highly unlikely.
Regard
ing non-Muslim jinn, in 2000 I heard from a friend that a traditional healer in
Sa..dah
chapter four
that the healer rub the man��s belly to exorcise the spirit. The healer was not
amused.
84 Ibid., 1:286.
85 The Jewish poet S��lim al-Shabaz�� frequently refers to his h��jis or h��tif
(ChapterFive).
87 Dafari, ��H.umaini Poetry,�� 273, 298n26; Serjeant, South Arabian Poetry, Arabic
section 10.
88 Dafari, ��H.umaini Poetry,�� 273�C275; Flagg Miller, The Moral Resonance of Arab
ah��fah, 1991), 100, 339, 415, 433, 438, 440, 510, 523, 537.
91 Dafari reached this conclusion as well. Dafari, ��H.umaini Poetry,�� 274.
the status of h.umayn�� poetry
92 Many of the characteristics described here parallel the poetry discussed by Saad
.Abdullah Sowayan in the fifth chapter of his Nabati Poetry: The Oral Poetry of
Arabia(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), but the belief in a jinn��
familiar does
not appear in his book.
97 Ibid., 143: ��yiq��l akh�� rah.mah bid��t al-.asr wa l-h��jis yij��b / mithl al-
nahal fa-l��
98 Ibid., 185: ��haw��j��s qalb�� kullam�� qult r��h.at j��at / ti.awwid .alayy bi
l-yawmkhamsat .ashar marrah.��
99 Ibid., 228: ��yiq��l akh�� s...aw�� f�� l-samar / bi-takhbirah min nuh��jih
��lih al-h��jis d
.ilm will�� khabar.��
100 Ibid., 273: ��m�� adr�� ill�� wasalan�� h��jis wa l-hal��lah / mazl��m min kull
h��l, wa
the haw��j��s that answer me with facts and news. I divided up last night
one minute at a time (i.e., very slowly).��101 ��I ask al-H.add��d, whose
h��jis is well-known, who makes things clear to me on a sleepless night
from a vast sea, who lights the lamp, and is not bothered by a barking
dog, to be cautious in your behavior. . . .��102 ��The youth, Ab�� Wid��d
said: yesterday I sang, composed verses, and perfected their rhymes,
and my haw��jis assailed me like a furious flood, or like the waves of
the sea striking its shores.��103 ��The brother of Mis.id was mute but your
h��jis got him moving.��104 ��On a head greyed and exhausted by its h��jis
[who] takes decisive action and brings forth finely wrought verses from
it.��105 ��I fashioned the rhymes, then my h��jis came to me, flowing, and
my innards erupted with shaking and quaking.��106 ��I sang and when
the haw��jis came, flowing��they revolted against [my] emotions and
ignited my sorrows.��107 ��The brother of Q��yid says: the voice was so
loud it hurt and the weeping seemed like it would never cease, and the
h.al��lah arrived and [I] wrote [poems], and haw��jis came to me from
near and far so I arose and greeted [my] invisible lovers.��108
102 Ibid., 304: ��wa-as.al .al�� l-h.add��d h�� dh�� h��jisih daww�� wa-d��h. /
dh�� samratih
laylat tibayyin l�� min al-bah.r al-rad��h, wa ..laq luh al-misb��h.
.104 Ibid., 365: ��akh�� mis.id atahayyad. wa-lahu h��jis ih.tarak / wa-yaqbul
yakh��d.
al-bah.r khawd.
(with reference to) al-mar��kib��.��
105 Ibid., 411: ��.al�� l-r��s shaybah bi-h��jis d.aw��n�� / yakhruj lahu aby��t
munqidwa-fah.h.��s.��
106 Ibid., 461: ��saghat al-qaw��f�� wa-j��n�� h��jis�� yightabba (yajr��) wa-
tafajjarat f��
;��109
awmal��.��
111 Ibid., 153v: ��Ka-m�� nukhratek f��r bad�� min majal / wa-wathab il�� jadrih.��
112 Ibid., 153v: ��wa-lak sh��ribayn mithl sublat ba.��r / jirab qad .al��hu
jah.w��n.��
113 Ibid., 153v: ��Wa-lak khalkhalah mithl rijl al-sar��r / taz...
khurs.
��n.��
chapter four
is spice;��115 and ��They said: ��in literature .Al�� is the bride��s hairdresser,
he inscribes paper with poetry.����116 In a jab at al-Khafanj��, al-H.asan b.
Muh.ammad al-Fusayyil writes:
[His] poems are like [unripe] apricots that hurt the molars,
If you said to him ��O Khafanj��, you are losing out,��
[It would not matter because] his mind is ignorant of truths, He is a moron,
His farting is like his poetry and his jidd is his muj��n.
But not all poems are so optimistic; several poems lament the sorry
state of poetry in eighteenth-century Yemen. The following poem,
delivered by its Bedouin speaker, mocks the rural qas.
��dah:
There are no meeting places for lovers other than Sa.w��n, Ahjur, and
T.aw��lah,
If you fall in love with a gazelle from the H.��shid confederation, [you will
find] that he has no mercy for him who weeps over him,
If you compose a love poem of pearls, a veritable wedding necklace, you
[still] will not meet a kohl-eyed gazelle,
Nor one whose shape is like a swaying branch, who intoxicates with her
coquettish behavior, attractive and moving languorously,
A stray fawn with guarded beauty��there is no way to meet him/her,
Nor one who leaves you, shepherding he-goats, a little sleepless from
separation for a few nights.
If he visited you he was sweet and helpful and if he left it was a blessing,
He spends the night talking when he visits you like one asleep (i.e., with
languid eyes), telling [you] the 1000 Nights stories,
If he gives you a cold drink from his red lips, you would stagger as if it
were a cold wind,
Stop lusting after wrinkled old women and skeletal people, there is not
one beautiful form in existence.119
Here, the lack of lovers becomes the rationale for a humorous love
affair with a tribesperson. The poet concludes that al-Khafanj�� (��Ibn
Luqm��n��) offers the best chance for the redemption of poetry:
.Abdallah, the speaker, said: I am the head and the poets of my time arethe tail,
I am not afraid of any poet, nor am I apprehensive��I would not evenfear al-
Ma.arr��,
I am armed with bows and arrows for poetry��Mine hit their mark andhe who shoots at
me misses,
I am a Zarq��. al-Yam��mah in my keen eyesight, I am like a q��d�� and
those other than me are milipedes,
Both my extemporaneous and considered compositions are a death
sharper than razors, and my tongue is a whetstone for eloquence,
My mind leaves the armies of verse stunned and whenever my eloquenceattacks, poetry
is thrown down,
Though my countenance is ugly I cut like a diamond��I am very short
and I speak frankly,
Though [I] may not have any front teeth [I] still have strong molars that
can crush dried beans,
A veiled girl122 is awestruck by my poetry and she breaks her drum on
the second day [of singing it],
I am one with many nicknames��the first is ��the imagination of Ibn
H��n��,�� [then]
��the genius of al-N��bighah,�� ��the desert traces of al-Jass��s,�� ��al-
H.ass��n��s
valley,�� [and] ��al-Tilims��n����s idle talk.��
My eloquence resembles an axe��s chopping��I can use it to split thehardest stumps
of meaning,
I have a talent for discerning hidden magic and a taste for rhyme, if youplease,
You incline your ear towards the poetry of a man with little eyes,
h.umayn��[poetry] known near and far.
My poetry is crafted for ne.er-do-wells and it kicks the neck scruffs123 of
puppies.124
123 A: Young street dogs sleep in the doors of houses for warmth. Upon leavingearly
in the morning, a person might have to kick them out of the way, so this
imageprobably connotes energy and resolve rather than cruelty.
al-Khafanj�� eulogizes his deceased cat, whose teeth are compared to the spears of
the
.Awlaqis.
the status of h.umayn�� poetry
They have lowered the fine shearling coat of bad��. into the dung burningpit127 and
dressed it in dawlaq�� (?).128
So that al-Nu.m��n is a calf��s penis and Imru l-Qays is a hobo.
Al-Buh.tur����s poetry wears a poor man��s goatskin coat, and you won��t
meet Ibn al-Nab��h [these days],
Al-Nah.h.��s, Ibn Muqlah, Ab�� Dulaf and al-Muttaq�� (AR: ��al-Manq��) have
[all] been squandered.
The act of writing poetry was another common theme. It often formed
a discrete section of a polythematic ode, frequently followed by a section
of satirical ghazal. Al-Khafanj�� begins a poem in imitation of the
song, ��Stop Next to the Abandoned Traces�� (qif�� il��. janb dh�� l-d��r),
in this way:
Savor a q��t that nails [your anus to your seat]130 and [let your] blanket
sway like a veil,
Walk through the market with a staff and if someone boxes with you,
poke him,131
There is no shame in being arrogant when your poetry is eloquent,
Be overweening in poetry��and if rain (met. criticism) comes, shelter it
[under a canopy],
O composer of poetry, leave some yeast,
and you will have a large hand in catching motifs [mid-air],
If you make the dough of rhyme, be sure you don��t bake a flatbread!
127 This translation reads ��mallah�� (I, 838) with Sul��fat al-.adas. AR 69 works
as
well: ��they have brought the fine shearling coat of bad��. down [to the level of]
a lowlywoolen rug.�� (qad bat.
128 The second hemistich, ��wa-wazzab��h (get wet) (AR has wazar��h����wrap
around��)
al-dawlaq���� is quite obscure. Scrubby seablite, a weed, is called d��laq. Among
theuses for this plant, common in many coastal ecosystems, was making dye. Schopen,
Traditionelle Heilmittel in Jemen, 32�C33.
(��ignore him��).
chapter four
Ibn Ab�� l-Rij��l��s version of this poem is considerably longer than the
Vatican version. The additional section which the former manuscript
contains runs:
Build a lean-to for [poetry] (to block the wind) and put a little window
up over here,
Be generous with the lean-to and leave it to spread joy among us,
If you want something sub par, know, friend, that this is a rule for us.
Trim off poetry��s hair and curl its tresses like a barber,
If you are summoned to compose poetry do it well,
Versify! You have a debt to do so, for you owe me a poem [in response],
Poetry��s debt has been settled now that your poetry has shown great
eloquence.
You have taken a long journey with poetry despite all of your hesitation,
How many have you left, brave, quarreling over a bowl of gruel,
With horns for butting, but then he saw you, like a stone house (i.e., on
your last legs),
Your poetry has sprouted sidelocks so wash its hands and feet on the
Sabbath.
One noteworthy point is the manner in which this passage likens poetry
and its composition to the work of some of society��s lowest ranks: Jews
and muzayyin��n.
After cleaning and grinding, she strains the ecstasy through my heart [as
if it was catching] yellow bran.,
Poetry��s millstone requires roughening every Friday and the axle needs
to be moistened,
Grind rhetorically embellished verse cleverly and knead out [many]
baskets135 worth of flatbread,
Bake rhymes on the sheet pan of love and heat, [and make] fancy bread
and honey cakes with imported refined flour136.137
A stout poet of Sh��m�� stock says: I have the means to make sweet-voicedpoetry on
the deserted traces of campsites,
[I] have a pampered demon that can sweeten what is forbidden and its
weapon in adab is a rifle,
[My] demon looks like a section of dike, ugly of form and, as a whole,
disheveled,
However, it has an oratorical power like a vast sea��through its work,
fush..�� speech rises,
It tears poetry, like bread, into little bits into a steatite dish from Shib��m
and it stirs artificial images with a long spoon,
It sticks poetry to the side of a Tih��m�� pot and covers it with a dry piece
of decorated curtain,
When it sees that the coals have gone out it lights a fire for baking with
fine wood, the likes of which cannot be found in the storage room,
It takes the best manure and it mixes in year old dung, letting the fire
in the stove crackle.138
In his piece of self-praise (iftikh��r), .Abdallah b. al-H.usayn al-Sh��m��
likens his own poetry to a piping hot bowl of soup:
You would think that it was a fine drought of sheep��s head soup, mixed
with the best fenugreek of Kawkab��n,
Cooked in a pot that has not been cured, its color scarlet like a hot steatite
serving dish,
135 Here a double entendre between taw��r�� (large, round wicker breadbaskets)
andthe word for ��double entendre�� (tawriyah) is probably intended.
the name of a variety of wheat introduced into the Yemen and grown there.��
137 Al-Khafanj��, Sul��fat al-.adas, 93v; Sharaf al-D��n, al-T.ar��.if, 63.
138 Al-Khafanj��, Sul��fat al-.adas, 167r.
chapter four
A compound with garlic and hot pepper mixed in, (according to the rulesof the wise
one) with a bit of spice.139
He [the Sh��m��] has set aside genius and bravery and left them to the
.Alaw�� [al-Khafanj��] alone,
For he is quite needy and his knowledge of the art of literature hascaptured me,
In truth, his eloquence is a pot for poetry and he spoons up the choicest
motifs.140
female monster with a pickaxe for one hand and a shovel for the other who digs up
The pangs of love can be extinguished with buttermilk and cucumbersbut they are
ignited by clarified butter.144
in��
145 G.J. van Gelder, ��Arabic Debates of Jest and Earnest,�� in Dispute Poems and
Dialogues
in the Ancient and Mediaeval Near East, ed. G.J. Reinink and H.L.J.
Vanstiphout(Leuven: Departement Ori.ntalistiek, 1991), 201.
chapter four
The Prestige of H.
umayn�� Poetry
anthe physician and poet Sha.b��n Sal��m al-R��m�� to have had ��a strong
hand in the composition of muwashshah..��152 He concludes that in the
..148 Zab��rah, Nashr al-.arf, 1:126: ��wa-huwa maj��dun f�� jam��.i anw��.i l-
shi.ri
mut....
...
wa-s...
ihhati l-ma.��n��.��
150 Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan��, Nasmat al-sah.ar, 3:84.
151 Ibid., 3:84.
152 Ibid., 2:234�C235.
the status of h.umayn�� poetry
muwashshah.
��lah.n was necessary and it was a sweetness that excites
passion and wonder.��153 Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-H.asan�� adds an important
qualification to this endorsement of lah.n: ��The prerequisite for one
who wants to write [poetry] is to start with good intention so that he
is not censured for what he says and not to show regard for a passion
that would show contempt for the Creator.��154
��li., Muhcomplains that the poet Muh.sin b. al-H.asan Ab�� T.��lib��s (d.
1756/1757)
rhymed prose contained solecisms and ��mmiyyah.157 While Muh.ammad
Zab��rah appreciates that al-Qaraw��n�� and al-Sh��m����s poem alternates
between jidd and hazl, he laments al-H.asan b. .Abd al-Rah.m��n
al-Kawkab��n����s (d. 1848/1849) tendency to ruin good poetry with
solecisms.158
154 Ibid., 1:67: ��wa-mal��ku l-amri li-man ar��da l-ta.l��fa taqd��mu h.usni l-
niyyatih.att�� l�� yu.��khadhu bi-qawlihi, wa-l�� yur��.�� f��hi haw�� makhl��qin
bi-m�� yaskhutu.l-kh��liqa.��
ar, 1:332�C333.
PART THREE
SHABAZIAN POETRY
CHAPTER FIVE
3 On his deathbed, the Zayd�� Im��m al-Mutawakkil Ism��.��l decreed that the
prophetMuh.ammad��s own deathbed testimony that ��two religions shall not coexist
on theArabian Peninsula�� (an enduring slogan for Sunni traditionalists) applied to
Yemen.
This radical change in the Muslim state��s attitude towards the Jewish minority has
beenexplained in depth by Bernard Haykel as a reflection of the ��Sunnification��
of YemeniZaydism. (Revival and Reform in Islam). Mawza., on the Tih��mah coast, was
probablyintended as a loading point��the Jews were to be sent to India. In addition
to havinghad their property siezed and synagogues destroyed, an unknown number (as
much
as half of the total Jewish population) perished during the Mawza. exile.
4 Sefer Even Sapir (1866/1874; repr. Jerusalem: Shocken Institute, 1970), 82; A.Z.
Idelsohn and Naphtali Tur-Sinai, Shire Teman (Cincinatti: Hebrew Union College,
1930), 90.
5 Brauer, Ethnologie, 380�C384; S.D. Goitein, The Land of Sheba: Tales of the Jews
of
Yemen (New York: Schocken Press, 1947), 102�C104. The folklorist Dov Noy
conductedresearch into the legendary life of al-Shabaz�� in ��R. Shalem Shabazi bi-
agadat-ha-.am
shel yehude teman,�� in Bo.i teman, ed. Yehudah Ratzhaby (Tel Aviv, Afikim, 1967),
106�C133; Noy, ��Pet ..am ha-temanit,�� in Moreshet
In the year 5379 of Creation, 1931 of the Seleucid era (1619 C.E.), ourfathers (may
their memories be a blessing) told us that two stars arosefrom the East with tails
like staves. One was to last for 15 days, the otherfor 40 days and it was said that
they were the stars of the Messiah. Thereis a commentary that says the shorter one
was the star of the Messiah, sonof Joseph, and the longer one the star of the
Messiah, son of David (Thisstar appears every thousand years). I saw what Rabbi
Yisrael Safr�� benYosef (may he be remembered in the world to come) wrote [about
this].
I, the youngest of learned writers, Shalem ben Yosef Mashta, known bythe name of my
town as ��al-Shabaz��,�� was born in this very year . . . Today
we have reached the year 1957 of the Seleucid era, 5404 of Creation (1646C.E.) and
we are still waiting for the coming of the Messiah, who willonly appear after
eighty years, as was said regarding Moses (our teacher,
yehude teman, ed. Yosef Tobi (Jerusalem: Bo.i teman, 1976), 132�C149. When I
visitedal-Shabaz����s tomb in 2000 the remains of a structure could be seen along
with a retaining
wall surrounding a lowered area. A primary school stood there. The owner of
theproperty had recently excavated the spring and shored up the collapsed walls
withconcrete at his own expense (and mine, as it turned out). It is not clear when
this fellapart. Locals told me that a small dome capping an identical structure
nearby was the
tomb of al-Shabaz����s son (Shim.on, I assume). It had suffered some vandalism.
b. Shams al-D��n. Ratzhaby concludes that this was none other than
the ��N��bighah of Kawkab��n�� al-H.usayn b. .Abd al-Q��dir b. Sharaf
9 In the ��doctrine of the Dual Messiah,�� widespread among medieval Jews, the
Messiah,
son of Joseph, would defeat Israel��s enemies on earth. He would be followed bythe
Messiah, son of David, who would usher in an age of perfection. Midrash H.emdat
Yamim, 2:208; Yosef Tobi, ��Ha-Yehudim tah.at shilton ha-turkim be-reshit ha-me
...ah
ha-17 le-R. Shalem Shabazi,�� in Toldot Yehude teman mi-kitvehem (Jerusalem:
MerkazZalman Shazar u-merkaz dinur, 1980), 45�C46.
11 Tobi, The Jews of Yemen, 76; Shalom Serri and Yosef Tobi, eds., Shirim h.adashim
le-rabi shalem shabazi, ed. Shalom Seri and Yosef Tobi (Jerusalem: Ben-Tsvi
Institute,
1975), 12 (abbreviated ��ST��; Ratzhaby, ��Te.udot le-toldot yehude teman,�� in
Sefunot 2
(1958): 298�C302; Ratzhaby, ��Rabi Shalom shabazi ve-shirato,�� in Sefunot 9
(1965): 139.
13 ST, 25.
14 Tobi (The Jews of Yemen, 77n107) disputed Ratzhaby��s dating of a poem byal-
Shabaz�� to the Mawza. exile in ��Gerush mawza. le-or mekorot h.adashim,�� in
Tsiyon37 (1972): 197�C215. Ratzhaby, ��Galut Mawtsa.,�� in Sefunot 5 (1961):
349�C357; Ratzhaby,
��Rabi Shalem Shabazi ve-shirato,�� 142; Bacher, Die hebr.ische und arabische
Poesie,
35. According to Yemeni Jewish folk tradition, S��lim al-Shabaz�� survived the
Mawza.
exile and lived to be ninety-one. Not coincidentally, the great Rabi Shalem
Shar.ab��
was born the year al-Shabaz�� died. Ratson Halevi developed a textual argument
foral-Shabaz�� surviving the Mawza. exile: his joyful poems gave way to a rigid and
bitter
stance towards the outside world, particularly against Arabs. Halevi, ��Ha-Demutha-
shabazit,�� 103.
150 chapter five
As for his last name, the nisbah ��al-Shabaz���� derives from the village
of al-Shabaz in the Shar.ab region of Yemen north of the city of Ta.izz.
However, the poet also calls himself ��al-Mashta.��.�� This word presents
problems. Bacher interprets the word as deriving from a village called
Mashta, as suggested by a phrase that appears in some manuscripts,
��al-Mashta.�� al-yam��n��.��18 However, there is no village called Mashta.
R. Avraham Naddaf believes that the word derived from the word
��mashta,�� meaning ��a bit of dough�� in the south Yemeni dialect.19
Goitein concludes that the unusual feminine nisbah ��al-Mashta.��,�� the
traditional utterance of a mother who wanted a boy but gave birth
to a girl (��m�� asht�� [allah]��), was the name of the poet��s mother.20
And, indeed, R. Ya.akov Sapir states that the poet��s mother was named
15 Ratzhaby, ��Te.udot,�� 294�C298; Bacher, Die hebr.ische und arabische Poesie,
40.
Idelsohn misinterpreted the power dynamics of this poem when he concluded that
itwas a missive to one of al-Shabaz����s Muslim friends. Shire Teman, 91. Bacher
also gaveattention to a love poem in which al-Shabaz�� praised a Kurdish am��r (Die
hebr.ische
und arabische Poesie, 83).
19 According to Shalom Medinah, this was a kneading trough for bread. (P, 137)
The main discussions of the word ��Mashta�� are Scholem, ��Perakim,�� 269, Brauer,
Ethnologie, 352�C353, and Ratzhaby, ��Rabi Shalem Shabazi,�� 136n13.
20 S.D. Goitein, ��The Age of the Hebrew Tombstones from Aden,�� in Journal of
Semitic Studies 7 (1962): 82n1.
r. s��lim al-shabaz�� and the shabaziyy��t 151
Mashta.21 However, many Yemeni Jews, including the famous poet,
gave Mashta as their family name.22 As Erich Brauer concludes, the
family name of Mashta at some point became the stuff of etymological
legend.23
21 Sefer Even Sapir, 82. A headstone naming a Jewish woman called Mashta
wasdiscovered in Aden. M.A. Levy, ��J��dische Grabsteine aus Aden,�� in Zeitschrift
der
Deutschen Morgenl.ndischen Gesellschaft 21 (1867): 156�C157; Brauer, Ethnologie,
352n4.
24 Yosef Tobi, ��.Ivrit, aramit ve-.aravit bi-shirat yehude teman, bi-miyuh.ad bi-
shirat
rabi shalom shabazi,�� in Pe.amim 30 (1987): 7. On the basis of information in
Midrash
H.emdat Yamim, Scholem concluded that he was a kabbalist. (��Perakim,�� 271). A
recurring
Yemeni Jewish tradition identifies Yosef b. Yisrael Mashta, an older kinsman ofal-
Shabaz����s and an important poet, as his father. This historical impossibility
enabled
Ratzhaby to determine that poems signed ��Shalem ben Yosef ben Yisrael Mashta��
were spurious.
28 ST, 19; Noy, ��R. Shalem Shabazi bi-agadat ha-.am,�� 114. This seems to be a
standard oikotype of Oriental Jewish folklore. In Morocco, the story revolves
aroundSulikah (Zulaykhah).
31 One poem of al-Shabaz����s is signed ��Ab�� Maryam.�� ST, 19; Halevi, ��Ha-
Demutha-shabazit,�� 99.
152 chapter five
34 Tobi, The Jews of Yemen, 55. The fact that al-Shabaz�� and other Yemeni Jews
could be Sabbatean without having been fully cognizant of Lurianic kabbalah
bolstersMoshe Idel��s revision of the necessary connection Scholem saw between
Lurianickabbalah and Sabbateanism. Messianic Mystics (New Haven: Yale University
Press,
1998), 183�C184.
35 Tobi, The Jews of Yemen, 83; Tobi, ��Shne shirim .al me.ora.ot ha-shabta.ut
biteman,��
in Pe.amim 44 (1990), 54; Tobi, .Iyunim, 130�C134; Yehudah Ratzhaby, ��R.
Shalem Shabazi umshih.iyut shabetay tsvi,�� in Molad 42.252 (1985�C1986): 164�C172.
Tobi,
in this article and in The Jews of Yemen, apparently concludes the series of
argumentsover whether or not al-Shabaz�� was a Sabbatean that began between A.Z.
Idelsohn, ��Hameshorer
ha-Temani R. Shalom Shabazi ve-shirato ha-.ivrit,�� in Mizrah.
u-ma.arav 1
(1919�C1920): 8�C16, 128�C140, and Rabbi Avraham al-Nadd��f (in the same journal).
Tobimade the important point that Sabbatean thought won very few adherents in
Yemen.
(This runs counter to Scholem��s hypotheses). Shabbetai Tsvi was merely one
potentialmessiah in a long line of messianic movements in Yemen and was readily
incorporated
r. s��lim al-shabaz�� and the shabaziyy��t 153
(migdal .oz) and the ��vale of vision�� (ge h.izayon), the name of a Sabbatean
treatise composed in Yemen during this period.36 (Sabbateans
called Shabbetai Tsvi��s prison in Gallipoli ��migdal .oz.��)
(and demoted once his failure became evident) in a preexisting local atmosphere
ofmessianic expectation. Tobi, .Iyunim, 115; Tobi, The Jews of Yemen, 50, passim.
36 Tobi, The Jews of Yemen, 82. This treatise was edited by Scholem as ��Ge
H.izayon:
apokalipsah shabeta.it mi-teman,�� in Kovets .al yad 4 (1946): 103�C141.
37 Tobi, The Jews of Yemen, 54; Moshe Hallamish, Le-Toldot ha-kabalah bi-teman
bi-reshit ha-me.ah ha�C17: Sefer segulot ve-sefer leh.em shlomo (Ramat Gan: Bar-
IlanUniversity Press, 1984); Yosef Tobi, ��Rabi Yitsh.ak Waneh ve-hith.azkut
ha-.isuk bakabalah,��
in Da.at 38 (1997): 17�C31.
Tobi took pains to date these manuscripts. Since the first manuscript
does not contain any references to the upheavals of the 1660s, Tobi
dated it to before 1667. Tobi dated the second manuscript to 1678/1679
based on two important factors: in the first place, the manuscript containes
poems on famines (dated 1678 and 1679), but does not mention
the Mawza. Exile; and, in the second place, it contains a poem that
describes Im��m al-Mahd�� Ah.mad b. al-H.asan in a positive light��
something which al-Shabaz�� would not have done after this Im��m
began persecuting the Jews.40 Based on this chronology, Tobi saw the
manuscripts as an unfolding spiritual autobiography; poems dealing
with wine, comradery, and secular themes give way to a longing for
communal redemption during the 1660s.
arayot
(Kit��b al-raml) in the Mosad ha-Rav Kook in Jerusalem. Secondly, the
manuscripts�� systems of notation and the occasional marginal explanations
resemble one another. Thirdly, no one but the poet, Tobi argued,
would have been able to interpret his poetic language.41
Given the impact of the events of the 1660s, Tobi��s overall impression
of the manuscripts�� date is compelling. It is also possible that al-Shabaz��
wrote a good number of the folios.42 The idea that the manuscripts can
be set side-by-side to form a historical-poetic autobiography seems more
speculative. That is, the friendship poems of the first manuscript may
have come from a collection of friendship poems, the historical poems
of the second manuscript from among similar poems. In addition, the
shift in content Tobi perceived was subtle indeed. In the major contours
40 ST, 9.
41 ST, 25�C26.
42 One poem is prefaced ��I went to sleep hungry and I was awakened by this poem.��
ST, 26.
r. s��lim al-shabaz�� and the shabaziyy��t 155
of the poems�� themes and imagery, the poetry of the first manuscript
does not differ much from that of the second. In any case, such a shift
could be explained generically rather than historically.
awt yiq��l yahya y�� rabb), or, ��to the tune of ��God, God, great
and praised . . .�� �� (.ala s.
43 Often, the language of the song listed as the basis for the poem is not the
samelanguage as that of the poem that follows.
46 The fact that this term only appears once in this collection may indicate that
it
fell out of style.
49
The d��w��n was used to accommodate the vast new infusion of poetry
generated by the seventeenth-century efflorescence. Nevertheless, tikl��ls
(prayerbooks), that were organized according to the calendar of festivals,
continued to serve as repositories for poetry, the majority of which
was Spanish. In the tikl��ls of R. Yitsh.ak Wanneh (1570�C1655) and
51 ST, 64v.
52 ST, 93r: ��av��. lashon qodash la-rov v��n�� shakhant�� vayn .arov.��
56 Ratzhaby, Shirat teman ha-.ivrit, 25�C26. Compare the humorous poem jointly
written by Ibr��h��m al-Hind�� and Ibr��h��m al-Y��fi.�� in Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-
H.asan��, Nasmat
al-sah.ar, 1:92.
59 Liturgical poetry (piyut), which occupied a major place in the literary output
of
im composedin Yemen were selih.ot for Yom Kippur. Some Aramaic ��maranot�� based on
Babylonian
piyut. were also composed in Yemen. ST, 20; Tobi, ��Beyn shirat teman le-
shiratsefarad,�� 316�C317; Mishael Maswari-Caspi, Piyut..
61 A.Z. Idelsohn, Thesaurus of Oriental Hebrew Melodies (New York: Ktav Publishing
House, 1973), 1:13.
64 Ibid., 47.
65 Ibid., 47.
vad) of al-Shabaz����s.77
74 Tova Rosen-Moked, La-ezor shir: Toldotav shel shir ha-ezor ha-.ivri (Haifa:
HaifaUniversity Press, 1985), 129.
76 Ibid., 13.
78 ST, 24.
79 Tobi, ��Beyn shirat teman le-shirat sefarad,�� 313�C314; Tobi, ��Rabi Yitsh.ak
Waneh,��
18.
80 Tobi, ��.Ivrit, aramit ve-.aravit,�� 8; Tobi, The Jews of Yemen, 54.
81 Tobi, ��H.ikuy u-makor be-shiratam shel yehude teman,�� in Pe.amim 2 (1979), 34;
Tobi, ��.Ivrit, aramit, ve-.aravit,�� 14�C15.
82 Tobi, ��H.ikuy u-makor,�� 38; Tobi, ��.Ivrit, aramit, ve-.aravit,�� 14�C15.
162 chapter five
love poetry found among Sufis strikes him as a possible nexus between
Muslim and Jewish poetry.83 This thought, as we will see, was a prescient
one.
85 Ibid., 144n97.
86 Andreas Tietze and Joseph Yahalom, Ottoman Melodies, Hebrew Hymns: A Sixteenth
Century Cross-Cultural Adventure (Budapest: Akad��miai Kaido, 1995), 18�C20.
87 Ibid., 15�C16.
90 Ibid., 50.
91 Ibid., 16�C17.
92 Bacher, Die hebr.ische und arabische Poesie, 66; Rosen-Moked, La-ezor shir,
129.
93 These similarities were already noted by R. Ya.akov Sapir, who identified poems
by Yisrael Naj��rah that had been mistakenly attributed to al-Shabaz��. Bacher, Die
The 25th mah.beret tells the story of an emissary from the rabbinical
academy of Tiberias, R. Avraham b. Yitsh.ak Ashkenazi, who comes to
Yemen to sell books in order to raise money for the academy. According
to Avraham Ya.ari, R. Ashkenazi was a historical figure in whose
Bacher, Die hebr.ische und arabische Poesie, 24; Bacher, ��More About the Poetry
ofthe Jews of Yemen: Seven Yemenite Poetical Collections in New York City,��
386�C387;
Idelsohn, Shire Teman, 24; Tobi, ��Rabi Yitsh.ak Waneh,�� 18�C19. Ahroni, ��Four
Unpublished
Poems,�� 2�C3, also wrote: ��It is widely held that he and his predecessor
Zehariaal-Dhahri (ca. 1516�Cca. 1581) laid the ground, both in form and content,
for the mostcelebrated Yemenite poet, Shalom Shabazi.��
��rah��s Sefer ha-mahashavah (ed. Y. Ratzhaby) show an affinity for the language
of Shabazian poetry. Shirat teman ha-.ivrit, 32. The new style of rhymed prose
narrative
even influenced H.ayim H.ibshush��s account of his travels as a guide to the
Frencharchaeologist Joseph Hal��vy. Al-D.��hir��, Sefer ha-musar, 22�C23; Tobi,
��Beyn shiratteman le-shirat sefarad,�� 319.
��When the Lord made me wander from my father��s house�� (Gen. 20:13) I
found scholars and writers in every place. The fire of Exile burned insideme in
India, Bas.
ra, and Baghdad until my mind was nearly frazzled. [Itwas so] in Erekh, Akkad,
Khalneh (Gen. 10:10) and Netsivim, the [burial]
place of the learned tana, Rabbi Yehudah b. Betira. [It was so] in H.amm��h,
Damascus, and Syria, in Safed and in Tiberias. There [I found] a loftyfolk, ��Those
who fear the Lord [who] have been discoursing with oneanother�� (Mal. 3:16) at
their head stood Rabbi Joseph Caro, the sagelyRabbi Moshe Mat .
hymn, ��Bar Yoh.ai, happy are you now that you have been anointed��
(Bar yoh.ai nimshakhta ashrekha). This version ends with a couplet of
al-D.��hir����s devising and other piyutim of his intended to accompany
From the passage quoted above describing Safed, one can safely
conclude that al-D.ahr�� knew that there was an important kabbalist
who lived there named Moses Cordovero. However, of the many books
quoted in Sefer ha-musar and in al-D.��hir����s commentary on the Torah,
Tseydah la-derekh, no Lurianic titles or collections of shirat ha-h.en
emerge.105 His available sources strongly resemble the list compiled
by Scholem from al-Shabaz����s Midrash H.emdat Yamim. It is not clear
whether or not R. Ashkenazi sold books dealing with the new kabbalah
on his trip to Yemen.106
105 According to Ratzhaby, Tseydah la-derekh most often quotes Maimonides�� Guide
of the Perplexed, the Zohar, and Sha.are Orah by Joseph Gikatilla. Al-D.��hir����s
commentary
on Genesis was printed in the edition of the T��j (the Yemeni version of theTorah
with its commentaries) by Shim.on Graydi (Tel Aviv, 1940). Al-D.��hir��, Sefer
ha-musar, 44.
106 Among Yemeni Jews, Zekharyah al-D.��hir�� is considered the founder of kabbalah
in Yemen, a fact that arose in the debate over the legitimacy of kabbalah (to
bediscussed more fully in the next Chapter). R. Yah.y�� Q��fih., the central figure
in theanti-kabbalistic ��Dor De.ah�� movement, wrote that ��the faith in this new
foreign kabbalah
was introduced to Yemen by the books that were brought at the time of Rabbial-
D.��hir�� and there was never a kabbalist anywhere in Yemen before him, and our
ancient books attest to this.�� Yah.y�� Q��fih., Milh.amot ha-shem (Jerusalem,
1931), 114;
Tobi, The Jews of Yemen, 54n24; Tobi, ��Rabi Yitsh.ak Waneh,�� 17; Hallamish, Le-
Toldot
ha-kabalah bi-teman, 10.
107 Alkabets��s ��Lekha Dod���� was first published in Venice in 1584 in a Sephardi
prayerbook.
r. s��lim al-shabaz�� and the shabaziyy��t 167
for his conclusion that al-D.��hir�� was the first to write Hebrew-Arabic
strophic poems and was the founder of the Shabazian style.108
Even if al-D.��hir�� was not responsible for introducing the new kabbalah
to Yemen or inventing the Shabazian poem, the poetry of Safed
kabbalah eventually arrived in Yemen. A central figure in this regard
was R. Yitsh.ak Wanneh of Dham��r, who was possibly the first to include
new liturgy that drew from Sephardi prayerbooks and kabbalistic practices.
109 Of his significant literary output, his Tikl��l Pa.amon Zahav is
most important for our purposes because it includes three poems by
Naj��rah,110 three poems by Isaac Luria,111 and the previously mentioned
poems by Alkabets and Labi.112 The poems by Naj��rah included in
Wanneh��s Tikl��l do not seem reminiscent of Shabazian shirot, either
formally or thematically; nor do Luria��s Aramaic hymns.
108 Aside from four poems that are transpositions of local Arabic (Muslim-authored)
poems into Hebrew characters (Yehudah .Amir, ��Shirim h.adashim mi-diwan R. Z.
al-D.��hir��,�� in Mebu.e afikim, ed. Yosef Dah.oah-Halevi (Tel Aviv, Afikim, 1995)
126),
none of al-D.��hir����s own extant compositions seem to have contained any Arabic.
109 Moshe Hallamish, ��Ha-kabalah bi-siduro shel rabi yitsh.ak waneh,�� in Tema 5
(1995): 66�C67; Moshe Gavra, ��Le-fo.olo shel rabi yitsh.ak waneh bi-siduro
��pa.amon
zahav��,�� in Tema 4 (1994): 64.
110 These appear successively in Zmirot Yisra.el, ed. Yehudah Fris-H.oreb (Tel
Aviv:
Mah.berot le-sifrut, 1946), 513�C518.
in Chapter One, these were based on the poetry that developed among
Sufis in Lower Yemen. The poems of these Sufis are the best place to
look for Arabic influence on the Shabazian poem.117
.camel driver, whose humming guided his herds, was a favorite of Sufi
poets. Some precedents for Shabazian poetic convention may be located
in the d��w��n of Ibn al-.Arab��. For example, many Shabazian poems begin
with variations of the verb labisa. Ibn al-.Arabi��s d��w��n includes poems
with the same feature.119 A number of all-Arabic poems attributed to
al-Shabaz�� devote a verse to each letter of the alphabet. Precedent for
this technique can be found in a poem by Ibn al-.Arab��.120 This also
points to a movement of Sufi musical-poetic traditions from Spain and
North Africa, via Ibn al-.Arab��, to Sufi circles in Lower Yemen.
b. .Abdall��h B�� Makhramah, uses the image often in his poems, referring
to ��bariq al-najd�� and ��barq al-h.im��.�� In B�� Makhramah��s poems,
as in Shabazian poetry, the description of the lightning may precede
metaphysical discussions.
The motif of lightning is just one of the many similarities between
the poetry of B�� Makhramah and Shabazian poetry. Both B�� Makhrama��s
mystical poems and Shabazian poetry include descriptions of
gardens, singing birds, and beautiful youths ( ghizl��n). Both the poetry
117 The most prominent Yemeni Sufi poets of Lower Yemen and H.ad.ramawt who
wrote h.umayn�� poetry are: Ah.mad b. .Alw��n (d. 1266/1267), .Abd al-Rah.��m b.
.Al��
al-Bur.�� (d. 1400/1401), .Abd al-Rah.m��n b. Ibr��h��m al-.Alaw�� (d. 1465/1466),
Ab��
Bakr b. .Abdallah al-.Aydar��s (d. 1508/1509), .Umar b. .Abdallah B�� Makhramah (d.
1546/1547), ��al-H��d���� Muh.ammad b. .Al�� al-S��d�� (d. 1525/1526), H.��tim b.
Ah.mad al-
Ahdal (d. 1604/1605), .Abdallah b. .Alawi al-H.add��d (d. 1719/1720), .Abd al-
Rah.m��n
One legend tells how R. S��lim al-Shabaz�� left his loom to take up the
geomantic arts when he heard about the activities of a certain Muslim
scholar named ��Ibn .Alw��n.�� Ibn .Alw��n��s powers in interpreting
the sand table drew many Jews to him. Al-Shabaz�� provided a Jewish
alternative.122 The famous Ah.mad b. .Alw��n (d. 1267) lived much earlier
than al-Shabaz�� but there were Yemeni Sufis in the late sixteenth
century who numbered themselves among his followers. In his T.abaq
al-h.alw��, .Abdallah al-Waz��r describes how a ��man from among the
ascetics ( fuqar��.) of the shaykh Ah.mad b. .Alw��n�� leapt from the fortress
of Thul�� and miraculously survived in 1674/1675.123 If the legend
of al-Shabaz����s competition with someone affiliated with Ibn .Alw��n can
be said to contain an historical kernel, it may be that the Jewish poet
and mystic��s intellectual contribution was, at one point, envisioned as
a Jewish equivalent to Sufism.
the Ah.q��f library in Tar��m, H.ad.ramawt (MS 2254). Similar comparisons on the
basis
of other Yemeni Sufi poets may yield additional rewards. H.��tim al-Ahdal may bea
particularly worthy candidate for such a comparison. Bacher noted that a MS of
Shabazian poetry quoted an Arabic love poem by one ��Ibn al-Ahdal.�� Die hebr.ische
ehorot, ed.
Nadd��f (Jerusalem: Shlomo b. Avraham H.ayim al-Nadd��f, 1992), no page
number(includes Seride teman).
The influence of Sufi poetry seems to have been indirect: it was spread
among Jews through overheard songs at evening dhikrs or at the village
market rather than through written texts. The diction and thematic
range of Shabazian poetry, not to mention its theological dimensions,
differ substantially from Muslim Sufi poetry. Sufi h.umayn�� poetry provides
one recurring building block in this edifice. By juxtaposing Arabic
h.umayn�� lyrics with Hebrew esoteric images, Shabazian poems allow
the Arabic verses to acquire a kabbalistic import.
5 It ripens crops,
10 Isn��t it wonderful when the wind strikes, ripening the crops in their
furrows?
124 This word, ��mash��m,�� may mean ��flowers�� in the sense that the sh.m.m. root
connotes something that smells good. Ratson Halevi glosses this word and a variant,
17 His Intellect is perfect and he determines that which is licit and that
which is forbidden,
18 But when a miserable man sins He still loves him.
19 He created the angels and the spheres on the day of His fashioning,
20 He gave them perception so that they would praise His name,
21 They circle him, obeying his command,
22 And the lunar sphere shines for a set number of days.
35 [The mind of ] him who tastes an ancient honeyed wine that grants
rest wanders off,
36 His thoughts are upset until he gets drunk and falls asleep.
125 ��Continually�� (m�� d��m)��rather than ��wine�� (mud��m)��would also fit well
here.
126 Or ��my tongue�� and ��my deeds.��
127 Literally: ��He holds the reins�� (mustah.��t. zim��m).
128 ��Tarakn�� bi-wuh.shat���� could also mean ��He left me to my desolation.��
174 chapter five
44 He who looks for sustenance behaves admirably and should not pay
heed to [idle] talk,
45 [He] is gold without blemish [rest of line obscure].
55 Run of the mill people require laws (which are relaxed among the learned)
56 Their Intellect is preserved,
57 And they exalt their guests,
58 They obey the Holy One and fear Him in their actions,
59 He encompasses them and apportions beneficence to them out of
His goodness,
129 ��L�� yahsif al-.aw��mm�� could also mean ��He is not disgraced by average
men.��
r. s��lim al-shabaz�� and the shabaziyy��t 175
I would like to begin an analysis of this poem by making a few linguistic,
orthographic, and structural observations. The preceding poem was
composed entirely in Arabic using Hebrew characters. The manuscript,
like other collections of Yemeni Jewish poetry both printed and in
manuscript, uses the letters aleph, vav, and yod at the ends of words
where the meter requires long vowels. Nunnation is indicated with
the final nun. These features may be significant with reference to the
broader tradition of h.umayn�� poetry in Yemen because they take some
of the guesswork out of scansion. It may be the case that Yemeni Jews
composed their strophic poems according to Khal��lian meters whereas
Muslims did not, following the prosodic conventions they were familiar
with from Andalusian Hebrew verse. On the other hand, it is possible
that Jews, unencumbered by either a highly sophisticated knowledge
or a cultural veneration of the Arabic language, simply represented
Arabic the way it sounded. Thus, while a Muslim writer, particularly
an .��lim already a bit anxious about his forays into the h.umayn��
genre, would probably disapprove of displaying metrically lengthened
vowels by means of letters on the page, a Jew would be unaware of or
unconcerned with such a taboo. In addition, the manuscript��s use of
the Hebrew vowels tsayray and patah. enables the reader to distinguish
between an ��eh�� vowel sound and an ��ah�� vowel sound, which Arabic
vowels do not. See Appendix 3 on the implications of ST��s orthography
on its prosody.
130 See Mark Wagner, ��Major Themes in the Poetry of R. Salim al-Shabazi,�� in
Studies
in Arabic and Hebrew Letters in Honor of Raymond P. Scheindlin, ed. Jonathan Decter
wa-aty��b zahri.��
134 Ibid., 4v: ��wa-anz.
..
..(understanding ��al-adn��n�� as an unusual plural for of ��dann.�� Compare al-
H.ibsh��, al-
Adab al-yaman��, 215.) Alternatively, the writer may have intended ��khamrat
.adn��n��,
��a heavenly wine.��
mahf��z,�� (ST, 17r) and ��laylat al-qadr��; Ratzhaby, ��RabiShalem Shabazi ve-
shirato,�� 139.
138 ST, 92r: ��al-nafs waqt al-nawm tuwall�� / ta.al la-kis.e hekhali.��
144 ��al-.ar��s�� (ST, 49v), ��al-a.r��s�� (70r, 71v, 75v, 99r, 100v), ��.ar��.is��
(89r).
178 chapter five
Al-Shabaz����s poetry seems to offer some clues about the poet��s notion
of inspiration. In verse forty of this poem, the lover, who is not ��stingy
towards the Muse of poetry�� (h��tif al-niz.
��dah.
145 Ibid., 84v ��q��l ab�� sham.��n khatamn�� / qawlan�� f�� (?) rab�� / d��.��
il�� l-a.r��s .azamn�� /
nastar��h. f�� .aysh wa-shurb�� / vayn al-ah.b��r istarah.n��. . . .��
147 Ibid., 57r: ��ats.ak me-.��ni va-dal��t / ki oni g��lah ��-mishlokh bi-gv��le
temonba-shifl��t.��
148 Ibid., 103v: ��tub tastar��h. / anak jar��h. / jismak ta.r��h. / wa l-nafs
r��h. / h��w�� ma.��
l-sakrah.��
r. s��lim al-shabaz�� and the shabaziyy��tPoem Two (fols. 77b�C79a)
1 Love for an honored woman illuminates my mind��s eye and my imagination,
2 While I praise her beauty, for she comforts me in my exile.
3 My soul is like a lone bird and each night she greets the face of my Lord,
7 My joy and great exultation are renewed, parted from my bodily form,
She raises me up at dawn.
8 The soul perceives its aim��she is smitten, in love with the Intellect,
9 She travels among brightly shining stars, ascending to the Throne to
gain her favor,
10 Holding fast to piety and faith despite being afflicted by the body by
means of the Left line,
11 It continually corrupts [corporeal] life��men��s desires are for ignorance
and lowliness.
15 She is saved from sins and trials, she returns to the Abode of Initiation,
In the Garden she clothes herself in the light of Intellect.
24 O Creator, make Your will clear, grant us Your favor that we may be
illuminated by your grace,
25 Free the sick prisoner, and return us in goodness lest we be destroyed,
26 The souls ascend, going upwards, seeking faith in Your shadow,
27 They yearn for the Abode of Guidance that was created at the beginning
of Time.
28 Remember our fathers�� covenant,
29 fulfill Your promise to us,
30 That we may return to our Holy House.
180 chapter five
47 My eye cannot see him but he sees me. Proclaim his unity, prostratingyourself,
and drink the pure earthly cup.
155 Ibid., 104v: ��zikhri gavarat ahavoh / nidh.e shavotim kabatsi . . . v��m��r
la-��mmoh
va-har.el.��
158 Ibid., 159v: ��y�� j��mi. al-shaml al-bad��d / ijma. li-shaml asb��t.
163 Ibid., 71v: ��ludhdh bi-rabbak khuss.. h.��l al-ghar��b / r��bbam�� tashfa. bi-
ghawthin
qar��b / wa-tu.��d qawmak li-annuh har��b�� . . . ��y�� muhaymel fakk li l-
h.��yir�� / h.ad ard. alquds
as.
164 Ibid., 164r: ��wa-yijma. shamlan�� al-mafr��d / bi-yawm yat�� walad d��wud��;
��va-yash��v khol asir g��lah.��
166 Ibid., 29r: ��mur��d�� y�� widd�� bi-tsay��n a.alah / bi-h.ayth k��n�� l-ab��
muq��m��n f��kuml�� / wa-atwadd�� li-l��h bi-qurb��n maqb��l��.��
167 Ibid., 32r: ��natranan f�� h.usn tsay��n / wa l-muqaddas f�� al-n��r madiy��n /
wa
168 Ibid., 141r: ��va-sar ad��m mi-kis.�� nafal / ��-ven omoh sheqer topal.��
7 I delighted in my contemplation.
9 I met the dark-skinned gazelle with the long neck, the prince of those
who seek esoteric knowledge,
10 He dazzled the assembled people while the angels stood by in their
ranks,
11 The letters were assembled there to be seen, sending forth light, one
after the other,
12 Moses was watching carefully and the nobles were standing by.
174 Yehudah Ratzhaby, ��Le-Toldot ha-mah.loket .al ha-kabalah bikhilat tsan.a bi-
shnot
1913�C1914,�� in Pe.amim 88 (2001): 104n55; ST, 148r: ��sholat.
177 This word is unclear in the MS. It looks like ��al-qanad���� or ��al-hindi.��
The translation
assumes that ��al-qanad���� is a mistake for ��al-quds��.��
178 ��Wa-kull m�� nastah.il�� might also mean something along the lines of ��every
timewe change (incarnation).��
179 This phrase, ��fath.un qar��b,�� is of Qur.��nic provenance (61:13, 48:18, 27).
r. s��lim al-shabaz�� and the shabaziyy��t 185
Wilhelm Bacher has noticed the importance of the revelation at Sinai��
treated here in verses five through sixteen��and Shavuot, the festival
that commemorates it, in al-Shabaz����s corpus of poems.180 Al-Shabaz��
uses the Qur.��nic term, ��Night of Power�� (laylat al-qadr) (Q 97:1�C3),
to describe this holiday.181 He writes: ��On the Night of Power He made
himself manifest. I spent the night in His shadow.��182 The Sinaitic
tableau recurs with such high frequency that it seems quite unlikely
that all poems containing it were composed for the festival of Shavuot.
These vignettes sometimes describe Moses: ��O you who speaks [with
God], the son of .Amr��n, the king of the age.��183 In one poem, the
speaker compares good poetic composition to one of the miracles God
wrought for Moses: ��[A skillful poet] provides the befuddled with a
proof, just as Moses struck the rocks and water flowed.��184 Al-Shabaz��
describes revelation in visual terms: ��On the day that Moses went up
to the mountain my soul was disturbed, and all of the people were
there, gazing towards the voices, luminescent jeweled letters, alif, b��
and j��m, were seen, transparent, lofty, and shining.��185 ��The divine messenger
delivered an oration at the mountain. Ten commandments were
revealed, inscribed precisely upon two tablets. At the mountain flames
engulfed the clouds and light encircled the host.��186
6:4 (ayumah) of verses one through six,187 and the ��rose�� (h.avatselet)
180 Bacher, Die hebr.ische und arabische Poesie, 95.
182 ST, 90r: ��f�� laylat al-qadr�� tijall�� (90v) amsayt bi-zilluh s��kin��.��
.
183 Ibid., 3v: ��y�� mukallem walad .imr��n ant sult.
��n al-zam��n.��
184 Ibid., 76r ��wa-yujawweb li-man k��n h.��yer / f�� burh��n / kayf m��s�� d.arab
al-sa.w��n�� /
w��jr�� al-m��.��
185 Ibid., 89v: ��f�� yawm tale. m��s�� il�� l-t��r / thumm k��n r��h�� h��yir�� /
wa l-qawm
en);195
188 Ibid., 44v, 110r. Rashi, the medieval biblical commentator, understood the
phrase��Bat Galim�� in Isaiah 10:30 as a place name from a list of the names of
towns conquered
by Sennacherib. R. Huna explains (BT Sanhedrin 94v) that this phrase, ��thedaughter
of waves (galim)�� refers to the People of Israel (kneset yisra.el), whose
gooddeeds are as numerous as waves in the sea. A similar interpretation can be
found inthe Zohar (Noah 63r).
n al-b��n);205��r).207
The light of his face outstrips that of the crescent moon, affixed in the
heavens,
All of the young gazelles are enamored of him,
His nose is as delicate as a sword��s cutting edge,
He is a skilled youth��I am astounded by his attributes,
His eyes are a cup of wine that wash over me,
And mesmerize my recalcitrant heart,
His lips are like rubies chiseled with the letters alif, ba and j��m,
His mouth tastes sweet like pomegranates and basil��a cure for every
ill,208
His teeth are as lustrous as pearls209 [text damaged]
His neck is that of a gazelle who has wandered off, alone, a fugitive, who
disturbs all of the gazelles [with his beauty].
He has amazed all of my brothers and has given me drink,
I spent the night with him, drunk,
And he said: ��O poet from among the forgetful�� [i.e., mankind],
Wake up! Morning has risen! Speak precisely about my religion,
And stir the best of minds from their slumber,
Do not pay attention to the other gazelles, who censure me, for I am like
Joseph in beauty.210
208 In his poetic translation of Shabazian poetry, Ratson Halevi translates this
word,
����f��t�� variously as ��pain,�� ��plague,�� or ��death.�� Shirat Yisra.el bi-
teman, 1:143, 154,
160, 290.
209 Compare ST, 98r: ��His lips (?) like rubies and his teeth surpass pearls in
luster,��
��shif��t (?) kam�� al-y��q��t / wa-asn��nuh taf��q al-durr.��
210 Ibid., 50v�C51r: ��sh��hadt s��d al-h.��r bi-r��s al-d��r taq��l subh.��n
khal��quh / jab��nuh
n��rah�� gh��lib hil��l th��qib / sab�� al-ghizl��n .ushsh��quh / raq��q al-mar.af
al-b��tir / fat��
s��tir / balash .aql�� bi-akhl��qih / wa l-a.y��n khamr f�� l-s..
��n�� / tul��h��n�� / wa-tuftin kh��tir��
al-.adhl��n / shif��tuh tushbih al-y��q��t / bih�� manh.��t / alif b�� j��m
mathl��th��t / wathaghruh
.adhb rum��n�� wa-rayh.��n�� / diw�� yushf�� min al-af��t / than��yah s��fiyah ka
..
212 Ibid., 70r: ��y�� zayn n��n�� l-h.��jeb . . . shibah al-hil��l al-th��qeb.��
213 Ibid., 50r: ��ja.��duh ka l-luy��l.��
214 Ibid., 54v: ��wa-f�� jab��nuh makt��b serr mah.j��b.��
215 Ibid., 92r: ��al-khill h��jarn�� wa-wall��.��
216 Ibid., 40r: ��l�� khill thumma mafq��d�� / awh.ash .alayy�� al-tafr��d.��
217 Ibid., 98v: ��h.ab��b�� l�� tak��n gh��fel / jafayt h��l�� wa-t��l hajrak.��
..
218 Ibid., 98v�C99r: ��wa-yudhkar dh��lek al-.ahd.��
219 Ibid., 12r: ��shaghaln�� al-waqt f�� makruh / baqayt maml��k f�� .as.
..
221 Ibid., 89v: ��sharrad man��m�� .awhaj�� al-h.��r / bi l-layl ashar n��zer��.��
.
r. s��lim al-shabaz�� and the shabaziyy��t 189
me, My imagination spends the night exhausted, bearing its shame��;222
��Lover, you left me abandoned and sleepless, you turned me over to
the mob. . . .��;223 ��My eyes stayed open with sleeplessness on the night I
spent in your house, among your blooming roses��;224 ��Friend, deliver
a message on my behalf, Send my greetings to my love, So that he will
remember his promise to me. His having left me is a constant affliction,
But he still rules over my dreams and distresses my eyes [with
insomnia], O my love, I cannot sleep because of you.��225
Al-Shabaz����s poetry often links the theme of the sleepless night to lyrical
imagery of birds: ��O owl, sing . . . your voice drives sleep from me��;226
��I cannot sleep, O turtledove��;227 ��A turtledove kept me awake in the
Upper Garden, so I spent the night singing my own songs.��228 Sometimes
the bird, chirping plaintively, represents the distressed human
lover, as in the verse, ��O Yemeni turtledove, why did you leave your
lover?��229 In other poems, birds are associated with God. For example:
��Doves prostrate themselves and sing for him��;230 ��Tell me, O dove of
the king, where was your ancient nest?��231
222 Ibid., 13r: ��y�� dh�� al-ghaz��l al-gh��yib / hajrak .alayy�� thaqal / w��ms��
khay��l��l��gheb / f�� .aybahu yatanaqal.��
223 Ibid., 90v: ��f��raqtan�� y�� khill mahj��r / bi l-layl ams�� s��hir�� /
aslamtan�� f�� yadjumh��r. . . .��
224 Ibid., 70r: ��sharradt tarf�� mushar / amsayt d��khil d��rak / m�� bayn ward
azh��rak.��
225 Ibid., 84v: ��y�� nad��m balligh li-qas... widd�� / r��bbam�� yad
arf�� shaj��n�� /
y�� muh.ibb s��her min ajlak.��
226 Ibid., 66v: ..
.
233 Ibid., 84r: ��isma. arm��z��.��
234 Ibid., 151v: ��subh.��na munteq lis��n�� f�� ramz nazm al-ma.��n��.��
..
190 chapter five
speaker of one poem adjures a friend to drink wine with him ��so that
we will understand every secret and allegorical interpretation��;235 ��The
learned man knows the essence of poetry��s allegorical messages, One
who has such a secret should bring it forward for us to unravel, To
put the mind in charge, He [should] ponder the words which I have
set forth if he is wise��;236 ��God remembers him who is knowledgeable
in allegories. He emanates his knowledge, illuminating the stations of
the Zodiac, on him who is successful in this regard. All of the learned
Jews seek his company and engage in this pursuit.��237
oz).239
236 Ibid., 45r�C45v: ��ya.rif rum��z aby��t�� f�� al-dh��t�� man k��n .��lm�� / min
k��n luh sirr
y��t�� nataf��t�� / f�� .aql h.��kim�� / yakhtass.. f�� kilm��t�� / bi-ithb��t�� /
in k��n f��him��.��
237 Ibid., 76v: ��dhakar all��h man k��n .��lim bi l-arm��z fayd..ilmuh yun��r al-
ma.��lam /
dh�� bih f��z / jam. al-ah.b��r .induh tan��dim f�� ibr��z. . . .��
Most Yemeni Jews before the twentieth century found that the rich
symbolic vocabulary of kabbalah served as a hermeneutic key to Shabazian
poetry. This was apparently the poet��s intention. In one poem,
the speaker advises a companion to consult the Zohar and the mystical
Torah commentary of Bah.ya b. Asher.240 Uncovering the referents
for al-Shabaz����s poetic symbolism was likely the purview of the people
al-Shabaz�� called the ��rabbis from among the lovers�� (ah.b��r al-ah.b��b);
those well-versed in kabbalistic thinking; and perhaps those who were
also familiar with Sufi poetry.241 One might venture to add that such
members of the community��whether prominent individuals interested
in poetic material for their kabbalistic symposia or male guests
at a wedding��in addition to interpreting this poetry, may have been
responsible for remunerating the poet.
240 Ibid., 111r. Bacher also found numerous examples of poems by al-Shabaz�� that
reference the Zohar and Bah.ya. Die hebr.ische und arabische Poesie, 17, 84n5,
85n2,
139.
241 ST, 90r.
242 It is not entirely clear that the term ��lah.n,�� common in al-Shabaz����s
poetry, refers
to musical composition (Ibid., 65r, 77r, 162v). However, other references to music
andmusical instruments as a theme (see for example Ibid., 102v�C103r, 157v, 158r)
seem
to indicate that it played a part in the poetry��s performance.
192 chapter five
��prayers and passages from the Hebrew Bible,�� but not passages from
the Hebrew-Arabic shirot, which contained kabbalistic mysteries.243
Conclusion
If the sick man fears God and believes in the wonder-working Rabbi,
then after he has prayed by the grave he should go into the cave to washin the
mikveh and take some of the water. If he deserves to recover, he
will find the spring flowing, and an amulet written on a leaf bobbing inthe water,
which he must take and then he will recover. But if he is not
a God-fearing man and does not deserve to recover, then he will find thespring dry
and a snake curled in the doorway . . .3
3 Sefer Even Sapir, 82; Translation from Yaakov Lavon, trans., My Footsteps Echo:
The Yemen Journal of Rabbi Yaakov Sapir (Israel: Targum Press, 1997), 153.
Dor De.ah. Kabbalistic thought, for the purposes of this chapter, can be
defined as a symbolic system of thought premised on the divine potencies
(sefirot). Philosophy, particularly as represented by Dor De.ah, seeks
to harmonize the peripatetic tradition with Jewish practice.
R. Yah.y�� Qorah.
.
flatly states that the lovely ��she-gazelle�� (zabyah) mentioned
in one poem was the Shekhinah��that last, resolutely female,
phase or potency (sefirah) in the progressive manifestation of the Divine
that is ��the presence and immanence of God in the whole of creation.��7
It may be the case that for Qorah.
and many other Yemeni Jews, the
��she-gazelle�� in the song of a performer at a Muslim q��t chew, wedding,
or Sufi vigil, was, in fact, the Shekhinah. After all, a similar perception
of harmony between Arabic love poetry and kabbalistic thinking may
have motivated the earliest writers in the Shabazian school of poetry
to incorporate Sufi verse into their compositions.
7 HH, 174; Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York:
Schocken Books, 1995), 216, 229�C230.
8 The texts of the introductions to, and commentaries upon, the D��w��n have not
been
critically edited and the various versions differ considerably. In an article on
the d��w��n
commentaries, Yosef Tobi states that a copy of the d��w��n, with its commentaries,
in the
collection of the rabbinical school in Cincinnati, was the most recent manuscript.
Thismanuscript, the work of the S..��n��-Jerusalemite Avraham al-Nadd��f, was, in
Tobi��s
anestimation, the possible source from which the printed edition used in this
chapterdrew. Yosef Tobi, ��Perushehem shel R. Yah.y�� Korah. ve-shel R. Shalom al-
Sheykh le-shir
.ahavat yom shabat�� le-R. Sh. Shabazi,�� in Le-Zekher Ha-R. Shalom Kalz��n, ed.
Shim.on
Graydi (Jerusalem: Ha-Va.ad ha-klali likhilat ha-temanim birushalayim, 1982), 58.
1:12. This detail is not included in the version of Yah.y�� Qorah.��s D��w��n
introduction
in either edition of HH.
200 chapter six
13 Ibid., 3, 364.
14 Ibid., 430.
16 Ibid., 1. It was his son .Amram, however, who concluded that al-Shabaz�� was
unfamiliar with the ��new kabbalah�� of Safed (HH, 12n10). R. Yah.y�� often used
the writings
of Isaac Luria and other Lurianic thinkers as sources for interpreting al-
Shabaz����spoetry (HH 1n10, 29n18, 85, 155, 157, 238, 480).
17 Ibid., 167.
18 Ibid., 435.
20 Ibid., 254, 448. Qorah. also made numerous references to Maimonides�� Guide of
the Perplexed and Yosef Albo��s Sefer Ha-.Ikarim.
21 Ibid., 163.
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 201
Our teacher R. Shalom Shabazi, along with the other writers of poetry,
who knew the true wisdom [i.e., kabbalah], gave epithets that were known
to uneducated people to well-known esoteric matters in order to open
up their ears to the degree that they are able to hear . . .25
Here, Qorah. points out the essential paradox of the erotic language
of Shabazian poetry: it was readily comprehensible in a literal sense.
Yet such understanding was actually a gross misunderstanding. These
images would ideally draw the listener in to their true esoteric signification,
a signification whose importance was magnified by the very real
threat of accidentally understanding sensual language literally.
At the end of the night I happened upon a transparent glass from Aleppo,
A decorated glass, filled with a vintage wine, covered,
Of a pure red hue, as if cut from a flawless gem,
Like a flash of lightning, shining like gold.
22 Ibid., 171.
23 Ibid., 182.
24 Ibid., 182�C183n25.
25 Ibid., 256. The comment relates to the poem ��bariq burayq al-na.��m min fawq
rawsh��n .aj��b����The commentator R. David al-Jamal (1824�C1877) likened the
language
of Shabazian poetry to fruit that possessed a peel to protect it. Nah.um, Sefer
ha-te.udah, 244.
202 chapter six
It relieves the oppressed and the feverish from illnesses and misfortunes,
It causes the body to become covered with sweat, washing away worriesand fatigue.26
In the Zohar, wine symbolizes the sefirah of Binah. Qorah. makes this
association as well.29 ��Wine�� and ��secret�� are also the same numerologically.
30 ��Wine drinking is good for learned men for it illuminates
their minds with Torah,�� Qorah. writes:31
When they sit and drink wine and the cup goes around from the handof the wine
steward to them, stand among them and they will teach youfrom among their
teachings, as it is said: ��wine goes in and a secret comesout�� (nikhnes yayin
yetse. sod) [. . .] But ignorant men have light minds
and they are led to error and to sin by their drunkenness. There are thosewho drink
with pure and perfect minds and there are those whom winemakes rebellious, doing
wicked things and giving no regard to harming
others. Decide that your intellect will guide you before wine makes youdrunk or
decide, if you know that you will become ugly or that you willsin in your
drunkenness, not to drink too much. Know what happened
to Lot and his sin and that he brought forth two bastard nations intothe world. . .
.32
26 HH, 155.
27 Ibid., 155n2.
28 See also Ibid., 585.
29 Ibid., 156n4.
30 Ibid., 156n17.
31 Ibid., 156n22.
32 Ibid., nn23�C28. R. David al-Jamal wrote: ��Wine is an allegory for secrets, for
not
every man is a fit wine-drinker. Only he whose mind is strong will not be harmed
byit. Bread is an allegory for the exoteric meaning (pshat.
Since the consumption of wine would have marked the sorts of Jewish
gatherings at which Shabazian poetry was performed, the impact of
drinking on the quality of interpretation should be kept in mind when
approaching the interpretive issues surrounding the sensual language
of Shabazian poetry.
r al-F��r��b��
(d. circa 950) quotes Plato as saying that the lawgiver should be akin to
one who can drink at a symposium and stay sober.33 While al-F��r��b��
qualifies Plato��s discussion with ��akin�� (��mithlu��), the sentiment found
here corresponds to that expressed by the libertine poet Ab�� Nuw��s
in several of his poems. In one of his poems, the speaker ��see[s] that
wine [. . .] enhances the folly of people but leaves the character of noble
men intact.�� In another piece, this poet says, ��I have found that those
with the least intelligence when they are drunk are the ones with the
least intelligence when they are sober.��34
Even a knowledgeable reader, fortified with kabbalistic texts and
wine, might misinterpret Shabazian poetry. Reading Qorah.��s commentary
and other commentaries on al-Shabaz����s poetry, one is struck
by the polysemous character of the images. A given symbol does not
denote one thing consistently; it can mean several different things and,
as Qorah. notes above, can mean different things to different individuals.
For example, Qorah.
interprets the verdant garden of al-Shabaz����s
poetry in several ways. It is the Land of Israel35 or, more often, the
garden where the righteous go after death. Glossing the word ��Paradise��
( firdaws), Qorah. writes: ��This is the garden where souls return to
luxuriate in the world to come or [where souls return] every night while
in their exoteric sense, takes wine before bread. [. . .] The Torah calls such
people men
who lacked intelligence (h.asrei lev) and says to them ��come, eat my food, And
drinkthe wine that I have mixed�� (Prov. 9:5) because the exoteric aspects of the
Torah also
require the priority of that which is appropriate to be first, and the posteriority
of thatwhich should come afterwards��this is all the more true of the secrets of
the Torah.��
Nah.um, Sefer ha-te.udah, 250�C251.
34 Philip F. Kennedy, The Wine Song in Classical Arabic Poetry: Ab�� Nuw��s and
theLiterary Tradition (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1997), 214.
35 HH, 4n11.
204 chapter six
36 Ibid., 335: ��ve-hu pardes she-ha-nafashot h.ozrot lehit.aden sham ba-olam ha-
ba.
Qorah. furnishes the themes (the sleepless night, separation from the
beloved) and dramatis personae (slanderer, messenger) of lyric poetry
with national, metaphysical (in reference to the soul��s place in an emanational
system), and sefirotic interpretations. He anchors the theme of
the lovers�� union in the wedding ritual, explaining the cosmic implications
of the couple��s marriage. Their union, as symbolically portrayed
in al-Shabaz����s poetry, represents God��s love for his bride, Israel,47 the
43 Ibid., 212. The Congregation of Israel (Kneset yisra.el), the moon, and wine,
weresymbols identified with the tenth sefirah: Shekhinah.
44 R.B. Serjeant wrote: ��Y��-S��n is a favourite s��rah to recite against the evil
eye.��
Serjeant and Lewcock, S.
an.��., 313n35.
45 R. Qorah.
makes other references to Muh.ammad in polemical contexts. (HH,
15n11, 137).
46 HH, 336.
47 Ibid., 296.
206 chapter six
giving of the Torah or the two tablets of the law themselves,48 the process
of emanation,49 the soul and the intellect,50 the sun and the moon,51 and
the creatures that serve God in heaven.52 The wedding ritual, in turn,
produced positive consequences in the supernal realm.53
For Qorah., the features of the beloved��s body symbolize the features
and processes of the Divine. He writes: ��[Al-Shabaz��] mentions
four places: the hair, the mouth, the eyes, and the soles of the feet.
These symbolize the four worlds and they draw forth His light into
them. . . .��;54 and, ��[Al-Shabaz��] begins speaking praises of God in the
language of [describing] a comely and beautiful young man with a lovely
appearance.��55 The direction of description was itself a topic invested
with great significance. ��[Al-Shabaz��] begins his prayers and his praises
from top to bottom,�� writes Qorah., ��beginning with [the beloved��s]
head, of fine gold, and moving all of the way down to his ankles��this
is according to his desire to bring the Shekhinah down from the Upper
World to the Lower World.��56
biblical figure identified with the Shekhinah. Arabic love poetry uses
the masculine to refer to a female beloved, whether out of metrical
necessity, or to preserve her modesty, or for ambiguous effect. Qorah.
explains this convention kabbalistically. He says that the masculine is
used to refer to emanation from above. Therefore, any element of the
sefirotic system that emanates upon another must be described in the
masculine. Poetry also uses the masculine ��to distance itself from ugliness,
so that it is not imagined to be erotic poetry (shire ha-.agavim)
that leads man into sin and stimulates wicked urges.��57 At other times,
the beloved��s effeminate character may be explained with reference to
God��s feminine guises: ��[The poets] say ��doe-eyed maiden of the Garden��
(h.��r�� al-jan��n��) because God clothes himself as a woman��this is
called the Garden and He illuminates it.��58
Qorah. comments a great deal on the beloved��s hair, the first of what
he called the ��four places.�� Hair, usually referred to by the colloquial
��ja.d�� or ��ja.��d,�� derives from the classical ��ja.ada��yaj.udu�� meaning
��to be curly.�� But curls are not only etymologically significant; in the
Zohar, the emanational system is likened to the curls of a beard.59 Curls
also represent the channels of influence between the sefirot. Qorah. comments
on the verse, ��His hair is like a spring of living water�� (wa-ja.duh
ka-.ayn al-h.ay��h), by saying: ��The tresses of his hair are channels of
water that emanate light like a spring of living water��this is what is
meant by ��his locks are curled�� �� (Song Sol. 5:11).60
This is the secret of ��black as a raven�� (Song Sol. 5:11) for it is knownthat the
Ze.ir Anpin has black hair and in the feminine form (nukba) thehair is red. This is
the secret of ��the locks of your head are like purple��
(Song of Sol. 7:6). In the Arikh Anpin the hair is white. This is the secret
of ��and the hair of His head was like lamb��s wool�� (Dan. 7:9) meaningthat it is
white. This is the secret of the sefirot that together constitute
57 Ibid., 212.
58 Ibid., 210n1.
59 Isaiah Tishby, The Wisdom of the Zohar: An Anthology of Texts, trans. David
Goldstein (1949; repr. Oxford and Portland, Oregon: Littman Library of Jewish
Civilization,
2002), 1:334n264.
60 HH, 405.
208 chapter six
[the secret of the] ��tamarisk�� (eshel): red, black and white, from the lowest
to the highest.61
Here Qorah.
identifies three configurations of the Godhead: the Arikh
Anpin, the Ze.ir Anpin, and the ��feminine form.�� Arikh Anpin (��the
forebearing one�� or ��long face��) is the highest mystical form of the
Divine, depicted as an old man.62 Ze.ir Anpin (��Impatient One�� or
��short face��) is the combination of sefirot from H.
okhmah down.63 This
includes justice (Din), also the source of evil in the world. Its feminine
counterpart is the Shekhinah (or the sefirah of Malkhut). The precise
nature of these configurations are less important here than the fact that
Qorah. applies them systematically.
lam�� / karm .��taq mahlan .��sam��), Qorah writes: ��His curls are
long and black like the black grape that ripens on the vine that is precious
and is reserved. The simile, according to the plain meaning, is to
hanging curls [or] to the laws (halakhot), for the Torah is likened to
a grape vine [that nourishes] the emanated world.��64 His equation of
the vine with the process of emanation holds in another poem as well:
��How lovely he is when he lets down his long thick hair, blacker than
a protected [bunches of ] grapes in a valley�� (m�� ah.sanuh h.��nam�� /
yanshur li-ja.din tam��m / h.��luh taw��l asham�� / min karam w��d�� .as��m).
...��[His hair] grows perpetually from netsah., hod, and yesod,�� writes
Qorah., ��making it a guarded vine in its place.��65
In keeping with the association of the male figure with the comparatively
stern Ze.ir Anpin, Qorah. explains one description of his hair as a
martial reference: ��I gaze upon his thick hair�� (nanz..d��).
ur rad��m al-ja��When the study of Torah fills our ears in our inner vision our
King
appears as a youth with orderly rows of locks of hair that spill over
his shoulders,�� Qorah.
.
61 Ibid., 210n7.
62 Gershom Scholem, On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead (New York: SchockenBooks,
1991), 50�C51.
65 Ibid., 252n14.
66 Ibid., 479. On the Sit..
As for the hair of the Shekhinah, the female divine potency, Qorah.
parses the verse ��Your tresses are gold chains�� ( ja.��d lak salas dhahab��n��)
by saying, ��The woman��s (nukva) hair is red according to the secret of
��the locks of your head are like purple�� �� (Song of Sol. 7:6). He goes on
to quote a passage from The Book of Raziel and explains that ��the sefirot
Netsah., Hod, and Yesod of the Ze.ir Anpin, which [together] constitute
divine mercy (rah.amim), make themselves manifest in her hair. . . .��67 A
verse in a different poem, ��His locks of hair are gold chains, darkened
by musk, ambergris, and compound perfume�� ( ja.duh sal��s al-dhah��b /
wa-ad.f��ruh�� ka l-zal��m / miskun wa-.anbar wa-t��b), challenges Qorah.��s
Moving down the beloved��s body (and down the sefirotic anthropos):
��Also, this comely youth��s forehead is like the pale crescent moon. His
light dazzled me�� (wa-ayd.an jab��n dh�� l-ghul��m mithl al-hil��l al-wak��b /
kam kazzan�� n��ruh��). The light emanating from his forehead upon the
moon represents the emanation of the the ��face�� of Rah.amim upon the
sefirah of Mercy (h.esed).69 Here Qorah. finds Lurianic ideas concerning
the emanation of the divine potencies (sefirot) within this poetic
metaphor. The verse, ��His glances are like arrows��he shoots but he
does not strike the mark�� (t.
Qorah.
bases another fine homily on the conventional simile likening
the lover��s glances to projectiles. ��His eyebrows are bows and his mouth
is festooned with diamonds, guarded by his [armed] eyes which shoot
young men [glances] like arrows�� (h.ayth haw��jib / naw��zirhu qaw��s /
..
67 HH, 212n5.
68 Ibid., 255.
69 Ibid., 255.
70 Ibid., 255.
210 chapter six
��s m��s / h...r��miyyah li l-fat�� mithl al-suh��m). Qorah. connects the motif to
the
story of Joseph:
the Holy One, blessed be He, to whom the Rabbi [al-Shabaz��] affixed the
appelation ��Joseph�� according to what is said in the midrash on ��If only itcould
be as with a brother, As if you had nursed at my mother��s breast��
(Song of Sol. 8:1). It says that ��if only it could be as with a brother�� and
so on must refer to Joseph and his brothers after all of the evil thingsthey had
done to him, as it is written: ��And so, fear not. I will sustainyou and your
children. Thus he reassured them, speaking kindly to them��
(Gen. 50:21). He comforted them and spoke to their hearts. Shouldn��t we
argue, a minori ad maius, that Joseph, who spoke kindly to his brothersand
comforted them [is much less when compared to] the Holy One,
Blessed be He, who will comfort Jerusalem. It is for this reason that
the poet called [God] ��y��suf����; that is, to designate the comfort he
willprovide in the future.75
Qorah. also takes pains to explain the poem��s referents. For example,
the light imagery surrounding the teeth generates associations with the
71 This word is obscure to me and to R. Qorah., who wrote ��I don��t know if this
refers to a nose ring (h.otam), or to the brow, or if it is a symbol of the eyelids
since
them.
74 HH, 172n30. See also Ibid., 332n14.
75 Ibid., 101n7. There is a similar homily on 404.
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 211
The spheres, which are like the layers of an onion, rotate aroundtwo poles [. . .]
��their sparkle was like the luster of burnished bronze��
(Ez. 1:7) i.e., these are the stars, which are called ��ankles.�� This is a symbol
76 Ibid., 171.
77 Ibid., 172n25.
78 See Yaakov Elman, Michal Govrin and Mark Jay Mirsky, trans. ��Love in
theAfterlife,�� in Rabbinic Fantasies, ed. David Stern and Mark Jay Mirsky (New
Havenand London: Yale University Press, 1998), 239�C252.
79 HH, 405.
80 Ibid., 404.
81 On the k��d�� plant see Mut..Al�� al-Iryani, Fawq al-jabal (no place of publica
ahhar
tion: 1991), 44n1. The words ��wat..
a.at�� and ��ban��nih�� rather than tayat and aby��nihwould have made better sense.
212 chapter six
of the world of the spheres��It is said that the footprints of the PrimalMan
diminished the light of the solar sphere.82
The fact that Qorah. attended Muslim celebrations may not seem, at
first blush, terribly daring. After all, such things must have happened
in Yemen over the centuries, especially in small villages where Jews
and Muslims intermingled relatively freely. The significance of this act
becomes apparent only after considering the broader context. Qorah.
lived in a time of rigid social segregation and of intense and intensifying
persecution of the Yemeni Jewish community by Muslims. Jews,
82 HH, 172n31.
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 213
May the bridegrooms rejoice and the roses multiply, let sorrows fade awayand let
the young, old, and simple-minded understand. May the groomsbe joyful with strophic
poetry (shirot) and songs (renanot), set to manymelodies, with happiness and a fear
of sin. [However] Let them leave offof the lustful poems that the Arabs wrote in a
foul language for which
83 Ibid., 99.
84 Yosef Tobi and Shalom Serri, eds., Yalkut Teman: Leksikon (Tel Aviv: ��E.aleh
bi-tamar,�� 2001), 221.
214 chapter six
there is no excuse for they lead hearts into error and [allow] thoughts
to be guided by the passions. They abuse pure minds, causing distress tomen and
beasts alike, drying up water sources, robbing men��s teeth oftheir daily bread,
and making the hands and feet weak with hunger andillness. All of this blocks any
mercy, whether heavenly or earthly, frompaupers and beggars, widows and orphans,
who are innocent. They mixthe sacred and the profane, so that the Upper Table is
overturned. Ourcustoms clear obstacles from the paths of men and women so that
theyare not punished. They will call to mind hardships past and hardshipsto come,
and will perservere in doing good, for sons and for fathers, todecrease the level
of sin and uphold the commandments, both thosemandated by the Torah and those
mandated by the intellect, to study the
Torah with a pure and clean soul, to gain the rewards of both worlds,
and to return the soul to its place of origin above. . .85
This passage sheds light on poetry among Jews in Yemen a half century
after the Mawza.
..
The chronicle of R. Sa.��d b. Shlomo Sa..d�� confirms the idea that some
Yemeni Jews wanted to hear Arabic poetry at weddings and at parties in
their homes. During H.anukah in 1726, guests at a wedding ��prevented
the poet from reciting poems in the Holy Tongue and ordered him to
sing ��ash.��r�� �� (that is, Arabic love poems).86 Sa..d�� also expressed his
consternation over the behavior of the younger generation. ��In those
days many sons rebelled against their fathers and went out after they
fell asleep to the ��samrah�� [parties with music].�� On this general theme,
Sa..d�� continues:
In the month of Shevat .a wicked and murderous man from a distant land
arrived to sing songs of lust. The men of his age group rejoiced at thepresence of
someone like him as if the harvest had arrived. They preparedelaborate banquets for
him outfitted with every musical instrument andthey fought over him, this one
saying ��he will dine at my house�� and
the other one saying ��he will dine at my house.�� They seized his clothes
237.
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 215
so that they were nearly torn off. All of this was because of their great
passion for ��ash.��r.��87
Returning to R. S..
the profane�� (me.arevim kodesh ve-h.ol). This shows that, for R. S..,
these Arabic poems possess a sacred quality, however compromised
by sensual language. The word ��mix�� (me.arevim) might also connote
��Arabizing,�� as in, ��they render the sacred and the profane in Arabic.��
The charges of mixing sacred and profane��and of employing sensual
Arabic imagery��could, of course, be leveled against the very poems
that R. S..
R. S..
��lih walked a very fine line here. The saving graces of Shabazian
poetry may have been its messianic-redemptive view of Jewish history
(��they will call to mind hardships past and hardships to come��), the
fact that it led men to the Torah (in its Hebrew strophes and in the
symbolic interpretation of its Arabic verses), and that it reminded men
of their souls�� supernal origins through the dream-vision theme.
87 Ibid., 239�C240.
88 Ratzhaby is incorrect when he says that this, the most famous such introduction,
was written by R. Yehudah Jizf��n. ��Tsurah ve-lah.an,�� 21. Bacher found the text
in a
d��w��n purchased in Jerusalem in 1895 (he designates it Adler 1) and found it
noteworthy
enough to include in his book but he also said that the author was anonymous.
Die hebr.ische und arabische Poesie, 12, 51�C53. Idelsohn published the
introductionby R. Jizf��n, followed by the Adler 1 text from Bacher (Shire Teman,
356�C357). The
1931�C2 and 1968 D��w��n H.afets H.ayim clearly copied Idelsohn��s version of
Jizf��n��sintroduction without indicating that Adler 1 was a different text��this
is the likely
source of Ratzhaby��s mistaken attribution. Yosef Tobi said that Adler 1 was
written bythe nineteenth-century R. Se.adyah Mans��rah. ��The Sources of
Har��z����s ��tena.e ha-shir��
��rah that mentions al-Harizi��s rules, printed in the 1931�C2 D��w��n Hafets
hayimand in Ratzhaby��s ��Tsurah ve-lah.an,�� 21�C22.
216 chapter six
the beauty of the written word. They are full of melodies but they try to
swallow their words so that the audience does not recognize their poor
quality.�� ��Sometimes,�� he writes, ��they sing songs that are forbidden
to listen to (he who hears them should rend his clothing) though they
are as pleasant as a bundle of myrrh.��89
In the third rule, the Yemeni writer cautions the would-be poet to
��be aware lest he, God forbid, compare sanctified things to those of
Sodom.�� This rule reflects the perceived danger of interpreting using
erotic metaphors for sacred matters. The fifth rule adjures the poet ��to
silence the group so that it will not be as a cross-roads like the market
place.�� H.ariz��, like the Arabic sources from which he drew, did not find
the audience��s demeanor worthy of comment. This rule for the Yemeni
Jewish poet may show the importance of audience participation and
appreciation in the Yemeni context.
..
. . . God roused the spirit of our lord, the light of our dispersion, our rabbi
and teacher Shalom Shabaz�� (may he be remembered in the world to
come) and he composed poems that answer our plea, poems that dislodgethe obstacles
that prevent our prayers from ascending, as was describedby the author of the holy
Sefer H.
emdat Yamim in Chapter Seven on thesubject of Shabbat: . . . The honored poems that
our lord, Rabbi Shalom
Shabaz�� (may he be remembered in the world to come) wrote speak of
heavenly matters that were passed down from one to another from the
holy mouth of Rabbi Shim.on Bar Yoh.ai (peace be upon him) and from
the mouths of those sages who followed in his footsteps.
This passage makes clear that al-Shabaz�� had become the central hero
of Yemeni Jewish culture, ��the light of our dispersion.�� His poetry
not only drew inspiration from the teachings of the kabbalah; it also
represented a central kabbalistic tradition, passed down through the
generations from the Talmudic sage, and eponymous author of the
Zohar, Shim.on bar Yoh.ai.
When we recite these poems, whose essential characteristic is that theyremove the
obstacles that delay our prayers from rising to Almighty God,
in the house of the groom and the bride we rouse the love of the ��youth��
for the ��maiden,�� [that is] the Holy One, blessed be He, and his Shekhinah,
in the world above, who are the heavenly model for the earthly couple.
This is especially true in the case of the poems that Rabbi Shalom Shabaz��(may his
memory be a blessing) wrote which are all lofty secrets, a ladder
thrust earthward whose top is in heaven . . . [By reciting his poetry]
we awaken God��s love for us, we unify the divine measures in the higherrealm, and
these stimulate an emanation upon themselves from the light
of the Limitless (Eyn Sof ) who is God and these, in turn, emanate uponthe Upper
Worlds on downwards, from one level to the next . . .
92 This text appears in Idelsohn, Shire Teman, 354�C356 and HH, 6�C9.
218 chapter six
He continues:
There are men who gather together to drink libations of wine in joy andfriendship,
as occurs during the entertainment [surrounding the union]
of the groom and the bride. When they sing songs of Shabaz����s [it is asif ] ��a
cry is heard in Ramah�� (Jer. 31:14) from their mouths and from
others ��one could not tell that they had consumed them�� (Gen. 41:21) andtheir
hearts ran out to the spring��they looked at whatever they wanted
[pun on Gen. 24:29: ��and Laban ran out to the man at the spring��] for
they could not distinguish what the poems�� meaning was so the poemsaroused their
lust. They rendered the poems like any other songs withinstruments, making them fly
about the air, neither adding nor subtracting(i.e., complete frivolity), and thus
they increased their transgression.
R. Se..
adyah Mans��rah (d. 1880), whose collection of mystical maq��m��t,
Sefer ha-mah.ashavah, includes many of the author��s own poems composed
in the Shabazian style, makes a similar assessment of both the
heights of devotion that Shabazian poetry enabled and the depths of
sin possible through its misinterpretation. As for ��our poems that our
forefathers set down,�� they are
laments and elegies, remembering our hardships of times past. Theycontain prayers,
supplications, and predictions of happy news to come.
They were all uttered with a holy spirit and they speak of matters ofZohar and
Talmud.93
To the rabbi��s chagrin, there are ��many from among our people�� who
become aroused when they hear the voice of the singer and his tune,
they see dancing and they begin to shake, they take great delight in
theperversities of his mouth, and are unafraid that his shoots are cut94 or
that his shouting garbles letters; He pays no heed to long and short syllables
(i.e., to meter), making of it a thing of marble (bayit shel shaysh)
for every wild man (medares) and impure gonorrhea sufferer.95 Whenever
the intelligent man sees this his ears tingle and he is dismayed. In truth,
[as for] him who takes these poems lightly, when they are the words ofthe living
God or the lights of the firmament, and decides in his own
95 This passage seems to be based on the story in BT Hagigah 14v as well. There,
something that looked like ��marble�� triggered the apostasy, madness and death of
threeof four rabbis. Here, Mans.
��rah seems to say, if such a hallowed mystery could causesuch dire consequences to
great sages, imaging what it might do to low sorts of people,
i.e., ��every wild man (medares) and impure gonorrhea sufferer (dish).��
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 219
mind that they are not very important, not knowing that they are hewn
from sapphires and more important than any other thing, woe to himwho busies
himself with this poetry, making a horrific spectacle of it,
and woe to his soul, for he is like one who marries a servant woman and
divorces a noble lady96 and it may happen (God forbid) that he defilesthese holy
things and delays Redemption.
��rah��s comments
make clear that a specific decorum prevailed during the performance of
Shabazian poetry. While it involved music and dancing, these pleasures
should not distract from its essentially sacred purpose. Also, participants
should not become overly excited. Fortunately, the remedy for such
problems is the correct performance of the selfsame poetry:
He who can undo such damage and can remove the stumbling-block fromthe path of one
who is light and skinny and save a debased and humiliated
people, verily he upholds the word of every prophet and visionary.
Indeed, when the poems are rendered properly, with a sore and contrite
heart, a pleasant scent rises before the King of King of Kings, the HolyOne,
Blessed be He. This arouses the lovers�� love and causes the groom tounite with his
bride and he purifies the voices in the future. Thus, a manneeds to pray before
poems are recited in order to ready his heart . . .97
R. Mans.
��rah ends his introduction by including a prayer to be recited
by one who is about to perform Shabazian poetry.
96 For Yemeni Jews, the Arabs and Islam were identified with Hagar. This passagemay
imply a contrast between Arabs and Jews in the field of poetry.
97 Ratzhaby, ��Tsurah ve-lah.an,�� 21�C22; Nah.um, Sefer ha-te.udah, 233.
220 chapter six
filthy room where children learned religious texts by rote. Q��fih. was
ultimately unsuccessful in this endeavor, largely due to the opposition
of significant elements of the Jewish leadership in Yemen, as well as the
involvement of a variety of non-Yemeni organizations and individuals.98
The modern school that opened briefly under his direction only managed
to enroll about seventy students.99
100 S.D. Goitein, ��The Jews of Yemen,�� in Religion in the Middle East, ed. A.J.
Arberry(London: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 1:233�C234; H.ayim Shar.abi,
��Perakim
mi-farashat ��dor-de.ah�� bi-teman,�� in Shvut Teman, ed. Yisrael Yeshayahu and
AharonTsadok (Tel Aviv: Hots.at ��mi-teman le-tsiyon,�� 1945), 204. Under Ottoman
rule over
Highland Yemen and in British-controlled Aden there were Jews who became secularto
one extent or another. The .Ikkeshim grouped these together with the darda.im but
it seems clear that this is not a fair assessment of the Dor De.ah project.
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 221
also an ardent Zionist who composed poems of longing for the Land of
Israel.101 Hal��vy hired a S..��n�� Jew, Hayim H.ibshush, to be his guide.
101 Yehudah Nini, ��Pulmus mi-.inyan vikuah..akar .al h.okhmat ha-kabalah beyn
h.akhme teman bi-reshit ha-me.ah,�� in Mikha.el 14 (1997): 217.
102 In the introduction to this account, H.ibshush explains how Hal��vy opened
hiseyes to the sheer folly of his business producing amulets, ��which I had learned
from
the books of the poet, the great rabbi S��lim al-Shabaz�� and his son, rabbi
Shim.on.��
H.ayim H.ibshush, Masa.ot H.
ibshush, ed. S.D. Goitein (1939; repr. Jerusalem: Ben TsviInstitute, 1983), 6.
103 Yosef Q��fih., ��Korot Yisra.el be-teman le-R. H.ayim H.ibshush,�� in Sefunot 2
(1958):
281n219; Ratzhaby, ��Le-toldot ha-mah.loket,�� 99.
104 Yosef Q��fih., ��Korot Yisra.el be-teman,�� 281n219. Nini notes that these
rabbis��
shock at the visitor��s behavior proves that they did not possess a pre-existing
animustowards the kabbalah. Nini, ��Pulmus,�� 219n6.
222 chapter six
Some of the ��foreign�� influences that led to the Dor De.ah may, in
fact, have been Turkish. The Ottoman-appointed Chief Rabbi (h.akham
b��sh��) was often a reform-minded individual in Yemen and elsewhere
in the Empire. R. Yitsh.ak Sha.ul was brought from Istanbul to serve as
h.akham b��sh�� in Yemen. In 1899, R. Yah.y�� Q��fih. was appointed h.akham
b��sh��, a role he served for a short period of time. Some complained
that students in R. Q��fih.��s model school, desirous of emulating their
Turkish teacher Ziy�� Bey, hid their sidelocks under their tarbushes.105
A Zionist emissary, Shmuel Yavnieli, also decried the school as an
instrument of Turkification.106 The Ottoman archives are replete with
records of members of Parliament, some of them Jewish, calling for
the improvement of the lot of Yemen��s Jews.107 A significant portion of
Turkish authorities took an active interest in improving the situation
of Yemen��s Jews.
The question of foreign influence was never far from the schism over
the kabbalah. .Ikkeshim told the Turkish authorities that the Darda.im
worked in league with the French to undermine their rule. .Ikkeshim
also told Im��m Yah.y�� that the Darda.im owed their allegiance to Greek
philosophy.108 In a letter to the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris,
Yah.y�� Q��fih. alleges that Yah.y�� Yitsh.ak told the Muslim authorities that
Q��fih. conspired with the Ottomans, French, and British.109
108 Yah.y�� Q��fih., Milh.amot ha-shem, 129; Nini, ��Pulmus,�� 242, Shar.abi,
��Perakim
mi-farashat ��dor de.ah��,�� 206; Yosef Tobi, ��Hedim le-vikuah..al ha-kabalah bi-
sefer ��.ets
h.ayim�� le-rabi se.adyah naddaf (tsan.a 1926),�� in Meh.karim ba-lashon ha-.ivrit
uvimad.e
ha-yahadut, ed. Aharon Ben-David and Yitshak Gluska (Jerusalem: Ha-Agudahle-t
....iber et sefer emunat ha-shem?,�� in
ipuahhevrah ve-tarbut, 2001), 109; Tobi, ��Mi hDa.at 49 (2002): 88�C89.109 Nini,
��Pulmus,�� 252.
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 223
The Turks, who were faced with numerous uprisings against their rule
over Yemen, ceded a degree of autonomy to Im��m Yah.y�� in San.. in the
110 Bat Zion Eraqi-Klorman, The Jews of Yemen in the Nineteenth Century: A
Portraitof a Messianic Community (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1993), 104�C158.
112 See Mark Wagner, ��Jewish Mysticism on Trial in a Muslim Court: A Fatwa on
The Zohar��Yemen 1914,�� in Die Welt des Islams��International Journal for the
Studyof Modern Islam 47.2 (2007): 207�C231.
113 In Tobi, ��Mi h.iber et sefer emunat ha-shem?,�� 88, and Nini, ��Pulmus,�� 233,
the anti-Dor De.ah faction (.Ikkeshim) brought the issue to the Im��m. In Ratzhaby,
224 chapter six
He [the Im��m] said ��Do you study the Zohar?�� [Rad.�� (Ratson) S��r��m,
114 1883�C1962. He was executed after the revolution, so his biographical entry
(pages643�C644) was ripped out of Muh.ammad Zab��rah, Nuzhat al-nazar f�� rij��l
al-qarn al-r��bi.
.ashar (S..��..
an: Markaz al-dir��s��t wa l-abh��th al-yamaniyyah, 1979).
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 225
I will also tell you that among the statements Rad.�� made before a Muslim
judge was that all of the poems of Our Teacher the Rabbi Shalomal-Shabaz�� (may his
memory be a blessing) and those [poems] like themare follies (hevelim). Rabbi
Aharon al-Cohen (the honored and respected)
goes to celebratory banquets (bate mishta.ot) and plays music in them(mizamer ba-
hem) for the lover and his beloved, to arouse those there,
This account is suspect for several reasons: the figure of the Bible-
quoting Im��m Yah.y�� points to the author��s exaggerations and literary
embellishments. The obituary of Rad.��. S..
[In Yemen, Jews] sang serious songs, songs of praise and exaltation ofGod, at
wedding parties, circumcision celebrations, and the like . . . The
melodies and sophisticated artistic compositions were pre-set and notmany knew
them. R. Ratson was also as sharp in this field as one of theartists and it became
clear to them that he understood the contents of the
poems well while not all of the other artists understood, whether due to
the Arabic language, whose treasures were not clear to them, or due to thedepth of
their subjects, especially the poetry of Yosef [b. Yisrael] Shabaz��[sic] and a few
of the poems of R. Shalem Shabaz�� whose subjects were
thought (mah.ashavah) and philosophy. And behold, our Rabbi Ratson wasa man of
contemplation and philosophy. He was also a keen student ofthe treasures of the
Arabic language in which these poems were written,
and knew exactly what it was he was saying. Occasionally, when it feltcomfortable
for him and when the party became smaller, concentratedwith men who knew how to
listen, he was willing to explain the contents ofthe poetry and its themes. There
were poems that were especially belovedby him like ��t��..ir al-jawn,�� ��y��
muh.yi al-nuf��s�� and the like because of
the sublimity of meditation (shegev ha-dvekut) that they contained. Morethan once a
party for the seven days of feasting [of a wedding] at thegroom[��s house], that
was made to be a party of eating and drinking,
changed into a meeting of spiritual-philosophical unity which caused
theparticipants great spiritual delight. He who has never been present at parties
like these cannot feel the pleasure of a party combining the pleasures
117 Ratzhaby, ��Le-Toldot ha-mah.loket,�� 118. Such statements are also attributed
to
Rad.�� al-S��r��m in the polemical Kuntres Magen ve-tsinah, 74.
.
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 227
of the body and the delights of the soul together, mixing happiness and
gravity, interwoven with remarkable coordination.118
Rad.��.
) poems by the
far more important and prolific S��lim al-Shabaz��. Of al-Shabaz����s poems
he read only those ��whose subjects were serious thought (mah.ashavah)
and philosophy.�� This ambivalent attitude seems to support statements
made by .Ikkeshi writers that Rad��.
.
.
S��r��m was dismissive of Shabazian
poetry. In Yosef Q��fih.��s account of Rad��. S.
that they believe, with perfect faith, in the existence of many goddesses,
both holy and impure, [which goes] against [the teachings of] all of ourprophets
and sages (may their memories be a blessing). Rather, they worship
��potencies�� and ��faces,�� which they associate with the body [. . .].119
Q��fih. expands his critique of the kabbalah in his books ��Wars of the
Lord�� (Milh.amot ha-shem) and ��Knowledge of God, a True Torah-Based
Critique of the False Critique, Responding to the Wise Rabbi Hillel
Zeitlin�� (Da.at elokim, bikoret emet toriyit neged ha-bikoret ha-shikrit,
tshuvah le-ha-hah.am ha-rav hilel tsaytlin), both published in 1931.120
Q��fih.��s critique had theoretical and rhetorical dimensions. For him,
118 Yosef Q��fih., Ketavim (Jerusalem: .Amutat Yad Mahari Kafah., 1989�C2001),
2:1041.
120 The latter work, which Q��fih. composed after Milh.amot ha-shem, was a
responseto R. Hillel Zeitlin��s (see EJ) article ��Kadmut ha-mistorin bi-yisra.el��
in the periodical
Ha-Tekufah in 1920. In this article, Zeitlin worked to prove the authenticity of
thekabbalistic tradition and the reliability of the attribution of the Zohar to R.
Shimon
bar Yoh.ai using both traditional and scholarly arguments. Tobi, ��Mi h.iber et
sefer
emunat ha-shem,�� 89.
228 chapter six
I was not sure to which body from among the ��faces�� (partsufim) [God��s]
commandments adhere��is it Primal Man? Perhaps [they are in] the bodyof the Ancient
of Days, in Long Face, or in the body of Father or Mother,
or Short Face and his female companion, since he is the one who rulesover all
created things, and so on?122
For Q��fih., kabbalah was an enduring error that had entered Judaism
in medieval Spain, and he cried out for its excision. In his view of
Judaism, which Tobi accurately describes as ��idealistic and utopian,��
the classics of medieval Jewish philosophy represented the true spirit
of the faith. As a direct result of this conviction, he and his students in
turn-of-the-century S..��
an.
devoted a great deal of attention to studying
these works, especially Maimonides�� Guide of the Perplexed, in the
original Arabic.123 Although the subject requires further investigation,
it seems clear that for Yah.y�� Q��fih.
and other Darda.im, the Judaism
of medieval Judeo-Arabic philosophy was both true to revelation and
accommodating towards the best of contemporary thought.
God forbid that they [the ��new kabbalists��] should think of R. Shim.on
bar Yoh.ai or of even one of our rabbis (may their memory be a blessing)
while they are attaching many ��faces�� (partsufim) like these to our Godor calling
Him by the foul name ��Short Face�� (Ze.ir Anpin), [or while
yahadut teman,�� in Sefer zikaron le-rav yosef ben david k��fih., ed. Zohar .Amar
and
H.ananel Serri (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 2001), 125.124 Yah.y��
Q��fih., Milh.amot ha-shem, sections 92�C93.
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 229
they] attribute sexual organs to Him, which are the most indecent andinferior [of
all organs connected to] the sense of touch (h.ush ha-mesos):
a penis and a man��s testicles, in which semen is generated.125
The connection between the sense of touch and the issue of obscene
language stems back to Maimonides�� argument in the Guide of the
Perplexed III:8. The bulk of Q��fih.��s argument against the acceptability
of erotic language in Milh.amot ha-shem is a paraphrase of Maimonides��
discussion. Nevertheless, Q��fih.��s discussion takes a slightly different
trajectory. In the two passages that follow, Maimonides�� text is in
Judeo-Arabic and Q��fih.��s is in Hebrew:
Maimonides
. . . The prophet said ��The Lord GOD gave me a skilled tongue�� (Is. 50:4)
and it is not appropriate that this gift that was given to us in order toperfect
our learning and knowledge be disposed to the basest of baseness
(anqas..
Yah.y�� Q��fih.
. . . The prophet said ��The Lord GOD gave me a skilled tongue�� (Is. 50:4)
and it is not appropriate that we should use a gift that exalted God gavein order
to perfect learning and teaching for an inferior, indecent thing,
[giving voice to] an absolute disgrace that is within us and making usresemble the
non-Jews who act foolishly and fornicate through theirsongs of lust and [other]
lowliness in which they exult in their stupidityand lowliness (as the Rabbis say:
��The non-Jews�� glory is in transgression.��
��A non-Jew makes himself heard��)127 and not like those who are
ve-targum, trans. Yosef Q��fih. (Jerusalem: Mosad ha-rav kook, 1972), 3:473�C474.
Yah.y�� Q��fih. does not seem to have explicitly addressed the question
of Shabazian poetry in his writings. In the section above that is bolded,
he modifies Maimonides�� argument. He takes out a reference in the
Guide��s discussion to the Gentiles�� objectionable stories and thereby
limits the discussion to poetry. He adds Talmudic quotations (indicated
by ellipses in the text above), and he makes the passage more polemical.
For example, he writes, they ��fornicate through their songs of lust�� and
��exult in their stupidity and lowliness.�� Q��fih. seems to mark poetry for
special condemnation. Reservations about poetry expressed in introductions
to the D��w��n filter into this passage.
of Jaffa and the Jewish settlements and a central figure in what would
become Religious Zionism and Modern Orthodoxy. Although Kook disagreed
with Q��fih.��s criticisms of the kabbalah, the two corresponded in
a collegial manner and undoubtedly shared a strong mutual respect.130
The esteem in which Avraham Yitsh.ak Kook held Yah.y�� Q��fih. carried
on to his grandson Yosef, who studied at Kook��s religious academy,
the Merkaz ha-rav in Jerusalem, a center for Religious Zionism and
Modern Orthodoxy. Q��fih. became lifelong friends with Kook��s son, Tsvi
Yehudah Kook, the chief ideological voice for the movement to settle
territories conquered in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War with Jews. Thus the
Dor De.ah movement had powerful allies in Israeli politics.
130 The relationship between Kook and Yemeni Jewry has recently become a topic
ofcontroversy. See the recent reevaluation of this relationship by Bat Zion Eraqi-
Klorman,
��Ha-Rav Kook ushh.itat ha-temanim,�� in Afikim 117/118 (2000): 40�C41, 63, and
theresponses by Neriah Gutel, ��Lishe.lat yah.aso shel ha-rav kook lishh.itat ha-
temanim
u-le sho..vim temaniyim,�� in Sefer Zikaron le-rav Yosef ben David Kafih zts����l,
ed. Zohar
��Amar and H.ananel Serri (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 2001), 263�C287
andTobi, ��Mi h.iber et sefer emunat ha-shem,�� 91n13.
232 chapter six
I ask, don��t these poems, uttered with a stinging precision that descendsto the
chambers of the belly, with a melody that rejuvenates the soul andstimulates all of
its filaments, actually purify the soul, refining and straightening
the faculties within a human being? Is it not these and only thesepoems that our
Rabbis (may their memories be a blessing) permitted as a
class, notwithstanding the destruction of the Temple (as will become clearfrom the
words of Maimonides)? Who does not remember the aged poetswhen they sang emotive
verses like ��would that one could see Jerusalemrebuilt�� (layt man yabs.
ur al-quds ma.m��r) in the poem that begins ��garbyourself in light�� (ilbas al-
n��r)? I am reminded of R. Shalom Yitsh.ak, who
was called ��al-Qas.
��b,�� when he used to sing this verse with a voice and amelody saturated with
longing and a beard full of tears, or R. AvrahamBad��h.��, in the poem ��I ask you,
O doe-eyed one of the Garden�� (as��lak y��h.��r�� al-jin��n��) with his delicate
voice, full of grace and his notes, withinhis pleas that poured forth, that set the
soul dancing and trembling, tearsall the while flowing while he sang, or R. Yah.y��
Abyad. and his partner,
ing of the voice, emphases and omissions, the listener would understand
all of a poem��s contents. These things enthrall all who listen to the poetry,
its themes and contents. Who wants to eat and who desires drink at times
like these? Even those who do not understand much are checked by theastonishment
and concentration of those who understand and togetherall are united in one
contemplative body.133
Here, Q��fih.
points to the sincere emotion and musicality of the older
generation of Yemeni Jewish scholars as signs of Shabazian poetry��s
lofty content. When this discussion is compared to Q��fih.��s reminiscences
about Rad.��.
S.
And what are they singing today? I am speaking neither of those whoinvite singers,
speakers of obscenity, vomiters of filth and putrescence,
who pollute the world with a pollution far worse than the air is over
othercountries, nor of those led by folly who melt when they hear the clowningof
Avremele Melamed,134 when the whole community or most of it standsbeside the chief
clown, distinguishing between pollution and purity as ifthey were repeating the
refrain ��I sing to God for he is exalted.�� These,
who think that they are singing biblical verses ��the voice of my beloved,��
even when this is expressly forbidden, as our rabbis (may their memorybe a
blessing) said: ��He who recites a verse from the Song of Songs andmakes of it a
song and he who recites a verse at a celebration, not in itsdue time, brings evil
into the world [. . .].�� (Sanhedrin 101r). [They think
it] a good thing that among them there are those who form groups, asis their rule,
one��s head next to the nape of another��s neck, stampingtheir feet with mooing
sounds emanating from their throats: ��dancelike this,�� ��dance like this,�� ten
and twenty and thirty times. Is this the
poetry that our rabbis (may their memory be a blessing) permitted? Youknow nothing
about how to dance! They pick up one leg and set downthe other��they make their
legs dance, ��he makes them skip like a calf ��
(Psalms 29:6) Is this poetry permissible? Is a fit person even allowed tostand in a
place of such poetry? [. . .] What sort of praise or exultation is
there in ��dance like this�� other than awakening the soul to unfettered andsick
profanity and physical arousal within the swooning of the senses andtheir
anaesthesia, actions that accompany the savage bellowing of ��ho ho.��
They claim that this is ��raising up the soul.�� I understand that this is the
raising of the soul from the bottom of the belly to the end of the nose,
and everyone with his soul in his nose sits, breathing in and out heavilyas tremors
grip his extremities and the stink of his armpits wafts [to all]
within bowshot. ��Raising up the soul�� indeed. If this man wanted to solvea
complex mathematical problem or understand a difficult geometrical
figure would he sit quietly and restfully, concentrating his thoughts and
working intently, or would he rise, dance, and stamp his feet? Yes, the
latter is what one who has such a soul would do.135
What is the situation at our parties today? Emptiness and lawlessness. Evenso, it
is important to remember that most��almost all��of the membersof our ethnic group
(bne .edatenu) are not people who understand music(except for a tiny minority who
know how to listen).137
The identity of the group that Yosef Q��fih. singled out for ridicule in
his speech became clear in a polemical pamphlet written in the 1990s,
probably published by a certain Avraham Shar.ab��,138 against Dor De.ah,
entitled ��The Pamplet of the Defending Shield That Exposes the Truth
About the Sect of Heretics Called ��Darda.im�� [and] That Shows the True
Face of the One Who Stands at Its Head [i.e., Yosef Q��fih.]�� (Kuntres
magen ve-tsinah ha-h.osef et ha-emet .al kat ha-kofrim ha-nikra.im
��darda.im. u-megaleh et partsufo ha-amiti shel ha-.omed ba-roshah). The
bulk of this pamphlet consists of a highly polemical commentary on
some of the writings of Yosef Q��fih.. He is often called ��fool, grandson
of a fool�� (reka bar bar reka), and the commentary includes the speech
on eating fruit.
The writer of the pamphlet also identifies the people whose performance
Q��fih. criticized as ��the yeshivah students.��139 While the
identification is still not as specific as one would hope, it seems that
Q��fih.
attended a meeting where young students of a religious academy
danced to Yemeni Jewish poetry. Their performance may have been
influenced by the ecstatic dancing of H.asidim and, in any case, probably
did not display the intricacies of Yemeni Jewish music and dance
that R. Q��fih. expected.
Opposition to Dor De.ah and Yosef Q��fih. was not limited to the
question of the controversy over the authenticity of the kabbalah.
Some Yemeni Jews in Israel saw the Darda.is�� desire to accommodate
contemporary thought as a process of collaboration with secular Jews
who would destroy Judaism. The question of foreign influence, which
loomed large when the Dor De.ah emerged in turn-of-the-century
Yemen, recurred with new vigor in the multi-ethnic and largely secular
Israeli society.
140
141 Q��fih.
wrote two very short essays on Yosef [b. Yisra��el] and Shalom Shabaz�� (in
Ketavim, 2:989�C993) in which he subtly pushed the philosophical subjects treated
by
their poetry to the foreground.
One area where this concern emerges is in the field of Jewish scholar ship.
The work of Yosef Q��fih. and Yemeni Israeli scholars and community
leaders, particularly those affiliated with the Society for the
Advancement of Society and Culture, harmoniously incorporated
indigenous Yemeni traditions of scholarship and the conventions of
European scholarship. Some lamented the fact that influential leaders
like Yosef Q��fih. made common cause with secular researchers.
Kuntres magen ve-tsinah castigates Yosef Q��fih. for having relied in his
work on ��all manner of heretics, apostates, and scholars�� like Shlomo
Dov Goitein.146 The emergence of Dor De.ah in Yemen, according to this
writer, was the work of ��a heretic and missionary (misiyonar) named
Glaser�� who brought Yah.y�� Q��fih. books that denied the kabbalah.147
In his introduction to the D��w��n, R. Yah.y�� b. Netana.el al-Shaykh
(1915�C1996) specifically designated critical scholarship to be one of the
most dire pitfalls of interpreting Shabazian poetry. He explained that
the prohibition in BT Sanhedrin 101 against using the Song of Songs
in a secular context,
also applied to the poetry of R. Shalom Shabaz�� and his comrades becausethey
should not be taken literally (God forbid), rather they are allegorieslike the Song
of Songs. God forbid one should listen to the words of
A.Z. Idelsohn, who printed R. Shalom Shabaz����s poetry, for his readingsare
mocking and he jokes ��like a madman scattering deadly firebrands��
(Prov. 26:18). Sometimes he even makes sport with that which has beenrevealed, as
is known from his introduction to the book of poetry and
in his small book ��The Jews of Yemen and their Songs.��148
146 Kuntres Magen ve-tsinah, 66. Notwithstanding this attack, the anonymous
authorquotes with approval Yom-Tov Tsemah., an emissary to San.��.
147 Kuntres Magen ve-tsinah, 46. Glaser (1855�C1908) was a Bohemian scholar
whospent several years in Yemen in the 1880s. He shared an interest in astronomy
withYah.y�� Qafih and the two were apparently friends. Goitein confirms that Glaser
sent
R. Q��fih. the Hebrew books Kin.at emet, Are nohem, She.agat ariyeh and Kol sekhel.
S.D. Goitein, ��Mi hayah eduard glazer,�� 149. In a letter to the Alliance
Israelite Universelle
in Paris, Yah.y�� Q��fih.
mentioned these and other anti-kabbalistic works. Nini,
��Pulmus,�� 243. Yosef Q��fih., Yah.y����s grandson, said that Glaser sent his
grandfatherscientific instruments and Hebrew books on natural science printed in
Vilna. Nini,
��Pulmus,�� 227. Glaser was already the target of the anti-Dor De.ah faction in the
anonymously
authored Sefer Emunat ha-shem, a commentary on Yah.y�� Q��fih.��s Milh.amot
ha-shem. There the author states that Glaser was a non-Jew, a fact allegedly
confirmedby a Jew who followed him into a bath house.
148 HH, 5 (intro.).
238 chapter six
For all of of their rhetorical bluster, the opponents to Dor De.ah and
its Israeli heirs seem to have put their finger on several basic contradictions
in the Darda.�� view of Shabazian poetry. It is a tendentious
case that Shabazian poetry, especially that written by the eponymous
S��lim al-Shabaz��, served as a vehicle for philosophical discussion rather
than mystical theosophy. Also, the same literalism that led uneducated
(and, occasionally, tipsy) Jews in centuries past to think that they were
listening to Arabic love poetry rather than profound mysteries of faith
served as the starting point for modern research. It led R. Yah.y�� Qorah.
to venture into Muslim celebrations, and may have led Rad.��.
S.
��r��m to
dismiss nearly all of this poetry as frivolous and sensual.
149 The idea that the combined efforts of participants in a gathering gave the
poetry
its sacred quality can already be found in the earliest discussions of Shabazian
poetryin the introductions to the D��w��n.
shabazian eroticism, kabbalah and dor de.ah 239
.��152
singers of S..��.
an
Conclusion
150 Yosef Q��fih., Ketavim, 2:959. On the topic of Arab influence on Yemeni
Jewishmelodies, see Idelsohn��s remarks in Thesaurus of Oriental Hebrew Melodies,
1:39.
151 Shalom Medinah, Masa.ot R. Moshe Medinah u-vanav (Tel Aviv: Ha-Agudah
le-t...
like the sam��. concerts or the ��gazing upon beardless youths�� (naz.
ar
bi l-murd ) of Sufis.
In the debates that erupted among Yemeni Jews at the turn of the
twentieth century, questions revolving around kabbalistic literature
and figurative language loomed large. The consequences of Dor De.ah
reformers�� rejection of kabbalah and of anthropomorphic language did
not fully develop until the career of R. Yosef Q��fih., the grandson of the
founder of Dor De.ah. Q��fih., relying on the example of Rad.�� S��r��m,
H.
UMAYN�� POETRY AND REVOLUTION IN
TWENTIETH-CENTURY YEMEN
book, Qis..
1 Al-Sh��m�� was Im��m Ah.mad��s ambassador to the United Kingdom in the early1960s
and later the foreign minister of the Royalists. R.B. Serjeant, ��The Yemeni
Poetal-Zubayr�� and his Polemic against the Zayd�� Im��ms,�� in Arabian Studies 5
(1979): 94.
chapter seven
��the issue of poetry in Yemen is the issue of poetry in the rest of the
Arab countries,�� acquires additional resonance.2
H.
umayn�� poetry became a field for contesting a Yemeni national
identity and played a role in the leadup to the overthrow of the
Im��ms. .Abd al-Il��h al-Aghbar�� and .Abd al-Rah.m��n al-Iry��n��, jailed
for their involvement in the 1948 coup, passed the time compiling the
nineteenth-century poet .Abd al-Rah.m��n al-��nis����s h.umayn�� d��w��n.5
The Ghin��.iyy��t of poet .Abbas al-Daylam�� showed a h.umayn�� poetry
3 Ibid., 27.
5 Ah.mad al-Sh��m��, Min al-adab al-yaman�� (Beirut: D��r al-Shur��q, 1974), 354;
Taminian, ��Playing with words,�� 138�C139.
h.umayn�� poetry and revolution 245
Al-Maq��lih.��s book is not without its own tensions. While the author
champions local vernacular poetry, he writes classical poems exclusively.
In his introduction to S.
��dah, this
spontaneous voice that emanates from the emotions of the masses . . . .��8
He expresses his conflicted position at one point in the book: ��Writing
in the vernacular is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it binds
the poet to vast segments of the populace, it entices easily, and sometimes
it makes a connection. . . .��9 On the other hand, he explains, the
vernacular��s simplicity of expression can infect a poet��s serious work��
that is, his poetry in classical Arabic. This happened, says al-Maq��lih.,
to the poet .Al�� b. .
.Al�� Sabrah.10
Al-Maq��lih.��s reservations, which seem to represent a number of
Yemeni intellectuals, involve a complex set of problems.11 For him,
6 Taminian, ��Playing with Words,�� 141. I was unable to consult the Ghin��.iyy��t.
7 Ibid., 137�C138.
8 S��lih Ahmad Sahl��l, S.ba.at al-k��tib
10 Ibid., 434�C435.
11 Husayn S��lim B�� Sad��q expressed an opinion on this subject in his F�� l-
tur��th
..
a poet��s personality, feelings, pride, and love for his country. Then h.umayn��
poetsdeveloped (tat.
awwara) their poetic forms, praising others and glorifying their societywith great
enthusiasm. In this way the people (al-sha.b) added their feelings and sentiments.
. . .�� Here the author acknowledges that a change in h.umayn�� poetry,
howeversubtle, did occur. Its concerns moved from the individual to the communal.
chapter seven
12 These are the vast quantities of occasional verse of the sort studied by Flagg
Miller,
The Moral Resonance of Arab Media: Audiocassette Poetry and Culture in Yemen
(Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), many examples of which are preservedon audio
cassettes, which lie outside the range of this work.
North Yemen (the Yemen Arab Republic) and Communist South Yemen (the
People��sDemocratic Republic of Yemen). This topic merits further research.
Nevertheless, bothpolities maintained the ideal of a unified Yemen. Poets and
musicians from both Northand South often expressed this ideal in the vernacular
poetry, song, and writings on
h.umayn�� poetry and revolution
ahhar
history, popular culture and music.
poetry and song, discussed in this Chapter. This often took the form of verses
thatargued a shared past of the two Yemens, each of the two hemistiches devoted to
the
injustice of Im��mic rule or of British colonialism. Therefore, it is important to
keep in
mind the distance between the rhetoric of Unification and actual Unification in
1993,
especially when the speaker is a South Yemeni.
14 .Abd al-Rah.m��n al-H.add��d, Cultural Policy in the Yemen Arab Republic (Paris:
UNESCO, 1982), 55.
chapter seven
an.relied almost exclusively upon h.umayn�� poetry for its lyrics. Nevertheless,
most writers, Yemeni and non-Yemeni, rightly point to Yah.y����s
crackdown on music and musicians as having caused the center of
h.umayn�� poetry to move south to British-controlled Aden.
...D��r al-h.ay��h, 1973), 18. The original title of the work is al-Rawd. al-z��hir
f�� l-h.aw��dith
wa l-naw��dir li l-ad��b al-sh��.ir .abd all��h bni muh.ammad .��mir.
17 Ibid., 227.
h.umayn�� poetry and revolution 249
The popularity of S..��n�� singing in the 1930s and 1940s may have
anthe performers Ibr��h��m al-M��s (d. 1966), the son of a Kawkab��n�� musician
exiled to Aden by Im��m Yah.y��, Ibr��h��m��s brother Muh.ammad,
Ah.mad .Ubayd al-Qa.tab��, Muh.ammad Jum.ah Kh��n, and above all,
.Ali Ab�� Bakr B�� Sharah.��l.18
urb��,
now a nearly extinct musical instrument, with the wooden .��d. Individual
tracks etched into the 78 records that record companies used had
to be less than five minutes long, meaning that the languorous suites
of S..��n�� singing had to become a great deal faster.20
anturn of the century, a h.umayn�� poem would have been performed live
for a small group at a Highland wedding or q��t chew. In 1930s Aden,
H..ram�� musicians recorded S..��n�� songs for the small number of
..an.��b
duced S..��n�� melod[ies], after they had learned them from the singer Ah.mad
al-.Att.who is considered the first to bring the S..��n�� melod[ies] to Aden.��
an.Abd al-Wahh��b
.Al�� al-Mu.ayyad, ��r�� f�� l-fikr wa l-fann: H.
iw��r��t ma.a majm��.ah min al-udab��.
wa
l-fann��n��n al-yamaniyy��n wa l-.arab (S..��..
The poet who would go on to write the most famous study and
anthology of S...ammad .Abduh Gh��nim, served as
an��n�� song, Muhone of the principal organizers of the Adeni Music Club (al-nadwah
The new music that the Adeni Music Club pioneered presaged wider
developments in Yemeni vernacular poetry. B�� S.
The new Yemeni song, like the popular song before it, participated instimulating
the valor of the masses to work, not only in the fields but
21 Some very early recordings of Yemeni music were made by the Dutch in Indonesia.
According to Niz��r Gh��nim, Harvard University owns copies of them. Niz��r
Gh��nimand Kh��lid Muh.ammad al-Q��sim��, As��lat al-ughniyah al-.arabiyyah bayn
al-yaman
.wa l-khal��j (Damascus: D��r al-Jal��l, 1991), 171. H.ad.ram��s describe such
recordings as��corrupt�� (muh.arraf ). Serjeant, South Arabian Poetry, 51.
.id Ahmad Husayn al-Lahj�� in the Odeonrecords catalog that attacks an anonymous
musician for his Indian-inspired music: ��Isay that you deserve this for building
on a shaky foundation, You know all of the motifs[but] you babble Indian
gibberish.�� F�� l-tur��th al-sha.b�� al-yaman��, 118.
ubayt had a regular program on the radio station ��Voice of the Arabs�� (Sawt
al-.arab). T.aha F��ri., al-Ughniyah al-yamaniyyah al-mu.��s..assasat d��r
irah (Beirut: Mual-kit��b al-h.ad��th, 1993), 127.26 See Gh��nim and al-Q��sim��,
As��lat al-ughniyah, 166�C170; F��ri.
., al-Ughniyah alyamaniyyah,
116; B�� S.
an
al-wat...
n min
This couplet places the d��n, a local musical style that is common to
a much wider swathe of Yemen than Lah.j itself, in opposition to the
h.umayn�� verse of S..��.. Writing in the journal al-Hikmah in 1971,
an.
.Umar al-J��w�� defended al-Q��mand��n��s contribution to Yemeni music.
Ab�� Bakr al-Saqq��f, however, took issue with al-J��w����s article in al-
Kalimah in 1977, arguing that al-Q��mand��n, while a talented singer,
was a pro-British, anti-sayyid, reactionary aristocrat.30 Al-Saqq��f ��s
critique of al-Q��mand��n possessed far-reaching implications; by that
time, a ��Lah.j�� style�� had become a recognized component of Yemeni
music and few would deny that it was largely composed of what Niz��r
Gh��nim called ��agh��n�� q��mand��niyyah.��31
27 B�� S.
28 Miller, The Moral Resonance of Arab Media, 232; Lambert, ��Musiques r��gionales
et identit�� nationale,�� 178; al-Maq��lih., Shi.r al-.��mmiyah, 451�C458; Gh��nim
and
al-Q��sim��, As.
sub).
31 Gh��nim and al-Q��sim��, As.
If the ��Lah.j�� style�� was largely the innovation of one man, the same
situation applied to the two other musical styles that would later, along
with S..��n�� singing, come to be known as the ��Four Styles�� (al-alw��n
antoire, ��O Warbler of W��d�� D��r�� (w�� mugharrid bi-w��d�� d��r) by .Al�� b.
Muh.ammad al-.Ans�� (d. 1726/1727), launched the most controversial
experiment in twentieth-century Yemeni music. B�� Faq��h replaced the
��traditional�� ensemble of .��d and simple percussion with a full orchestra,
thus merging the Yemeni h.umayn�� tradition with the modernized
Egyptian school of .Abd al-Wahh��b. According to Niz��r Gh��nim, this
song caused a social schism between q��t chewers, who opposed the
experimental music, and the youth, who supported it.34 This author
also supported it but his father; the elder Gh��nim, did not.35 B�� Faq��h��s
experimental music was continued by the .��d player Ah.mad Fath.��.
As.
ir al-m��siqiyyah, 160�C161.
h.umayn�� poetry and revolution 253
36 The collaboration between the singer Ayy��b T.��rish and the poet .Abd al-
Wahh��b
Nu.m��n may point to the not too distant emergence of a fifth (official) style,
that of
al-H.ujariyyah. Gh��nim and al-Q��sim��, As��lat al-ughniyah, 202.
37 The artificiality of the Four Styles is underscored by the fact that the three
based
in Lower Yemen revolve around a handful of contemporary musicians, while S..��n��
This said, many of the Adeni songs against British colonialism by the
likes of Subayt, .Atr��sh, and others, took strophic forms. The famous
I knock on your door with a trembling heart, you will never again tell
me ��you are loved by God,��
You left me angry and weak-minded as if I was one who did not belong
to the community of God,
You greet and make blandishments to my brothers but to me you merely
mention God,
You strut before the people like a soft gazelle and when you appear before
me you are God��s innocent creature,
You make the emaciated one turn around and around until he perishes��
like the butterfly, the best creation of God,
Perhaps you have one other than me enchanted with you, who has made
me disappear from your heart��fear God��s wrath!
Though your body stands upright (.adl) you are unjust��you are tender
of form with a heart like the fury of God,
Would that there was a just law and regime in Ta.izz! You will not be
caught until you meet God.40
The final line of this poem brazenly indicts Im��m Ah.mad and his
regime. The ��open expressions�� that al-Maq��lih. observes seem to
revolve around the identification of this Im��m and the beloved. S.
abrah��s
poem transforms the beloved��s cruelty towards his lover into a political
statement. Each line ends with the word ��God,�� perhaps emphasizing
Im��mic rule��s reliance upon a theological justification. By the end of the
poem, however, the gap between that justification and God��s actual will
becomes clear; rather than standing behind the Im��m, God will punish
him. The beloved��s hunger calls to mind the famines which opponents
of the regime thought were a direct result of the Im��ms�� rule. At the
same time, Im��m Ah.mad is ��dab��bat all��h,�� which may have called
to mind the classical Arabic ��dab��b,�� meaning ��fat.�� His love for one
other than the speaker could be a reference to this Im��m��s alleged ties
with the West, whether that meant the British in Aden or the Italian
doctor who kept him supplied with morphine. The poem does not
offer a critique of the Im��mate. It merely says, in a subtle manner: ��I/
we used to love you but your cruelty knows no bounds so the time has
come for a change.��41
The prototypical tribal poet of the Yemeni Revolution was .Al�� N��sir.al-Qirda.��,
who in 1948 was executed along with his brother Ah.mad for
having plotted to assassinate Im��m Yah.y��. Al-Qirda.��, who railed against
the Im��ms in his poetry throughout the 1930s, was imprisoned several
times.42 Many of his poems are well-known, but his d��w��n, compiled
by his nephew J��rall��h Ah.mad al-Qirda.��, has not been published.
41 Im��m Ah.mad��s men evidently searched the radio assiduously for dissent. .Al��
al-��nis�� reported that a patriotic song that he recorded, ��B��sam h��dha l-
tur��b,�� angeredthe Im��m. The musician saved himself by pleading ignorance��he
was simply imitatingAdeni singers. Al-Mu.ayyad, Ar�� f�� l-fikr wa-fann, 139.
43 Muh...
45 See the poems in al-Dhahb��n��, An��shid thawrat al-yaman, 29�C34 (this poem
wastranslated by Serjeant in S.
49 Ibid., 8.
50 The sayyids claimed descent from .Adn��n, the ancestor of the northern Arabs.
Thus writers from Sh��fi.�� Lower Yemen invoked Qaht��n and ancient South Arabian
..civilizations as a way of asserting their superiority over Northerners. See R.B.
Serjeant,
��The Yemeni Poet al-Zubayr��,�� 97.
chapter seven
The history of H.imyar is shining gold, O Bak��l, flower of the valley, Theglory of
your ancestors is far in the past, Bak��l and H.��shid, the sons of
N��d��,
It was like the moon, high in the sky, but it was destroyed by the madhhab
of al-H��d��,
[Which] destroyed all of the fortresses and the dwellings, in the land ofH.��shid
and in Hamd��n.51
52 Al-H.am��d�� could not attend the opening ceremony but his contribution is
printedin his d��w��n, Nafah.��t w��d�� sab��: Shi.r sha.b�� (No place of
publication, publisher, ordate), 331�C333.
h.umayn�� poetry and revolution 259
a.a.dah) laments
His most famous poem, ��S..dah has fallen,�� (saqatat s.the enormous cost in life
and property in the Republican��s battle for
the city of Sa..dah after the leaders of the opposition had already fled to
55 Ibid., 139.
59 Ibid., 1668.
would be well advised to entrust their wives to the care of doctors and
nurses in this hospital. ��Bring your wife, relax��there is no use resisting��
(nazzil zawjatek tastar��h., m�� bish f��.idah f�� l-.in��d).65 Treatment at
the hospital is contrasted with the poor state of women��s health under
the Im��ms. In this mubayyat, al-Dhahb��n�� describes the goings-on at
a shikmah ceremony.66
tafrut.
ah valid,
But if she gets angry, she will swear by her right hand not to let a single
one of them enter,
They arrive, sweating through their house dresses, and the new motherwants to
shout,
All the while the newborn is screaming mightily from all of the sweat
and the strife,
She stays awake all night trying to make her child fall asleep,
65 Ibid., 119.
66 An exclusively female celebration for a new mother. (See Chapter Two.)
67 ��Ma.s.
��bah�� P 329: ��A parturient women is given m. for breakfast for forty daysafter
childbirth.��
68 A tells me that this part of the tafrutah would normally be from 3:00 to 6:00
PM.
.
69 A: In Old S..��., exceptionally large and unwieldy pots of hot coffee are
carried
Out of her utter exhaustion, she forces him to drink from a bottle70 of
clarified butter so that he will doze,
Like an opium addict she stays at home, only visiting her neighbors,
A man dotes on his son��teach your wife, O serious person!
It is your responsibility to see that he survives��teach your wife and your
baby will rise up,
She nourishes him with hellfire71��[that is] when she nurses him he
nearly suffocates,
He remains [draped] over her breasts all day, even while she sleeps,
[Indeed,] the vanquished regime has been crushed and we are finished
with living in darkness,
My grandmother told me what giving birth was like in her time,
She said that my maternal aunt held a tafrut.
In this poem, the speaker portrays the female protagonist��s woes, particularly
her health problems and those of her child, with sympathy. In
al-Khafanj����s eighteenth-century poem, the new mother mentions the
newborn��s poor health in order to drive the horde of rowdy women
from her presence.
al��h! Don��t
tread on him. He was already ill in his father��s house, as his saggingshoulders
[show],
Why all of this rudeness? You should show some self-respect,
All of your coughing [is unwanted], Don��t come back because your faceshave
changed.��
70 ��Mansh��q�� p. 486: ��small copper container with long, sharp, curved lip,
fromwhich a baby sucks heated milk, ghee, or diluted porridge.��
71 The poet explains this image in the following way: ��she nurses her son while
sheis cooking dinner and her body is inflamed from the heat of the fire.�� Al-
Dhahb��n��,
An��shid thawrat al-yaman, 121n2.
72 The poet explains that ��the custom was that a virgin would not enter the
placeof the tafrut.
ah.��
h.umayn�� poetry and revolution 263
73 The radio program ��Mus.id wa-mus.idah,�� written by the S.an.��n�� writer .Abd
al-Rah.m��n Mutahhar, exemplifies the didactic approach to Yemeni popular culture.
an
chapter seven
S...
If you see that old age and decrepitude have affected me a little, know
that my voice has gone out like cannon shots and continues,
My people have told me this��they informed me��I am not ignorant!
Where is literature that was like a pickaxe that shattered mighty rocks,
That was put forth during afternoon q��t chews and evening gatherings
to elevate the atmosphere?
Today the foolish poets do it to make money,
How many a poet brings forth odes in order to be given a present?
I hold my tongue and curse him [silently] if, one day, he composes a
poem in the service of the people . . .
Ibn Sah.l��l says: One who boasts can boast but the situation today is clear,
The only revolutionary is he who is stout and reputable, who parted from
his ox on plowing day,
A free, upright and revolutionary man, showing H.imyarite courage,
On a day when the taste of poetry was more bitter than cups of colocynth,
A day when the worst enemies of mankind fought the Septemberist forces,
A day when bombs, bullets and sparks, jumped like qaliyyah,74
And he who stuck his head up to declaim a poem might get hit with a
bullet or a piece of shrapnel . . .75
..
a town that bordered the PDRY, as ��gazelle of the East�� (ghaz��l almashriqiyyah).
an.��., 555.
75 Sah.l��l, Sawt al-thawrah., 252.
h.umayn�� poetry and revolution 265
anin Sah.l��l��s mind. Al-Q��rrah writes, ��I said: ��what is [your] name and
what country do you hail from?�� She said: ��Ghaz��l��my root[s are]
in the East and it is my lot.�� The poem emphasizes the girl��s Eastern
accent with words characteristic of that dialect and with the ��alif-mim��
definite article. In Sah.l��l��s poem, the feminine imagery is transferred
to the town of al-Bayd.��. and the local dialectical items used to describe
the Revolution. In keeping with al-Dhahb��n����s vision of the Revolution
as a bride, Sah.l��l��s poem tells the love story between one town and its
Revolution.
Mut..
Mut .
76 Sa.��d al-Shayb��n�� and .Abd al-Wahh��b Nu.m��n are also educated urban poets
whoused the vernacular. I have not been able to find many examples of their work.
way to East Africa after a career as a sailor, having left Yemen during
the Im��m��s rule. It invokes the Im��m��s capricious violence with a colloquial
word for destruction (fan��) and expands the reference in a note.
By using the word ��towns�� (bul��d), which is specific to al-H.ujariyyah,
a town that lost high numbers to emigration, al-Iry��n�� lends a degree
of subtlety and authenticity to this common theme. It also incorporates
a poignant quotation of a famous song sung by emigrants in its closing
strophe. Al-Iry��n����s poems, replete with details about Yemeni folk
culture, satisfy readers�� curiosity about this social stratum.
Our meeting and evening soiree were wonderful when Pleiades was
conjoined [with the moon].78
One thousand welcomes to the November conjunction!
Let��s go, youths, the wondrous weather calls to us.
Let us sing��whether of love or of our highest hopes,
Today the evening soiree was wonderful when the moon rose.
Picking the bush was lovely while Time showed its teeth [in a smile],
Did they taste the first cup from the crop��s pressings?
Come to us, rural youths (shab��b al-r��f ) from every town (bandar),
Let us enjoy pleasant nights of love and abundant virtue,
By means of [different] types of art that this people [has practiced] since
the time of H.imyar,
78 ��.Al�� qir��n al-thurayy��������qir��n�� is a unit of measurement from the
lunar agricultural
calendar.
h.umayn�� poetry and revolution 267
Bringing forth the ��b��lah�� and the ��muhayyad�� and the ��maghn���� while
night shows its favor,
O Lord, how wonderful evening soiree and conversation are in our rural
areas,
How lovely are the songs of the maidens, repeating the sweetest tunes . . .
Our meeting was arranged and carried out on a bright and beautiful day,
Of the festival of the fruit, in the shadow of this conjunction [of the
moon and Pleiades],
I endured more than the long-suffering stone [at the foot of ] a waterfall,
No one tasted my punishment, sleeplessness, or pain like mine,
I spent the year longing for the passion-inducing lover.
I count the days and the hours and track the moments,
Come with me, love of my heart, let us renew the old customs,
With this happy windfall we will build a hut80
That holds two hearts, blazing with an eternal love,
To which we will seek shelter in fidelity and in love from every slanderer,
widely read, widely traveled urban poet. N��j����s works, particularly his
epic poem, Nashw��n wa l-ra.iyyah, combine free verse and dialect.82 One
poem of N��j����s, a meditation on the theater composed in the dialect,
appeared in a Yemeni newspaper and is quoted by al-Maq��lih..83 One
of the most compelling theoretical discussions of vernacular poetry
in modern Yemen comes from an interview with this poet. The interviewer,
Ibr��h��m al-Maqh.af��, asks: ��For you, does the new poem derive
sustenance from the popular poem or is the reverse true?��84
82 Other than the excerpts printed in al-Maq��lih., Shi.r al-.��mmiyah f�� l-yaman,
I
was unable to consult this work.
84 Ibr��h��m al-Maqh.af��, H.
iw��r ma.a arba. shu.ar��. min al-yaman (Cairo: D��r al-han��li l-t..ah, 1975),
120.
ib��
85 Ibid., 121.
86 Ibid., 120.
87 Ibid., 121.
chapter seven
of academic culture, despite the distance that separates them from ruralsociety,
for a person��s childhood is a memory that is etched on his life
until old age and the final journey. Childhood leaves an important markon the
achievements of a poet, literary man, or artist . . .
Here, N��j�� breaks down the distinction between rural and urban on
several levels. The rural areas and their folkways influence the supposedly
cosmopolitan culture and literature of the cities. Even ��academic
culture,�� in which the classical Arabic ode presumably takes an honored
place, is subject to the influence of the rural. In addition, for many urban
writers like N��j��, the reality of rural life is associated with childhood.
Does a writer��s ��maturity�� necessitate a break with the rural and all that
it signifies, or must he coexist with it throughout his career? N��j��, it
seems, at least at the point in his life when he was interviewed, chose
the latter position. His poems, switching back and forth between Arabic
registers as h.umayn�� poetry has always done, embody this tension.
N��j�� al-H.
am��d��: Neo-Tribal Poetry at the Close of the
Twentieth Century
w��r).
H.am��d�� recalls his initiation into poetry in the following manner:
[I owe] my understanding of the way things are, especially after the Revolution,
to the companionship of the radio and the efforts of those who
worked at Yemen Arab Broadcasting. Here I must record my amazementwith the great
poet S...
A love poem al-H.am��d�� wrote in 1980 about ��a girl of Yemen�� (bint
al-yaman) takes a novel approach to a stock theme in h.umayn�� ghazal:
the beloved��s rustic accent.
When we paused and I spoke to her95 and she spoke to me, I said ��Obrown-skinned
one where is your homeland?,
Are you from Ta.izz or from San.��., you who has shot me through with
94 Ibid., 67.
97 There are eight .Azz��ns but this would make the most sense if it was the ��l
.Azz��n of al-Bayd.��.. Ibid., 600.
��b or of Hayf��n,106 you with a body like a bamboo stalkand rosy cheeks,
[Having seen] your gunny sacks for picking the blossoms of fruits, mightyou be of
H.uf��sh107 or of Milh.��n?108
Are you from al-H.udaydah or Jayz��n,109 you radiant one, or is yourhomeland the
two Jawfs?
Are you of H.aymah, Hamd��n or Kawkab��n, places where all of thebrown beauties
live?
Are you from Nihm or Khawl��n��how much meaning is invested in afortress110 or two!
Were you of Maswar or Kah.l��n when you called to me and answeredwith languorous
eyes?��
She said: ��approach if you wish to come before me,�� I came right awayand we
clasped hands,
��Though you may not love me I am so-and-so from such-and-such(ful��n ful��n��) O
brown-skinned Yemeni woman, and my homeland is
a woman��s breasts!��
...
an
104 Ibid., 418.
105 A village in Khubb��n�� territory. Ibid., 278.
106 A village near al-H.ujariyah. Ibid., 301.
107 A mountain near al-Mah.w��t. Ibid., 277�C278.
108 Near al-Mah.w��t. Ibid., 718�C719.
109 A village in the northern Tih��mah.
110 ��h.usn.�� could also mean a house in the dialect (P).
chapter seven
n�� f�� hthe other hand, he identifies strongly with his own tribe and labels the
problems that led to the war with such abstract terms as ��ignorance��
(jahl), ��backwardness�� (takhalluf ), and ��reactionism�� (raj.��yah), as well
as pointing to the actions of several unsavory politicians. The poem��s
incredible length and its repetition of catch phrases seem to bury such
contradictions in a mountain of verbiage.
Conclusions
.
.Abdallah Sal��m N��j��, represent a break with the h.umayn�� tradition, just
as the Yemeni Revolution enabled history to be divided into ��before��
and ��after��? I believe that it did. The radio and the phonograph��and,
later, the cassette recorder��spurred dramatic changes to the musical
performance of h.umayn�� poetry. The old poems of the highlands, saved
by Adenis, soon had to compete with new regional musical styles.
The new vernacular poets used neo-tribal odes and strophic poems,
occasionally setting them to the music of popular musicians, to combat
the social ills of the pre-Revolutionary era that tribesmen, Zayd��s,
women, and others perpetuated. This caused major changes in the
ahhar
al-Iry��n��, the modernist poet that critics consider the virtual apotheosis
of h.umayn�� poetry, writes the following about a poetic meter:
chapter seven
This poetic meter, derived from the Khal��lian k��mil meter, is very widespread
in extemporaneous and h.umayn�� poems. There are a number ofmelodies set to this
poetic meter and a number of these songs, sung inthis poetic meter, have become
famous. A melody from among thesemelodies has become famous throughout the world,
for a Jewish singer
named (��fr�� h.��z����h.azz.��) sang it with a medley of Yemeni melodies on
a record called ��My Heart.�� This song was repeated over and over in nightclubs
and discotheques in Europe for a number of weeks. In reality, it isa Yemeni popular
song . . .114
114 I, 347.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Berakhah Zephira (d. 1990) was a musically gifted orphan from a S..
an��n��
family in Jerusalem. She studied piano and music theory at the Kedma
school in Jerusalem and in 1929 she traveled to Berlin to study music.
There she met and soon married the brilliant Russian Jewish pianist,
Nah.um Nardi (Naroditzsky) (d. 1977). From 1929, the couple began
touring countries such as Germany, Poland, Egypt, Europe, and the
United States, performing songs that belonged to a genre that would
come to be known as ��Songs of the Land of Israel.�� To pre-war Jewish
audiences in central and eastern Europe, Zephira represented the ��New
Jew�� that was being forged in Palestine.1
(d. 1964) and Paul Ben-H.aim (Frankenburger) (d. 1984), who envisioned
a music that fused East and West, Zephira was an important mediator
and composer in her own right.2 Max Brod writes: ��Her influence was
decisive in the development of that new style for which Boskovitch has
coined the name ��Mediterranean.�� ��3 Her Yemeni ancestry gave her an
air of authority, even in such matters as Palestinian Arabic music, of
which she knew little.4
1 Gila Flam, ��Beracha Zephira��A Case Study of Acculturation in Israeli Song,��
Asian Music 17.2 (1986): 109�C110.
4 The scholar A.Z. Idelsohn also played a crucial role in such musical
encountersbetween European classical music and the musical traditions of the
Oriental Jewishcommunities. Zvi Keren reported seeing copies of the writer��s
Thesaurus of Hebrew
Oriental Melodies in the homes of many Israeli composers. Zvi Keren,
ContemporaryIsraeli Music: Its Sources and Stylistic Development (Israel: Bar Ilan
University Press,
1980), 17.
chapter eight
5 Flam, ��Beracha Zephira,�� 111; Erik Cohen and Amnon Shiloah., ��The Dynamicsof
Change in Jewish oriental music in Israel,�� in Ethnomusicology 27.2 (1983):
241,243�C244, 246.
6 Zephira learned these songs from Yeh.iel .Ad��q��. Flam, ��Beracha Zephira,��
121.
pean art music displeased some in the musical establishment and some
in the Yemeni community. Jehoash Hirshberg notes that the serious
interest in Oriental music that Zephira inculcated in the public had
the potential to escape the sphere of influence of concert musicians
and composers, regardless of their ideological support for such music.
At the same time, Oriental Jews saw their treasured cultural heritage
appropriated, commercialized, and changed��perhaps irrevocably.12
From this emotional climate, a new voice called for musical conservatism
among Yemeni Jews in the 30s and 40s. Yeh.i.el .Ad��q�� (1905�C1980),
a Jew from the H.ar��z Mountains, had studied music in S..��.
an with some
of its most learned Jewish musicians.13 In 1920s Jerusalem, he lamented
Yemeni wedding singers�� penchant for switching to Sephardic melodies
out of embarrassment for their background.14 So, after studying choral
music at the Lemel school in Jerusalem in the late 1920s, he founded
Yemeni choirs in many of the Jewish communities of Palestine. For
over five decades, he recorded more than five hundred traditional
songs, a small selection of which was published in the 1981 Treasury
of Yemenite Jewish Chants. ��Researchers eagerly come to him,�� Avigdor
Herzog notes in the introduction to this work, ��looking for the sounds
of authentic and pure Jewish musical tradition.��15
14 Ibid., 10.
15 Ibid., preface.
16 Ibid., preface.
17 Ibid., 19.
chapter eight
19 The secondary literature on Yemeni dance and the ��Inbal dance troupe is
substantial.
See Yehudah Ratzhaby, ed., H.
eker yahadut teman: Bibliyografiyah la-shanim1988�C1996 (Jerusalem: Jewish National
Library, 1999), 30�C31; Ratzhaby, ed., H.
eker
yahadut teman: Bibliyografiyah le-shanim 1982�C1987 (Jerusalem: Jewish National
Library, 1988�C1989), 22�C23.
20 Ratzhaby, H.
eker yahadut teman: Bibliyografiyah le-shanim 1988�C1996, 31.
21 Lewis, After the Eagles Landed, 198�C199; Cohen and Shiloah, ��The Dynamics
ofChange,�� 246.
22 See also Shaul Shaked, The Shadows Within: Essays on Modern Jewish
Writers(Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1987), 103.
shabaz�� in tel aviv
Amy Horowitz has pointed out the extent to which mizrah.i singers
completely identified with the values and experiences of their working-
class mizrah.i audiences. For example, they observed Jewish dietary laws
and Sabbath restrictions.25 Avihu Medinah (1948�C), a prolific songwriter,
occasional performer, and spokesman for ��musikah mizrah.it,�� made
frequent reference to Yemeni Jewry in his songs.26 The text of one song,
called ��Joseph the Yemeni,�� follows:
26 On Avihu Medinah see Jeff Halper, Edwin Seroussi, and Pamela Squires-Kidron,
��Musica Mizrakhit: ethnicity and class culture,�� in Popular Music 8.2 (1989):
278; MottiRegev, ��Musica mizrakhit, Israeli Rock and National Culture in Israel,��
in Popular Music
15.3 (1996): 134; Tobi and Serri, eds., Yalkut teman, 148�C149. His father, Aharon
(b.
1917), the cantor of a Yemeni synagogue in H.olon, was one of Yeh.iel .Ad��q����s
sourcesfor traditional Yemeni melodies and performed with him on the radio during
the British
Mandate. The fathers of the singers Avner Gadassi and Bo.az Shar.ab�� were also
cantors.
.Ad��q�� and Sharvit, A Treasury, 231; Halevi, ��Ha-Demut ha-shabazit,�� 101.
chapter eight
Chorus:
28 Horowitz notes that Zohar wore sidelocks until the age of 7, chewed q��t and ate
29 In keeping with their stereotypical role as mediators between East and West,
Yemeni Jewish singers have also had successes in ��mainstream�� pop music
(examplesinclude Boaz Shar.abi and Ah.inoam Nini). The mizrah.i Yemeni singer
H.ayim Moshewas roundly castigated by his musical constituents in the late 1980s
for crossing overto record ��songs of the Land of Israel.�� Horowitz, ��Musika Yam
Tikhonit,�� 113.
Shabazian repertoire to the new style of music.31 The two broad rubrics
for the composition of mizrah.i music are ��Greek�� and ��Yemeni.��32 The
latter involves distinctive rhythms and hand-clapping noises created by
a drum machine and, above all, mellismatic voice modulation.33 Edwin
Seroussi writes:
.Ofrah H.aza (d. 2000) presented this new approach to the Shabazian
repertoire to a worldwide audience. H.aza, the daughter of a Yemeni
Jewish wedding singer, began her career as a mizrah.i pop singer. In
1988, with her longtime manager Betsalel Aloni, she released an album
that wedded traditional Yemeni Jewish songs, including the poetry of R.
S��lim al-Shabaz��, to pop music instrumentation and production values.
H.aza appeared on the cover as a Yemeni Jewish bride. The album, ��Fifty
Gates of Wisdom,�� achieved great success. Several singles stayed at the
top of the United States, United Kingdom, German, and Japanese pop
charts for several weeks.35 ��Fifty Gates of Wisdom�� is considered the first
example of a new musical genre called ��ethno-techno.�� (The Egyptian
singer Natasha At.
li mekori). Some performers, like ZionGolan, do not step outside of this category
in their music. Horowitz, ��Musika YamTikhonit,�� 108�C109.
poem features prominently in the now famous song ��Paid in Full (cold
cut remix)�� by Eric. B and Rakim from the soundtrack to Dennis Hopper��s
film Colors.
Again, it is unfortunately,
An everyday sight
36 See Mark Wagner, ��The Flying Camel and the Red Heifer: Yemenite Poets inModern
Israel,�� in Tema: Journal of Judaeo-Yemenite Studies 10 (2007): 233�C256.
The poem��s speaker describes elderly Yemeni men wearily eating dinner.
The truncated phrases, ��bless, blessing,�� (borekhu, borekh), which are
quotations from the prayer that follows the meal, suggest the ultimate
The third and final section of the poem displays a tension between
the sacred and the profane, all the while challenging these categories
of experience. The pious, wrapped in pure white, pray inside the synagogue
while God paradoxically waits outside, in the food, filth, and
consumerism of a street in a modern city: ��Between lamb kebabs, and
piles of garbage, and bottles of Coca-Cola.��
39 See Yosef Halevi��s comments regarding the novel A Week in 1948 in Demut
udyokan .etsmi, 172. Yosef Halevi has pointed out that the poetic speaker in
Almog��s
poetry can be profitably identified with the protagonist of one of his novels, A
Week
in 1948, Avshalom Tam. Demut udyokan .etsmi, 176. Avshalom is a Yemeni Jew of
the third generation in Israel who dies in a critical battle of the 1948 war. The
novelexplores the struggles of each succeeding generation with tradition and
assimilationinto Israeli society. See Anat Feinberg, ��The Innocent Warrior: Aharon
Almog��s One
Week in 1948,�� Modern Hebrew Literature 6.1�C2 (1980�C1981): 21�C23; Ehud
Ben-.Ezer,
��Ve-avshalom ish tam,�� Ma.ariv, 28 November, 1980, 39; Yonah Bah.ur, ��Pirke
avshalom,��
Davar, 19 December, 1980, 18.
Tel Aviv isn��t a city any longer��only AllenbyAt noon, a street spreading out
towards King GeorgeIn August at noonA sleepy bazaar, a flying camel, a kiosk, old
booksJumes trees
A spring in the desert.
Camel, my camel, where were you?
I know youWe used to walk together on Shabbat to Grandpa��s in the VineyardPast
Brenner��s house and .Amrani��s house
Down the stairs
A blue wooden cabin
Standing, like father said, in order to rest a little.
Father taught me Hebrew wellHe always wrote me letters for the teachersOne time he
wrote to the school principal: ��Please treat the boy leniently.��
He knew how to stand where the summer breeze blows
North westerly.
We used to stand there at noon on the way to Grandpa��sBreathing in the wind,
hearing the seaSeeing a flying camelYellow
SmilingChildren love a flying camel, soda popRed goldAzure dunes of skyCalm and
quiet.
Here we will stand, my son, dad used to sayAnd he stood
And I used to stand looking at himFeeling the north westerly windOn a summer
noonday, breathing,
Watching his shadow fall.
Father.
Many years after that the camel came at night
chapter eight
A snorting camel
Rude
Tell them that it is, all in all, a rusty toy from the Eastern market.
They will say that it is a nuisance and takes up space, this odd thing,
That flies.
In this poem, the image of the flying camel, at once Oriental and
fantastically optimistic, symbolizes the speaker��s childhood in a Yemeni
neighborhood of Tel Aviv during the 1930s and 1940s. It also identifies
a broader synthesis of Middle Eastern, European, and the modern
within pre-state Zionism. This camel later comes to life to embarrass
the speaker in front of his neighbors. Its time has come and gone, yet
it persistently disturbs the speaker, reminding him and those around
him of Yemen, a remote Arab country, and an era in Israel that no
longer exists.
In the laundry room some boxes that my grandmother saved remainI don��t know why
she saved themAn old fire pan, a wooden pulley wheelA photograph of the High
Commissioner and the D��w��n of the poetryOf Shalom Shabaz��
When I was a boy I thought that my father was saying: ��Hello Shabaz��.��
I didn��t know to whom he was speaking.43
The poetry of Aharon Almog, the secular son of a Yemeni man who
rejected tradition and moved out of the Yemeni neighborhood of Tel
Aviv, differs sharply from that of his contemporary, T.uviyah Sulami
(1939�C), who became known as ��the poet of the Hope Neighborhood��
(meshorer shkhunat ha-tikvah). Sulami was also the son of Yemeni
immigrants who arrived before the mass immigration of the 1950s.
45 Sulam��, .Ad .alot ha-shah.ar (Tel Aviv: Afikim, 1980), 59. In the poem ��My
Hill,��
the medieval image of a cup going around leads into a pun on ��Tel Aviv��: ��And
the
chapter eight
Here, the nationalist ideal (��The Hope�� is the title of the Israeli national
anthem) and the religious longing for Zion are intertwined, suggesting
disappointment on both counts. It ascribes the loss of idealism to the
younger generation, who, though they have ��grown fat on . . . redemption,��
have not shaken off Exile. The use of kabbalistic language is
pronounced in his poetry. ��Housing�� (shekhinah) also means God��s
immanence in the sefirotic system.
The clash of metaphysical ideals and earthly reality structures the portrait
of the speaker��s neighborhood in the poem, ��The Hidden Light��:
Before night
Before dawn
In their haste
Are effaced
From below
As if a volcano exploded in it
The underground
A quorum of kabbalists
Sulami��s poetry collections are long and narrow, like the traditional
d��w��n of Shabazian poetry. His poetry demonstrates an engagement
with kabbalistic themes and symbolism, a staple of Shabaz����s poetry.
cup, Goes around it continually, At the outskirts of Tel Aviv (fa��ate tel aviv),
On my
hill, The hill (tel) remains, Spring (aviv) has left.�� .Ad .alot, 14.
They did not tell stories about leaky cabinsAnd lean and skinny sleeping
childrenAnd mother, collecting raindropsIn pails and tin boxesAnd father, who still
prays for abundant rainAnd the cold that she drives away with lullabiesOn a land
that is redeemed one dunam here, another one there
Or how a Hebrew city appears��Temonim��49 from one end to the other
Father brought the bricks up to the roofAnd Uncle plastered over the imperfections
and fell off the scaffoldLayer by layer, all of a sudden a country will arise
hereAnd with prayer we will bring down the Land of Israel from heaven.
Raise your voices in song, raise the concrete over your headWe will be the
priests��that is the order of worship (.avodah)
With bread and olives we will be victorious in holy workAnd neither stranger nor
son of the Arabs shall approachI will build and plow and also reapAnd my beloved
will trample, uproot, and gatherMy grandmother will remove her splendid embroidered
trousersAnd raise the buckets on her head
Like the crown of the Land of Israel, and she will say thanks tooAnd Mori Dizengoff
50 will stand by and be impressedWith how the ��Temonim�� race to build the barrier
And survey the building using weekly Torah portionsBy the jubilee year Tel Aviv
will reach the Jordan.51
The phrase ��Hebrew labor�� refers to the Zionist desire to turn the Jew
into a worker, thus freeing him from the debilitating effects of membership
in the lowest ranks of the bourgeoisie. Many in the Zionist
48 Ibid., 22.
49 T: This word means ��Yemenis.�� It exaggerates their pronunciation of the vowel
When he kissed the land of the fathers his dream vanished and ceased
forever,
He looked right and left and all was full of foolishness:
No God, no King or Mighty One, and no value to values;
He saw a people wandering in its evil, all of them having lost their way,
He immediately wrapped his face in grief and tears flowed down his cheeks,
Did my messiah return there to hide until the end of the troubles?
Or is he still wandering, on his donkey, looking for a quorum of Jews?
Where has my messiah gone? Goodbye, my brother, my brother!55
Medinah, like many other modern Hebrew poets, looks to the Hebrew
Bible for inspiration. His literal and thematic references to Jonah, the
tragic prophet, suggest that the poet is a suffering prophet.57 The tone
of his poetic collection, The Burden of Israel (Masa�� yisra.el), and of
his oeuvre as a whole, approximates the pessimistic philosophies of
Job, Kohelet, and wisdom literature. There is no escape from trials and
suffering. In his picaresque The Messiah from Yemen: An Allegorical
Novel, the protagonist, a messianic pretender, and his sidekick spend
the night in graveyards to escape detection by the Im��m��s men. There,
the souls of the righteous complain to the protagonist of the suffering
inflicted on them by worms and by their shrewish wives, in the World
to Come.
The following excerpt from the long poem, ��A Letter to My Father,��
uses the ��before and after�� framework to make a gnomic statement.
This semi-autobiographical poem describes the intensity of the narrator��s
expectations and his encounter with a brutish soldier (presumably
British) who attempted to prevent him from leaving for Palestine. The
soldier says:
56 Ibid., 121.
57 One poem, entitled ��a prayer for lovers�� (tefilat .ashukim), expresses the
poet-
as-prophet theme strongly. It is clearly based on a famous poem by the
medievalAndalusian Hebrew poet Shlomo b. Gabirol, ��I am the man. . . .�� Ibid.,
92.
58 Ibid., 51.
shabaz�� in tel aviv
Defying the unjust law, the protagonist swims to the Land of Israel.
When he arrives, he tells his father:
Conclusions
merit. First person accounts describe the shame of Yemeni Jews whom
Ashkenazi overseers in the citrus orchards compared to Arabs in order
to insult them.60
Yemeni Jewish poetry plays numerous roles in the varied poetic output
of T.uviyah Sulam��, Aharon Almog, and Shalom Medinah. All seem
to agree that while they had physically returned to Zion, the dream of the
return to Zion was paradoxically deferred. All incorporate the mysticism
and messianism of this tradition in their work. All explore the fissures
between mundane reality and the messianic rhetoric as deployed within
religious circles and within ostensibly secular nationalism. In doing so,
they offer a sardonic and multifaceted critique which usually results in
the affirmation of the Zionist cause in spite of its failings. Most often,
their work presents complicated and ever-changing views of Israel; it is
common to find scathing attacks on the political order or sharp evaluations
of cultural norms coexisting with a sense of pride, achievement,
and full participation. Such contradictory positions emerge in Sulami��s
poems on the Hope Neighborhood, Almog��s humorous nostalgia, and
Medinah��s gnomic panoramas.
The explosive and divisive issues that the poets surveyed in this
chapter address in their work��Exile, Redemption, the messiah, and
Zionism��are, of course, not the sole province of Yemeni Jews but of
Jews in general. The political leanings of Yemeni Jewry span the entire
spectrum of the far Left to the far Right. Therefore, caution should
govern conclusions about their collective response to the challenge that
the Jewish state posed to their Judaism. However, it is fair to say that,
possessing profoundly religious backgrounds, Judaism played a central
role in all of their poetry. Since their messianism and their Zionism
R. S��lim al-Shabaz��, he might hear the poet��s voice and see his footsteps
in less expected places: in quintessentially Israeli folk songs played in
the spartan living room of a ��veteran Israeli��; in the mizrah.i pop music
on a city bus; in the linguistic heteroglossia of Aharon Almog��s poem;
in a German disco or an American rap song; or, as Almog said of the
messiah, ��between lamb kebabs, and piles of garbage, and bottles of
Coca-Cola.��
CONCLUSION
..��s�� b.
Lut.
f All��h recast Ibn Sharaf al-D��n, an ardent Sufi, as the first Zayd��
court poet, marking h.umayn�� poetry��s transition from Lower Yemeni
Sufi circles to the parlors of Highland Zayd��s. Opposition to Sufism
eventually waned and, by the nineteenth century, some Zayd�� poets
embraced Sufism again.
H.
umayn�� poetry benefited from the wider efflorescence of literature
under the Q��sim�� Im��ms. Q��sim�� Im��ms suffered from crises of legitimacy
because hereditary dynastic succession conflicted with the Zayd��
concept of the Im��mate. A number of eighteenth-century Im��ms turned
to panegyric poetry to redress this problem, most notable among them
300 conclusion
When the Q��sim�� state expanded over Lower Yemen, the Highland
scholars and h.umayn�� poets .Al�� b. Muh.ammad al-.Ans�� and, later, .Abd
al-Rah.m��n al-��nis��, were sent to the rural South to serve as judges. For
them, using the dialect of their subjects became a vehicle for parody.
Dialect, a central characteristic of h.umayn�� poetry, seems always to
have contained an element of ethnic humor. Like the Andalusian
muwashshah., which poked fun at the Christian serving girl with its
Romance kharja, h.umayn�� poems sparingly used colloquial elements
specific to rural areas to draw attention to the ethnicity of the musicians
and servants who entertained Highland sayyids and q��d.��s.
an��
��dah as practiced in
Yemen at that time. Yemenis collected h.umayn�� poems in anthologies
(saf��yin) and some poets left behind entire d��w��ns composed in this
genre. These, of course, represent investments of time and money.
H.
umayn�� poetry, like Arabic poetry in general, was mainly a pursuit
of educated Highland sayyids and q��d.��s. Nevertheless, the opportunities
for upward mobility through poetry that became available in the Q��sim��
period were seized by craftsmen, non-Arabs, and even the mentally
ill, despite the dangers of close association with the rich and powerful.
The altered states offered by a number of available substances��coffee,
q��t, and alcohol��stimulated the production of h.umayn�� poetry both
physiologically and thematically. The refined enjoyment of such vices
provided a rich topic for poetry.
an
..
.Gh��nim, Shi.r al-ghin��. al-san.��n��, 51.
.
3 Zab��rah, Nayl al-wat..
an.��n��, 50.
5 Dafari, ��H.umaini Poetry,�� 26n1; al-Maq��lih., Shi.r al-.��mmiyah, 118;
Gh��nim, Shi.r
al-ghin��. al-s..
people of Zab��d, on the other hand, had to study the rules of Arabic.6
The contemporary writer Muh.ammad b. .Al�� al-Akwa. reports that an
acquaintance of his, one Q��sim N��s.
The idea that urban life caused language to deteriorate and that
linguistic purity could be found among the inhabitants of rural areas
already found expression in the ninth-century writer al-J��h.iz��s.Kit��b
al-Bay��n wa l-taby��n and in the numerous anecdotes about the philologist
al-As..����s word-collecting expeditions among the desert Arabs.
maSince h.umayn�� poetry was born in the Ras��lid court in Zab��d, the hills
outside the city may have made a logical stage on which to reenact this
old stereotype.
an.��.
wa-zab��d (S..��.: al-maktabah al-yamaniyyah li l-nashr wa l-tawz��., 1985),
103�C104;
an.��n��, 50.
umayn����
.l-h.umayy�� saq��n��).12 The pun in this line would not succeed unless the
connection between the word h.umayn�� and wine surprised the audience,
thus casting doubt on the idea that the word was synonymous
with bacchic delight.
H.
The ��h.
umayn�� poetry is like the maw��l�� (kam�� al-humayn�� mithlu shi.r al-maw��l).
Sul��fat al-.adas, 6r. In another poem he wrote ��In the month of Shaww��l I plough
theh..
umayn��, that is��the maw��l�� (f�� shahr shaww��l akhza. humayn�� maw��l). Ibid.,
119r.
2 Semah, ��The Poetics of H.
umayn�� poetry,�� 226�C227.3 Gh��nim views a three-part strophic poem by Ibn San��.
al-Mulk quoted inal-Ibshih����s al-Mustat..
raf f�� kull fann mustazraf as a possible predecessor to this form ofpoetry.
Gh��nim, Shi.r al-ghin��. al-s.
an.��n��, 136, 217. Dafari argues that this poem couldnot have been written by Ibn
San��..
The last form of Yemeni poetry relevant to this study can be designated
the ��rural qas.
��dah
form seems to have been unpopular among the earliest h.
umayn�� poets,
only to be popularized with the emergence of urban poets like .Ali b.
al-H.
asan al-Khafanj�� and his circle, who in the eighteenth century wrote
��literary humaini bedouin poems.��7 These urban poets adapted the rural
qas..
5 Flagg Miller detailed aspects of this genre, specifically the common ��call and
response�� (bid. wa-jaw��b) genre in The Moral Resonance of Arab Media. Dafari
designates
this form of poetry ��bedouin style�� due to its similarities to the Arabic oral
poetryof other parts of the Arabian Peninsula, Syria and North Africa. ��H.
��d (pl. qisvad). Takinginto account the research of Flagg Miller in Y��fi. and its
echoes in the poetry of Jewsin lower Yemen, this genre��s geographical range
extends well beyond the desert andinto settled areas.
6 Semah, ��The Poetics of H.
umaini Poetry,�� 282.8 In the context of the debate between Inter-Arab and Romance
theories of Hispano-
Arab strophic poetry, J. Derek Latham drew attention to h.
aqq�� can become ��haq�� for the purposes of prosody). Nouns may
acquire anaptypic vowels (e.g., ��fi��l�� becomes ��fi��il��). Here, the word is
scanned as short, short. The second person singular pronominal suffix
can be shortened (��kit��bak�� becomes ��kit��bk��). Suk��n can be inserted
in an imperfect verb for the sake of meter. Finally, such poems take
great license in lengthening and shortening vowels.17
an.��n��, 92.
11 Ibid., 92. Serjeant noted that bas��t. is the most common meter in Arab folk
poetry as a whole (South Arabian Poetry, 78). Gh��nim argues that the slow tempo
ofthe S..��n�� suite made made the longer meters like bas��t.
an.��n��, 98�C99).
12 The Yemeni mustat��l. meter is: �� ��---/U--�� in its dimeter form. Its dimeter-
trimeterform is: �� ��---/U--//---/U--/U-.�� Lathem, ��The Prosody of an Andalusian
Muwashshah,��
90�C91; Dafari, ��H..
15 Dafari, ��H.
Muh..Abd al-Q��dir B�� Matraf in his al-M��z��n li-tiby��n wa-dabt buh��r al-shi.r
umain��
is derived from the contrast between the metrical scheme of the poem
and its rhythmical pattern as largely determined by the natural flow of
the language�� and that ��how to handle such a pause, and manipulate
it or shift it from one strophe to another, is a test of the washsh��h.��s
ability.��21
The fact that much h.umayn�� poetry is set to music enhances its
metrical uncertainty. ��The singer is not required to obey the laws of
desinential inflection�� (m�� .al�� l-mut.
umayn��
an.��n��, 99.
19 Dafari, ��H.
H.
umayn�� poetry is not read with desinential inflection in the manner inwhich poetry
in classical Arabic is read. Whosoever wants to pronounceit correctly must
sometimes stop himself at the end of every word andmust avoid pronouncing the
glottal stop (hamza), which lies outside ofvocalization.23
h.
im��r al-lughah).
23 Ibid.
APPENDIX THREE
Morag also points out how Yemeni Jewish poets manipulated the pronunciation
of their poems to meet the constraints of meter, notably by
squeezing separate words together and suppressing vowels. In Shabaz����s
Hebrew strophes, this process is not difficult to observe. Examples from
poems quoted in the section entitled The Shabazian Poem in Focus
in Chapter Five include ��ahvat,�� ��van��,�� ����th.adashoh,�� and ����v.od.�� If
the patah. symbol connotes a short syllable, do the kamets or kamets
h.atuf mean long ones? Probably not. However, the first syllable of the
word ��yosh��v�� is artificially lengthened with kamets, and it stands for
alif mamd��dah in ����b��yan��.��
Chapter Five, I have only indicated it where the manuscript uses it.
Also, Hebrew words that normally have the vowel segol or a vocal shva
appear in these transliterated texts without them. This is the way that
they appear in the manuscript. H.
olem is transliterated ����,�� kamets as
��a,��2 kamets h.atuf as ��o,�� tsayray as ��e,�� h.irik as ��i,�� and patah. as a
superscript ��a.��
lah that
would enable one to determine these instances from the text itself.
Shaddah/dagesh is also sporadically used (Hebrew words that should
contain the letter bet usually contain vet instead). While there are
instances where its absence accords with the meter, as in ��al-ay��m�� or
Poem One
burayq al-yaman yash.al : ma.�� d��j�� al-za.l��m
wa-thawwar ghuy��m al-t..
4 Yosef Tobi believes the ��~�� symbol that appears in the MS to be shaddah. (He
also disagrees with my attribution of metrical significance to the patah.-like
symbol).
Sometimes the ��~�� symbol seems to mean shaddah (it sits above the b�� in
��rabbah����).
Yet is also appears in many words where it could not signify shaddah, such as
sittingatop a long alif that ends a hemistich (as in ��n��r al-.aql����). In some
cases it sits atopsyllables that should be elided but it is not used consistently
in this fashion. In short,
it is a matter that requires further research.
tifawwad.
bi-n��r awwal : wa-azh�� li-sharq wa-sh��m (here there is a
patah. symbol where it should be a long metrically)
wa-t.
muzayyad bi-l-ih.s��n��
...
hal : wu-f��h
..��m
wa-y��t.
pz
wa-h.eb min yah.eb rabak: (here lack of shadda makes sense because
of pause)
lik�� yanshareh. qalbak
wa-yughfar khat.
�� dhanbak:
PZ
Poem Two
Ahvat gavarat nikhvadoh : to.��r la-.ayn sikhl�� va-ra.ay��n��van�� la-yofyoh
ah.madoh : k�� h�� ba-gol��t�� tanah.amayn��nafsh�� ka-tsip��r v��dadoh : toqb��l
va-khol layloh panay ad��n��
.
.
tazk�� wa-ta.bud rabah��
tasht��q il�� bust��nih��
el t.
illak :
tasht��q il�� d��r al-hud�� : dh�� qad khuleq f�� awal12 al-zam��n��
��h...
m�� bayn ah.b��r s��dat�� : nashrab wa-nathayy�� bi-shurb al-aqd��h.
�� min t��b ilayh wu-sam��hal-mulk luh mutsarmid�� : rabun muhaymel l�� siw��h
th��n��
12 Here the first syllable of ��awwal�� must be short for the meter.
13 This should be ��sh��ri.��
appendix three
uruh
uw-wah.ed ismuh s��jid�� : w��shrab li-k��s�� al-s��f�� al-zum��n��
Poem Three
a yumot�� ba-h.en tatsv��.: la-.am qodash sag��lbi-khol shah.r�� w a-gam .arv��:
tashalem l�� gam��l
v a-h��. qasht�� v a-h��. h.arv��: u-voh liv�� ga.��l
v a-h.amdot�� v a-tuv halv��: ba-khol y��mom nah��l
..
��-v��t�� ha-gav��l
pz
ruf k��n hun��k tunzar: tun��r mutr��dif��n (should be ��waal-ah.ruf�� but that
doesn��t solve the problem��we had this with ��alanfus��
earlier)
wa-m��s�� k��n yatnaz.
pz
wa-t ..
��l al-hajr y�� fiqd��: fa-qahr�� l�� yahel
mat�� sh�� nablugh (could be ��al-qanad���� or ��al-hind����) : baladan��
nartah.el (unclear if this is a kamets but if it is, that would show
artificial lengthening)
wa-nanz..
��n mu
wa-n��ruh yaqhar al-shams��:
orthography and prosody in st 325
shavot .
ay ��hav�� yazm��n:
.al�� yah.d�� la-kets yom��n
va-lidvoroyv .an�� ma.m��n:
pz
..
wahadhay qas...
pz
....ilfash..��n��)
khatamt al-qawl wa-l-alh.��n: wa-h.��l�� mustar��b (��wa-al-alh.��n��)
min al-amr��d. wa-l-amh.��n: far��d m�� l�� h.ab��b (��mina l-amr��di��)
al��h�� al-w��h.ed al-subh.��n: yujeb fath.un qar��b (��al��hi l-w��h.edil-��)
c
.wa-yatnaz..al��
ar .abduh:
yublighn�� al-um��l
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251, 275
.Ab��d b. al-Abras. 128
ablutions 119�C 120
Abraham 152n
Abyad., Yah.y�� 232
Ab�� Bakr (caliph) 102
Abu Lughod, Lila 100
Ab�� Mut.130
ahhar
Ab�� T.��lib, Muh.sin b. al-H.asan 77,
103, 143
Ab�� Tamm��m 11
Abulafia, Avraham 152
acrostics. See Shabaz��, S��lim (Shalem)
170n, 171n
Ah.mad (Imam). See H.am��d al-D��n, Ah.mad
Ah.q��f Library 8
.Ajam��, .Awn�� al- 314�C 315
akhd��m 253
Akhfash, Ah.mad b. Muh.ammad 78
248
Am��r, .Al�� b. Ibr��h��m al-67n,
103�C 104, 117
.Amm��r��, .Al�� b. S��lih al-76, 79
..
79, 126
��nis��, Ah.mad b. .Abd al-Rah.m��n 123
��nis��, .Al�� al-249n, 256n, 268
.Ans��, .Abdall��h al-244
.Ans��, .Al�� b. Muh.ammad al- 40�C 41,
.As....
l��s, Nat��sha
.Att��b, Ah.mad al-
..249n
.Atr��sh
.255
.Aydar��s, Ab�� Bakr b. .Abdall��h
al-170n
ayumah. See under Song of Songs
227n, 228
Baradd��n��, .Abdall��h al-253, 265
Bilq��s 257
Buthaynah 41
Chelhod, Joseph 92
45, 127
dagesh 317�C 318
D.��hir��, Zekharyah al-160, 161, 162,
163�C 167
D.��li. 251
Dallal, Ahmad 7n
d��n d��n 37�C 38, 251
dance. See also .Inbal Dance Company
134
D.ayf, Shawq�� 72n
Daylam��, .Abb��s al- 244�C 245
definite article xv, 30, 34n, 63, 264,
poetry 175; in Shabazian poetryin Israel 286; relative paucity of inh.umayn�� love
poetry 34�C 35, 46;
types of dialectical features 34n;
See also code-switching, diglossia
Einstein, Albert 4
Eisenstein, Sergei 4
Elisha b. Avuyah 218n
Emigration from Yemen (Muslim)
252, 266
Ephodi (Profiat Duran) 152
Eric B and Rakim 284
Eroticism. See also Shabazian poetry,
r al-
F��ri., Yah.y�� b. M��s�� 76
Fath.��, Muh.ammad 252
F��yi., Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad al-15,
��bah)
dates 42, 44, 62; equation of poetrycomposition to cooking 134,
137�C 140; fenugreek 285�C 286; greens
62; jah.n��n (Sabbath dish) 282n;
Jewish dietary laws 50; las��s
344 index
(bean stew) 56, 58, 59; luh.��h. (barleybread) 133; meat 63�C 64; onion
as reflection of the cosmos 211;
storing 263n. See also coffee, .��d
al-ad.h.��, grapes sub wine
247�C 253
France 92n, 220, 222
Free Verse 245, 269, 275, 297
Fusayyil, al-H.asan b. Ah.mad al-80,
220
Gamlieli, Nissim 93, 96, 98n, 100�C 101
Ganso, Yosef 160
garden poem (rawd.iyyah) 113
gazelles 44, 47, 49, 58, 62, 90, 99, 103,
314
Gh��nim, Niz��r 94, 250n, 251, 252
ghazal (lyric poetry): criticism of
homoeroticism
Gikatilla, Joseph 166n
Glaser, Eduard 3, 4n, 237
Goitein, Shlomo Dov 5�C 6, 237
Golan, Zion 282, 283n, 284, 296
Golden calf 213
Graetz, Heinrich 221
Grapes. See under wine
Gramsci, Antonio 65
Guerre, Martin 223
al-73n, 142
H.amz��, al-Mutahhar al-
.25
H.amz��, Yahy�� b. al-Mutahhar al-
..25
H.ar��z mountains 76, 279
H.ar��z��, Yah.y�� 164n
H.��rith��, Ahmad b. N��sir al-
..130�C 132
H.ar��z��, Yehudah al-159, 215n, 216
H.��rith b. al-H.illiza, al-127
H.asan P��sh�� 23n
H.asan��, Y��suf b. Yah.y�� al-20, 21�C 22,
H.ays 41�C 42
H.aza, .Ofrah 276, 282,283
H.��zim al-Qart��j��nn��
.115�C 116
hazl. See also jidd 115�C 124, 133, 134,
141, 142, 143, 301
211, 272
h.erem (ban of excommunication) 50,
227
Herzl, Theodore 3
Herzog, Avigdor 279
heteroglossia 39, 45�C 46, 117, 133, 286,
289, 298
H.ibsh��, .Abdall��h al-71, 108, 114
H.ibsh��sh, H.ayim 164n, 221, 223
h.iduyot (wedding songs) 158
H.ill��, S��f�� al-D��n al-
53n, 89�C 91
Hope Neighborhood (shkhunat
.130
116n
Ibn .Abdall��h, al-Q��sim b. Ah.mad 27
Ibn .Abd al-Wahh��b, .��mir (sultan)
25, 86
Ibn Ab�� l-Rij��l, Ah.mad b. .Al�� 80
Ibn Ab�� l-Rij��l, .Al�� b. Ah.mad xiii, 138
Ibn Ab�� l-Rij��l, .Al�� b. S��lih..
73, 74, 75,
103, 111n
Ibn .Al��, al-H.usayn (al-Mu.ayyad)
(Imam) 76
Ibn .Alw��n, Ah.mad 15�C 16, 170n, 171
Ibn al-.Arab�� 15, 16, 20�C 23, 28, 128,
170
Ibn Ezra, Avraham 152
Ibn Fal��tah, Ah.mad 11�C 12, 16, 24, 25,
.Abdall��h (al-N��sir)
(Imam) 76
Ibn al-H.asan, Ah.mad (al-Mahd��)
(Imam) 73, 86, 149, 154
Ibn al-H.asan, Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad
19, 26, 86, 88n, 126n, 142
Ibn al-H.asan, Mutahhar (Ab�� l-T.��tih)
..ah..
81�C 82
Ibn H.imyar, Muh.ammad 12
Ibn H.ijjah, Ab�� Bakr b. .Al�� 15
Ibn al-H.usayn, Q��sim (al-Mutawakkil)
86, 143
Ibn Ish.��q, Ibr��h��m b. Muh.ammad
126n
Ibn Ish.��q, Muh.ammad (Imam) 73,
109, 129
Ibn Ish.��q, Muh.sin b. .Abd al-Kar��m 71
Ibn Ism��.��l, Ibr��h��m b. .Abdall��h 142
Ibn al-Mahd��, Ibr��h��m 141
Ibn al-Mahd��, al-Muh.sin 61�C 62
Ibn al-Mahd��, Yah.y�� b. Ah.mad 102
Ibn Ma.s��m, Sadr al-D��n
.
al-Mut.21, 26
ahhar
Ibn Sharaf al-D��n, al-H.usayn b. .Abd
al-Q��dir 149�C 150
Ibn Sharaf al-D��n, .��s�� b. Lutf All��h b.
ahhar
.��d al-ad.h.��.
257n, 260
ijtih��d 72
301
i.r��b 14, 27, 34, 35, 122, 307, 314�C 315
Iran. See Persia
Iraq 102
.Iraqi, Ele.azer (Yemen) 222
.Iraqi, Ele.azer b. Aharon (Calcutta)
198
Iry��n��, .Abd al-Kar��m al-268
Iry��n��, .Abd al-Rah.m��n al-244
Iry��n��, Mut ..Al�� al-
.
.��s�� b. Lutf All��h b. al-Mutahhar
..
Ishmael 152n
Ism��.��lis 13n, 76, 109
isr��. (Night Journey) 87, 89
al-76
Jarm��z��, al-Mut ..
ahhar b. Muhammad
al-19
Jarr��dah, Muh.ammad Sa.��d 250
J��w��, .Umar al-251
Jawf 3n, 223, 273
jaz��lah 124
Jerusalem. See also Temple 3, 4, 5,
al-yah��d
Jihr��n 48
jinn: causing insanity or bad behavior75�C 76, 80�C 81, 129; h��jis 130�C 132,
171, 178; h.al��lah 130, 131, 132;
h��tif 130n, 131n, 178; metaphorof 42, non-Muslim 129�C 130;
poetic familiars 113, 127�C 128,
129�C 133; succubus 35, 55; z��jil131n
Jir��f, al-54, 55
Jir��s, al-99
Jones, Gavin 65
Ka.ba 23, 87
, H73n, 79,
81, 84
Khazraj��, .Al�� b. al-H.asan al-11, 12,
37n
Khid.r 119
Khubb��n 47, 260, 273
Kh��liya (succus lycii) 57
Kimh.i, David 152, 213
Kook, Avraham Yitsh.ak 230�C 231
Kook, Tsvi Yehudah 231
kuh.l 118
Kuhn, Thomas 86n
Kumayt b. Zayd al-Asad��, al-101, 105
k��z (cup) 46, 48
L��.ah 80
Laban 218
Labi, Shim.on 160, 165�C 166, 167
Ladino 278
Lah.j 239, 248, 251, 253, 254, 275
Lah.j��, Mus.id Ah.mad H.usayn al-250n
Lah.j�� style of music 251�C 252
lah.n 14, 27, 35, 115, 122, 131, 142,
315
Landberg, Carlo de xv, 130
Lavri, Marc 278
Leon, Moses de. See Dor De.ah
on, Jackie
Ma.m��n, al- (caliph) 104
Ma.rib 38, 257, 258
Ma.rib dam 257, 258
Mahd�� al-.Abb��s, al- (Imam) 73�C 75,
Ism��.��l b. Muh.ammad
Maimonideanism, eastern 153
Maimonides, Moses 152, 158n, 166n,
232, 235
Maimonides, Avraham 152
Makh��, al-. See Mocha
malh.��n. See lah.n
Mamluks 12, 113
Mand��r, Muh.ammad 107
Mans.
150�C 151
Mas.��d��, Muh.ammad Yah.y�� al-256
Mat .165
rani, Moses
maw��l 311n
Mawza. Exile (galut mawza.) 147, 149,
78
medicine. See materia medica
Medinah, Aharon 281n
Medinah, Avihu 281�C 282, 297
Medinah, Shalom 239, 292�C 295, 297
��Mediterranean�� music 277, 283
Meh.met III (Ottoman sultan) 18
Meisami, Julie Scott 48, 63n
messianism: Jewish 147, 152n, 153,
112, 113
Miller, Flagg 37n, 246n, 248n, 312n
m��miy�� (bitumen) 57
Mirhab��, Muh.ammad b. al-H.usayn
al-73n, 74n, 77
Miriam (daughter of S��lim al-Shabaz��)
151
mitsvot. See halakhah
mizrah.�� culture/music 280�C 284, 295�C 298
Mocha 42n, 76, 78, 300
Modern Orthodoxy 230�C 236, 240, 296,
303, 304
Morag, Shlomo 317
Morocco 151n
Moses 119n, 148�C 149, 183, 184, 185,
205, 213
Moshe b. Nah.man (Nahmanides) 152
Moshe, H.ayim 282
mosque(s). See also ablutions 41, 54,
313
Mufad.d.aliy��t 91
muf��kharah (boasting match) 53�C 61,
94, 147n
Muh.ammad P��sh�� 21
muh.assin��t (embellishments) 125
Muh.ibb��, Muh.ammad Am��n al-114
muj��n (libertine poetry) 48, 134
Muqr��, Ism��.��l b. Ab�� Bakr al-12, 16
Murji.ites 110
music: composition of h.umayn�� poetry
an
Israel
ahhar, .Mut.
.104
Mutawakkil, al- (Imam). See Ibn
al-Q��sim, Ism��.��l
Mutawakkil, al- (Imam). See Ibn
al-H.usayn, Q��simmuwashshah.��t. See also Hispano-Arabic
al-16
Naj��rah, Yisrael 160, 162�C 163, 165n,
167, 168
N��j��, .Abdall��h Sal��m 268�C 270, 274, 275
N��j��, Muh.ammad Murshid 250, 254
N��kh��dhah, Ah.mad b. .Abd al-Q��dir
al-79
Narboni, Moshe 152
Nardi (Naroditzsky), Nah.um 277, 278
nash��d 158
N��s..
Palestinians 6, 277
panegyric poetry: courtly cultureand 25; criticism of 104�C 105,
109�C 113, 115, 164; parody of by
Khafanj����s circle 46, 52, 134, 141;
Shabaz����s 149�C 150; theme in
modern h.umayn�� poetry 275
264
Persia/Persians 43, 80
Persian Gulf 101, 252
Petah. Tikvah 153, 295
Pharaoh 149
philosophy, Greek. See Aristotle,
Neoplatonism, Plato
350 index
274
phylacteries 50
Piamenta, Moshe xiii, xv, 168�C 169
picaresque. See maq��m��t
piy��t.
(liturgical poetry) 158, 159, 166
Plato 118, 203, 235
polemic. See interreligious polemic
��dah
al-Abras,.Mu.allaq��t, Mufad.d.aliy��t,
al-Khans��., al-N��bighah al-Dhuby��n��,
al-H.��rith b. al-H.illiza, Imr�� l-Qays
an92, 99
Q��fih., Yah.y�� 166n, 197, 219�C 221, 222,
224, 227�C 230, 231, 237
Q��fih., Yosef 221, 226�C 227, 230, 231,
al-26, 33�C 34
qas.61, 158, 169, 311
��d
qas.11, 120, 122
��dah (classical)
qas.34, 38, 45, 134, 135, 139,
��dah, rural
141, 172, 178, 245, 312
Q��sim b. Muh.ammad, al-Mans��r bi ll��h
75, 80
qawmah 32, 46n, 93, 299
qin�� (head scarf) 59
Qirda.��, Ah.mad al-256
Qirda.��, .Al�� N��s.254, 256
ir al-
Qorah., .Amram 167, 197, 199, 200
Qorah., Yah.y�� 196, 197, 199�C 213, 235,
.112, 113
al-18�C 19
Rasmussen, Susan 94, 95�C 96
Ras��lids 11, 12�C 13, 16, 25, 26, 27, 28,
abb��n, 254
Sabbateanism. See also messianism,
Jewish 152�C 153
Sabbath 92, 138, 157, 165, 177, 281,
282n
S..Al�� b. .Al�� 245, 255�C 256
abrah,
Sa..dah 76, 81, 102, 129n, 259�C 260, 313
Sa..d��, Sa.��d b. Shlomo 214�C 215
Safed See also Lurianic (��new��)
saj.
113�C 114, 125
S...157, 216, 222
114
S..��
an.
45, 46, 50n, 54n, 56n, 58n, 59n,
63n, 99, 114, 168, 191, 195, 216, 223,
228, 237n, 239, 260, 261n, 284, 293,
302, 313
S..��n�� Singing
223
Saqq��f, Ab�� Bakr al-251, 254
S...257,
arf��, Ahmad b. Husayn al-
308�C 309
S..��
��r��m, Rad.
197, 224�C 227, 233, 235,
300, 301
Schatz, Boris 280
Scholem, Gershom 152, 166, 167, 206,
236
Se.adyah Gaon 152, 220, 226, 230
sefirot: binah 202; h.esed, h.okhmah,
Shabaz��, Shalem (S��lim) al-: acrostics150, 153, 200; biography 147�C 150;
d��w��n of 157�C 159, 289; inspiration
130n, 178; intellectual background151�C 153; language of his poetry 157,
159, 180; Muslim contacts 152;
name 150�C 151; precursors 156;
Sabbateanism of 152�C 153; Sapir��s
travelogue and 2; Serri-Tobi
manuscripts 153�C 156; remuneration
180; tomb of 147�C 148, 151;
transliterating his poetry xv. See also
panegyric poetry, Shabaz����s; Qur.��n, in
Shabaz����s poetry, Sufism, and Shabaz��
259n
Shah��rah 22, 23, 24, 76
Sham.ah. See T.ubi, Shoshanah
Sham.ah (daughter of S��lim al-Shabaz��)
151
352 index
143
Sh��m�� rite 220
Shar.ab 41, 150, 153, 168
Shar.ab��, Ah.mad b. .Abdall��h 26n,
36�C 37
Shar.ab��, Avraham 234�C 235
Shar.ab��, Bo.az 281n, 282n
Sharaf al-D��n, Ah.mad H.usayn
(contemporary) 45
Sharaf al-D��n, Ah.mad b. H.usayn.
See al-Q��rrah
Sharaf al-D��n Imams 17
Sharaf al-D��n, H.usayn b. al-H.asan 102
Shar��f al-Rad.��, al-101, 102, 105, 243
Sharvit, Uri 279
Shavuot 185
Shawk��n��, Muh.ammad b. .Al�� al-20,
143
Shayb��n��, Sa.��d al-265n
Shaykh, Yah.y�� b. Netana.el al-234n,
237
Shekhinah. See under Sefirot
Shib��m 117�C 120, 139
Shi.ism. See Zaydismshikmah (ceremony for a parturient
148n, 151
shi.r al-ta.l��m�� (teaching poetry) 67
shirah 155, 158,-159, 167, 169,
S..ids 13n
ulayh
230, 235
Taminian, Lucine 45, 56n, 67, 142
taqf��l 30, 124, 125, 178, 311, 319
Tar��m 8, 171n
T.��rish, .Ayy��b 253n, 268
T.avori, Shimi 282
tawsh��h.
29, 30, 32, 125, 178, 311, 319
Tel Aviv 239, 278, 286�C 292, 297
Temple 169, 178, 182, 232, 292, 293,
296
Th��bit, Iskandar 250
Tha.lab��, .Abd al-M��lik b. Muh.ammad
al-127n
theater 243�C 244, 269
Thul�� 80, 171
Tiberias 147, 164�C 165
Tibr��z��, Ab�� Zakariy�� al-127
Tietze, Andreas 168
Tih��mah 30n, 36�C 44, 62, 80, 100, 103,
awt al-.arab)
250n
W��d�� D.ahr 76
W��d��, H.usayn b. .Al�� al-73n
Wanneh, Yitsh.ak 157, 167
W��si.��, .Abd al-W��si. b. Yah.y�� al-72n
Y��fi.
248, 252, 253, 272, 312n
Yah.y�� b. al-Mutahhar
.83, 114�C 115
Yah.y��, S��lih b. 213�C 214, 215, 235
..
Yellin, David 5
.232
.80