COMPROMISING THE CALIPH

Analysis of several versions of an anecdote about Ab� Dul�ma and al-Mans�r

Was die Quellenforschung mit dem Odium der Stoffhuberei belastet hat, war das Sich-zufrieden-Geben mit den bloßen Feststellungen stofflicher Bezüge. Tatsächlich ist damit nichts für die künstlerische Erfassung und noch sehr wenig für die literarhistorische getan. (W. Kayser, Das sprachlicheKunstwerk)

I Abu Dulama 1 was a black slave 2 or, rather, the free son of a black slave. He began his career under Marwan II. (127/744-132/750), the last Umayyad caliph, but earned fame for his poetry and notoriety for his deeds, which originated from his never ceasing need of and/or greed for money, only under the first 'Abbasid caliphs as-Saffah (132/ 750-136/754), al-Mansur (136/754-158/775), and al-Mahdi (158/775- 170/786), under the last of whom he died. The reasons for both his notoriety and fame are comprised in the only seemingly standard- ized designation given to him by Ibn Khallikan: fdhib na1viidir wa- bikaiit wa-adab wa-na?.m,3 or "the one about whom anecdotes and stories are told, who wrote literary prose and poetry".4 Had the 1 J. Horovitz, "AB� DUL�MA", EI2. GAL, GI, 74; SI, 111. GAS, II, 270 f. 2 Ibn Khallikan, on the authority of Abu l-Faraj b. al-Jawz�calls, him a 'abd habash�or, "Abyssinian slave" (Wafay�tal-A'y �n wa-Anb�' Abn�' az-Zam�n I-VIII [ed. I. 'Abb�s; Beirut, 1968-72], quotation vol. II, 329, 5). -About the position of blacks in Islamic society, cf. G. Rotter, Die Stellung des Negers in der islamisch-arabischenGesellschaft bis zum XVI. Jahrhundert (Diss. Bonn, 1967) and B. Lewis, Race and Color in Islam (New York, 1970). On black poets, esp. Suhaym (d. 660), Nusayb (d. 726), and Ab� Dul�ma (d. ca. 776), cf. B. Lewis, op.cit., 11-15: "In many verses and narratives, they are quoted as suffering from insult and discrimination, as showing resentment at this, and yet to some extent as accepting their inferior status resulting from their African ancestry." (11) 3 Ibn Khallikan, II, 320, 3. 4 Particularly famous is his poem on his mule to which al-Har�r�refers in his Maq�m�whent Ab� Zayd is scolded by his wife : wa-anta ta'lamu annaka ahqaru min qul�ma- wa-a'yabu min baghlati Ab�Dul �ma(al-Har �r�al-Maq, �m�[Beirut,t 1385/1965], 348, 1 f.), or "und weisst doch, dass du unnützer bist als eine Schote ohne Same - und gebrecherischer als das Maultier des Abu Dulame" (transl. F. Rückert, Die Verwandlungendes Abu Seid vonSerug [ed. A. Schimmel; Stuttgart, 1966], 131). Al-Mayd�n�(d. 518/1124) lists one proverb eternalizing 37

court of the 'Abbasids known the institution of the court jester, then Abu Dulama would have been one. This is at least what the extant stories about him suggest.5 Out of all these stories (naw£iEr, bíkiiyiit, akhbdr),6 that are legion, twelve are recounted in Ibn Khallikan's just over seven pages long biography of Abu Dulama, complementing the factual material. The term "factual material" is a definition of content. It is employed to designate a certain amount of information that is offered in almost . every biography in Arabic biographical literature through the centuries and that establishes each personality genealogically, historically, geographically, philosophically, professionally, and politically. It is the information that is usually not changed, except in volume and arrangement, on its way from one historical work into another. This static character of the "factual material" may be contrasted with the dynamic character of what could be called "illustrative material", material that within the limits of an author's respect for tradition, his personal literary capabilities and taste, and the require- ments of his work is changed and modified in order to express each author's image of the person he depicts. The borderline between the two kinds of material is often blurred since facts require presentation, and presentation always involves illustration.

The present article is to support, through the analysis of one anecdote, the contention that Ibn Khallikan, in general, does not simply copy the works of his forerunners, as some of his predecessors as well as some of his successors seem to have done,7 an acceptable Ab� Dulama's mule: him�ruTayy �bwa-baghlatu Ab �Dul �ma.Freytag translates it as "Asinus Thajjabi et mula Abu-Dolamahi" and adds as an explanation: "In eum, qui multa vitia habet, dicitur." (Freytag, Arabum Proverbia, I [Bonn, 1838], 416) 5 Cf. e.g. "Sogar an den Schnurren und Versen des talentvollen, aber trunk- süchtigen und frivolen Negers Ab� Dulama, der im Grund mehr Hofnarr als Hofdichter gewesen zu sein scheint, fand er Gefallen." (Th. Nöldeke, "Der Chalif Mansur", id., OrientalischeSkizzen [Berlin, 1892. repr. Hildesheim, 1974], 141). Also, " ..., African good humor helped to relieve the austerity of 'Abbasid society ... Ab� Dulama (d. 780) a black poet and court jester contributed sig- nificantly to the Arabian Nights, ..." (J. Comhaire, "Some Notes on Africans in Muslim History", MW, 46 (1956), 336-344) 6 On the terminology of "anecdote" in Arabic, cf. 'A.-'A. 'Abdel-Meguid, "A Survey of the Terms used in Arabic for 'Narrative' and 'Story' ", IQ, 1 (1954), 195-204. On this terminology particularly in Ibn Khallik�n's Wafay�t, cf. H. Fähndrich, "The Wafay�al-A'yt �n of Ibn Khallik�n: A new approach", JAOS, 93 (1973), 432-445 [esp. pp. 441-445]. 7 Compare, for instance, an-Nuwayr�'s (d. 732/1332) Nih�yatal-Arab with Abu l-Faraj al-Isbah�n�(d.'s 356/967) K. al-Agh�n�several: anecdotes about Ab�Dulama are virtually identical in these two works, i.e. an-Nuwayr�appears to have simply copied al-Isbah�n�,