Notes Oir Tire History of 'Arñ$ in Al-Andalus (Zajao
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Notes oir tire history of ‘Arñ$ in al-Andalus DMITRY FROLOV Arabie poetry in al-A ndalus is a case of a poetical tradition brought into a new environment where it struck roots, undergoing radical changes in the process. As is well known, this evolution fmally resulted in abandoning first te metric of ‘Arad (muwashslzah) and then, the language of dic classical poetry (zajaO. This study of the metrical dimension of the history of Arabic poetical tradition in Medieval Spain is a continuation of the similar study of te classical poetry in the Mashriq undertaken in tlie autbor’s monographt. Not being a specialist in te history of Andalusian poetry, 1 nevertheless decided to publísh te statistical data on its metrical repertory, hoping that Wey might be useful to scholars working in te field. The driving impulse of this work was te aulhor’s conviction that, as E. Lévi-Proven~al puts it, “il serait... imprudent d’essayer de dégager les traits originaux qui la concernent, sans montrer simultanément ce que fut eh Espagne la grande tradition du classicisme oriental, á laquelle ce pays demeura toujours strictement attaché, et qui devait se manifester á chaque instant dans la plupart des branches du savoir qu’il re9ut et exploita”’. ACKNowLEDCEMENTS. 1 wish to express my deep gratitude to my first teacher of Arabic, te Spanisl’¡ scholar Alcaén Sánchez, whose approach to te interpretation of te quantitative basis of ‘Arad’ was te foundation and te starting point of my reflections on the subject. 1 ani also indebted to Prof. Alexander Kudelin, one of te few Russian arabista who made a substantial contrlbution to te study of te Andalusian poetry’, whose advice and critique, as well as free access to bis impressive collection of te Andalusian poetry made tis study possible. 1 also would like to thank my colleague Alexander Rubakin for revising te English text of tis article. Dmitry Frolov, The CkusicalArabic Verse: Historyand Theory of ‘Arad, Moscow 1991. E.. Lévi-Proven~al, Sn Civilisation arabe en Espagne, Paris 1961, p. 39. See A. Sanchez, “Concerning Use Nature of the System of Arabic Metrics”, in Arabic Philology, Moscow 1968. AB. Kudelin. Clasgical Spanish Arabic Poetry, Moscow 1973. Anaquel de Estudios Árabes, VI (1995) 88 Dmnitrv Frolov EXPERIMENtAL BASLS. Tables of [he metrical reperíory of [he Andalusian poctry duriííg its ínost creative period, starting from [he secoííd half of [he IOth century Al). and np lo [he 14th century AD., include [he statxstical data reprcseníiííg fouríecn poets, whosc uíames speak for themselves: 1. Ibn Hání al-Andalusí (d.972). - Di’wdn. Ed. Karazn al-Bustání, Beirut 1963. 85 pieces. 2. lbn Darraj al-Qasialíl (d.1030). - Dixvan. Ed. Mahmñd ‘AH Makki Damascus 1961. 173 pieces. 3. lbn Zaydún (d.1071). - Dfwún Ibn Zaydan wa-rasa’iluh. Ed. ‘AIf ‘Abd al- ‘Aiim, Cairo 1957. 173 pieces. 4. Ibn ‘Ammar (d.1Q84 or 1086). - Saláh Khális, Muhainmad ibn ‘Aminar al-Andalusí Dirasa adabiyya tarikhiyya, Baghdad 1957. 76 pieces. 5. AI-Mu’tamid ibn ‘Abbád (d.1095). - Díwdn. Ed. Alunad Mimad al- Badawí & llámid ‘Abd al-Majid, Cairo 1951. 176 pieces. 6. AI-A’má al-Tutilí (d. 1131). - Dfwdn. lSd. Ihsán ‘AMias, Beirut 1963. 88 pieces. 7. lbn l-lamdt (d.1133). - DI’wdn. Ed. Ihsán ‘Abbás, Beirut 1960. 370 pteces. 8. Ibn al-Zaqqáq al-Balansí (d.1133 or 1135). - Drwan. lSd. Afifa Mahmúd Dayr¿ni, Beimt 1964. 149 pieces. 9. Ibn Khatája (d.1138). - Dtwan. Ed. Kara¿n al-Bustañí, Beirut 1961. 360 pieces. 10. AI-Rusáfi al-Balansí (d.1177). - Drwan. lSd. lhsán ‘Abbá<s Beirut 1960. 59 pieces. 11. lbn Sahí al-Andalusí (d.1251). - Díwcln. Ed. lhsán ‘Abbá.s Beirut 1967. 136 pieces. 12, Ibn al-’Abbár (d.1260). - Díwjn. lSd. ‘Abd al-Salám al-liaras Tunis 1986. 245 pieces. 13. Hn~im nl~QartAjann1(d.1285). - Dñvan. Ed ‘TT’h.~n.’ ~ Beirut 1964. 44 pieces. 14. lbn al-Khatlb (d.1374). - Di’wan. Ed. Muhammad al-Sharff Qáhir Alger 1973. 353 pieces. Number of poetical pieces in each Díwan does not include muwashshah poems [hat are not in conformity with [he ‘Arad. Por diree poets (nos.. 1. 3, 9), meters werc defined by ínyself and for alí [he res;, dic data was taken from [he Díwe§in. Ambiguous cases, such as [he borderline between hazaj and shorl wdfir, or between rajaz and meters adjacent to it (sari’, mnunsari4), were treated in accordance wi[h [he approach presented in [he aboye snonograph. Short fonns were placed separately, as well as a peculiar form of basa which is kííown as mukhalla’ al-basa. Summary data for four basic meters of [he Qasida tradition: ww¿i, basa, wajir, kamil, and for alí short verse forms were included in [he taNes as separate lines. Data of [he ínetrical repertory of [he poetry in al- Notes on ihe history of ‘Arúd in al-Andalus 89 Mashriq, used as [he basis for comparison, were titen from [he au[hor s monograph5. IIISTORICAL BACKCROUND. Classical Arabic verse developed from folklore foundation of aneient recital and song forms of rhy[hmical speech used by Nortbem Arabian tibes. Wc can reconstruct [hree such forms: rajaz, mostly a declamatory fonn, being [he direct continuation of ancient saj’; hazaj, whose roots come from [he autoch[honous, now extinct, tradition of song and music of bedouins of Central and West Arabia; ramal, wbose origins can be traced back to [he traditiotí of singing, únported to [he Peninsula from [he Sasanid Iran, mainly [hrough 1-lira, [he seat of Lakhmid kings6. Of te two song forms only one, hazaj, is Arabic in its origins, anó it is doubtless much older [han [he o[her. The evolution of [he inner structure from prinitive verse forms to a more stnct metrical order brought into existence an altemating rhy[hm of a clearly quantitative nature, based on a watid-sabab alternation, where [he longer segment, watid, plays [he role of arsis, while dic shorter segment, sabab, tbat of thesis. This rhythm liad three variations corresponding to [heaboye archaic verse forms: ascending, where watid is placed at te end of each foot (rajaz rhytbm); descending, where each foot begins wi[h watid (hazaj rhy[hm); ané intermediate, where watid stands in [he centre of [he foot (ramal rhythm). Each basic rhytbm gaye birtb to a “family” of closely related meters. Thus, dic hazaj family comprises such meters as tawtl, wc7fir, ,nutaquirib, as well as [he ‘Arad version of hazaj; [he rajaz family, basa, kamil, sari’, munsarih, mujtathth, not to mention rajaz proper; and [he ramal family, [he smallest olie. includes only three meters - khafff, ramal proper, and ¡nadal, which is actually a rare variation of ramal. These “families” played different roles in [he making of [he metrical repertory of Arabic poetry. The image of Pte-Islamic poetry, reflected (or created) by anthologies compiled during dic period of “written flxation” (al-tadwiin), beginning in [he second half of te 8[h century AD. and ending at [he dawn of [he I0[h century AL)., is still dominant in Modem Arabic Culture and in [he works on [hehistory of Arabie poetry by Furopean scholars. This view places [he centre of poetical activity in Northern Arabia. The poetical heritage of [he bedouin tribes loc’ated [here appears as basically uniform in different aspects of poetic art. The metrical repertory of [his ancientpoetry. or [heqasid tradition, seems to be characterized by te following distinctive features: ‘These data can be compared wuth tose given in the carlier works on Use metrical repertory of Use Arabic poeíry. .11 of Usem treating exclusively poets of al-Mashriq: E, Braunlich, “Versuch e’ner Literaturgeschichtlichen Betrachtungsweise altarabisehen Poesien”, Der Islam, 24. 1937; J. Vadet, “Contribution a Ibistoire de la metrique arabe”, Arabica, 2, 1955; J.Bensheikh, Poetique arabe. Erraj sur les vojes duce créa¡ion, Paris 1975, pp. 203-227. 6 Ibid, chs.4 and 5, Pp. 94-156. ‘Arad meters Usat bear the same names: rajaz, hazaj, ramal, are nol identical with this archaic verse forms, though they are their direct decsendants. 90 Dmitry Frolov 1) unchallenged priority of iawil, [he main qasíd meter, whose share is generally no less [han one [hird of [he total poetical production, often reaching over 50 percení, which resulta aNo in prevalence of descending rhytbm meters; 2) predominance of four basic (long) meters of [he qasi’d: iawil, basa, wdfir, ¡cornil, whose share oscillates aboye [he mark of 90%, only rarely falling beiow 80%; 3) very low rate of meters of [he [huidrhytkn ([he ramal family), wbose total share vanes from zero to 1,5%, only occasionally reaching [he mark of 4- 5%; 4) rarity of short verse forms, used mainly for singing (hazaj, ¡cornil, ramal, khajjf), as qasíd poetry was intended primnarily for declamation. Table 1 shows confonnity between an[hologies of oídpoetry, exemplified by Hamasa of Abú Tammám, wi[h individual Di’wáns of l’re-Islmnic poets, and [he continuation and even accentuation of [heir common metrical tendencies in Early Islarnic and Umayyad poetry’. This metrical picture is in principIe correct, but only for pat of classical poetry. As far as 1 know, Prof.Gmnebaum was dic first to realize [hat side by side wi[h [he bedouin school of ¿netric diere existed anotber school, originated in 1-lira. In his foreword to [he Iii>i’wdn of Abú Du’ád al-lyádi, wbich he himself collected and published, Prof. Grunebaum wrote: “As an unexpected reward... Abú Du’ád emerged as an important figure in literary history, enabling us to form new concepts of [he literary situation in [hose parts of [he ‘arabiyya which from about AD.