UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Abu Tammam's Elegies on Halid ibn Yazid al-Shaybani Schippers, A. Publication date 1994 Document Version Final published version Published in Festschrift Ewald Wagner zum 65. Geburtstag. Band 2: Studien zur arabischen Dichtung Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Schippers, A. (1994). Abu Tammam's Elegies on Halid ibn Yazid al-Shaybani. In G. Schoeler, & W. Heinrichs (Eds.), Festschrift Ewald Wagner zum 65. Geburtstag. Band 2: Studien zur arabischen Dichtung (pp. 297-315). (Beiruter Texte und Studies; No. 54). Franz Steiner Verlag. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:06 Oct 2021 ABU TAMMAM'S ELEGIES ON ijALID IBN YAZID AL-SAYBANf BY ARIE SCHIPPERS The elegy in Arabic poetry is an ancient 'mode' of poetry that de­ veloped separately from the poly thematic qa.yida. Certain themes and formulas within the Arabic elegy can trace their origin to pre-Islamic l times . The poetry of Abu Tammam is representative of a manneristic trend in poetry at the time of the cAbbasids. At the same time, Abu Tammam's poetic style also has many individualistic characteristics, such as the accu­ 2 mulation of genitive metaphors and paronomasia • To judge from Ibn c 3 Rasiq's remarks in the Kitiib al_ Umda , Abu Tammam can be considered exemplary in terms of the treatment of elegiac motifs and sequence of themes. In its early stages of development, the Arabic elegy has some signi­ ficant characteristics, both at the formal as well as the conceptual level. Goldziher has already pointed out how the old elegy probably originated 4 in the niyiil:za of the wailing women . Their lamentation contains many repetitions of formulas, a concept which we see reflected in elegies such as those of the early poetess al-Ijansa), who exhorted her eye to weep for 1 Cf. EWALD WAGNER: Grundziige der klassischen arabischen Dichtung, Band I: Die altarabische Dichtung, Darmstadt 1987, pp. 116 - 134 [Trauergedichte), esp. p. 119. 2 Cf. ARJE SCHIPPERS : "The Genitive Metaphor in the Poetry or Abu Tammam", Proceedings of the 9th Congress of the UEAI, Amsterdam 1978, Leiden 1981, pp. 248-1265. 3 cr. Ibn Ra§Iq: Kitiib al-cUmda fl maf:ziisin al-sicr wa-iidiibi-hi wa-naqdi-h, ed. MU/:lAMMAD MUJ:lyj AL-DrN cABo AL-l:iAMiD, Beirut [repro Cairo )1972 (4), vol. II, pp. 148 - 9, 153. 4 cr. IGNAZ GOLDZIHER: "Bemerkungen zur arabischen Trauerpoesie", WZKM 16 (1902), pp. 307 - 339 = Gesammelte Schriften, ed. JOSEPH DESOMOGYI , Hildesheim 1967 - 73, vol. IV, pp. 361 - 393. 298 ARIE SCHIPPERS [2 her deceased brother Sagr, a theme which was repeated several times s . Other examples of typical elegiac features deriving from the niyiiba of the wailing women to be found in her poetry are the parallel grammatical constructions, such as ba!{iibu maf~alatin - farriigu muflimatin - bammiilu alwiyatin - sahhiidu angiyatin - qa{!iiCu awdiyatin6 . Tar$fc occurs frequen tly 7. In addition to the above mentioned parallel structures and internal rhyme, which we could call characteristic no. I of the elegy, the themes and motifs that frequently occur in elegiac poetry ares: 2. description of sorrow and affliction. Participation of the universe (cosmos, animals, doves, other human beings) in the poet's grief; 3. consolation motifs such as "Every living being is doomed to die"; the faithlessness and perfidy of the World, the vicissitudes of Fate, etc. 9 ; 4. laudatory passages about the deceased; 5. condolences for members of the family of the deceased; 6. invocation and address to the deceased person and benediction on him and the grave: 'Maya rain fall upon it!'. Various early elements occur in Abu Tammam's elegies. However, in our analysis we will concentrate upon two of his 'official' elegies, which were probably composed one year before his death lO. We have already noted on another occasion that his elegies about friends and family mem­ bers have a character other than the 'official' ones, in which the poet has to confine himself to poetic conventions 11. The poet Abu Tammam was very interested in the work of his predecessors and their elegiac poetry. In addition to incorporations of ancient elegiac devices and texts in his ele­ gies, he also openly refers to famous elegists of earlier poetry, such as 5 cr. WAGNER: op. cit. , p. 119. 6 Ibidem. 7 Cf. WAGNER: op. cit., p. 120; N . RHODOKANAKIS: AI-fJansii' und ihre Trauerlieder, Vienna 1904 [WZKM Abhandlungen IV], pp. 37 sqq. 8 cr. ARIE SCHIPPERS: Arabic Tradition & Hebrew Innovation, Arabic themes in Heb­ rew Andalusian Poetry, Amsterdam 1988 (diss.), pp. 290-338, especially p. 293. 9 cr. SCHIPPERS: Arabic Tradition, pp. 308 -321; C. H. BECKER: lslamstudien, Leipzig 1924, pp. 501 - 519. 10 Abu Tammam died in 231 H according to his son (Cr. ai-SuIT: Abbiir AM Tammiim, ed. tiALIL MAJ:lMUD cASAKLR, Cairo 1937, p. 273); cr. FUAT SEZGIN, GAS, vol. II , Leiden 1975, pp. 551 - 558. 11 cr. ARIE SCHIPPERS: "Abu Tammam's Unofficial Elegies", Acts of the 10th Congress U. E. A.l., Edinburgh 1980, Edinburgh 1982, pp. 101 - 106. 3] ABO TAMMAM'S ELEGIES 299 Mutammim ibn Nuwayra, well-known for his elegies about his brother Malik; and LabTd, famous because of his elegies on his brother Arbad 12 . Abu Tammam's fame as an elegist is amply attested in ibn RaiiIq's Kitiib al_ c Umda. For example, we find some striking remarks about Abu Tammam in the chapter dedicated to elegies. Ibn Raslq refers to Abu Tammam's opinion that elegies should be built on extreme sadness, quot­ ing a famous elegiac naslb line by Abu Tammam 13: Law-fa -1-tafagguCu la-ddaca ha¢bu f-/fimii Wa-~afa -I-Musaqqari anna-hu mal;zunu [Kamil] 'If there were no painful affliction, then even the hills ofal-J:lima and the stones of al-Musaqqar (i.e. a mountain) can pretend that they are sad,' In the Kitiib al_cUmda we find moreover some other statements about Abu Tammam as an elegist. Ibn Raslq states that Abu Tammam belongs 14 to the few who wrote excellent elegies . He quotes three examples from Abu Tammam's elegies: among them a rii)iyya on Mul:1ammad ibn J:lumayd al-TusTwho was slain by Babak in the year 214H 15. This rii )iyya by Abu Tammam is no doubt the most famous one. It was much discussed in the poet's own time and afterwards 16. Dicbil, how­ ever, declared the whole poem to be a theft or plagiarism (sariqa), from l7 Muknif, a son of Zuhayr ibn AbI Sulma . He quotes Muknifs poem, which contains identical lines. Of particular interest to the poet's contemporaries was the first line of this elegy in which great distress is described without reference to the death 12 Cf. Abu Tammam: Diwiin [bi-sar& al-tJa!Ib al-TibrlzI], ed. MUJ:lAMMAD 'ABDUH 'AZZAM, IV, Cairo 1965, pp. [poem No. 188, line 19J, p. 63. 13 Cf. Ibn Ra~Iq: Kitiib al-'Umda. p. 153, Cf. Abu Tammam: op. cit., vol. III, Cairo 1970(2), p. 324, line 8 (rhyme unu; metre Kiimi/). This line is from a nasib of a laudatory poem on the caliph al-Waliq. 14 cr. Ibn Raslq: loc. cit. 15 Abu Tammam: op. cit., IV, pp. 79 sqq. [poem No. 192; rhyme ru; metre: TaWIl]. This is one of his early poems, probably composed in Egypt. See also 'ABDUL l:iAQ: "Abu Tammam, His Life and Poetry", in Islamic Studies (1952), pp. 17 sqq. For Babak and the Khurramiyyah, cf. £[2. 16 cr. Abu I-Farag al-I~bahanI: Kitiib al-Agani. ed. 'ABo AL-SALAM MUI:lAMMAD HARUN, Cairo s.d., vol. XVI: 396-397; aI-SuIT: Abbar Abi Tammiim. pp. 25-136; al-AmidI: Kitiib al-Muwiizana bayna si'r Abl Tammiim wa-I-Buf:iluri. Cairo [Qaga'ir al-'arabJ, vol. I, Cairo 1961, ed. AL-SAYYID AI;lMAD SAQR, pp. 68 sqq. 17 Agiinl. loc. cit. 300 ARIE SCHIPPERS [4 l 8 of someone . The line begins with the unexplicable ka-g'a ("thus, so"): 1. Ka-g'a Ja-l-yagilla -l-ba!bu wa-l-yaJdalJi -l-amru Ja-laysa IPaynin lam yafi4 ma )u-ha cug'ru [TawIl] 1. So then, the disaster is great and things crush; there is no excuse for an eye's abundant water not to flow. A zealous defender of Abu Tammam saw the poet in a dream who said that there was originally a line before the first line, which contained more explicit information, so that the audience could understand much better the line with ka-g'a. Also much discussed was a line from the same poem which was borrowed from a typical pre-Islamic women's lamentation 19: 14.