Durham E-Theses The poet `Um©ara al-Yamanl `Alwash, Jawd A. How to cite: `Alwash, Jawd A. (1967) The poet `Um©ara al-Yamanl, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8079/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Tho Poot MJmara al-Yamani 1. Abu Muhammad ^Uiriar^ ibn VAii was born in tho Yomen in 515/1121, He studied jurisprudence at Zabid (531-535 A.H.) thon ho taught Shafi*i Jurisprudence there. TThilo on pilgrimage to Mecca in 538/Li^5 ho mot tho Quoen al-Hurra of Zabid and beoaino ono of hor close frionds. Ko began trading bott^oen Adon and Zabid in 533 A.II. , and became rich, famous, and a friend of Ibn Saba* (tho Dali of Aden), his Vizier BiJal b. Jarir and his secretary al-*Abdi. Ho was sent by tho Prince of "al-Haramain" (Qasim b. Hashim b. Falito), on a mission to tho Fatitnid Caliph (al-Fa'i^) in Egypt in 549 A.II. So successful was his mission that the Prmco of al-Horamain sent him on another mission m 553- A.H. He wont to Egypt and settled thoro, living happily until Saladin ended the Fatimid Caliphate in 5^7 A.II. when 'Uraara was involvod in a plot to roplace tho son of the last Fatimid Caliph on the throno. Tho plot was betrayed and UUmara was exocuted on 2 Ramadan 5^9/6 April 1175) (Chapter 1 Part IP. 28 - 76). 2. *Umora had a good character, so that most peop3e lilcod and rospoctcd him. lie was a faithful and pious ruoslim, so that he seemed proud of his roligion. Ho bolongod to Sha.fi *i soct by birth, education and m his way of thinking; so it was said that ho was a fanatic of sunna. He was one of (2) the most learned of tho peoplo of his tlmo. lie studied jurisprudence, Tafsir Hadith, History, Arabic litorature and language. Then ho wroto many "books In addition to his "Diwan": al-Nukat ai-tAsriyya, Tarikh al-Yaman, ShularaJ al-Yamnn, al-FaraJicl and Sirat al-Sayyida Nafiaa. All this made him gain a good position in his society (Chapter ? P. 77 - 129). 3. lUmara'a pootic talent was rovoalod in Adon by the holp of al-*AbdI, grow at Zabid, and his fame made complete in Egypt especially when he joined "Diwan al-ShutaraJ1" m the Fatiiuia Caliphate. So ho became one of the groatost poets of his time until Saladm's roign when ho became noglected. (Chapter 1 Part II P. 131 - 159). 4. lUmara was a panegyrist. Ho was expert m eulogy in which was most of his pootry, but he also vrote in most of tho poetical themos common to his times olegy opistolary-poetry, satire, love-poetry, ascetic-poetry, doscriptive-pootry and other themos. (Chapter 2 P. 160 - 230). 5. 'Umara constantly sought to express his idoas lucidly, so most of his poetry was understood by ordinary (3) roaders. Although his stylo was not distinguished, it was adequate, and his language was eloquent. He was fond of rhotorica.1 flguros (Badit) which can bo soon in moat of his pootry. While ho avoided strange rhymos and rare metres ho wrote many "Urjuzas" and "Muwashshahs". (Chapter 3. P. 231 - 2S2), 6. iUmora mado us© of some of his predecessors' art, ospocially Abu Tammam, ai-Buh-curi and al-Muranabbi. Similarly some of his followers bonefittod from his art. His pootlc thought and descriptions reachod a high lovol, and ho won the admiration of Arabs evorywhere. His importance, then, was as a poet who was able to record in his poetry the events which happenod in his time, and ho was one of the pioneers of "Muwa3hshahou m the east. (Chaptor h. P. 283 - 318). J. A. cAl\jash A The Poet Mjmara al-Yamani Jawad A.cAlwash Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts m the University of Durham for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. School of Oriental Studies, Elvet Hill, Durham. June 1967. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author No quotation from it should be published without his prior wiirten consent and information demed from it should be acknowledged DEDICATION ^-— ) f. lUmara remains the symbol of a unique loyalty, the creator of veritable pearls of poetry. A star which illuminated his day and age, into the horizon of eloquence m Cairo. I dedicate this new "book, to his unsullied loyal Spirit. J.'Alwash. (2) Index Page Dedication j. Index 2 Preface 5 Transliteration 7 Introduction (His Background) 5 PART I ( 'Umlra's life) Chapter I. iHis Biography) 1. His Origin, Birth and Upbringing 23 2. At Zabld 28 3. His Marriage 29 4. To Mecca 32 5. To Aden 35 6. The First Poem 36 7. To H] aaz JLj.0 8. His Mission to Egypt 1+3 9. The Great Merchant 1+8 10. In Egypt 50 11. During the Time of the Ayyubids 67 12. His Death 7k Chapter II. (His Personality) 1. His Outward Appearance 77 2. His Character 79 3. His Habits and Hobbies 89 (3) i+. His Religion 93 5. His Madhhab 97 6. His Culture 106 7. His Works(a. The Diwan. b) Al- no Nukat al-lAsriyya. c) Tarikh al- Yaman. d) Sh^ara* al-Yaman. e) al-Fara1id. f) Sirat al- Sayyida NafTsa. g) Rasa-*il ^Umira.) 8. His Social Position 122 PART II {lUmara's Poetry) (The Stages m ^Umara's Poetical Development) 1. The Beginning 131 2. The Merchant Poet 135 3- The Ambassador Poet 12+2 k* The DTwan Poet 12+6 5. The Neglected Poet 151 Chapter 2 (The Themes of his Poetry) 1. Eulogy (.Madih): Panegyric 160 2. Elegy (Ritha') 180 3. Epistolary Poetry (al-Murasalat 191 al-Ikhwaniyya) i+. Satire (Hi3a') 197 5. Love Poetry (Ghazal) 205 6. Ascetic Poetry (Zuhdiyyat) 211+ 7. Descriptive Poetry (Wasf) 218 8. Other Themes 226 Chapter 3 (His Poetical Technique) 1. His Ideas 231 2. His Style and Language 239 3. The RhetoricaSFigures (Bad!1) 255 k» Rhyme (Qafiya) 2GU 5. His Metres (Buhur) 269 6. His'Raoaz' 2?2 7. His"Muwashshahat" 278 Chapter k (His Place m the History of Arabic Literature) 1. His Predecessors 283 2. His Creative Art 295 3. His Followers 301+ i+. His Importance "08 Conclusion 319 BibIn ography 322 5. Preface I farst "became interested m MJmara when I was writing an article about Rajih al-Hilli for "al-Ustadh", the academic magazine of the Faculty of Education m Baghdad University. Some Arab writers said that Rajih took his elegy on the death of the King al-Zahir of Aleppo irom lUmara. I wanted to see to what extent Rajih imitated vUmara, so I sought out his "Diwarw lihen 1 examined Derenboarg's edition, 1 found it interesting and thought it would be worth academic research. This thesis is concerned only with lUmara's poetry, (2 ) since its title is "The Poet Hlmara al-Yamani". v ' The iirst part is devoted to the study of his life and his personality, and examines his character, habits, religion, sect and culture. Part two is devoted to his poetry. It consists of four chapters, m which the development of his poetry, themes ana techniques are studied. The introduction gives a brief picture of his time, brief because there are quite a number of books, m Arabic, English and other languages, which aeal with varying (7.) aspects ol this period. w/ (1) Al-Ustadh, V.10, 1962 (2) The letter of the University of Durham* 2nd December, 196k. (3) Hasan, Ibrahim, Tarikh al-Dawla al-Fatimiyya 67I+-70O lUmara himself gave us good references, "because he wrote his "biography at the beginning of his "book "al-Nukat al-lAsriyya", which is one of the principal sources of this thesis, and the Petersburg (Pet.) and Copenhagen (Cop.) manuscrips of his"Diwan" also. Of course, some other works contributed to the study of lUmara, for example Derenbourg's '"-Oumara du Yemen" (Der.). I would like to thank all these friends who helped me m different fields My supervisor, Mr. J.A. Haywood, Miss N. Kahtan; Mr. & Mrs. M. Willstrop; Mr. A. Faruki, and all the staff of the library m the School of Oriental Studies. (7) Transliteration b « > i J t m r th n o 3 w 3 h h Jb • kh {• a > y dh Vowels: > r J U Short Damma z J 0- Short Fatha — s ur i Short Kasra sh U Long Damma s o° a Long Fatha • n d 1 Long Kasra • t Diphthongs: • z an or aw t L ai or ay <_> gh L f a 3 k 3 8 INTRODUCTION (His Background) (I) The sixth A.H. Century was the epoch of lUmara, "because his life covered just over the first half of that century.