A Literary History of the Arabs Part 14

After lamenting the departure of his beloved the poet bids himself think no more about her: he will ride swiftly away from the spot. Naturally, he must praise his camel, and he introduces by way of comparison two wonderful pictures of animal life. In the former the onager is described racing at full speed over the backs of the hills when thirst and hunger drive him with his mate far from the barren solitudes into which they usually retire. The second paints a wild-cow, whose young calf has been devoured by wolves, sleeping among the sand-dunes through a night of incessant rain. At daybreak "her feet glide over the firm wet soil." For a whole week she runs to and fro, anxiously seeking her calf, when suddenly she hears the sound of hunters approaching and makes off in alarm. Being unable to get within bowshot, the hunters loose their dogs, but she turns desperately upon them, wounding one with her needle-like horn and killing another.

Then, once more addressing his beloved, the poet speaks complacently of his share in the feasting and revelling, on which a n.o.ble Arab plumes himself hardly less than on his bravery:--

"Know'st thou not, O Nawar, that I am wont to tie The cords of love, yet also snap them without fear?

That I abandon places when I like them not, Unless Death chain the soul and straiten her career?

Nay, surely, but thou know'st not I have pa.s.sed in talk Many a cool night of pleasure and convivial cheer, And often to a booth, above which hung for sign A banner, have resorted when old wine was dear.

For no light price I purchased many a dusky skin Or black clay jar, and broached it that the juice ran clear; And many a song of shrill-voiced singing-girl I paid, And her whose fingers made sweet music to mine ear."[244]

Continuing, he boasts of dangerous service as a spy in the enemy's country, when he watched all day on the top of a steep crag; of his fearless demeanour and dignified a.s.sertion of his rights in an a.s.sembly at ?ira, to which he came as a delegate, and of his liberality to the poor. The closing verses are devoted, in accordance with custom, to matters of immediate interest and to a panegyric on the virtues of the poet's kin.

Besides the authors of the _Mu'allaqat_ three poets may be mentioned, of whom the two first-named are universally acknowledged to rank with the greatest that Arabia has produced--Nabigha, A'sha, and 'Alqama.

[Sidenote: Nabigha of Dhubyan.]

Nabigha[245]--his proper name is Ziyad b. Mu'awiya, of the tribe Dhubyan--lived at the courts of Gha.s.san and ?ira during the latter half of the century before Islam. His chief patron was King Nu'man b.

Mundhir Abu Qabus of ?ira. For many years he basked in the sunshine of royal favour, enjoying every privilege that Nu'man bestowed on his most intimate friends. The occasion of their falling out is differently related. According to one story, the poet described the charms of Queen Mutajarrida, which Nu'man had asked him to celebrate, with such charm and liveliness as to excite her husband's suspicion; but it is said--and Nabigha's own words make it probable--that his enemies denounced him as the author of a scurrilous satire against Nu'man which had been forged by themselves. At any rate he had no choice but to quit ?ira with all speed, and ere long we find him in Gha.s.san, welcomed and honoured, as the panegyrist of King 'Amr b. ?arith and the n.o.ble house of Jafna.

But his heart was in ?ira still. Deeply wounded by the calumnies of which he was the victim, he never ceased to affirm his innocence and to lament the misery of exile. The following poem, which he addressed to Nu'man, is at once a justification and an appeal for mercy[246]:--

"They brought me word, O King, thou blamedst me; For this am I o'erwhelmed with grief and care.

I pa.s.sed a sick man's night: the nurses seemed, Spreading my couch, to have heaped up briars there.

Now (lest thou cherish in thy mind a doubt) Invoking our last refuge, G.o.d, I swear That he, whoever told thee I was false, Is the more lying and faithless of the pair.

Exiled perforce, I found a strip of land Where I could live and safely take the air: Kings made me arbiter of their possessions, And called me to their side and spoke me fair-- Even as thou dost grace thy favourites Nor deem'st a fault the grat.i.tude they bear.[247]

O leave thine anger! Else, in view of men A mangy camel, smeared with pitch, I were.

Seest thou not G.o.d hath given thee eminence Before which monarchs tremble and despair?

All other kings are stars and thou a sun: When the sun rises, lo, the heavens are bare!

A friend in trouble thou wilt not forsake; I may have sinned: in sinning all men share.

If I am wronged, thou hast but wronged a slave, And if thou spar'st, 'tis like thyself to spare."

It is pleasant to record that Nabigha was finally reconciled to the prince whom he loved, and that ?ira again became his home. The date of his death is unknown, but it certainly took place before Islam was promulgated. Had the opportunity been granted to him he might have died a Moslem: he calls himself 'a religious man' (_dhu ummatin_),[248] and although the tradition that he was actually a Christian lacks authority, his long residence in Syria and 'Iraq must have made him acquainted with the externals of Christianity and with some, at least, of its leading ideas.

[Sidenote: A'sha.]

The grave and earnest tone characteristic of Nabigha's poetry seldom prevails in that of his younger contemporary, Maymun b. Qays, who is generally known by his surname, al-A'sha--that is, 'the man of weak sight.' A professional troubadour, he roamed from one end of Arabia to the other, harp in hand, singing the praises of those who rewarded him; and such was his fame as a satirist that few ventured to withhold the bounty which he asked. By common consent he stands in the very first rank of Arabian poets. Abu 'l-Faraj, the author of the _Kitabu 'l-Aghani_, declares him to be superior to all the rest, adding, however, "this opinion is not held unanimously as regards A'sha or any other." His wandering life brought him into contact with every kind of culture then existing in Arabia. Although he was not an avowed Christian, his poetry shows to what an extent he was influenced by the Bishops of Najran, with whom he was intimately connected, and by the Christian merchants of ?ira who sold him their wine. He did not rise above the pagan level of morality.

It is related that he set out to visit Mu?ammad for the purpose of reciting to him an ode which he had composed in his honour. When the Quraysh heard of this, they feared lest their adversary's reputation should be increased by the panegyric of a bard so famous and popular. Accordingly, they intercepted him on his way, and asked whither he was bound. "To your kinsman," said he, "that I may accept Islam." "He will forbid and make unlawful to thee certain practices of which thou art fond." "What are these?" said A'sha.

"Fornication," said Abu Sufyan, "I have not abandoned it," he replied, "but it has abandoned me. What else?" "Gambling." "Perhaps I shall obtain from him something to compensate me for the loss of gambling. What else?" "Usury." "I have never borrowed nor lent. What else?" "Wine." "Oh, in that case I will drink the water I have left stored at al-Mihras." Seeing that A'sha was not to be deterred, Abu Sufyan offered him a hundred camels on condition that he should return to his home in Yamama and await the issue of the struggle between Mu?ammad and the Quraysh. "I agree," said A'sha. "O ye Quraysh," cried Abu Sufyan, "this is A'sha, and by G.o.d, if he becomes a follower of Mu?ammad, he will inflame the Arabs against you by his poetry. Collect, therefore, a hundred camels for him."[249]

A'sha excels in the description of wine and wine-parties. One who visited Manfu?a in Yamama, where the poet was buried, relates that revellers used to meet at his grave and pour out beside it the last drops that remained in their cups. As an example of his style in this _genre_ I translate a few lines from the most celebrated of his poems, which is included by some critics among the _Mu'allaqat_:--

"Many a time I hastened early to the tavern--while there ran At my heels a ready cook, a nimble, active serving-man-- 'Midst a gallant troop, like Indian scimitars, of mettle high; Well they know that every mortal, shod and bare alike, must die.

Propped at ease I greet them gaily, them with myrtle-boughs I greet, Pa.s.s among them wine that gushes from the jar's mouth bittersweet.

Emptying goblet after goblet--but the source may no man drain-- Never cease they from carousing save to cry, 'Fill up again!'

Briskly runs the page to serve them: on his ears hang pearls: below, Tight the girdle draws his doublet as he bustles to and fro.

'Twas the harp, thou mightest fancy, waked the lute's responsive note, When the loose-robed chantress touched it and sang shrill with quavering throat.

Here and there among the party damsels fair superbly glide: Each her long white skirt lets trail and swings a wine-skin at her side."[250]

[Sidenote: 'Alqama.]

Very little is known of the life of 'Alqama b. 'Abada, who was surnamed _al-Fa?l_ (the Stallion). His most famous poem is that which he addressed to the Gha.s.sanid ?arith al-A'raj after the Battle of ?alima, imploring him to set free some prisoners of Tamim--the poet's tribe--among whom was his own brother or nephew, Shas. The following lines have almost become proverbial:--

"Of women do ye ask me? I can spy Their ailments with a shrewd physician's eye.

The man whose head is grey or small his herds No favour wins of them but mocking words.

Are riches known, to riches they aspire, And youthful bloom is still their heart's desire."[251]

[Sidenote: Elegiac poetry.]

In view of these slighting verses it is proper to observe that the poetry of Arabian women of the Pre-islamic period is distinctly masculine in character. Their songs are seldom of Love, but often of Death. Elegy (_ritha_ or _marthiya_) was regarded as their special province. The oldest form of elegy appears in the verses chanted on the death of Ta'abba?a Sharran by his sister:--

"O the good knight ye left low at Rakhman, Thabit son of Jabir son of Sufyan!

He filled the cup for friends and ever slew his man."[252]

"As a rule the Arabian dirge is very simple. The poetess begins with a description of her grief, of the tears that she cannot quench, and then she shows how worthy to be deeply mourned was he whom death has taken away. He is described as a pattern of the two princ.i.p.al Arabian virtues, bravery and liberality, and the question is anxiously asked, 'Who will now make high resolves, overthrow the enemy, and in time of want feed the poor and entertain the stranger?' If the hero of the dirge died a violent death we find in addition a burning l.u.s.t of revenge, a thirst for the slayer's blood, expressed with an intensity of feeling of which only women are capable."[253]

[Sidenote: Khansa.]

Among Arabian women who have excelled in poetry the place of honour is due to Khansa--her real name was Tuma?ir--who flourished in the last years before Islam. By far the most famous of her elegies are those in which she bewailed her valiant brothers, Mu'awiya and ?akhr, both of whom were struck down by sword or spear. It is impossible to translate the poignant and vivid emotion, the energy of pa.s.sion and n.o.ble simplicity of style which distinguish the poetry of Khansa, but here are a few verses:--

Death's messenger cried aloud the loss of the generous one, So loud cried he, by my life, that far he was heard and wide.

Then rose I, and scarce my soul could follow to meet the news, For anguish and sore dismay and horror that ?akhr had died.

In my misery and despair I seemed as a drunken man, Upstanding awhile--then soon his tottering limbs subside."[254]

_Yudhakkiruni ?ulu'u 'l-shamsi ?akhran wa-adhkuruhu likulli ghurubi shamsi._

"Sunrise awakes in me the sad remembrance Of ?akhr, and I recall him at every sunset."

[Sidenote: The last poets born in the Age of Paganism.]

To the poets who have been enumerated many might be added--_e.g._, ?a.s.san b. Thabit, who was 'retained' by the Prophet and did useful work on his behalf; Ka'b b. Zuhayr, author or the famous panegyric on Mu?ammad beginning "_Banat Su'ad_" (Su'ad has departed); Mutammim b.

Nuwayra, who, like Khansa, mourned the loss of a brother; Abu Mi?jan, the singer of wine, whose devotion to the forbidden beverage was punished by the Caliph 'Umar with imprisonment and exile; and al-?u?ay'a (the Dwarf), who was unrivalled in satire. All these belonged to the cla.s.s of _Mukha?ramun_, _i.e._, they were born in the Pagan Age but died, if not Moslems, at any rate after the proclamation of Islam.

[Sidenote: Collections of ancient poetry.]

The grammarians of Ba?ra and Kufa, by whom the remains of ancient Arabian poetry were rescued from oblivion, arranged and collected their material according to various principles. Either the poems of an individual or those of a number of individuals belonging to the same tribe or cla.s.s were brought together--such a collection was called _Diwan_, plural _Dawawin_; or, again, the compiler edited a certain number of _qa?idas_ chosen for their fame or excellence or on other grounds, or he formed an anthology of shorter pieces or fragments, which were arranged under different heads according to their subject-matter.

[Sidenote: Diwans.]

Among _Diwans_ mention may be made of _The Diwans of the Six Poets_, viz. Nabigha, 'Antara, ?arafa, Zuhayr, 'Alqama, and Imru'u 'l-Qays, edited with a full commentary by the Spanish philologist al-A'lam ( 1083 A.D.) and published in 1870 by Ahlwardt; and of _The Poems of the Hudhaylites_ (_Ash'aru 'l-Hudhaliyyin_) collected by al-Sukkari ( 888 A.D.), which have been published by Kosegarten and Wellhausen.

The chief Anthologies, taken in the order of their composition, are:--

[Sidenote: Anthologies. 1. The _Mu'allaqat_.]

1. The _Mu'allaqat_, which is the t.i.tle given to a collection of seven odes by Imru'u 'l-Qays, ?arafa, Zuhayr, Labid, 'Antara, 'Amr b.

Kulthum, and ?arith b. ?illiza; to these two odes by Nabigha and A'sha are sometimes added. The compiler was probably ?ammad al-Rawiya, a famous rhapsodist of Persian descent, who flourished under the Umayyads and died in the second half of the eighth century of our era. As the _Mu'allaqat_ have been discussed above, we may pa.s.s on directly to a much larger, though less celebrated, collection dating from the same period, viz.:--

[Sidenote: 2. The _Mufa??aliyyat_.]