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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

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Summary of the Book:

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*Ramadan: Events and Lessons*

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The Death of the Great Poet,

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Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Mutanabbi.

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Time:

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The month of Ramadan,

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In the year 354 AH.

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Poetry is a human art form

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to which souls naturally incline;

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they find solace when it is recited,

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delight in the shelter of its reading and study,

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fall in love with its finest verses,

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and savor its repetition and recitation.

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Through its meters and the rhythm of its words,

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emotions dance,

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and hearts respond

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far more than to prose, even when refined.

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Fluent classical Arabic poetry

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is the finest type of poetry,

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the most profoundly impactful, the most elevated in expression,

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and the sweetest in utterance.

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No souls turn away from it except those

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whose share of the Arabic language is meager,

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whose natural dispositions have altered,

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tilting toward foreign languages,

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or who have spent too long speaking or listening to

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colloquial dialects—

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causing fluent poetry to become foreign to them

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and distant from their culture.

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Poetry in Islam

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is such that the good of it is like good speech,

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and the bad of it is like bad speech.

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Thus, there is good poetry,

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and there is bad poetry.

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The good poetry is that which encourages virtues,

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clothes itself in wisdom and sound purpose,

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and grants the recipient a beneficial portion

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of Arabic sciences—

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through vocabulary, meanings,

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structures, sentences, imagery,

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and moving metaphors.

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Bad poetry is that which incites to vice,

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praises deviation from the truth,

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slanders honor,

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attacks protected personages,

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and relies on falsehood, defamation, and base desires,

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until its author uses it to achieve personal gain

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or cause harm to others.

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Truly, poetry on the scales of justice

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is judged by its form and content together,

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not by one to the exclusion of the other.

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A poem or a single verse

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may come adorned in a splendid, glittering garb

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of fine words

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and pleasing structures,

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while beneath those expressions lie

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sublime meanings

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and noble aims.

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This is beautiful poetry,

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as it combines two virtues

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and encompasses dual excellence:

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the excellence of form and the excellence of meaning.

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However, if its form is beautiful but its meaning is vile,

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its standing with a lover of wholesome poetry

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stops at the senses of hearing and sight,

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never progressing beyond that to leave a lasting impact

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or gain genuine acceptance in the soul.

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Regarding good poetry,

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masters of the word—in both prose and verse—have competed

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in calling toward it and encouraging its use.

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Al-Raghib al-Isfahani cited

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that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

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"Through poetry, anger is placated,

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feuds are extinguished,

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people reach their destination,

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and the petitioner is given."

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And he said:

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"What a wonderful gift for an honorable man

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are lines of verse he presents prior to his need,

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gaining thereby the favor of the generous

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and eliciting generosity from the miserly!"

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'Abd al-Malik said:

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"Learn poetry,

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for in it are noble qualities to be sought."

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It was also said:

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To proceed:

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Literature has ever been beloved throughout antiquity,

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and its possessor—despite changing circumstances—remains drawn near and sought after.

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Among the greatest literary arts of the Arabs was

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poetry,

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which was the compendium of their eloquence,

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the collection of their virtues,

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the record of their historic days and lineages,

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and the preserver of their origins, noble deeds,

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alliances, and ancestral honor.

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They perfumed their intimate gatherings with its fragrance,

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and through it, recognized the distinction of their present over their past.

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It is not hidden from those versed in Arabic

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that it is a language teeming with great poets

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who immortalized it, and so it immortalized them;

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they elevated its stature through their verse,

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and so it elevated their standing.

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At the forefront of these poets

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was their claimant to prophecy, Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi,

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for whom the month of Ramadan

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in the year 354 AH

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was the appointed time of his departure from this life.

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His Name, Lineage, and Birth:

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He is the famous poet, sage,

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and one of the prides of Arabic literature:

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Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Hasan ibn 'Abd al-Samad

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al-Ju'fi al-Kufi al-Kindi,

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Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi,

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who filled the world and captivated people's minds.

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He was born in the year 303 AH

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in Kufa, in a quarter called Kindah,

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to which he was attributed—

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though he was not actually from Kindah

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as a tribe,

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but rather belonged to the tribe of Ju'f;

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he was Ju'fi ibn Sa'd al-'Ashirah ibn Madhhij.

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The Reason for His Title "Al-Mutanabbi":

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The epithet "Al-Mutanabbi" (the Pretender to Prophecy) stuck to Abu al-Tayyib

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even more than his name and agnomen,

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and by it he became known among both the elite and the common folk.

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His being described with this title has a story behind it.

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'Ali ibn Mansur mentioned in his letter to Al-Ma'arri

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that Al-Mutanabbi was arrested during the vizierate of

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'Ali ibn 'Isa and imprisoned.

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He was then brought forth and questioned,

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whereupon he confessed to claiming prophecy.

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So he ordered that he be slapped,

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and he was struck fifty times

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and returned to prison.

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After these events transpired,

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he used to attribute what had occurred from him

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to youthful recklessness.

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His Panegyric Journeys:

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Al-Mutanabbi's soul was not one

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that liked to reside in contentment

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and live in its shadow;

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rather, his soul

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constantly aspired toward boundless horizons.

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Moreover, the abundance of royal gifts

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served as a Qiblah for him,

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toward which he turned wherever it might be.

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Therefore, he traveled among kings

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and never settled permanently with anyone,

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even though he prolonged his stay with Sayf al-Dawlah,

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who was the most beloved of those he praised,

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and through whose praise he achieved fame and renown.

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Kings sought his favor,

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yet he adhered closely to Sayf al-Dawlah

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ever since he joined him

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around the year 337 AH,

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praising him in immortal odes.

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Ibn Hamdan extended his hand to him with generous bounties.

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Because he held such a high station with him,

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many poets envied him,

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as did the courtiers of Sayf al-Dawlah.

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Consequently, a rift occurred between them,

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followed by their ultimate separation.

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Among the reasons for his departure from Aleppo was that Ibn Khalawayh

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said to him in the court of Sayf al-Dawlah:

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"Were it not for your ignorance,

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you would not be content to be called Al-Mutanabbi!

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For the meaning of Al-Mutanabbi

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is a liar,

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and a rational person does not accept being called a liar."

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He replied: "I am not pleased with this,

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but I have no power to prevent those who address me by it."

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The argument between them continued

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until Ibn Khalawayh grew enraged

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and struck his face with a key he had with him,

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wounding his head.

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He left with blood flowing onto his clothes;

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angered, he departed Aleppo for Egypt

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in the year 346 AH.

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He set out toward Kafur al-Ikhshidi

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and praised him in several odes.

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However, when Kafur failed to satisfy him,

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he satirized him and abandoned him on the night of 'Eid al-Adha

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in the year 350 AH.

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Kafur dispatched riding mounts after him

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in various directions,

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but he could not be overtaken.

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Kafur had previously promised him

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governorship over some of his domains;

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but when he observed his arrogance in his poetry

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and his lofty self-regard, he grew fearful.

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When censured regarding Al-Mutanabbi,

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he said:

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"O people!

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One who claimed prophecy after Muhammad,

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peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—

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would he not claim kingship alongside Kafur?"

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That explanation sufficed them.

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After Egypt, he headed to Baghdad.

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Thus, He praised some of its people.

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He then arrived in Kufa.

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And Ibn al-'Amid praised it

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Thus, 30,000 dinars reached him from his side.

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He then marched toward Persia.

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So 'Adud al-Dawlah praised him with a line of poetry.

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He granted him abundant wealth.

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It is nearly 200,000 dirhams.

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And it was said:

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In fact, he acquired approximately thirty thousand dinars from it.

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Then he sent someone secretly to ask him.

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How wonderful that is!

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Gifts from 'Adud al-Dawlah Buwayh

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or the gifts of Sayf al-Dawlah Ibn Hamdan.

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So he said,

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This is more generous.

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And within it, there is affectation.

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And that is the minimum.

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Rather, it is given willingly by the one who provides it.

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Because it concerns the nature of

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This is a matter of affectation.

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Poetry

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The poetry of Abu al-Tayyib was indeed

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Among the highest tier of the modern poets.

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And his poetry attained widespread renown.

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And it was passed down by the tongues of all the people.

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From among the kings, the scholars, and the common people.

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Even those living in the remote desert regions.

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Due to the grandeur and eloquence that characterized it.

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Which is never devoid of tenderness and beautiful imagery.

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And the breadth of imagination and the depth of thought.

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And the ability to adapt words and sentence structures.

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According to what He wills.

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Ibn Kathir said

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He is among the modern poets.

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Like Imru' al-Qays among the poets of the early era.

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Ibn Khallikan said

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As for his hair, it was of the utmost beauty.

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Al-Mutanabbi had many adversaries and detractors.

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And they are even more loving and reverent.

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For this reason, some people praised him until they elevated him above his true station.

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Others disparaged him until they lowered his status below what he truly deserves.

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Ibn Khallikan said

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People vary in their appreciation of his poetry according to their different levels of understanding.

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Some of them prefer him over Abu Tammam and those who came after him.

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Among them are those who prefer Abu Tammam over him.

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And Abu al-'Abbas said

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Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Nami, the poet.

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There remained but a single corner of poetry.

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Al-Mutanabbi entered it.

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And I had longed to have preceded him in two meanings.

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He was the first to attain both of these qualities, preceding all others in them.

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One of them is his statement:

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Time has pelted us with calamities until

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My heart is shrouded in the arrows of my own making.

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So, whenever the arrows of affliction struck me, I became...

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The arrowheads shattered against other arrowheads.

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The second is his statement:

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In that vast army, your eyes shall behold the dust it stirs up.

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It is as if they were seeing with their ears.

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And who could be better than the One who judges both for him and against him?

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Ibn al-Athir, in his work *al-Mathal al-Sa'ir*.

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Where he said

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When I contemplated his poetry with an eye of fairness, far removed from personal bias,

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And the very essence of knowledge, whose possessor neither goes astray nor errs.

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I found it to be divided into five categories.

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There are five ultimate qualities in which he was unique, unlike any other.

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And five lines of excellent poetry in which others are his equal.

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And five [dirhams] from the average weight of silver.

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And five [are] less than that.

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And five [matters] regarding the ultimate retreat.

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Which is of no consequence.

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And its absence is better than its presence.

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Even if Abu al-Tayyib had not said it.

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Allah would protect him from its evil.

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For it is that which clothed him in the garment of blame.

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And you made his honor a target for the arrows of the people.

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The account of his martyrdom.

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Abu al-Tayyib did not live for very long.

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His arrogance and the slips of his tongue.

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And his reliance upon self-admiration.

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All of these were factors that dug his grave.

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And you hasten toward your own destruction with relentless speed.

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His escape from Kafur in Egypt

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He did not protect him from the plotting of Ibn Buwayh.

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For when he directed his mounts from Iraq toward the lands of Persia

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He reached 'Adud al-Dawla Ibn Buwayh al-Daylami.

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He then praised him.

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'Adud al-Dawla bestowed upon him a generous reward.

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And since he was aware of Ibn Buwayh’s situation with Sayf al-Dawlah

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From the length of companionship and the abundance of prayer.

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And the profound love that existed between them.

292
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For he secretly sent someone to question him.

293
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How excellent were the gifts of 'Adud al-Dawla ibn Buwayh.

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Or the gifts of Sayf al-Dawla Ibn Hamdan.

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He then said

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This is the most generous interpretation, yet it involves a degree of forced reasoning.

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And that is the minimum.

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However, it must be given willingly by the one who is paying it.

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This is because the former stems from natural disposition, whereas the latter is a product of affectation.

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He mentioned that to 'Adud al-Dawla.

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Then he becomes enraged by it.

302
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And a group of the Bedouins conspired against him.

303
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They intercepted him on the road while he was returning to Baghdad.

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It is also said

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He had previously satirized their leader, Ibn Fatik al-Asadi.

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They used to commit highway robbery.

307
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For this reason, 'Adud al-Dawla instructed them to waylay him and kill him.

308
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And they should take for themselves whatever wealth he has with him.

309
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Then sixty riders arrived to meet him on Wednesday.

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There remain three days of Ramadan.

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It has been said

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Rather, he was killed on Wednesday, with five days remaining in the month of Ramadan.

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It has also been said

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Rather, that occurred in the month of Sha'ban.

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He then alighted near a spring beneath a pear tree.

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His dining mat had been laid out so that he might have lunch.

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And with him was his son, Muhassid.

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And fifteen young servants of his.

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When he saw them, he said:

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Will you come, O leaders of the Arabs, to have lunch?

321
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When they did not speak to him, he sensed that something was wrong.

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He then rose to take up his arms and mount his horse.

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They paused for a moment.

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He was accompanied by his son, Muhsin, and some of his servants.

325
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And he intended to retreat.

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Then a freedman of his said to him

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Where are you going, when you are the one who says:

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The horses, the night, and the desert sands all know me.

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And the sword, the spear, the parchment, and the pen.

330
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So he said to him

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Woe to you, you have killed me.

332
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Then he turned back and returned.

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Then the leader of the people stabbed him.

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With a spear to his neck, he killed him.

335
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Then they gathered around him.

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00:16:21,519 --> 00:16:23,519
They pierced him with spears.

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until they killed him and took everything he had with him.

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00:16:26,519 --> 00:16:29,519
This was in the vicinity of al-Nu'maniyyah.

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He was returning to Baghdad.

340
00:16:32,519 --> 00:16:34,519
And he was buried there.

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00:16:34,519 --> 00:16:37,549
There is another narration regarding his killing.

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Those who wrote his biography mentioned it.

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Among the verses of his poetry that are considered excellent.

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00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:48,250
Abu al-Tayyib has many excellent lines of poetry.

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Among these is his statement

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00:16:50,250 --> 00:16:53,340
If life were to remain for any living being,

347
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We would have counted the brave among us as those who led us astray.

348
00:16:57,340 --> 00:17:00,379
And since there is no escaping death,

349
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It is a sign of incapacity to be a coward.

350
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And his statement

351
00:17:06,539 --> 00:17:09,539
And the most unjust among the unjust is the one who spends the night harboring envy.

352
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For the one who spends his night immersed in His blessings.

353
00:17:13,539 --> 00:17:15,660
And His saying:

354
00:17:15,660 --> 00:17:18,660
I have not seen anything among the faults of people

355
00:17:18,660 --> 00:17:22,660
Like the deficiency of those who are unable to reach perfection.

356
00:17:22,660 --> 00:17:24,730
And his statement

357
00:17:24,730 --> 00:17:27,789
The person of intellect suffers in the midst of comfort because of his intellect.

358
00:17:27,789 --> 00:17:31,789
And the brother of ignorance, in his wretchedness, lives in comfort.

359
00:17:31,789 --> 00:17:33,950
And His saying:

360
00:17:33,950 --> 00:17:38,079
The most noble place in the world is upon the back of a galloping steed.

361
00:17:38,079 --> 00:17:42,079
The best companion in any age is a book.

362
00:17:42,079 --> 00:17:44,269
And his statement

363
00:17:44,269 --> 00:17:48,339
It is among the miseries of this world for a free person to see

364
00:17:48,339 --> 00:17:52,339
Prepare for him whatever is necessary for his friendship.

365
00:17:52,339 --> 00:17:54,529
And his statement

366
00:17:54,529 --> 00:17:58,529
If you venture to pursue a noble goal,

367
00:17:58,529 --> 00:18:02,529
Do not be content with anything less than the stars.

368
00:18:02,529 --> 00:18:06,529
For the taste of death is a trivial matter.

369
00:18:06,529 --> 00:18:09,529
Like the taste of death in a matter of great consequence.

370
00:18:09,529 --> 00:18:11,750
And His saying:

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00:18:11,750 --> 00:18:15,880
I have looked toward You, O One to whom I am in need.

372
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,880
You have humiliated me and cast me down from a great height.

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00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,880
I am not the one to be blamed; rather, I am the one who is blamed because I...

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I have placed my hopes in none other than the Creator.

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Ramadan: Events and Lessons