In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Summary of the Book:
*Ramadan: Events and Lessons*
The Death of the Great Poet,
Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Mutanabbi.
Time:
The month of Ramadan,
In the year 354 AH.
Poetry is a human art form
to which souls naturally incline;
they find solace when it is recited,
delight in the shelter of its reading and study,
fall in love with its finest verses,
and savor its repetition and recitation.
Through its meters and the rhythm of its words,
emotions dance,
and hearts respond
far more than to prose, even when refined.
Fluent classical Arabic poetry
is the finest type of poetry,
the most profoundly impactful, the most elevated in expression,
and the sweetest in utterance.
No souls turn away from it except those
whose share of the Arabic language is meager,
whose natural dispositions have altered,
tilting toward foreign languages,
or who have spent too long speaking or listening to
colloquial dialects—
causing fluent poetry to become foreign to them
and distant from their culture.
Poetry in Islam
is such that the good of it is like good speech,
and the bad of it is like bad speech.
Thus, there is good poetry,
and there is bad poetry.
The good poetry is that which encourages virtues,
clothes itself in wisdom and sound purpose,
and grants the recipient a beneficial portion
of Arabic sciences—
through vocabulary, meanings,
structures, sentences, imagery,
and moving metaphors.
Bad poetry is that which incites to vice,
praises deviation from the truth,
slanders honor,
attacks protected personages,
and relies on falsehood, defamation, and base desires,
until its author uses it to achieve personal gain
or cause harm to others.
Truly, poetry on the scales of justice
is judged by its form and content together,
not by one to the exclusion of the other.
A poem or a single verse
may come adorned in a splendid, glittering garb
of fine words
and pleasing structures,
while beneath those expressions lie
sublime meanings
and noble aims.
This is beautiful poetry,
as it combines two virtues
and encompasses dual excellence:
the excellence of form and the excellence of meaning.
However, if its form is beautiful but its meaning is vile,
its standing with a lover of wholesome poetry
stops at the senses of hearing and sight,
never progressing beyond that to leave a lasting impact
or gain genuine acceptance in the soul.
Regarding good poetry,
masters of the word—in both prose and verse—have competed
in calling toward it and encouraging its use.
Al-Raghib al-Isfahani cited
that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"Through poetry, anger is placated,
feuds are extinguished,
people reach their destination,
and the petitioner is given."
And he said:
"What a wonderful gift for an honorable man
are lines of verse he presents prior to his need,
gaining thereby the favor of the generous
and eliciting generosity from the miserly!"
'Abd al-Malik said:
"Learn poetry,
for in it are noble qualities to be sought."
It was also said:
To proceed:
Literature has ever been beloved throughout antiquity,
and its possessor—despite changing circumstances—remains drawn near and sought after.
Among the greatest literary arts of the Arabs was
poetry,
which was the compendium of their eloquence,
the collection of their virtues,
the record of their historic days and lineages,
and the preserver of their origins, noble deeds,
alliances, and ancestral honor.
They perfumed their intimate gatherings with its fragrance,
and through it, recognized the distinction of their present over their past.
It is not hidden from those versed in Arabic
that it is a language teeming with great poets
who immortalized it, and so it immortalized them;
they elevated its stature through their verse,
and so it elevated their standing.
At the forefront of these poets
was their claimant to prophecy, Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi,
for whom the month of Ramadan
in the year 354 AH
was the appointed time of his departure from this life.
His Name, Lineage, and Birth:
He is the famous poet, sage,
and one of the prides of Arabic literature:
Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Hasan ibn 'Abd al-Samad
al-Ju'fi al-Kufi al-Kindi,
Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi,
who filled the world and captivated people's minds.
He was born in the year 303 AH
in Kufa, in a quarter called Kindah,
to which he was attributed—
though he was not actually from Kindah
as a tribe,
but rather belonged to the tribe of Ju'f;
he was Ju'fi ibn Sa'd al-'Ashirah ibn Madhhij.
The Reason for His Title "Al-Mutanabbi":
The epithet "Al-Mutanabbi" (the Pretender to Prophecy) stuck to Abu al-Tayyib
even more than his name and agnomen,
and by it he became known among both the elite and the common folk.
His being described with this title has a story behind it.
'Ali ibn Mansur mentioned in his letter to Al-Ma'arri
that Al-Mutanabbi was arrested during the vizierate of
'Ali ibn 'Isa and imprisoned.
He was then brought forth and questioned,
whereupon he confessed to claiming prophecy.
So he ordered that he be slapped,
and he was struck fifty times
and returned to prison.
After these events transpired,
he used to attribute what had occurred from him
to youthful recklessness.
His Panegyric Journeys:
Al-Mutanabbi's soul was not one
that liked to reside in contentment
and live in its shadow;
rather, his soul
constantly aspired toward boundless horizons.
Moreover, the abundance of royal gifts
served as a Qiblah for him,
toward which he turned wherever it might be.
Therefore, he traveled among kings
and never settled permanently with anyone,
even though he prolonged his stay with Sayf al-Dawlah,
who was the most beloved of those he praised,
and through whose praise he achieved fame and renown.
Kings sought his favor,
yet he adhered closely to Sayf al-Dawlah
ever since he joined him
around the year 337 AH,
praising him in immortal odes.
Ibn Hamdan extended his hand to him with generous bounties.
Because he held such a high station with him,
many poets envied him,
as did the courtiers of Sayf al-Dawlah.
Consequently, a rift occurred between them,
followed by their ultimate separation.
Among the reasons for his departure from Aleppo was that Ibn Khalawayh
said to him in the court of Sayf al-Dawlah:
"Were it not for your ignorance,
you would not be content to be called Al-Mutanabbi!
For the meaning of Al-Mutanabbi
is a liar,
and a rational person does not accept being called a liar."
He replied: "I am not pleased with this,
but I have no power to prevent those who address me by it."
The argument between them continued
until Ibn Khalawayh grew enraged
and struck his face with a key he had with him,
wounding his head.
He left with blood flowing onto his clothes;
angered, he departed Aleppo for Egypt
in the year 346 AH.
He set out toward Kafur al-Ikhshidi
and praised him in several odes.
However, when Kafur failed to satisfy him,
he satirized him and abandoned him on the night of 'Eid al-Adha
in the year 350 AH.
Kafur dispatched riding mounts after him
in various directions,
but he could not be overtaken.
Kafur had previously promised him
governorship over some of his domains;
but when he observed his arrogance in his poetry
and his lofty self-regard, he grew fearful.
When censured regarding Al-Mutanabbi,
he said:
"O people!
One who claimed prophecy after Muhammad,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—
would he not claim kingship alongside Kafur?"
That explanation sufficed them.
After Egypt, he headed to Baghdad.
Thus, He praised some of its people.
He then arrived in Kufa.
And Ibn al-'Amid praised it
Thus, 30,000 dinars reached him from his side.
He then marched toward Persia.
So 'Adud al-Dawlah praised him with a line of poetry.
He granted him abundant wealth.
It is nearly 200,000 dirhams.
And it was said:
In fact, he acquired approximately thirty thousand dinars from it.
Then he sent someone secretly to ask him.
How wonderful that is!
Gifts from 'Adud al-Dawlah Buwayh
or the gifts of Sayf al-Dawlah Ibn Hamdan.
So he said,
This is more generous.
And within it, there is affectation.
And that is the minimum.
Rather, it is given willingly by the one who provides it.
Because it concerns the nature of
This is a matter of affectation.
Poetry
The poetry of Abu al-Tayyib was indeed
Among the highest tier of the modern poets.
And his poetry attained widespread renown.
And it was passed down by the tongues of all the people.
From among the kings, the scholars, and the common people.
Even those living in the remote desert regions.
Due to the grandeur and eloquence that characterized it.
Which is never devoid of tenderness and beautiful imagery.
And the breadth of imagination and the depth of thought.
And the ability to adapt words and sentence structures.
According to what He wills.
Ibn Kathir said
He is among the modern poets.
Like Imru' al-Qays among the poets of the early era.
Ibn Khallikan said
As for his hair, it was of the utmost beauty.
Al-Mutanabbi had many adversaries and detractors.
And they are even more loving and reverent.
For this reason, some people praised him until they elevated him above his true station.
Others disparaged him until they lowered his status below what he truly deserves.
Ibn Khallikan said
People vary in their appreciation of his poetry according to their different levels of understanding.
Some of them prefer him over Abu Tammam and those who came after him.
Among them are those who prefer Abu Tammam over him.
And Abu al-'Abbas said
Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Nami, the poet.
There remained but a single corner of poetry.
Al-Mutanabbi entered it.
And I had longed to have preceded him in two meanings.
He was the first to attain both of these qualities, preceding all others in them.
One of them is his statement:
Time has pelted us with calamities until
My heart is shrouded in the arrows of my own making.
So, whenever the arrows of affliction struck me, I became...
The arrowheads shattered against other arrowheads.
The second is his statement:
In that vast army, your eyes shall behold the dust it stirs up.
It is as if they were seeing with their ears.
And who could be better than the One who judges both for him and against him?
Ibn al-Athir, in his work *al-Mathal al-Sa'ir*.
Where he said
When I contemplated his poetry with an eye of fairness, far removed from personal bias,
And the very essence of knowledge, whose possessor neither goes astray nor errs.
I found it to be divided into five categories.
There are five ultimate qualities in which he was unique, unlike any other.
And five lines of excellent poetry in which others are his equal.
And five [dirhams] from the average weight of silver.
And five [are] less than that.
And five [matters] regarding the ultimate retreat.
Which is of no consequence.
And its absence is better than its presence.
Even if Abu al-Tayyib had not said it.
Allah would protect him from its evil.
For it is that which clothed him in the garment of blame.
And you made his honor a target for the arrows of the people.
The account of his martyrdom.
Abu al-Tayyib did not live for very long.
His arrogance and the slips of his tongue.
And his reliance upon self-admiration.
All of these were factors that dug his grave.
And you hasten toward your own destruction with relentless speed.
His escape from Kafur in Egypt
He did not protect him from the plotting of Ibn Buwayh.
For when he directed his mounts from Iraq toward the lands of Persia
He reached 'Adud al-Dawla Ibn Buwayh al-Daylami.
He then praised him.
'Adud al-Dawla bestowed upon him a generous reward.
And since he was aware of Ibn Buwayh’s situation with Sayf al-Dawlah
From the length of companionship and the abundance of prayer.
And the profound love that existed between them.
For he secretly sent someone to question him.
How excellent were the gifts of 'Adud al-Dawla ibn Buwayh.
Or the gifts of Sayf al-Dawla Ibn Hamdan.
He then said
This is the most generous interpretation, yet it involves a degree of forced reasoning.
And that is the minimum.
However, it must be given willingly by the one who is paying it.
This is because the former stems from natural disposition, whereas the latter is a product of affectation.
He mentioned that to 'Adud al-Dawla.
Then he becomes enraged by it.
And a group of the Bedouins conspired against him.
They intercepted him on the road while he was returning to Baghdad.
It is also said
He had previously satirized their leader, Ibn Fatik al-Asadi.
They used to commit highway robbery.
For this reason, 'Adud al-Dawla instructed them to waylay him and kill him.
And they should take for themselves whatever wealth he has with him.
Then sixty riders arrived to meet him on Wednesday.
There remain three days of Ramadan.
It has been said
Rather, he was killed on Wednesday, with five days remaining in the month of Ramadan.
It has also been said
Rather, that occurred in the month of Sha'ban.
He then alighted near a spring beneath a pear tree.
His dining mat had been laid out so that he might have lunch.
And with him was his son, Muhassid.
And fifteen young servants of his.
When he saw them, he said:
Will you come, O leaders of the Arabs, to have lunch?
When they did not speak to him, he sensed that something was wrong.
He then rose to take up his arms and mount his horse.
They paused for a moment.
He was accompanied by his son, Muhsin, and some of his servants.
And he intended to retreat.
Then a freedman of his said to him
Where are you going, when you are the one who says:
The horses, the night, and the desert sands all know me.
And the sword, the spear, the parchment, and the pen.
So he said to him
Woe to you, you have killed me.
Then he turned back and returned.
Then the leader of the people stabbed him.
With a spear to his neck, he killed him.
Then they gathered around him.
They pierced him with spears.
until they killed him and took everything he had with him.
This was in the vicinity of al-Nu'maniyyah.
He was returning to Baghdad.
And he was buried there.
There is another narration regarding his killing.
Those who wrote his biography mentioned it.
Among the verses of his poetry that are considered excellent.
Abu al-Tayyib has many excellent lines of poetry.
Among these is his statement
If life were to remain for any living being,
We would have counted the brave among us as those who led us astray.
And since there is no escaping death,
It is a sign of incapacity to be a coward.
And his statement
And the most unjust among the unjust is the one who spends the night harboring envy.
For the one who spends his night immersed in His blessings.
And His saying:
I have not seen anything among the faults of people
Like the deficiency of those who are unable to reach perfection.
And his statement
The person of intellect suffers in the midst of comfort because of his intellect.
And the brother of ignorance, in his wretchedness, lives in comfort.
And His saying:
The most noble place in the world is upon the back of a galloping steed.
The best companion in any age is a book.
And his statement
It is among the miseries of this world for a free person to see
Prepare for him whatever is necessary for his friendship.
And his statement
If you venture to pursue a noble goal,
Do not be content with anything less than the stars.
For the taste of death is a trivial matter.
Like the taste of death in a matter of great consequence.
And His saying:
I have looked toward You, O One to whom I am in need.
You have humiliated me and cast me down from a great height.
I am not the one to be blamed; rather, I am the one who is blamed because I...
I have placed my hopes in none other than the Creator.
Ramadan: Events and Lessons