Английская Википедия:Al-Shanfara
Al-Shanfarā (Шаблон:Lang-ar; died c. 525 CE) was a semi-legendary pre-Islamic poet tentatively associated with Ṭāif, and the supposed author of the celebrated poem Lāmiyyāt ‘al-Arab.Шаблон:Sfn He enjoys a status as a figure of an archetypal outlaw antihero (su'luk), critiquing the hypocrisies of his society from his position as an outsider.
Life
The name Al-Shanfara means "he who has large lips."Шаблон:Sfn His full name may be either Thabit ibn MalikШаблон:Sfn or Thabit ibn Aws.Шаблон:Sfn What is known about al-Shanfarā is inferred from the poems which he is believed with confidence to have composed. He seems fairly certainly to have belonged to the Yemenite al-Azd tribe, probably specifically to the Al-Khazraj clan.Шаблон:Sfn He is sometimes counted among the aghribat al-Arab (Arab crows), a term referring to Arabs with African mothers.Шаблон:Sfn Others argue against his inclusion in this group,Шаблон:Sfn which according to scholar Bernard Lewis is due to a confusion between the sa'alik and the aghribat al-Arab in some early sources.Шаблон:Sfn
Al-Shanfarā attracted a number of pseudo-historical akhbar (reports) in texts like the Kitab al-Aghani by Abu al-Faraj Al-Isfahani or the commentary on the Mufaddaliyat by Шаблон:Ill. These akhbar mostly focus on explaining how he came to be exiled from his tribe.Шаблон:Sfn One such story relates that when he was young he was taken captive by the Шаблон:Interlanguage link tribe. A different clan of his own tribe, the Azd, later captured one of the Fahm and ransomed him for al-Shanfara. He lived among them as one of them, until he quarreled with a young woman of the tribe, who rejected him on as not being from a different clan. At this point he returned to the Fahm, and swore revenge on the Azd.Шаблон:Sfn In another version of the story, he turns against his tribe because another tribesman murdered his father, and the tribe refused to apply the law of blood-vengeance.Шаблон:Sfn Scholars regard these accounts as later myths developed to explain the poet's hatred for his tribe.Шаблон:Sfn Al-Shanfara and his companion Ta'abatta Sharran were thought to be among the few people of pre-Islamic Arabia who could run down an antelope.Шаблон:Sfn
Al-Shanfara died around 525.Шаблон:Sfn The traditional account of his death has it that he was killed in retaliation for his killing of Haram ibn Jabir. He was ambushed at night by Haram's brother and two sons, who bound him and took him back to the tribe. When the tribe asked him where he wanted to be buried, he is reported to have replied with the following lines: Шаблон:Blockquote
A final aspect of the traditional accounts is that Shanfara had sworn to kill 100 of the Azd, but at his death he had only killed 99. Later, one of the Al-Azd passed by his bones and kicked his skull, but sustained a splinter which eventually mortified and killed him, thus completing Shanfara's vow.Шаблон:Sfn
Works
Al-Shanfarā is named as the author of a scattering of individual verses as well as a long passage known as The Ta’iyya of al-Shanfarā preserved in the seminal collection of pre-Islamic verse, the Mufaḍḍaliyāt. His works are discussed in at least twenty medieval and early medieval scholarly commentaries.Шаблон:Sfn
Lamiyyat al-Arab
Al-Shanfarā is most famous for, supposedly, composing the Lamiyyat al-'Arab, or L-poem of the Arabs.Шаблон:Efn Although its attribution has been disputed ever since medieval times,Шаблон:Sfn the memorable first-person figure of the misanthropic brigand celebrating his position on the edge of society that the poem draws has strongly influenced views of al-Shanfarā.Шаблон:Sfn We can if nothing else say that if the Lāmiyyāt is a later composition, it positions al-Shanfarā as the archetypal outlaw of a pre-Islamic heroic age, viewed nostalgically from a later era.
Ta'iyya
The Ta’iyya of al-Shanfarā (Mufaḍḍaliyya no. 20) is the poet's most renowned poem after the Lamiyya, and its authorship has rarely been disputed.Шаблон:Sfn The nasib (amatory prelude) of the poem is admired by scholars for its "striking beauty" (verses 1–14).Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In Charles James Lyall's translation, the poem beings:
This section combines extensive praise of Umm 'Amr/Umaimah with regret for the loss of her love. In lines 15–18, the poet transitions to a description his band of brigands and their raiding lifestyle: "Many a fighting band, their bows red from wear, did I call forth" (line 15). Шаблон:Sfn He explains how he travels far afield on his raids, "to strike a foe or meet up with my doom" (line 17). He then begins to praise umm 'iyal, (mother of the hearth and home) in lines 19–27, beginning with the line "A mother of many children I have seen feeding them."Шаблон:Sfn Scholars believe that umm 'iyal is Shanfara's compainion, Ta'abbata Sharran, and that this section is an extended simile describing how Ta'abbata Sharran took care of his companions. As the description progresses it becomes increasingly clear in the text that umm 'iyal is a man: "a companion of sa'alik, there is no veil before her" gives to way "she rushes upon the battle-ready foe, baring her leg to the knee" and then "when they panic she lets fly a white cutting; she shoots her store of arrows, then draws her blade" (lines 22–25). The reason for the gender inversion in this passage has not been fully explained.Шаблон:Sfn
The climax of the poem occurs in the line 28: Шаблон:Blockquote
According to Al-Anbari's commentary, this line depicts al-Shanfara killing Haram ibn Jabir, the murderer of his father.Шаблон:Sfn Whether historical or strictly literary, the story is striking for its violation of cultural taboos. Killing a pilgrim was an abomination, although in this case Shanfara's father seems to have been killed during a pilgrimage as well.Шаблон:Sfn
Fa'iyya
Another poem, the Fa'iyya, finds the poet on a hill-top at night, preparing for a raid. Shanfara gives a detailed description of his weapons, especially his bow and arrows, and also reveals his affection for his companions.Шаблон:Sfn
Legacy
Al-Shanfara appeared as a character in the Resalat Al-Ghufran, written by Al-Ma'arri around 1033. During an imagined tour of hell, a Sheikh who criticized al-Ma'arri encounters al-Shanfara along with Ta'abbata Sharran.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Editions
- ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Maymanī, Al-T.arā’if al-Adabiyyah (Cairo: Mat.ba‘at Lajnat al-Ta’līf wa al-Tarjamah wa al-Nashr, 1937), 31-42 (most of al-Shanfarā's poetry, excluding the Lāmiyyat al-‘Arab and the Mufaḍḍaliyyah no. 20).
- For editions of the Lāmiyyāt ‘al-Arab, see that entry.
Notes
References
Bibliography
Traditional
Contemporary
- Шаблон:Cite book
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