Medieval Arabic female poets
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Medieval Arabic female poets are, compared with the number of known male poets in the medieval Islamic world, few: there has been 'an almost total eclipse of women's poetic expression in the literary record as maintained in Arabic culture from the pre-Islamic era through the nineteenth century'.[1] However, there is evidence that compared with medieval Europe, women's poetry in the medieval Islamic world was 'likely unparalleled' in 'visibility and impact'.[2] Accordingly, recent scholars emphasise that women's contribution to Arabic literature requires greater scholarly attention.[3]
Their work tends to be in two genres: the rithā’ (elegy) and ghazal (love-song), alongside a smaller body of Sufi poems and short pieces in the low-status rajaz metre.[4] According to Samer M. Ali,
- In retrospect we can discern four overlapping persona types for poetesses in the Middle Ages: the grieving mother/sister/daughter (al-Khansāʾ, al-Khirniq bint Badr, and al-Fāriʿah bint Shaddād), the warrior-diplomat (al-Hujayjah), the princess (al-Ḥurqah, ʿUlayyah bint al-Mahdī, and Walladah bint al-Mustakfī), and the courtesan-ascetic (ʿArīb, Shāriyah, and Rābiʿah al-ʿAdawīyah). Rābiʿah’s biography in particular projects a paradoxical persona that embodies the complimentary opposites of sexuality and saintliness.[5]
Contents
Attestation
The work of medieval Arabic-language women poets has not been preserved as extensively as that of men, but a substantial corpus nonetheless survives. Abd al-Amīr Muhannā named over four hundred female poets in his anthology.[6] That much literature by women was once collected in writing but has since been lost is suggested particularly by the fact that al-Suyuti's fifteenth-century Nuzhat al-julasāʼ fī ashʻār al-nisāʼ mentions a large (six-volume or longer) anthology called Akhhar al-Nisa' al-Shau‘a'ir containing 'ancient' women’s poetry, assembled by one Ibn al-Tarrah (d. 720/1320). However, a range of medieval anthologies do contain women's poetry, including collections by Al-Jahiz, Abu Tammam, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, and Ibn Bassam, alongside historians quoting women's poetry such as Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Yaqut al-Hamawi, and Ibn 'Asakir.[7]
Known female poets
The following list of known women poets is based on Abdullah al-Udhari's Classical Poems by Arab Women.[8] It is not complete.
The Jahilayya (4000 BCE–622 CE)
- Mahd al-Aadiyya (c. 4000 BCE)
- Afira bint 'Abbad (C3 CE)
- Laila bint Lukaiz (d. 483 CE)
- Jalila bint Murra (d. 540 CE)
- Umama bint Kulaib (C5–6 CE)
- al-Ḥurqah (C5–6 CE)
- al-Ḥujayjah, aka Safīyah bint Thaʻlabah al-Shaybānīyah (C5–6 CE)
- Safiyya bint Khalid al-Bahiliyya
- Juhaifa Addibabiyya
- Umm Khalid Annumairiyya
- Ishraqa al-Muharibiyya
- Umm Addahak al-Muheribiyya
- Janūb Ukht ‘Amr dhī-l-Kalb
- al-Fāriʿah bint Shaddād
- al-Khansa (d. 646 CE)
The Islam Period (622–661 CE)
- Fatima bint Muhammad (605–632 CE)
The Umayyad Period (661–750 CE)
- Laila bint Sa'd al-Aamiriyya (d. 668 CE)
- Maisun bint Bahdal (d. 700 CE)
- Laila al-Akhyaliyya (d. 706 CE)
- Dahna bint Mas-hal (c. C7–8 CE)
- Bint al-Hubab
- Umm al-Ward al-Ajlaniyya
- Umaima Addumarainiyya (C8 CE)
The Abbasid Period (750–1258 CE)
- Hajna bint Nusaib (c. C8–9 CE)
- Raabi'a al-Adwiyya (714–801 CE)
- Laila bint Tarif (d. 815 CE)
- 'Ulayya bint al-Mahdi (777–825 CE)
- Lubāna bint ‘Alī ibn al-Mahdī (c. C8–9 CE)
- Inan (d. 841 CE)
- 'Asiya al-Baghdadiyya (c. C9 CE)
- Zahra al-Kilabiyya (c. C8–9 CE)
- Aa'isha bint al-Mu'tasim (c. C8–9 CE)
- Shāriyah (c. 815-70 CE)
- Fadl Ashsha'ira (d. 871 CE)
- Zabba bin Umair ibn al-Muwarriq (c. C9 CE)
- Juml (C9 CE)
- Umm Ja'far bin 'Ali
- Arib al-Ma'muniyya (797–890 CE)
- Thawab bin Abdaullah al-Hanzaliyya
- Salma bint al-Qaratisi (c. C12 CE)
- Safiyya al-Baghdadiyya (C12 CE)
- Taqiyya Umm Ali bint Ghaith ibn Ali al-Armanazi (a.k.a. Sitt al-Ni‘m) (1111-1183/4)
- Shamsa al-Mawsiliyya (C13 CE)
The Andalus Period (711–1492 CE)
- Hafsa bint Hamdun (C10 CE)
- Aa'isha bint Ahmad al-Qurtubiyya (d. 1010 CE)
- Mariam bint Abu Ya'qub Ashshilbi (d. 1020 CE)
- Umm al-Kiram bin al-Mu'tasim ibn Sumadih (d. 1050 CE)
- Umm al-Ala bint Yusuf (d. 1050 CE)
- Khadija bint Ahmad ibn Kulthum al-Mu'afiri (C10–11 CE)
- Qasmuna bint Isma'il ibn Yusuf ibn Annaghrila (C11 CE)
- Ghassaniyya al-Bajjaniyya (C11 CE)
- Wallada bint al-Mustakfi (d. 1091 CE)
- I'timad Arrumaimikiyya (1041–1095 CE)
- Muhja bint Attayyani al-Qurtubiyya (d. 1097 CE)
- Nazhun al-Gharnatiyya (d. 1100 CE)
- Amat al-Aziz (C12 CE)
- Buthaina bint al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad (1070–? CE)
- Hind (C12 CE)
- Umm al-Hana bint Abdulhaqq ibn Atiyya (C12 CE)
- Hafsa bint al-Hajj Arrakuniyya (d. 1190 CE)
- Ashshilbiyya (C12 CE)
- Aa'isha al-Iskandraniyya
- Hamda bint Ziyad (c. 1204 CE)
- Umm Assa'd bint Isam al-Himyari (d. 1243 CE)
References
- ↑ Clarissa Burt, 'Arts: Poets and Poetry: Arab States', in Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, ed. by Suad Joseph (Leiden: Brill, 2003-2007), V: 77-80 (p. 77).
- ↑ Samer M. Ali, 'Medieval Court Poetry', in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women, ed. by Natana J. Delong-Bas, 2 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), I 651-54 (at p. 653).
- ↑ Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology, ed. and trans. by Abdullah al-Udhari (London: Saqi Books, 1999), p. 13; Tahera Qutbuddin, 'Women Poets', in Medieval Islamic Civilisation: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Josef W. Meri, 2 vols (New York: Routledge, 2006), II 867, http://nelc.uchicago.edu/sites/nelc.uchicago.edu/files/2006%20Women%20Poets%20(Med.%20Islamic.%20Civ.%20Enc.).pdf; Samer M. Ali, 'Medieval Court Poetry', in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women, ed. by Natana J. Delong-Bas, 2 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), I 651-54 (at p. 652). https://www.academia.edu/5023780.
- ↑ Tahera Qutbuddin, 'Women Poets', in Medieval Islamic Civilisation: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Josef W. Meri, 2 vols (New York: Routledge, 2006), II 865, http://nelc.uchicago.edu/sites/nelc.uchicago.edu/files/2006%20Women%20Poets%20(Med.%20Islamic.%20Civ.%20Enc.).pdf.
- ↑ Samer M. Ali, 'Medieval Court Poetry', in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women, ed. by Natana J. Delong-Bas, 2 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), I 651-54 (at p. 653). https://www.academia.edu/5023780.
- ↑ Samer M. Ali, 'Medieval Court Poetry', in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women, ed. by Natana J. Delong-Bas, 2 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), I 651-54 (at p. 653). https://www.academia.edu/5023780.
- ↑ Tahera Qutbuddin, 'Women Poets', in Medieval Islamic Civilisation: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Josef W. Meri, 2 vols (New York: Routledge, 2006), II 867, http://nelc.uchicago.edu/sites/nelc.uchicago.edu/files/2006%20Women%20Poets%20(Med.%20Islamic.%20Civ.%20Enc.).pdf.
- ↑ Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology, ed. and trans. by Abdullah al-Udhari (London: Saqi Books, 1999) ISBN 086356-047-4.
