Ibn Zaydún

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Abu al-Waleed Ahmad Ibn Zaydún al-Makhzumi (1003-1071) known as Ibn Zaydún (Arabic full name,أبو الوليد أحمد بن زيدون المخزومي) was a famous Arab poet of Cordoba and Seville. His romantic and literary life was dominated by his relations with the poetess Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, the daughter of the Ummayad Caliph Muhammad III of Cordoba.[1] According to Jayyusi in her book The Legacy of Muslim Spain, "Ibn Zaydun brought into Andalusi poetry something of balance, the rhetorical command, the passionate power and grandeur of style that marked contemporary poetry in the east...he rescued Andalusi poetry from the self-indulgence of the poets of externalized description."[2]

Ibn Zaydun was born in Cordoba to an aristocratic Arab family of the tribe of Makhzum.[3] He grew up during the decline of the Umayyad caliphate and was involved in the political life of his age. He joined the court of the Jahwarid Abu al-Hazm of cordoba and was imprisoned by him after he was accused of conspiring against him and his patrons.[4]

His relationship with the Umayyad princess Wallada was quickly terminated by Wallada herself. Some attributed this change of heart to Ibn Zaydun's early anti-Umayyad activities, while others mention his rivalry with the rich minister Ibn Abdus, a former friend of Ibn Zaydun, who supposedly gains Wallada's favor and supported her. It is suggested that Ibn Abdus himself was the one who instigated Abu al-Hazm ibn Jahwar against Ibn Zaydun. [5]

He sought refuge with Abbad II of Seville and his son al-Mu'tamid.[6] He was able to return home for a period after the ruler of Seville conquered Cordoba. Much of his life was spent in exile and the themes of lost youth and nostalgia for his city are present in many of his poems. In a poem about Cordoba he remembers his city and his youth:[7]

God has sent showers upon abandoned dwelling places of those we loved. He has woven upon them a striped many-coloured garmet of flowers, and raised among them a flower like a star. How many girls like images trailed their garmets among such flowers, when life was fresh and time was at our service...How happy were, those days that have passed, days of pleasure, when we lived with those who had back flowing hair and white shoulders

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Emeri van Donzel. (1994) Islamic Desk Reference. p. 163. BRILL. ISBN 9004097384.
  2. ^ S. Jayyusi et al. (1992). The Legacy of Muslim Spain. pp. 343-347. BRILL. ISBN 978-9-004095-99-1
  3. ^ Maria Rosa Menocal et. al. (2000). The Literature of Al-Andalus. p. 306. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521471591.
  4. ^ L. Alavarez. (1998) Ibn Zaydun. In Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature (Vol. 1, pp. 384-385). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0415185718.
  5. ^ Jayyusi, 1992, p. 347.
  6. ^ L. Alavarez, 1998
  7. ^ Tr. by Albert Hourani. (1992). History of the Arab Peoples . pp. 193-194. ISBN 0446393924.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Ahmad ibn Abd Allāh Ibn Zaydūn, Mahmūd Subh. (1979). Poesias, Instituto Hispano-Árabe de Cultura, ed. University of Virginia.
  • Concha Lagos. (1984). Con el arco a punto Instituto Hispano-Arabe de Cultura. University of California. ISBN 8474720575.
  • Sieglinde Lug. (1982). Poetic Techniques and Conceptual Elements in Ibn Zaydūn's Love Poetry, University Press of America (based on the author's thesis).
  • S. Jayyusi. (1992). The Legacy of Muslim Spain. pp. 343-351.
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