ABU 'l- #AT$HIYA, poetic nickname ("father of craziness") of Abå IsȧΠIsm§#Êl b. al-|§sim b. Suwayd b.Kays§n, Arabic poet, born in Kåfa (or #Ayn al-Tamr) 130/748 and died 210/825 or 211/826. His family had beenmaw§lÊ of the #Anaza tribe for two or three generations, and were engaged in menial occupations; his fatherwas a cupper, and the poet himself as a youth sold earthenware in the streets. His outlook on life wasembittered by a sense of social inferiority; in his later verse he gave vent to his hatred of the governing classand the wealthy; and he was notorious for covetousness and meanness to the end of his life. But likeBa §r b. Burd, he had a natural gift for poetry, and hoped to find in this the door to a larger life. Onaccount of his poverty he had not the time to attend lectures on philology and the poetry of the ancients, andto this we must attribute the freshness and unconventionality of his style. As a young man he associated withthe profligate circle of poets grouped around W§liba b. al- ub§b, and gained a reputation with his ÿ azalsand wine-songs; later critics have condemned these productions as poor and effeminate (Ibn |utayba, ÷ i#r,497), and only fragments of them have survived. Like most of the spontaneous poets, he showed a preferencefor simple language and short metres, and first rose to fame by a panegyric on al-MahdÊ which, in spite ofthese unconventional characteristics, gained the caliph's favour. He made himself notorious in Baÿ d§d byhis ÿ azals in praise of #Utba, a slave-girl of al-MahdÊ's cousin Rayãa, who hoped to gain the caliph's noticebut had no intention of throwing herself away on a penniless nobody. He held the caliph responsible for hisfailure to win #Utba, and some indiscrete verses gained him a flogging and banishment to Kåfa. Whenal-MahdÊ died, he took his revenge in some verses which could be read ambiguously.

Back in Baÿ d§d his fulsome praise of al-H§dÊ annoyed the latter's successor H§rån al-Ra Êd, who senthim to prison along with his friend Ibr§hÊm al-MawßilÊ. Restored to favour, he charmed H§rån with hislove-lyrics, but suddenly renounced the ÿ azal and devoted himself to ascetic poetry (c. 178). H§rån at firsttook umbrage at his conversion and imprisoned him, but was reconciled later at the instances of al-Fa l b.RabÊ#, and in part also no doubt because of his popularity with the masses. It may be suspected that al-Fa l'spatronage was connected with his intrigue, in association with the queen Zubayda, against the Barmakids,and that Abu '1-#At§hiya's new "ascetic" productions conveniently served their purposes. However that maybe, Abu'l-#At§hiya maintained henceforward a vast [I 108a] output of sermons in verse, long and short, paintingthe horrors of all-levelling Death, and directed especially against the rich and the powerful, not excluding thecaliph himself. So profitable was it that when Abå Nuw§s also began to produce zuhdiyy§t Abu'l-#At§hiyawarned him not to trespass on the field to which he had established a prescriptive right (A b§r AbÊ Nuw§s,Cairo 1924, 70). Some later critics questioned, not without cause, the sincerity of his conversion, notably thereal ascetic Abu'l-#Al§" al-Ma#arrÊ, who referred to him as "that astute fellow" (Ibn Fa l All§h, Mas§likal-Abߧr, xv, MS Brit. Mus. 575, fol. 136).

A more frequent accusation brought against Abu'l-#At§hiya is that of heresy, which was a favourite weaponat the time; and it was suggested by Goldziher that one reason for his imprisonments may be sought in theoccasionally unorthodox tone of some of his poems. Having no theological education he seems to have beeninfluenced by the modified legacy of Manichaean beliefs still current in #Ir§Î, which accounted for thedisorders of this world by the existence of two primary substances, good and evil, though Abu'l-#At§hiya heldthat both were the creation of All§h. In certain of his verses also, such as "If you would see the noblest ofmankind look for a king in the guise of a pauper", there may be suggestions of a concealed attachment toMås§ al-K§íim and the cause of the ÷ Ê#ite im§ms, still strong in Kåfa.

His astonishing success as a poet was due to the simplicity, spontaneity, and artlessness of his language,which contrasted with the laboured artificiality of some of his contemporaries, and expressed the feelings ofthe people in verse that they could understand. He was fortunate also, by his friendship with Ibr§hÊmal-MawßilÊ, to have many of his poems set to music by the foremost musician of the day. He and his youngercontemporary Ab§n b. #Abd al- amÊd [q.v.] were the first to use muzdawi (couplet) rhyming verse, and he

ABU 'l- #AT$HIYA, poetic nickname ("father of craziness") of Abå IsȧΠIsm§#Êl b. al-|§sim b. Suwayd b.Kays§n, Arabic poet, born in Kåfa (or #Ayn al-Tamr) 130/748 and died 210/825 or 211/826. His family had beenmaw§lÊ of the #Anaza tribe for two or three generations, and were engaged in menial occupations; his fatherwas a cupper, and the poet himself as a youth sold earthenware in the streets. His outlook on life wasembittered by a sense of social inferiority; in his later verse he gave vent to his hatred of the governing classand the wealthy; and he was notorious for covetousness and meanness to the end of his life. But likeBa §r b. Burd, he had a natural gift for poetry, and hoped to find in this the door to a larger life. Onaccount of his poverty he had not the time to attend lectures on philology and the poetry of the ancients, andto this we must attribute the freshness and unconventionality of his style. As a young man he associated withthe profligate circle of poets grouped around W§liba b. al- ub§b, and gained a reputation with his ÿ azalsand wine-songs; later critics have condemned these productions as poor and effeminate (Ibn |utayba, ÷ i#r,497), and only fragments of them have survived. Like most of the spontaneous poets, he showed a preferencefor simple language and short metres, and first rose to fame by a panegyric on al-MahdÊ which, in spite ofthese unconventional characteristics, gained the caliph's favour. He made himself notorious in Baÿ d§d byhis ÿ azals in praise of #Utba, a slave-girl of al-MahdÊ's cousin Rayãa, who hoped to gain the caliph's noticebut had no intention of throwing herself away on a penniless nobody. He held the caliph responsible for hisfailure to win #Utba, and some indiscrete verses gained him a flogging and banishment to Kåfa. Whenal-MahdÊ died, he took his revenge in some verses which could be read ambiguously.

Back in Baÿ d§d his fulsome praise of al-H§dÊ annoyed the latter's successor H§rån al-Ra Êd, who senthim to prison along with his friend Ibr§hÊm al-MawßilÊ. Restored to favour, he charmed H§rån with hislove-lyrics, but suddenly renounced the ÿ azal and devoted himself to ascetic poetry (c. 178). H§rån at firsttook umbrage at his conversion and imprisoned him, but was reconciled later at the instances of al-Fa l b.RabÊ#, and in part also no doubt because of his popularity with the masses. It may be suspected that al-Fa l'spatronage was connected with his intrigue, in association with the queen Zubayda, against the Barmakids,and that Abu '1-#At§hiya's new "ascetic" productions conveniently served their purposes. However that maybe, Abu'l-#At§hiya maintained henceforward a vast [I 108a] output of sermons in verse, long and short, paintingthe horrors of all-levelling Death, and directed especially against the rich and the powerful, not excluding thecaliph himself. So profitable was it that when Abå Nuw§s also began to produce zuhdiyy§t Abu'l-#At§hiyawarned him not to trespass on the field to which he had established a prescriptive right (A b§r AbÊ Nuw§s,Cairo 1924, 70). Some later critics questioned, not without cause, the sincerity of his conversion, notably thereal ascetic Abu'l-#Al§" al-Ma#arrÊ, who referred to him as "that astute fellow" (Ibn Fa l All§h, Mas§likal-Abߧr, xv, MS Brit. Mus. 575, fol. 136).

A more frequent accusation brought against Abu'l-#At§hiya is that of heresy, which was a favourite weaponat the time; and it was suggested by Goldziher that one reason for his imprisonments may be sought in theoccasionally unorthodox tone of some of his poems. Having no theological education he seems to have beeninfluenced by the modified legacy of Manichaean beliefs still current in #Ir§Î, which accounted for thedisorders of this world by the existence of two primary substances, good and evil, though Abu'l-#At§hiya heldthat both were the creation of All§h. In certain of his verses also, such as "If you would see the noblest ofmankind look for a king in the guise of a pauper", there may be suggestions of a concealed attachment toMås§ al-K§íim and the cause of the ÷ Ê#ite im§ms, still strong in Kåfa.

His astonishing success as a poet was due to the simplicity, spontaneity, and artlessness of his language,which contrasted with the laboured artificiality of some of his contemporaries, and expressed the feelings ofthe people in verse that they could understand. He was fortunate also, by his friendship with Ibr§hÊmal-MawßilÊ, to have many of his poems set to music by the foremost musician of the day. He and his youngercontemporary Ab§n b. #Abd al- amÊd [q.v.] were the first to use muzdawi (couplet) rhyming verse, and he

Extract from the Encyclopaedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition v.1.1

© 2001 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands

was the first, according to al-Ma#arrÊ (al-Fußål wa'l-ó ay§t, i, 131), to invent the metre mu §ri#. He also used ametre consisting of eight long syllables. Owing to his enormous output his entire dÊw§n was never collected.The zuhdiyy§t were put together by the Spanish scholar Ibn #Abd al-Barr (d. 463/1071).

(A. Guillaume)

Ibn ö allik§n, no. 91al-Aÿ §nÊ2, iii, 126-83 (3, iv, 1-112)see also Guidi's Tables for other referencesTa"rÊ Baÿ d§d, vi, 250-60Goldziher, Trans. IX Congress of Orientalists, 113 ff.G. Vajda, in RSO, 1937, 215 ff., 225 ff.Brockelmann, I, 76; S I, 119. Partial editions of the dÊw§n were published in Bairut 1887, 1909see also Ma må#a, ed. F. E. Bustani, Bairut 1927Zuhdiyy§t, trans. O. Rescher, Stuttgart 1928.

Extract from the Encyclopaedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition v.1.1

© 2001 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands