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The Poems of Surâqah b. Mirdâs al-Bâriqî—An Umayyad Poet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

Surâqah B. Mirdâs al-Bâkiqî was a contemporary of the great trio, al-Akhṭal, al-Farazdaq, and Jarîr, whose names stand out so pre-eminently in the list of the Umayyad bards that all contemporary poets are thrown into the shade. Thus there is no article on our poet in the Aghâdnî, and he would have passed quite unnoticed but for his taking part in the literary duel between al-Farazdaq and Jarir. The public scolding match () in which these two masters were engaged for many years attracted our poet and, like the well-known Akhṭal, he, too, joined in the fray with his sympathies for al-Farazdaq. The anecdotes relating to the “flytings” (), which he and Jarir composed against each other, as narrated on the authority of Abû. 'Ubaidah, will be found interesting. It is said that Muhammad b. 'Umair b. 'Utârid al-Dârimî, a noble, offered four thousand dirhams and a horse to the poet who could compose a poem giving al-Farazdaq preference over Jarîr. Of all poets Surâqah, who had already composed some invective upon Jarîr, took up the challenge and produced a piece of lampoon which was carried to Jarîr, requiring him to make a reply forthwith. Jarîr tried throughout the whole night but failed. At break of day, however, his poetical genius came to his aid and the sharp lampoon that this great poet then produced is said to have silenced Surâqah against Jarîr once for all.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1936

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References

page 475 note 1 Mubarrad, , Kâmil, p. 174Google Scholar; he was secretary to the Caliph ‘Abd al-Mâlik b. Marwân, (Aghânî, ii, 151)Google Scholar, and also appears to have been a companion of the prince, Bishr b. Marwân, to whom he, thus, recited the verses of al-Akhṭal (ibid., xiii, 13).

page 475 note 2 No. vi.

page 475 note 3 No. vii.

page 476 note 1 See Agâdnî, vii, pp. 42and 63 seq.; Jumaḥî, , Ṭabaqât al-Shu'arâ p. 157Google Scholar.

page 476 note 2 Aghânî, vii, p. 64. The author of the Agâdnî on another occasion (vii, 42) refers to the same invective of Surâqah against Jarîr and in another place (vi, 30) gives him the credit of certain verses which are also ascribed, probably rightly, to al-Aḥwaṣ, as they do not occur in Surâqah's Dîwîn.

page 476 note 3 He was fond of wine, musicians, and poets. His generosity and affability earned him the warmest praise of the poets. The most famous of them, al-Uqaishir, ‘Abd Allah b. Zabîr, and Aiman b. Khuraim, not to mention the triad, al-Akhṭal, al-Farazdaq, and Jarîr, sang his praise at this epoch of the renaissance of literature—Encydopædia of Islam, vol. i, p. 731.

page 476 note 4 Jumaḥî, , Ṭabaqât al-Shu'arâ, p. 157Google Scholar.

page 476 note 5 See No. viii.

page 476 note 6 Surâqah is thus mentioned in the Naqâ'ḍ (ed. Bevan, Professor), pp. 966, 967, 1014, and 1015Google Scholar.

page 476 note 7 Duraid, Ibn, Ishtiqâq, i, 282Google Scholar; Jumaḥî, , Ṭabaqâl, p. 156 seq.Google Scholar

page 476 note 8 Nos. xii and xiii.

page 476 note 9 Jumaḥî, , Ṭabaqât al-Shu'arâ, p. 157Google Scholar. Al-Suyûṭî reckons him as one of the poets of Iraq—see Sharh Shawdhid al-Mughnî, p. 232.

page 476 note 10 Mukhtâr seized possession of Kufa in a.h. 66 (a.d. 685–6).

page 477 note 1 See Ṭalari, ii, 664.

page 477 note 1 ‘Abdur Raḥman b. Mikhnaf was the chief lieutenant of the able genera Muhallab, who was sent by ‘Abdul Malik to suppress the Azariqite revolt. Bishr b. Marwân, the Governor of Kufa, hated Muhallab and went so far as to order ‘Abdur Raḥman b. Mikhnaf to cause his general's plans to miscarry. 'Abdur Raḥman was slain in the course of his campaigns against the Azariqites. Surâqah composed two poems (Nos. i and xv) to mourn his death and the history will be found in the introduction to the first piece.

page 478 note 2 Mukhtâr was slain in a desperate sortie on the 14th of Ramaḍan a.h. 67.

page 478 note 3 According to Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, Bâriq is the name of a stream at al-Sharâh; it is also said to be the name of a place in Tihâmah. See Ṭâj al-'Arûs, s.v.

page 478 note 4 Kitâb al-Ishtiqâq, i, 282.

page 478 note 5 According to al-Amadî the Bâriqites were brethren of the Banû Khuza'ah.

page 478 note 6 See No. xi, vv. 34–52. He is called by al-Suyûṭî “al-Azdî al-Bâriqî”— Sharḥ-u Shawâhid-i 'l-Mughnî, p. 232.

page 479 note 1 See Zaydân, Jurjî, Târikh-u Âdâb-i ‘l-Lughat-i 'l-'Arabiyydh, i, 135Google Scholar; Amadî, , Kitâb al-Mukhialif wa 'l-Mu'talif and Aghânî, xix, 156Google Scholar.

page 479 note 2 Kitâb al-Mukhtalif wa 'I-Mu'talif fi Asmâ'i '1-Shu'arâ. I owe this reference to Maulana Abdul Aziz Memon of Muslim University, Aligarh.

page 479 note 3 Jumaḥî, , Ṭabaqât al-Shu‘arâ’, p. 158Google Scholar.

page 479 note 4 No. xiv.

page 479 note 6 Cf. Mu'allaqah of Imru'u 'l-Qais, v. 1.

page 480 note 1 Cf. Dîwân of Hassân b. Thâbit, xviii, 8.

page 480 note 2 Jarwal b. Aws al-Ḥuṭai'ah.

page 480 note 3 See No. xi, vv. 57–72.

page 480 note 4 See Suyûṭî, , Bughyat al-Wu'ât, p. 235Google Scholar.

page 481 note 1 See ibid., p. 306; Maimanî, , Abu 'l-‘Alâ’ wa mâ ilaihî, p. 121Google Scholar. Our MS. has only Abû Aḥmad. I am indebted to the learned Maulana 'Abdul'Aziz al-Maimanî for the identification of this surname.

page 481 note 2 See the note at the end of No. xviii.

page 481 note 3 Where it is Mixt., 902.

page 481 note 4 Adab 614, dated a.h. 1279.

page 481 note 5 Majmu' No. 6.

page 481 note 6 Nos. vi, vii, ix, xvii, and xix.

page 481 note 7 Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur, vol. i, p. 45, quoted in Nicholson's, Literary History of the Arabs, p. 236Google Scholar.

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