Delhemma

Delhemma or Sirat Delhemma ("Tale of Lady Delhemma") is a popular epic of the

Title variations

The full name of the work, as given in its 1909 edition, is Sīrat al-amīra Dhāt al-Himma wa-waladihā ʿAbd al-Wahhāb wa ’l-amīr Abū Muḥammad al-Baṭṭāl wa-ʿUḳba shaykh al-ḍalāl wa-Shūmadris al-muḥtāl,

At the time of the Abbasid Revolution (ca. 750), the Sulaym under Abdallah ibn Marwan regain the leadership of the Arab tribes thanks to their support of the Abbasids. Through the intervention of Delhemma, the Kilab acquiesce to this change, and together with the Kilab they participate in the renewed border warfare with the Romans. The Kilab settle in the city of Malatya, while the Sulaym take over the fortress of Hisn al-Kawkab.^[5] Delhemma's cousin, al-Harith (the son of Zalim), manages to make her his wife thanks to a drug, and she bears a son, Abd al-Wahhab, who has black skin. When he grows up, he takes over the leadership of the Kilab, and his and his mother's subsequent exploits in the wars against Byzantium are the main theme of the epic. He is assisted by the cunning al-Battal, a Sulaymi who joins the Kilab, and is opposed by the rest of the Sulaym, including the treacherous qadi Uqba, who has secretly converted to Christianity, and the amir of Malatya, Amr ibn Abdallah (or Ubaydallah), who distrusts the Kilab even though he owes his life to Delhemma. At the same time, Delhemma's husband, al-Harith, has gone over to the Byzantines with a band of Arabs and converted to Christianity. In turn, the Muslims find allies among the Romans, such as the crypto-Muslim Maris, the Byzantine emperor's chamberlain, or the lord of a border fortress, Yanis (John).^[5]

The epic follows its protagonists in a series of campaigns and adventures during the reigns of Harun al-Rashid, al-Amin, al-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tasim. To the end, the narrative is dominated by the Kilab-Sulaym rivalry, fuelled by Uqba's treacherous hounding of the Kilab and his spying for the Romans. The Kilab leaders, including Delhemma and Abd al-Wahhab, are captured several times by both the Romans and the Abbasid caliph due to Uqba's machinations, only to be set free after various adventures. Al-Battal plays a crucial counterpart to the traitor Uqba, with each one seeking to capture and eliminate the other. Al-Battal often saves the situation through his exploits, which bring him as far as Western Europe and the Maghreb. Successive Eastern Roman rulers attack and sack Malatya, but are either driven off or defeated by the exploits of Delhemma or Abd al-Wahhab. On the other hand, the Kilab frequently aid the emperors in recovering their capital, Constantinople, from usurpers or from Western (Frankish) invaders.^[7]

Finally, Uqba's treachery is unmasked, and in the last, and longest, section he is pursued by Caliph al-Mu'tasim and the Kilabite heroes across several countries "from Spain to Yemen", before being crucified before Constantinople. On its return, the Muslim army is ambushed in a defile by the Romans, and only 400 men, including the Caliph, al-Battal, Delhemma and Abd al-Wahhab, manage to escape, but the amir Amr is killed. In retaliation, al-Mu'tasim's successor al-Wathiq launches a campaign against Constantinople, where he installs a Muslim governor and rebuilds the mosque first constructed by Maslama and al-Sahsah. The tale then describes the death of Delhemma and Abd al-Wahhab, as well as the final days of al-Battal, who lives long enough to witness the resumption of Roman attacks later in the century. He dies at

According to the French orientalist Marius Canard, the tale draws on two original traditions. The first portion, centred on the exploits of al-Sahsah and the early years of his granddaughter, the eponymous Delhemma, reflects a "Syro-Umayyad and bedouin" tradition, which includes typically bedouin elements in the tradition of Antarah ibn Shaddad, but combines them with the semi-mythical tradition that grew around the exploits of the real-life 8th-century Umayyad general Abdallah al-Battal, whose role is taken over by al-Sahsah.^[10][11] The second and longest portion, from section six on, reflects the events of the Abbasid period and probably draws on a cycle of tales about the real-life amir of Malatya, Amr ibn Ubaydallah al-Aqta, and the tribe of the Sulaym. However, later retelling fused the two traditions in favour of the Kilab, who took over the prominent role of the Sulaym in the second tradition. Canard suggests that this came about because of the surrender of Malatya to the Eastern Romans in 934, which discredited the Sulaym, whereas the Kilab continued to play a conspicuous role in the wars against Byzantium throughout the 10th century. Thus the Kilabites Dalhama and her son Abd al-Wahhab—in reality, like al-Battal, an Umayyad military leader—are the chief heroes, and the amir Amr ibn Ubaydallah is reduced to a secondary role. Similarly, the Sulaym are assigned the traitorous qadi Uqba, while the hero al-Battal has been moved from the Umayyad era, where he properly belongs, to the second, as a Kilabite. As Canard remarks, in the tale he plays the role of the cunning Ulysses to Abd al-Wahhab's bold and direct Achilles.^[12][13]

Historical references

The romance purports to be an accurate history, but, as Canard comments, in reality this means an "often very vague recollection of a certain number of facts and historical personages, garbed in romantic trappings and presented in an imaginary way, with constant disregard for chronology and probability".