Ka'b ibn Zuhayr

Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr (

Ibn Zuhayr started composing poetry as a child; his father - a renowned poet himself - prohibited him and suggested not to compose poetry till the strengthening of his ideas and speech. Nevertheless, he continued to compose poetry. At last one day his father Zuhayr took a hard test of him, when he succeeded in that hard test his father allowed him to compose poetry and Ka'b become a famous poet of that time.[3] When Islam came, Ka'b and his brother Bujayr went out to Muhammad but in the way Ka'b's intention changed and he turned back. Bujayr went to Muhammad and accepted Islam . When Ka'b found out about his brother accepting Islam, he composed a satire of his brother and Muhammad. After that Muhammad declared punishment for Ka'b. Then his brother Bujayr advised him to seek pardon of Muhammad. At first, he did not listen to his brother and started seeking help of others in the matter. But later he reached Muhammad through Abu Bakr and accepted Islam. It was then that he recited the first na'at Bānat Suʿād.^[2]

Poetry

Ka'b found environment of poetry at his home. Because of this, he started composing poetry at a young age and become a famous poet. Critic Khalful Ahmar says that if Zuhayr had not done the long poetry through which he became famous, he wouldn't have considered him a greater poet than his son. Another critic says that if he had not composed his poetry using hard language then he could be a great poet as his father before him.^[2]

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Penzer, Norman Mosley. "The Harem", Chapter XI
• The Burda of Hadrat Ka'b bin Zuhair
• New International Encyclopedia
  (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.