Muhammad ibn Hani al-Andalusi al-Azdi

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This article is about the poet. For the archaeological site, see Ras Ibn Hani.

Muhammad ibn Hani al-Andalusi al-Azdi, (

Arabic: متنبي الغرب) by many of his contemporaries as well as later historians. Ibn Hani was murdered on his way from Egypt in c. 973.[1]

Early life

Hāni's father was a native of a village near

al-Masila (Msila) in Algiers where his compatriots Ja'far b. Ali b. Falah b. Abi Marwăn and Yahya b. Ali b. Hamdun al-Andalusi were ruling. Treated with great respect by them he composed some notable poems in their honor.[2]

Rise to prominence

Spending his childhood in a pro-Fatimid atmosphere, Ibn Hani was well versed with the Fatimid traditions and religious traits. He was at first a courtier to the Banu Hamdun of al-Masila, the Fatimid client state founded during the reign of

sunni Umayyads and Abbasid usurpers, he continued to eulogize the merits of al-Muizz and other Fatimid Imams, making known their noble aims. He thus rendered a valuable service to Fatimid propaganda through his poetry, which was widely read from Córdoba to Baghdad.[6]

Politics

Ibn Hani played an important role in establishing the political propaganda for the

Berber tribes near Alexandria. After c. 966, an official Fatimid delegation was sent to Egypt inviting the amir Kafur to recognize Fatimid suzerainty. The embassy was given amiable reception but nothing more. On 23 April 968 C.E., Kafur died leaving Egypt open for conquest. The news reached al Muizz in al Mansuriyyah a month later. By the middle of Ramadan in the year 969 C.E., a messenger had returned to al Muizz with the glad tidings that Egypt had fallen to the Fatimids. Ibn Hani, ready on the spot, recited an ode which began thus: "The Abbasids are saying, "Has Egypt been conquered?", So say to them, "The matter has been decided!"[9]

Death

When

Barqah in Cyrenaica on his road on Wednesday, 30 April, c. 973 at the age of 36. Accounts of his murder differ. When al Muizz in Egypt heard of the poet's death, he lamented, "He was a man whom we hoped to rival the poets of the East, but this was not granted to us."[10]

Diwan

There is scarce information about other court poets who flourished under the patronage of the Fatimid Caliph Imams. A large portion of their works seems to have perished in the destruction of Cairo's famed libraries which followed the collapse of the Fatimid state in c. 1171.[11] Ibn Hani's diwan, apart from surviving, has been the subject of research for many scholars like Zahid Ali, Farhad Daftary and M. Canard, the author of the French book "L'imperialisme des Fatimides et leur propagande". Zahid Ali has edited the Diwan and elaborated the verses in his thesis "Tabyeen al Ma'ani fi Sharh Diwan Ibn Hani" for which he has received the Doctorate of Philosophy from the Oxford University in London. The Zahid Ali edition of the Diwan has sixty poems and three in the appendix which have disputed claims with regard to their authorship.

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 9781850434399
    .
  2. ISBN 9004082654
    .
  3. ISBN 9004076115
    .
  4. ISBN 9788130703879
    .
  5. ^ Zahid Ali. تبيين المعاني في شرح ديوان ابن هانئ.
  6. ISBN 9780521429740
    .
  7. ISBN 9780521429740
    .
  8. ISBN 9780710301918
    .
  9. ISBN 9004076115
    .
  10. ISBN 9788130703879
    .
  11. ISBN 9781860641510
    .

External links
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