Muhja bint al-Tayyani
Muhja bint al-Tayyani (
Hardly any information is available about her life. She was the daughter of a Cordoban merchant who was engaged in the sale of figs. She met Princess Wallada, who took her to her house and educated her. She became a poet, a profession that had a great recognition in Andalusian society.[1]
Poems
Muhja dedicated ferocious satires to her teacher:[2]
Original[3][4] | Transliteration (ALA-LC) | Literal translation |
وَلّادة قَدْ صِرْتِ وَلّادة | Wallādah qad ṣirti wallādah
min ghayri baʿalin faḍaḥa al-kātimu ḥakat lanā Maryam lākinnah nakhlat hādhī dhakaru qāʾimu. |
Wallada has become fecund
by another man; the secret-keeper revealed it. To us, she resembled Mary, but this palm-tree is an erect penis. |
This poem puns on Wallada's name, which literally means 'fecund'. It compares Wallada, ostensibly pregnant out of wedlock, to
Another example is this verse:
يا متحفا بالخوخ أحبابه |
Away from the gouache of his lips |
Further reading
Sobh, Mahmud (2002), "Wallada bent al-Mustakfi. Muhya bent al-Tayyani", Historia de la literatura árabe clásica, Madrid: Cátedra, pp. 952–957.
References
- ^ Viguera, MJ (1989). La mujer en Al-Andalus. Sevilla: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.
- ^ Garulo, T (1998). Diwan de las poetisas de Al-Andalus. Madrid: Hiperión.
- ^ Garulo, T (1998). Diwan de las poetisas de Al-Andalus. Madrid: Hiperión.
- ^ "قصيدة: ولّادة قد صرتِ ولّادة".