Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri أبو العلاء المعري | |
|---|---|
.png) al-Ma'arri byKahlil Gibran | |
| Born | December 973 |
| Died | May 1057 (aged 83) Ma'arrat al-Nu'man,Mirdasid Emirate of Aleppo |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Post-classical era |
| Region | Middle Eastern philosophy |
| School | |
| Main interests | Poetry,skepticism,ethics,antinatalism |
| Notable ideas | Veganism |
Abu al-Ala al-Ma'arri,Arabic:أبو العلاء المعري,[a](December 973 – May 1057),[1] also known by hisLatin nameAbulola Moarrensis;[2] was an Arab philosopher, poet, and writer fromMa'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria.[3] Because of hisantireligious worldview, he is known as one of the "foremostatheists" of his time", although his worldview was closer todeism.[b][3][4]
Born in the city of al-Ma'arra (present-dayMa'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria) during the laterAbbasid era, he became blind at a young age fromsmallpox but nonetheless studied in nearbyAleppo, then inTripoli andAntioch. Producing popular poems inBaghdad, he refused to sell his texts. In 1010, he returned to Syria after his mother began declining in health, and continued writing which gained him local respect.
Described as a "pessimistic freethinker", al-Ma'arri was a controversialrationalist of his time,[3] rejecting superstition and dogmatism. His written works exhibit a fixation on the study of language and its historical development, known asphilology.[1][5] He was pessimistic about life, describing himself as "a double prisoner" of blindness andisolation. Heattacked religious dogmas and practices,[6][7] was equally critical and sarcastic aboutJudaism,Christianity,Islam, andZoroastrianism,[5][6][7] and became adeist.[5][7] He advocatedsocial justice and lived asecluded,ascetic lifestyle.[1][3] He was avegan, known in his time as a moral vegetarian, entreating: "Do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals / Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught for their young."[8] Al-Ma'arri held anantinatalist outlook, in line with his general pessimism, suggesting that children should not be born to spare them of the pains andsuffering of life.[1]Saqt az-Zand,Luzumiyat, andRisalat al-Ghufran are among his main works.
Abu al-'Ala' was born in December 973 in al-Ma'arra (present-dayMa'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria), southwest ofAleppo, whence hisnisba ("al-Ma'arri"). At his time, the city was part of theAbbasid Caliphate, the third Islamic caliphate, during theIslamic Golden Age.[9] He was a member of the Banu Sulayman, a notable family of Ma'arra, belonging to the largerTanukh tribe.[1][10][11] One of his ancestors was probably the firstqadi of Ma'arra. The Tanukh tribe had formed part of the aristocracy in Syria for hundreds of years and some members of the Banu Sulayman had also been noted as good poets.[12] He lost his eyesight at the age of four due tosmallpox. Later in his life he regarded himself as "a double prisoner", which referred to both this blindness and the general isolation that he felt during his life.[3][13]
He started his career as a poet at an early age, at about 11 or 12 years old. He was educated at first in Ma'arra and Aleppo, then in Antioch and other Syrian cities. Among his teachers in Aleppo were companions from the circle ofIbn Khalawayh.[12][13] This grammarian and Islamic scholar had died in 980 CE, when al-Ma'arri was still a child.[14] Al-Ma'arri nevertheless laments the loss of Ibn Khalawayh in strong terms in a poem of hisRisālat al-Ghufrān.[15]Al-Qifti reports that when on his way toTripoli, al-Ma'arri visited a Christian monastery nearLatakia where he listened toHellenistic philosophy debates that birthed his secularism, but other historians such asIbn al-Adim deny that he had been exposed to any theology other than Islamic doctrine.[15]
In 1004–05, al-Ma'arri learned that his father had died and, in reaction, wrote anelegy where he praised his father.[15] Years later he would travel toBaghdad where he became well received in the literary salons of the time, though he was a controversial figure.[15] After the eighteen months in Baghdad, al-Ma'arri returned home for unknown reasons. He may have returned because his mother was ill, or he may have run out of money in Baghdad, as he refused to sell his works.[1] He returned to his native town of Ma'arra in about 1010 and learned that his mother had died before his arrival.[9]
He remained in Ma'arra for the rest of his life, where he opted for an ascetic lifestyle, refusing to sell his poems, living in seclusion and observing a strictvegetarian diet, eventually becoming one of the earliest knownvegans.[16][17] His personal confinement to his house was only broken one time when violence had struck his town.[15] In that incident, al-Ma'arri went to Aleppo to intercede with itsMirdasid emir,Salih ibn Mirdas, to release his brother Abu'l-Majd and several other Muslim notables from Ma'arra who were held responsible for destroying a winehouse whose Christian owner was accused of molesting a Muslim woman.[15] Though he was confined, he lived out his later years continuing his work and collaborating with others.[18] He enjoyed great respect and attracted many students locally, as well as actively holding correspondence with scholars abroad.[1] Despite his intentions of living a secluded lifestyle, in his seventies, he became rich and was the most revered person in his area.[9] Al-Ma'arri never married and died in May 1057 in his home town.[1][13]
An earlycollection of his poems appeared asThe Tinder Spark (Saqṭ az-Zand;سقط الزند). The collection of poems included praise of people ofAleppo and theHamdanid rulerSa'd al-Dawla. It gained popularity and established his reputation as a poet. A few poems in the collection were about armour.[1]
A second, more original collection appeared under the titleUnnecessary Necessity (Luzūm mā lam yalzamلزوم ما لا يلزم), or simplyNecessities (Luzūmīyātاللزوميات). The title refers to how al-Ma'arri saw the business of living and alludes to the unnecessary complexity of the rhyme scheme used.[1]
His third work is a work of prose known asThe Epistle of Forgiveness (Risalat al-Ghufranرسالة الغفران). The work was written as a direct response to theArabic poetIbn al-Qarih, whom al-Ma'arri mocks for his religious views.[14][20] In this work, the poet visitsparadise and meets theArab poets of thepagan period. This view is shared byIslamic scholars, who often argued thatpre-Islamic Arabs are indeed capable of entering paradise.[21] Because of the aspect ofconversing with the deceased in paradise, theRisalat al-Ghufran has been compared to theDivine Comedy ofDante[22] which came hundreds of years after. The work has also been noted to be similar toIbn Shuhayd'sRisala al-tawabi' wa al-zawabi, though there is no evidence that al-Ma'arri was inspired by Ibn Shuhayd nor is there any evidence that Dante was inspired by al-Ma'arri.[23]Algeria reportedly bannedThe Epistle of Forgiveness from the International Book Fair held inAlgiers in 2007.[9][24]
Paragraphs and Periods (al-Fuṣūl wa al-Ghāyāt) is a collection ofhomilies. The work has been accused of being a parody of or an attempt toimitate the Quran.[25][26]
Al-Ma'arri also composed a significant corpus ofverse riddles.[27]
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Al-Ma'arri was askeptic[3] who denouncedsuperstition anddogmatism in religion. This, along with his general negative view on life, has made him described as apessimisticfreethinker. Throughout his philosophical works, one of the recurring themes that he expounded upon at length was the idea thatreason holds a privileged position overtraditions. In his view, relying on the preconceptions and established norms of society can be limiting and prevent individuals from fully exploring their own capabilities.[13][28] Al-Ma'arri taught that religion was a "fable invented by the ancients", worthless except for those who exploit thecredulous masses.[29]
Do not suppose the statements of theprophets to be true; they are all fabrications. Men lived comfortably till they came and spoiled life. The sacred books are only such a set of idle tales as any age could have and indeed did actually produce.[30]
Al-Ma'arri criticized many of the dogmas ofIslam, such as theHajj, which he called "a pagan's journey".[31] He rejected claims of anydivine revelation and hiscreed was that of aphilosopher andascetic, for whom reason provides a moral guide, andvirtue is its own reward.[32][33] Hissecularist views included bothJudaism andChristianity as well. Al-Ma'arri remarked thatmonks in theircloisters or devotees in theirmosques were blindly following the beliefs of their locality: if they were born amongMagians orSabians they would have become Magians or Sabians.[34] Encapsulating his view onorganized religion, he once stated: "The inhabitants of the earth are of two sorts: those with brains, but no religion, and those with religion, but no brains."[35][36]
Al-Ma'arri was anascetic, renouncing worldly desires and livingsecluded from others while producing his works. He opposed all forms of violence.[9] InBaghdad, while being well received, he decided not to sell his texts, which made it difficult for him to live.[1] This ascetic lifestyle has been compared to similar thought inIndia during his time.[18]
In al-Ma'arri's later years he chose to stop consuming meat and all other animal products (i.e., he became a practicingvegan). He wrote:[37]
Do not unjustly eat what the water has given up, and do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,
Or the white (milk) of mothers who intended its pure draught for their young, not for noble ladies.
And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking their eggs; for injustice is the worst of crimes.
And spare the honey which the bees get betimes by their industry from the flowers of fragrant plants;
For they did not store it that it might belong to others, nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts.
I washed my hands of all this; and would that I had perceived my way ere my temples grew hoar![38]
Al-Ma'arri's fundamentalpessimism is expressed in hisantinatalist recommendation that no children should be begotten, so as to spare them the pains of life.[39] In anelegy composed by him over the loss of a relative, he combines his grief with observations on theephemerality of this life:
Soften your tread. Methinks the earth's surface is but bodies of the dead,
Walk slowly in the air, so you do not trample on the remains of God's servants.[1]
Al-Ma'arri's self-composedepitaph, on his tomb, states (in regard to life and being born): "This is my father's crime against me, which I myself committed against none."[40]
Al-Ma'arri is controversial even today as he was skeptical ofIslam.[18] In 2013 theal-Nusra Front, a branch ofal-Qaeda, demolished a statue of al-Ma'arri during theSyrian Civil War.[24] The statue had been crafted in 1944 by the sculptorFathi Muhammad.[12] The motive behind the destruction is disputed; theories range from the fact that he was aheretic to the fact that he is believed by some to be related to theAssad family.[24]
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