Abū al-ʻAtāhiyya (Arabic:أبو العتاهية; 748–828), full nameAbu Ishaq Isma'il ibn al-Qasim ibn Suwayd Al-Anzi (أبو إسحاق إسماعيل بن القاسم بن سويد العنزي),[1][2][3] was one of the principalArab poets of the early Islamic era, a prolificmuwallad[n 1]poet of ascetics who ranked withBashshār andAbū Nuwās, both of whom he met. He renounced poetry for a time on religious grounds.[4]
Abū l-ʻAtāhiyya was born inAyn al-Tamr inKarbala.[n 2] There are two views regarding his lineage: the first is that he was from theAnazzah tribe,[5][6] while the other is that his family weremawali of the tribe ofʻAnaza.[7] His youth was spent inKufa, where he sold pottery. While he was selling pottery, he saw poets assemble for a competition and participated in it. Later, he composed eulogia to the governor ofTabaristan, emir Umar Ibn al-Alā (783-4/ 167AH).[8]
With his reputation growing, Abū l-ʻAtāhiyya was drawn toBaghdad, the seat of the Abbāsid court where he soon became famous for his verses, especially for those addressed to ‘Utbah[9][10][11][n 3], aconcubine of theAbbasidCaliphal-Mahdi. His love was unrequited, although Caliphal-Mahdi, and after him Caliphar-Rashīd, interceded for him. At one point he offended thecaliph, and was imprisoned for a short time.
Abū l-ʻAtāhiyya died in 828 during the reign ofCaliph al-Ma'mūn.[12]Al-Nadīm cites theqāḍī of al-Kūfah Ibn Kāmil (d.961) that he died on the same day as the grammarian ‘Amr ibn Abī ‘Amr al-Shaybānī and the court musicianIbrāhīm al-Mawṣilī in 828-9 / 213 AH.[13] His tomb was on the banks of the Īsā canal[n 4] opposite the Kantarat al-Zaiyātīn ('Oilmen Bridge')[14]
The poetry of Abū l-ʻAtāhiyya is notable for its avoidance of the artificiality almost universal during his lifetime. The older poetry of the desert had been constantly imitated up until this time, although it was not natural to town life. Abū l-ʻAtāhiyya was one of the first to drop the oldqasīda (elegy) form. He was very fluent and used manymetres. He is also regarded as one of the earliest philosophical poets of the Arabs. Much of his poetry was concerned with the observation of common life and morality, and at times was pessimistic. Thus he was strongly suspected ofheresy.[12]
Ibn Abī Ṭāhir Ṭayfūr (819/20 —893/94) published an anthology of Abū al-‘Atāhiyah’s poetry.[15] He was also included in Hārūn ibn ‘Alī al-Munajjim’s unfinished anthology “Traditions of the Poets,” along with contemporary poetsAbū Nuwās andBashshār.[16] Thevizier Ibn ‘Ammār al-Thaqafī (d. 931/ 319 AH) wroteTraditions about Abū al-‘Atāhiyah.[17]
Abū al-‘Atāhiyah produced poets among his children and grandchildren:
Muḥammad ibn Abī al-‘Atāhiyah, surnamed Abū ‘Abd Allāh, was a hermit nicknamed al-‘Atāhiyah (the Foolish One);
‘Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-‘Atāhiyah; and
Abū Suwayd ‘Abd al-Qāwī ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-‘Atāhiyah.
Of the many anecdotes told of al-‘Atāhiyah,al-Nadīm relates one attributed to the Abbāsid court musician,Isḥāq al-Mawṣilī, that whenever he, al-Mawṣilī, saw three men, three others appeared: "Whereveral-Haytham ibn 'Adi was seen,Hishām al-Kalbī was there; if ‘Allawīyah was there then Mukhāriq turned up; Abū Nuwās was on hand if Abū al-‘Atāhiyah appeared."[n 5].[19][14]
^Ibn Khallikān says that some said ‘Abu al-Atāhiyah was born atAin al-Tamr, inHejāz nearMedina, others said it was along theEuphrates near Anbār.
^Khallikān describes ‘Utbah as the slave girl of the caliph al-Mahdī, while Iṣbahānī calls her slave girl of al-Khayzurān, mother of Hārūn al-Rashīd. Isḥāq al-Nadīm lists Abū al-‘Atāhiyah and ‘Utbah among the ‘passionate lovers’ whose stories became romanticised in book form.
^The Īsā river, or canal, ran from theEuphrates into theTigris.See Ibn KhallikānWafayāt, (1843) I, p.209, n.14
^AI-Haytham and al-Kalbī were scholars of traditions; ‘Allawīyah and Mukhāriq were singers; Abū Nuwās and Abū al-‘Atāhiyah were poets; all lived about the time ofHārūn al-Rashīd or thereafter.
Stefan Sperl,Mannerism in Arabic Poetry: A Structural Analysis of Selected Texts (3rd Century AH/9th Century AD–5th Century AH/11th Century AD) (2005, Cambridge University Press)ISBN0-521-52292-7
Tzvetan Theophanov, "Abu-l-'Atahiya and the Philosophy". In: T. Theophanov.Philosophy and Arts in the Islamic World: Proceedings of the 18th Congress of the Union Europeenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (1998), p. 41-55.ISBN978-90-6831-977-4
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abu-l-'Atahiya".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 79.