al-Jarawi
- Died
- 609 AH
- Born in
- -
Abu al-Abbas al-Jarawi (528–609 AH / 1134–1212 CE) was a Moroccan poet and man of letters under the Almohad Caliphate, best known for compiling the poetic anthology Safwat al-adab wa-nukhbat kalam al-Arab (The Quintessence of Literature and the Choicest Verse of the Arabs), widely known as al-Hamasa al-Maghribiyya (The Moroccan Hamasa) .
Origin and Early Life
Ahmad ibn Abd al-Salam al-Jarawi, who bore the kunya Abu al-Abbas, traced his lineage to the Banu Ghafjum branch of the Jarawa, a tribe of the Zanata Berbers originating from Tadla . He was raised and educated in Fez, before eventually settling in the Almohad capital of Marrakesh .
Court Career and Travels
Al-Jarawi served as a prominent court panegyrist for four successive Almohad sovereigns: Abd al-Mu'min ibn Ali, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, Ya'qub al-Mansur, and Muhammad al-Nasir . He was especially favored as the chief poet of Ya'qub al-Mansur, for whom he compiled his major anthology modeled on the thematic structure of the Hamasa of Abu Tammam . In the course of his career, he crossed the sea to al-Andalus on multiple occasions .
Literary Standing
Biographers commended al-Jarawi for his vast memorization of both classical and contemporary Arabic verse . He was characterized as intensely protective of poetry, sharp in his critical evaluations, and notoriously jealous of rival poets, rarely conceding preeminence to any of his contemporaries . His verse was collected in a diwan (collected poetry) that was later examined by the historian Ibn al-Abbar . Among those who transmitted from him were Sahl ibn Malik and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Jabbar .
Death
Al-Jarawi died at an advanced age in Seville in 609 AH (1212 CE), the year of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (al-Uqab) . Other historical reports place his death in 608 AH or before the turn of the seventh century AH .
Answer updated
List of Works
al-Hamasa al-Maghribiya (The Moroccan Hamasa), originally titled Safwat al-Adab wa-Diwan al-Arab, is a poetic anthology modeled upon the Hamasa of Abu Tammam. The collection compiles Arabic poetry across multiple genres and thematic categories, incorporating verse from western Islamic lands, including Andalusian and North African poets, alongside the broader Arabic tradition.