Imru al-Qays
- Died
- 76 BH
- Born in
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Imru al-Qays (c. 130 – 80 BH / c. 497 – 545 CE) was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet of the royal house of Kindah, widely regarded as one of the preeminent figures of early Arabic poetry and author of a famous Mu'allaqa.
Lineage and early life
He was Imru al-Qays ibn Hujr ibn al-Harith ibn 'Amr ibn Hujr Akil al-Murar of the South Arabian tribe of Kindah. While his most famous appellation was the moniker Imru al-Qays (meaning "man of hardship"), historians recorded various personal names for him, including Hunduj, 'Adi, and Mulaykah. He bore several kunyas, primarily Abu Wahb and Abu al-Harith, as well as Abu Zayd and Abu Yazid, and was known by the epithets al-Malik al-Dillil ("the Wandering King") and Dhu al-Quruh ("the Man of Sores").
Born in Najd, or according to another account in Mikhlaf al-Sakasik in Yemen, he grew up in royal comfort among his father's subjects from Banu Asad. His father, Hujr, ruled over Banu Asad and Ghatfan, while his mother was widely identified as Fatima bint Rabi'a, sister of the poets Kulayb and al-Muhalhil. As a youth, he took to composing erotic verse (tashbib), drinking wine, and associating with vagabonds (sa'alik). Disapproving of his conduct and verse, his father banished him around the age of twenty to Damun in Hadramawt, where he remained for approximately five years before resuming his nomadic wanderings with his companions across tribal lands.
Vengeance and travels
When Banu Asad rebelled against Hujr and killed him, the news reached Imru al-Qays while he was drinking. He reportedly uttered the celebrated words: "May God have mercy on my father; he neglected me when I was young, and burdened me with his blood when I am grown. There is no sobriety today, and no drunkenness tomorrow; today is wine, and tomorrow is business." He then swore off meat, wine, perfume, and women until he avenged his father.
He mobilized allied tribes and inflicted heavy casualties on Banu Asad. However, the Sasanian Empire supported the Lakhmids of al-Hira, prompting their king, al-Mundhir, to pursue him. As his allies dispersed, Imru al-Qays wandered among various tribes and eventually sought sanctuary with the Jewish chieftain al-Samaw'al at his fortress of al-Ablaq. Seeking to enlist Byzantine assistance to reclaim his family's lost dominion, he traveled northward to Constantinople and met the Emperor Justinian I.
Death
On his journey back, Imru al-Qays fell severely ill at Ankara. According to one account, he contracted a pox-like disease; in traditional Arabic lore, the Byzantine emperor was swayed by an informant named al-Tammah and sent him a poisoned garment that caused his flesh to erupt in sores, earning him the moniker Dhu al-Quruh. He died at Ankara around 80 BH (c. 545 CE; other estimates place it c. 565 CE) at the foot of Mount 'Asib and was buried alongside the tomb of a local princess.
Poetic standing
Classical critics placed Imru al-Qays in the highest rank of pre-Islamic poets. He was credited with establishing several structural conventions of the classical Arabic qasida, notably opening poems by weeping over the traces of deserted encampments (wuquf 'ala al-atlal), refining descriptions of lovers, and introducing precise similes comparing women to wild cows and gazelles, and horses to predatory birds.
His foremost work is his Mu'allaqa, beginning with the line قفا نبك من ذكرى حبيب ومنزل ("Halt, let us weep for the remembrance of a beloved and an abode"), which became one of the most widely commented-upon poems in the Arabic language. When asked about the greatest poet, Umar ibn al-Khattab remarked that Imru al-Qays had opened the wellspring of poetry for the Arabs, while Ali ibn Abi Talib praised him for his originality and for composing poetry without desire for reward or fear of retribution. The surviving corpus of his verse is gathered in his Diwan.
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List of Works
This work is a collection of pre-Islamic poetry containing foundational compositions of early Arabic verse, including the renowned Mu'allaqa.