Salama ibn Jandal
- Died
- 21 BH
- Born in
- -
Salama ibn Jandal (d. c. 21 BH / 602 CE) was a pre-Islamic knight and poet of the Banu Tamim tribe, noted for his chivalric verse and detailed descriptions of horses.
Lineage and life
His kunya was Abu Malik, and he belonged to the clan of al-Harith from the Sa‘d al-Fizr branch (Banu Ka‘b ibn Sa‘d) of Banu Tamim. He was born around 530 CE and flourished during the second half of the sixth century.
He took part in intertribal conflicts, including the battle of Judud in the mid-sixth century between the tribes of Bakr and Tamim, commemorating the victory achieved by Banu Minqar over Bakr ibn Wa’il. A prominent episode recorded from his life involved his brother Ahmar (occasionally transcribed as Ahmad), who was captured during a southern raid by ‘Amr ibn Kulthum, the chieftain of Banu Taghlib; Salama interceded on his behalf, leading ‘Amr to release Ahmar without demanding a ransom. An alternate account recorded in the commentary of his poetry states that Ahmar’s captor was a man named Sa‘sa‘ah ibn Mahmud ibn ‘Amr ibn Marthad.
In his longest poem, he referenced the death of the Lakhmid king al-Nu‘man III (d. 602 CE), who was trampled by elephants by order of the Persian king Khosrow Parviz, indicating that the poet lived past that date. He died before the rise of Islam, with standard biographical estimates placing his death around 21 BH (c. 602 CE) or 23 BH (c. 600 CE).
Poetic standing and themes
Salama was considered one of the foremost poets of his tribe. Ibn Sallam al-Jumahi ranked him in the seventh class of pre-Islamic poets among those of small poetic output (al-muqillun). His extant verse is characterized primarily by tribal boast (fakhr), lamentation over lost youth, and especially celebrated descriptions of war horses and weaponry.
The occurrence of monotheistic terminology such as al-Rahman and Allah in his poetry led some modern scholars to propose a Christian affiliation for him, though critics have noted that such vocabulary was already current among pre-Islamic Arabs and does not constitute evidence of Christian belief or posthumous interpolation.
Answer updated
List of Works
This collection brings together pre-Islamic poetry characterized by early classical diction, chivalric pride, and detailed depictions of horses. Preserved through early philological recensions, the core manuscript tradition forms a concise corpus of nine poems and fragments totaling 135 lines.