al-Kashf an Masawi Shi'r al-Mutanabbi
- Author died
- 385 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Nahḍah
al-Kashf ʿan Masawi Shiʿr al-Mutanabbi (Uncovering the Faults of al-Mutanabbi's Poetry) is a critical treatise on Arabic poetry by the Buyid vizier and scholar al-Sahib ibn ʿAbbad (326–385 AH / 938–995 CE), dedicated to exposing the stylistic, lexical, and rhetorical defects in the diwan of al-Mutanabbi (d. 354 AH / 965 CE) .
Composition and Purpose
The treatise is structured as an epistle (risala) addressed to Abu al-Husayn Hamza ibn Muhammad al-Isfahani . Ibn ʿAbbad opens the work by warning against personal bias (hawa) and blind partisanship (ʿasabiyya), asserting that uncritical devotion blinds judgment . He framed the composition as a response to excessive admirers of al-Mutanabbi who refused to acknowledge any flaws in the poet's verse, complaining of an age in which unqualified enthusiasts had encroached upon literary criticism . Literary historians note that personal resentment also motivated the work, as al-Mutanabbi had declined to travel to Isfahan to compose panegyrics for Ibn ʿAbbad when passing through to Fars .
Contents and Method
The work is concise, spanning about fifteen pages in its original tract, and employs a sarcastic, adversarial critical tone . Ibn ʿAbbad focuses primarily on lexical oddities and rhetorical excesses in al-Mutanabbi's verse, censuring his use of rare, anomalous words (al-alfaz al-shadhdha), obscurity resembling Sufi phrasing, weak and unappealing opening lines (radaʾat al-mataliʿ), extravagant hyperbole, distasteful metaphors (istiʿara dhamima), and cumbersome rhyming patterns . Among the specific examples he attacks are al-Mutanabbi's usage of unusual lexical variants such as tawrab for turab (earth), taranj (citron), and words deemed abrasive like musbitarr .
Reception and Impact
The epistle stands as one of the earliest and most prominent hostile assessments of al-Mutanabbi, provoking sharp counterattacks from the poet's partisans . Some contemporary and later commentators accused Ibn ʿAbbad of altering line transmissions to manufacture flaws, while others, such as Ibn Furraja, wrote direct rebuttals to his points . The controversy intensified fourth-century AH debates on modern Arabic poetry and served as a direct catalyst for al-Qadi al-Jurjani (d. 392 AH / 1001 CE) to author his balancing critique, al-Wasata bayn al-Mutanabbi wa-Khusumih (The Mediation Between al-Mutanabbi and His Opponents) . Later scholars such as al-Thaʿalibi incorporated Ibn ʿAbbad's criticisms into their evaluations of al-Mutanabbi's shortcomings .
The text was printed in Cairo by al-Matbaʿa al-Salafiyya in 1349 AH, and was later published in 1961 in an edition prepared by Muhammad Hasan Al Yasin, as well as appearing alongside al-ʿAmidi's al-Ibanah edited by al-Bisati .
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