Diwan Imru al-Qays
- Author died
- 76 BH
- Editions
- t. al-Mastawi
Diwan Imru al-Qays is the collected poetic work of the pre-Islamic poet Imru' al-Qays (d. c. 80 BH / 545–565 CE), containing his renowned Mu'allaqa and foundational compositions of early Arabic poetry .
Transmission and Recensions
The poetry of Imru' al-Qays was collected and transmitted through various recensions compiled by early philologists of both the Basran and Kufan schools . Al-Asma'i authenticated twenty-eight poems and fragments, transmitted through his student Abu Hatim al-Sijistani (d. 255 AH) and later preserved in the compilation of al-A'lam al-Shantamari . This Basran recension was transmitted to al-Andalus by Abu Ali al-Qali, who received it from his teacher Ibn Durayd .
In the Kufan tradition, al-Mufaddal al-Dabbi transmitted forty poems and fragments, twenty of which coincided with al-Asma'i's selection while the other twenty were unique to his recension . Other recensions and transmissions include those of Abu Ubayda, Abu Amr al-Shaybani, Ibn al-A'rabi, Ibn Habib, Ya'qub ibn al-Sikkit, Ali ibn Abd Allah al-Tusi, and al-Sukkari .
Themes and Contents
The collection opens with his famous Mu'allaqa beginning with the hemistich:
قِفَا نَبْكِ مِنْ ذِكْرَى حَبِيبٍ وَمَنْزِلِ "Halt, let us weep over the memory of a beloved and an abode" .
The thematic scope of the diwan encompasses romantic prelude and flirtation (ghazal), weeping over abandoned campsites (al-atlal), and vivid descriptive verse (wasf) depicting horses, camels, hunting scenes, wine, lightning, rainstorms, mountains, and wildlife such as oryx and wild asses . It also includes passages of tribal and personal pride (fakhr), as well as aphoristic wisdom (hikma) . Arab critics credited him with pioneering and refining fundamental conventions of Arabic ode composition, such as halting at desert ruins and employing distinctive similes for women, steeds, and nocturnal storms .
Commentaries
Multiple classical scholars wrote commentaries on the diwan or included it within broader collections of pre-Islamic poetry:
- Al-A'lam al-Shantamari (d. 467 AH / 1083 CE; also dated 476 AH), who commented on the collection within his commentary on the six pre-Islamic poets (Ash'ar al-Shu'ara' al-Sitta al-Jahiliyyin), taking al-Asma'i's transmission as his primary text and appending supplementary poems from other recensions .
- Abu Bakr Asim ibn Ayyub al-Batalyawsi (d. 494 AH / 1101 CE), who composed an extensive commentary based on the transmission of al-Asma'i .
- Al-Sharif al-Murtada (d. 436 AH / 1044 CE), who wrote an exposition commenting on selected verses from the diwan .
- Ibn al-Nahhas (identified as Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas, d. 338 AH / 950 CE), whose commentary synthesized the recensions of al-Asma'i and Abu Ubayda .
- Kharabandadh ibn Makharshidh, author of an early manuscript commentary on the collection .
Printed Editions
The collection was first published in Europe by William Mac Guckin de Slane in Paris (1837), based on two manuscripts of al-Shantamari's recension and accompanied by a French translation, titled Le Diwan d'Amro'lkaïs (Nuzhat Dhawi al-Kays wa-Tuhfat al-Udaba' fi Qasa'id Imru' al-Qays) . Wilhelm Ahlwardt later edited the diwan in London (1870) in The Divans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets, relying on al-Sukkari's transmission and appending additional poems and fragments attributed to the poet in historical and literary sources .
In the Arab world, Asim ibn Ayyub al-Batalyawsi's commentary was printed in Cairo (1282 AH and 1307 AH) . Hasan al-Sandubi prepared an edition organized alphabetically by rhyme letter incorporating all attributed poems . Muhammad Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim published a comprehensive critical edition (Cairo: Dar al-Ma'arif, 1958) collationally synthesizing the transmissions of al-Asma'i, al-Mufaddal, al-Tusi, al-Sukkari, and Ibn al-Nahhas .
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