Diwan Tarafa ibn al-Abd
- Author died
- 57 BH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah
Diwan Tarafa ibn al-Abd is the collected poetic corpus of the pre-Islamic Arabian poet Tarafa ibn al-Abd (d. c. 60 BH / 564 CE), which preserves his celebrated Mu'allaqa along with shorter odes and fragments of satire, wisdom, and personal reflection .
Transmission and Commentaries
The poetry of Tarafa was transmitted by early philologists through recensions such as that of Ibn al-Sikkit (d. 244 AH / 858 CE) . It was subsequently included in canonical anthologies of pre-Islamic verse, most notably the commentary on the six poets (Ash'ar al-Shu'ara' al-Sitta al-Jahiliyyin) by the Andalusian scholar Abu al-Hajjaj al-A'lam al-Shantamari (410–476 AH / 1019–1084 CE) . Al-Shantamari's textual recension and commentary became the primary basis for the preservation and study of the diwan in subsequent centuries . The collection was also commented upon by later scholars, including al-Shinqiti and modern commentators such as Sa'di al-Dannawi .
Contents and Themes
The centerpiece of the diwan is Tarafa's Mu'allaqa, an ode rhyming in dal that opens with the remembrance of his beloved Khawla's encampment at Burqat Tahmad:
لخولة أطلال ببرقة ثهمد ... تلوح كباقي الوشم في ظاهر اليد "For Khawla there are traces at the stony tract of Tahmad, gleaming like the remnants of a tattoo on the back of a hand."
The poem is renowned for its detailed anatomy of the camel, reflections on mortality, carpe diem ethos, and grievances regarding the mistreatment he suffered at the hands of his kin, including the celebrated line:
وظلم ذوي القربى أشد مضاضة ... على المرء من وقع الحسام المهند "The injustice of kin is more agonizing to a man than the stroke of an Indian sword."
It also features widely cited aphorisms on destiny and time, including the line:
ستبدي لك الأيام ما كنت جاهلا ... ويأتيك بالأخبار من لم تزود "The days will reveal to you what you were ignorant of, and one whom you did not equip will bring you news."
Beyond the Mu'allaqa, the diwan gathers Tarafa's shorter poems and fragments organized by rhyme letters, containing satirical verses against his brother-in-law Abd Amr and King Amr ibn Hind, tribal boasts, and verses lamenting his isolation from his clan .
Editions and Publications
The diwan was published in Europe during the nineteenth century, including a print in Greifswald (1869) and its inclusion by Wilhelm Ahlwardt in his 1870 London compilation The Divans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets (al-'Iqd al-Thamin) . In 1900, Max Seligsohn published an edition of the diwan in Châlon accompanied by al-A'lam al-Shantamari's commentary and a French translation .
In the Arab world, the collection has been critically edited multiple times, notably by Durriyyah al-Khatib and Lutfi al-Saqqal, published by the Arab Academy of Damascus (1395 AH / 1975 CE), as well as editions by Ali al-Jindi and Mahdi Muhammad Nasir al-Din .
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