Nuzhat al-Julasa fi Ashar al-Nisa
- Author died
- 911 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Qur’ān
Nuzhat al-Julasa fi Ash'ar al-Nisa (The Entertainment of Companions on the Poems of Women) is a biographical anthology of poetry by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE) dedicated to post-classical female Arabic poets. Al-Suyuti listed the work in his personal index among his rare treatises.
Scope and Purpose
In the introduction to the work, al-Suyuti states that he composed it as a concise booklet focusing exclusively on post-classical female poets (al-shawa'ir al-muhdathat). He explicitly omitted ancient Arab women from the pre-Islamic era, the female Companions of the Prophet, and the mukhadramat (those who lived through both the pre-Islamic and Islamic eras), explaining that they were too numerous to count. He noted that Ibn al-Tarrah had previously compiled a multi-volume work dedicated to early Arab female poets whose verses served as linguistic proof texts for Arabic grammar and lexicography, of which al-Suyuti had personally examined the sixth volume.
Content and Sources
The treatise compiles biographical entries and poetic selections for thirty-seven female poets from various regions and periods of the Islamic world, including the Abbasid East and Islamic Spain. Among the figures included are:
- Andalusian royal and literary figures, such as Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, Umm al-Kiram bint al-Mu'tasim ibn Sumadih, Umm al-Sa'd al-Qurtubiyya, and the Jewish poet Qasmuna bint Isma'il.
- Prominent eastern figures, such as Buran bint al-Hasan ibn Sahl (the wife of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun), the Shafi'i poetess Taqiyya Umm Ali bint Abi al-Faraj al-Suriyya, Badr al-Tamam bint al-Husayn al-Dabbas, and Amat al-Aziz.
Al-Suyuti drew his biographical details and verses from several earlier historical and literary works, citing authors such as Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi (from works including al-Mughrib and al-Ghiramiyyat), Ibn al-Najjar's history of Baghdad, Ibn Dihya's al-Mutrib min Ash'ar Ahl al-Maghrib, Ibn al-Abbar's Tuhfat al-Qadim, and Salah al-Din al-Safadi.
Transmission and Modern Editions
Manuscripts of the treatise are preserved in collections across the Islamic world and Europe, including the Sehit Ali Pasa collection in Istanbul, the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus, and the Ez-Zitouna Mosque library in Tunis. The text was edited by Salah al-Din al-Munajjid and published in Beirut in 1958, with later printings appearing in 1978.
Answer updated