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‘Abd al-Jabbar ibn Hamdis (1055–1133) survives as the best-known figure from four centuries of Arab-Islamic civilisation on the island of Sicily. There he grew up in a society enriched by a century of cultural development but whose unity was threatened by competing warlords. After the Normans invaded, he followed many other Muslims in emigrating, first to North Africa and then to Seville, where he began his career as a court poet.
Although he achieved fame and success in his time, Ibn Hamdis was forced to bear witness to sectarian strife among the Muslims of both Sicily and Spain, and the gradual success of the Christian reconquest, including the decline of his beloved homeland. Through his verse, William Granara examines his life and times.
Table des matières
1 BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN The Kalbids of Sicily
Muslim Sicily Unraveling
Born in Syracuse, Becoming a Poet
Education in an Early Jihadi Frontier
The Rise of an Indigenous Muslim-Sicilian Culture
Poetry in Muslim Sicily, From Philology to Art and Politics
Crafting a Poetics of ‘Homeland’
2 DILEMMA: TO REMAIN OR DEPART Sojourn in Sfax: Maintaining the Ifriqiya-Sicily Connection
Asad ibn al-Furat: Muslim Sicily’s Founding Father
Ibn Hawqal’s Sicilian Chapter
In the Shadow of the Norman Conquest
3 THE FIRST DESERT CROSSING Ifriqiya: A Divided and Turbulent Motherland
The Zirid Dynasty of Ifriqiya
The ‘Arabs’ of Eleventh-Century Ifriqiya
On the Desert Highway: Traveling with Arab Companions
4 LA DOLCE VITA IN SEVILLE The ‘Abbadid Kingdom of Seville
Muslim Spain and Muslim Sicily: A Comparative View
Elegy to a Father
Serving the Patron: The Political Panegyric
Court Poet as Court Functionary
The Looming Threat of the Christian Reconquest
Poetic Sparring: Poet as Client, Poet as Competitor
5 FROM THE DARK CLOUDS OF AL-ZALLAQA TO A SECOND EXILE Confrontation at Badajoz: Enter the Almoravids
The Battle of al-Zallaqa
The Fall of the ‘Abbadids of Seville
6 1091: ANNUS HORRIBILIS AND THE SECOND DESERT CROSSING Intermission at Qal‘at Bani Hammad
Return to Mahdia
Connecting to the Zirids: Praise and Blame for Tamim
Vigilant Eye on the Norman Conquest
Ode to a Falling Homeland
Back to the Family in Sfax: Mourning the Loss of an Aunt and a Wife
7 THE POETICS OF JIHAD: AT THE ZIRID COURT IN MAHDIA At the Court of Yahya ibn Tamim
Revolt and Murder at the Zirid Palace
Breaking Ranks in Gabes
From Seville to Nicotera and Mahdia: The Almoravids Move East
Victory at al-Dimas
The Almohads on the Horizon
8 TIME OF REFLECTION: ASCETIC VERSES AND ARABS AT THE NORMAN COURT Retreat into Devotional Verse
Arabs and Muslim Culture at the Norman Court in Palermo
9 TWILIGHT: BLINDNESS, LOSS, AND DEFEAT Losing Sight
Sicily Forever on the Mind
Elegy to a Nephew and Family History
Mourning a Daughter, Mourning a Homeland
Death and Burial
Ibn Hamdis’s Legacy in History and Literature
A propos de l'auteur
William Granara is Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. He was awarded a Walter Channing Cabot Fellowship for his monograph
Narrating Muslim Sicily: War and Peace in the Medieval Mediterranean World.
Résumé
The poet of the medieval Muslim world who is the best-known figure from four centuries of Arab-Islamic civilisation on the island of Sicily
