Al- Farazdaq

Farazdaq, Al- 

(Tammam ibn Ghalib Abu Firas). Born circa 641 in Yamamah (now al-Kharj); died between 728 and 732 in Basrah. Arabic poet. A creator of the panegyrical qasida in medieval Arabic poetry.

Al-Farazdaq, along with Akhtal and Jarir, was one of the best known verse panegyrists at the turn of the eighth century. The rivalry between these poets reflected the struggle among different groups for influence at the courts of the Umayyad caliphs. Al-Farazdaq was associated with the old Arabic aristocracy, which was hostile to the Umayyads. His work is a direct continuation of the ancient Arabic poetic tradition but reflects the beliefs of Islam and often echoes the style of the Koran. His famous verse polemic (naqa’id, or intiqad) with Jarir and other poets produced verse philippics (hajw) unsurpassed in medieval Arabic literature. At the end of his life, al-Farazdaq composed the famous poem “Philippic Against Satan,” one of the first works of medieval Arabic religious poetry.

WORKS

Sharh Diwan al-Farazdaq li al-Sawi. Cairo, 1936.
Naqa’id bayna al-Jarir wa al-Farazdaq, vols. 1–2. Cairo, 1935.

REFERENCES

al’-Fakhuri, Kh. Istoriia arabskoi literatury, vol. 1. Moscow, 1959.
Fil’shtinskii, I. M. Arabskaia klassicheskaia literatura. Moscow, 1965. Pages 88–91.
Blachère, R. Histoire de la littérature arabe, vol. 3. Paris, 1966.

M. S. KIKTEV