{"id":44732,"date":"2017-10-30T07:35:09","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T13:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44732"},"modified":"2017-10-30T07:38:58","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T13:38:58","slug":"leader-poets-hellfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html","title":{"rendered":"The leader of the poets to hellfire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nativity<\/a>
Inside Bethlehem\u2019s Church of the Nativity, which was built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A couple of days ago, I briefly related a story about the rival Arabian poets Jarir and Farazdaq. \u00a0(See \u201cAncient Arabia and the power of words.\u201d<\/a>) \u00a0That is the anecdote mentioned here:
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several observations can be made about this story. First of all, like the story before it, it illustrates the power of the pre-Islamic Arabian poet. But it also says a great deal about primitive Arab notions of where poetry comes from. The image of Jarir writhing upon his bed, and the old woman\u2019s judgment that he was mad, are extremely significant. For the equivalent of the English word mad<\/em> in Arabic is majnun<\/em> (pro\u00adnounced maj-noon<\/em>). Although, today, it has generally come to mean \u201cmad\u201d or \u201ccrazy,\u201d it originally meant \u201cjinn-possessed\u201d or, liter\u00adally, \u201cjinned.\u201d Poetry was thought to be a genuine inspiration from the jinn. Who were the jinn? People in the West know them better as \u201cgenies,\u201d from the Arabic singular jinnee<\/em>. (They shouldn\u2019t, however, be confused with Barbara Eden, who was\u2014how can I put this gently?\u2014not entirely authentic in her television show of the 1960s.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The premier collection of pre-Islamic poetry is an anthology known since early times as the Mu\u2019allaqaat. <\/em>And the oldest and most famous of the pieces included in the Mu\u2019allaqaat <\/em>is a poem attributed to Imru al-Qays. Imru al-Qays is almost universally considered the greatest of the pre-Islamic poets. Muhammad, too, recognized his eminence, if in a rather unusual way: He is said to have described Imru al-Qays as \u201ctheir leader to hellfire.\u201d According to tradition, Imru al-Qays was the son of Hujr, the ruler of the tribe of Banu Asad in Central Arabia. Tradition says that he was banished by his father, who despised him for being a poet\u2014hardly a princely way of life!\u2014but it seems more plausible that he was driven away on account of his scandalous love affairs. (Imru al-Qays seems to have been ahead of his time, leading the life of a Bohemian artist long before there was a Bohemia.) When he left home, his wild life continued and even intensified. He took up wandering with other outcasts and became known as \u201cthe Vagabond Prince.\u201d But then his father was murdered, and he found himself under the sacred Arabian obliga\u00adtion to avenge him.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was a duty, not a passion with him. In fact, he resented it. \u201cMy father wasted my youth,\u201d he was heard to complain, \u201cand now that I\u2019m old he has laid upon me the burden of blood-revenge.\u201d Still, he seems to have been in no great hurry to get to it. \u201cWine today,\u201d he\u2019s reported to have said.\u00a0 \u201cBusiness tomorrow!\u201d\u00a0 For seven nights he caroused in wild parties, and then, at the end of the seventh day, he swore neither to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor to use ointment, nor to wash his head or touch a woman, until he\u2019d extracted vengeance.<\/span><\/p>\n

But before he actually carried out his vengeance, Imru al-Qays visited the oracle-idol of Dhu al-Khalasa, in the valley of Tabala, north of Najran. There was a receptacle at this oracle-idol holding three arrows, marked, respectively, \u201cThe Commanding,\u201d \u201cThe For\u00adbidding,\u201d and \u201cThe Waiting.\u201d[1]<\/a> The person seeking guidance was supposed to draw one of the arrows and then to obey its advice. (That, after all, was what he had come for.) Imru al-Qays drew the second, the one marked \u201cThe Forbidding.\u201d At that, he broke all three of the arrows and dashed them in the face of the idol, yelling (with an unrepeatable oath), \u201cIf your father had been slain, you would never have hindered me!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Imru al-Qays went to Constantinople for help, and the Emperor Justinian received him well and, for his own political reasons, offered to assist him. Indeed, the emperor is supposed to have appointed him phylarch of Palestine. But the poet died en route home, at a place called Angora, somewhere around 540 A.D. (Yes, it\u2019s the same place that Angora cats are named after. It\u2019s also the same place as the modern capital city of Turkey, Ankara.) He is said to have perished by putting on a poisoned robe sent to him as a gift from Justinian, whose daughter he had seduced.[2]<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Hugh Nibley has linked this sort of Arabian arrow divination with the Book of Mor\u00admon\u2019s Liahona. See Since Cumorah<\/em>, 2d ed., Volume Seven of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, edited by John W. Welch (Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1988), 251-63.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Unfortunately, it is this last detail, seemingly so true to the character of Imru al-Qays, that casts doubt upon the whole story. Justinian had no daughter. For this and other reasons, some scholars have argued that the poet Imru al-Qays did not really exist at all, that he is a bit of early Arabian fiction. This may be true, of course, but his poem exists whether he did or not, and it needs some sort of explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from New York City<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 A couple of days ago, I briefly related a story about the rival Arabian poets Jarir and Farazdaq. \u00a0(See \u201cAncient Arabia and the power of words.\u201d) \u00a0That is the anecdote mentioned here: \u00a0 Several observations can be made about this story. First of all, like the story before it, it illustrates the power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe leader of the poets to hellfire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    A couple of days ago, I briefly related a story about the rival Arabian poets Jarir and Farazdaq. \u00a0(See "Ancient Arabia and the power of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The leader of the poets to hellfire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    A couple of days ago, I briefly related a story about the rival Arabian poets Jarir and Farazdaq. \u00a0(See "Ancient Arabia and the power of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-30T13:35:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-30T13:38:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2014\/12\/800px-Church_of_the_Nativity_Bethlehem1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html\",\"name\":\"The leader of the poets to hellfire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-30T13:35:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-30T13:38:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    A couple of days ago, I briefly related a story about the rival Arabian poets Jarir and Farazdaq. \u00a0(See \\\"Ancient Arabia and the power of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The leader of the poets to hellfire\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The leader of the poets to hellfire","description":"    A couple of days ago, I briefly related a story about the rival Arabian poets Jarir and Farazdaq. \u00a0(See \"Ancient Arabia and the power of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The leader of the poets to hellfire","og_description":"    A couple of days ago, I briefly related a story about the rival Arabian poets Jarir and Farazdaq. \u00a0(See \"Ancient Arabia and the power of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2017-10-30T13:35:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-10-30T13:38:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2014\/12\/800px-Church_of_the_Nativity_Bethlehem1.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html","name":"The leader of the poets to hellfire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-10-30T13:35:09+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-30T13:38:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    A couple of days ago, I briefly related a story about the rival Arabian poets Jarir and Farazdaq. \u00a0(See \"Ancient Arabia and the power of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/leader-poets-hellfire.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The leader of the poets to hellfire"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}