Table Of ContentPassion Before Me, My Fate Behind
Passion Before Me, My Fate Behind
Ibn al-Fāriḍ and the Poetry of Recollection
Th. Emil Homerin
Cover illustration of a manuscript page featuring verses from Ibn al-Fāriḍ’ s
Wine Ode together with verses from his poem al-Dālīyah, courtesy of the
Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. Used by
permission.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2011 State University of New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Homerin, Th. Emil, 1955–
Passion before me, my fate behind : Ibn al-Farid and the poetry of
recollection / Th. Emil Homerin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-3901-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Ibn al-Farid, 'Umar ibn 'Ali, 1181 or 2-1235—Criticism and
interpretation. 2. Sufi poetry, Arabic—History and criticism. I. Title.
PJ7755.I18Z683 2011
892.7'134—dc22 2011003164
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi
Plan of the Work xiii
On Translation, Transliteration, Pronunciation, and Time xv
INTRODUCTION 1
Life 1
On the Sufi Path 3
Words of Love and Longing 8
Luminaries 14
1. MYSTICAL IMPROVISATIONS 31
Master Poet 31
Homage to al-Mutanabbī 32
Transformations 49
Riddles & Rubā˜īyāt 54
2. LOVE’S SECRETS 63
Tryst 63
Love Talk 65
Hymns of Devotion 69
Sun and Full Moon 77
“You Have Been Remembered” 84
3. JOINED AT THE CROSSROADS 103
The Changing Ode 103
Sacred Fire 108
Turn Aside at Ṭai 118
Holy Pilgrimage 128
“Greetings from Su˜ād” 136
vi CONTENTS
4. THE BELOVED’S WINE 143
Blood-Red Wine 143
A Liberated Spirit 147
Two Intoxications 152
Drunk by a Glance 157
Immortal Wine 165
Wine of the Covenant 172
5. POEM OF THE SUFI WAY IN “T”–MAJOR 177
The Great Ode 177
Together Alone 178
Shifting Guises 191
Love’s Sweet Season 203
Spirit and Matter 207
Yesterday’s Tomorrow 212
Manifest Sites 215
Shadow Play 221
Poet & Guide 228
Covering Reality 231
Two Masters 239
CONCLUSION: THE POETRY OF RECOLLECTION 243
I But not “Me” 243
Content and Form 245
Beginning to End 246
Meditation and Recollection 249
Notes 253
Bibliography 293
Index 307
Preface
From the beginning, mystical perceptions of life have been part of the
Islamic world, and by the ninth century CE, they began to appear in
Arabic poetry. Many medieval and modern readers have viewed this
poetry as verse accounts of Sufi doctrine refl ecting a mystic’s endeavors
to describe an experience of great profundity and overwhelming
emotion. Yet, too often, such explanations are based on romantic notions
of poetry that focus on an individual’s lonely self-struggle, and they
isolate this poetry from its larger social, religious, and literary contexts.
Certainly, some poets attempt to depict a religious experience or to
evoke similar moods by aesthetic means. However, the words of a
poem are meaningful only if they convey to others an experience of
life that imaginatively involves and moves them. Mystical verse, then,
is as much a collective as an individual vision of reality that interprets
human existence in order to imbue life with sense and signifi cance.
Therefore, to understand and appreciate the depth and eff ect of Muslim
mystical poetry, we must examine this verse not only in context of the
life of a particular poet, but also in light of systems of religious belief
and their expression within established literary traditions.
At the heart of the Arabic poetic heritage is the lyric ode (qaṣ īdah)
and the love poem (ghazal) that served as the primary vehicles for Arabic
poetic expression beginning with their pre-Islamic usage. The formal
and symbolic dimensions of this verse served as a foundation for Islamic
mystical poetry providing a method of speculation and communication
concerning things of collective importance. Nevertheless, many pre-
Islamic beliefs were no longer acceptable in the Islamic milieu, and
so they were recast in new forms, often humanized and assimilated
by the symbolic and evocative nature of metaphor. Thus, the primary
symbols of Arab culture were perceived and colored by Muslims and
their concerns, receiving a specifi c complexion over time. The multiple,
often subtle, meanings of these symbols lent themselves to religious and
vii
viii PREFACE
poetic usages whose function was to establish humanity’s meaningful
existence in a seemingly indiff erent world. Many motifs and metaphors
of Islamic mystical poetry refl ect this process of mythopoesis, and
poets used them to deepen the feeling and impact of their verse. The
mystical character of this poetry was further enhanced by the use
of rhetorical strategies (badī˜), including antithesis, alliteration, and
paronomasia, which off ered new and exciting opportunities for both
abstraction and synthesis to the point of synesthesia.
Perhaps no one was more sensitive to this Arabic poetic legacy
than ˜Umar Ibn al-Fāriḍ. Born in Cairo in 576/1181, Ibn al-Fāriḍ became
a respected religious scholar and poet, known for his mystical themes.
One of Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s sons, Kamāl al-Dīn Muhammad, apparently
possessed a manuscript of poems written by Ibn al-Fāriḍ in his own
hand prior to his death in 632/1235, and these poems became the core
of a collection entitled the Dīwān Ibn al-Fāriḍ compiled and arranged
by ˜Alī, Ibn al-Fāriḍ’ s grandson. ˜Alī prefaced the poems with stories
of Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s saintly life, and he ended his collection with an
appendix of a few additional poems thought to be by his grandfather.
˜Alī’s collection was read and copied often over the centuries, and it
has remained the standard edition of Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s verse until today.1
In his poems, Ibn al-Fāriḍ persistently evoked and at times
articulated a mystical view of existence suff used with divine love
and light. Essential to this verse is dhikr, “recollection,” in both its
poetic and mystical aspects. Poetically, the act of recollection often
initiates a poem on love, loss, and longing. Especially in religious
poetry, the poet may project his reverie on to various poetic personas
to enact an interior drama through which he voices his thoughts and
feelings as he seeks a divine presence within. On occasion, meditative
disciplines have informed the shape and content of such verse, leading
to what has been referred to as meditative or contemplative poetry.2
In Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s case, the Sufi practice of dhikr, the “recollection” or
meditation on God, is echoed in many of his poems, particularly the
famous al-Khamrīyah wine ode and his Sufi classic the Naẓm al-Sulūk,
“The Poem of the Sufi Way.” In these and other poems, Ibn al-Fāriḍ
drew from the Arabic poetic tradition and Islamic mysticism to evoke
a view of existence in which the seeker might be transformed by an
epiphany revealing his intimate relationship to the divine beloved.
In his verse, Ibn al-Fāriḍ expressed the spiritual concerns and
longings of many Muslims, and the enormous popularity of his
Arabic poetry led to his enduring reputation as the greatest Arab Sufi
poet and, over the centuries, to his veneration as a saint. Although
Ibn al-Fāriḍ’ s saintly status has declined over the past two hundred
PREFACE ix
years, Arabs and Muslims continue to show unfailing esteem for
his refi ned poetry. Signifi cantly, Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s own contemporaries
viewed him primarily as a poet. This is not to deny the importance
of Islamic mysticism to him and his verse for which he became so
famous among later generations. However, the beauty of his poetry,
its moods, meanings, and spiritual import can be more fully grasped
and appreciated within the contexts of both Islamic mysticism and
Arabic poetry where Ibn al-Fāriḍ remains the sulṭ ān al-˜āshiqīn, “the
sultan of lovers.”
