Ibn Qalaqis
Abu ʾl-Fatḥ[a] Naṣr Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh (1137–1172), known as Ibn Ḳalāḳis (or Qalāqis) and also al-Ḳāḍī al-aʿazz, was an Egyptian Arab poet and author. He spent his last few years travelling widely through Sicily and Yemen. He left behind collections of poems and letters with much valuable information for historians.[1]
Life
Ibn Ḳalāḳis was born in 532 AH (1137 AD) in Alexandria, then part of the Fatimid Caliphate. He moved to Cairo for his education, and studied under Abū Ṭāhir al-Silāfī. In mid-1168, he moved to the island of Sicily, then part of the Norman Kingdom.[1] He was in Sicily from 11 May 1168 until at least April 1169.[2]
In Sicily, he stayed in Palermo at the house of the ḳāʾid Abu ʾl-Ḳāsim ibn Ḥammūd ibn al-Ḥajar, who may also have been his patron. He dedicated ḳaṣīdas to Abu ʾl-Ḳāsim and his three sons, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar and ʿUthmān. He may even have come to Sicily at Abu ʾl-Ḳāsim's invitation.[1] In the summer of 1168, he had a brief quarrel with Abu ʾl-Ḳāsim, and left him to tour the island.[2] He visited Termini Imerese, Cefalù, Caronia, Patti and Oliveri,[b][1] before stopping in Syracure.[2]
In late 1169 or early 1170, he travelled to Yemen, then ruled by the Zurayids, who recognized Fatimid authority. He went by way of the Egyptian port of ʿAydhāb. He suffered a shipwreck shortly after leaving Sicily. The purpose of his visit may have been commercial or diplomatic, since he had been urged by the Fatimid poet ʿUmāra al-Yamanī to see the vizier of Aden, Abū Bakr al-ʿĪdī. In Yemen, besides Aden, he also visited Zabīd.[1]
On his return trip to ʿAydhāb, he suffered another shipwreck, this time in the Dahlak Islands. He was forced to seek the hospitality of the Sultan of Dahlak.[1] During his sojourn in Dahlak, he saw the ruins of the old port of Bāḍiʿ, which he describes in a poem.[3] He eventually got as far as ʿAydhāb, where he died in 567 AH (1172 AD).[1]
Writings
Ibn Ḳalāḳis's poetry was collected in a dīwān (collection of short poems), which has been edited and published. His poems praise many important rulers and officials of Egypt, Sicily and Yemen. He praises the last Fatimid caliphs and their viziers, such as Ibn Maṣāl and Shāwar.[4]
A collection of Ibn Ḳalāḳis's letters, the Tarassul, also survives. He wrote to friends, patrons and Fatimid officials in both Egypt and Yemen.[4]
He also wrote a book, al-Zahr al-bāsim fī awṣāf Abī ʾl-Ḳāsim,[c] in honour of Abu ʾl-Ḳāsim. It is quoted in both prose and verse in the Kharīda of al-ʿImād al-Iṣfahānī, in the section on the poets of Egypt. The work describes in some detail his travels in Sicily, at least in the prologue (muḳaddima).[1]
Editions
- Dīwān, ed., Khalīl Muṭrān. Cairo: Maṭbaʿat al-Jawāʾib, 1905.
- Dīwān, ed., Sihām al-Furayḥ. Kuwait: Maktabat al-Muʿallā, 1988.
- Tarassul Ibn Qalāqis al-Iskandarī, ed., ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Naṣīr al-Māniʿ. Riyadh: Jāmiʿat al-Malik Saʿūd, 1984.
- Al-Zahr al-bāsim wa-l-ʿarf al-nāsim fī madīḥ al-ajall Abī ʾl-Qāsim, ed., ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Naṣīr al-Māniʿ. Riyadh: Jāmiʿat al-Malik Saʿūd, 1984.
Notes
- ^ Sometimes Futūḥ.
- ^ Michele Amari thought that the place indicated by the Arabic was Lipari.
- ^ Also given as Al-Zahr al-bāsim wa-l-ʿarf al-nāsim fī madīḥ al-ajall Abī ʾl-Ḳāsim, "Smiling Flowers and Redolent Perfume in Praise of the Sublime Abu ʾl-Ḳāsim".
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Umberto Rizzitano [in Italian] (1971). "Ibn Ḳalāḳis". In Lewis, B.; Ménage, V. L.; Pellat, Ch. & Schacht, J. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume III: H–Iram. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 814–815. OCLC 495469525.
- ^ a b c Jeremy Johns (2002). Arabic Administration in Norman Sicily: The Royal Dīwān. Cambridge University Press, pp. 35 and 233–41.
- ^ John Winter Crowfoot (1911), "Some Red Sea Ports in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan", The Geographical Journal, 37(5), pp. 523–50, esp. 542ff.
- ^ a b Farhad Daftary, Ismaili Literature: A Bibliography of Sources and Studies (London: I. B. Tauris, 2004), p. 183.