Fadl al-Sha'irah explained

Fadl al-Shaʻirah
فضل الشاعرة
Pseudonym:Fadl
Birth Place:Al-Yamama, Abbasid Caliphate
Death Date:c. 870/871
Death Place:Samarra, Abbasid Caliphate
Resting Place:Samarra
Occupation:Poet
Language:Arabic
Nationality:Caliphate
Period:Islamic Golden Age
(Early Abbasid era)
Spouse:al-Mutawakkil

Fadl al-Qaysi or Faḍl al-Shāʻirah (Arabic: فضل الشاعرة; "Faḍl the Poet"; d. 871) was one of "three early ʻAbbasid singing girls, particularly famous for their poetry" and is one of the pre-eminent medieval Arabic female poets whose work survives. She was a concubine of caliph Al-Mutawakkil.

Life

Born in al-Yamama (now in Saudi Arabia), Fadl was brought up in Abbasid Basra, (now in Iraq). She was from the Abd al-Qays tribe. Her brothers sold her to Muhammad ibn al-Faraj al-Rukhkhaji, a leading officer of the Caliphate, and he gave her to Caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861).

Fadl became a prominent figure in the court. According to Ibn Annadim, a bibliographer (died 1047), Fadl's diwan extended to twenty pages. Her pupils included the singer Faridah.When Fadl was brought to before al-Mutawakkil the very day she had been given to him, al-Mutawakkil asked her, "Are you really a poet"? She replied: Those who buy and sell me all say so.He laughed and said "Recite some of your poetry to us" and she recited following verses:Abu al-Ayna said that the Caliph liked the poem and gave her fifty thousand dirhams.

She died in 870/71.

Poetry

An example of Fadl's work, in the translation of Abdullah al-Udhari, is:

The following poem was written in response to the poet Abu Dulaf (d. 840) who hinted in a poem that she was not a virgin and he preferred virgins, whom he compared to unpierced pearls.

References

Sources