| Honorific Prefix: | Abu al-Hakam |
| Umayya ibn Abi as-Salt | |
| Native Name: | أمية بن أبي الصلت |
| Native Name Lang: | ar |
| Birth Place: | Taif |
| Death Date: | (aged 90) |
| Known For: |
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| Works: | Dīwān Umayyah ibn Abī al-Ṣalt |
| Party: | Hanif |
| Family: |
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Umayyah ibn Abī as-Ṣalt (Arabic: أمية بن أبي الصلت) was a poet of pre-Islamic Arabia who advocated for monotheism instead of the worship of idols. He was thought to be a member of the Banu Thaqif tribe, with Qurayshi descent on his maternal side. During the rise of Islam, Umayya is said to have become a claimant to prophethood and rivalled Muhammad, which earned him a controversial position in Islamic tradition.
Umayya was born in Taif. His full name is Umayya ibn Abi as-Salt al-Thaqafi, and his full lineage is Umayya ibn Abi as-Salt ibn Abdullah ibn Abi Rabi'ah ibn 'Awf ibn Thaqif. Hence, his lineage is traced back to the tribe of Banu Thaqif. His mother was a woman named Ruqayya, the great-granddaughter of the Arabian patriarch Qusayy ibn Kilab, thus maternally he has descent from the Quraysh.[1]
See also: Monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia. Umayya believed in monotheism, and rejected the worship of idols that classical tradition has described as being prevalent amongst his contemporaries.[2] [3] According to 11th-century historian Ibn Asakir, Umayya lived during the rise of Islam in the 7th century but refused to convert either out of spite, hatred, or confusion; all three reasons have been presented in the Tarikh Dimashq. In the Tazkirul Quran, it is stated that Umayya was an opponent of Muhammad who also claimed Prophethood out of jealousy when he realized the revelation was not given to him. Hadith scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani affirms that Umayya did not accept Islam at all until his death in 626 CE (the ninth year of the Hijra).[4]
See main article: Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry. In 1934–1936, the Lebanese scholar Bashir Yamut collected several poems attributed to Umayya, compiling them in a book known as the Dīwān Umayyah ibn Abī al-Ṣalt.[5] Another Diwan has also been published in Beirut, Lebanon by Dar Sadr in 1998.[6] The authenticity of the poems and its attribution to Umayya have been put into question.[7]
As a poet, Umayya wrote poems on the pre-Islamic wars, such as the wars between the Aws and Khazraj and the Basus War between the Banu Bakr and Banu Taghlib.[8] In his Diwan, the poetry featured there focuses on themes of wisdom and beauty.
Umayya's poetry overlaps with some of the content of the Quran. Both Umayya and the Quran treat similar prominent topics in the domains of creation, eschatology, and episodes of biblical prophetology. For example, both treat the story of the tribe of Thamud and the she-camel. Likewise, both include the idea that demons or jinn attempt to ascend to the firmament before being pelted by heavenly defense systems.[9] [10]