Extract from the Encyclopaedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition v.1.

al- FARAZDA| , "the lump of dough", properly Tammm b. lib (Ab Firs), famous Arab satirist and panegyrist, died at Bara about 110/728 or 112/730. Born in Yamma (Eastern Arabia) on a date which is uncertain (probably after 20/640), this poet was descended from the sub-tribe of Mui#, of the Drim group of the Tamm. His father, lib [q.v.], is said to have played some part, in the Bara area, in the conflict between #Al and Mu#wiya; to this fact must be attributed the later idea that al-Farazda entertained pro-#Alid sympathies which, however, are not very apparent in his works. The talent for verse does not seem to have been widespread in his family; however al-Farazda, endowed with a prodigious memory and precocious talent, seems very soon to have made himself known in his tribe by laudatory and epigrammatic compositions in the Bedouin style. The accession of the Umayyad dynasty must have been a decisive factor in the career of the young poet, because of the choices to which it limited him. By the bonds of affinity as much as by obligation, al-Farazda was first led to choose himself protectors in Yamma, then at Bara, amongst people more or less bound to the fortunes of the family ruling in Syria. This attitude is particularly noticeable in the relations he maintained, for example, with the Ban Bakra, who were secretly flirting with the #Alids, though supporting the Umayyads. The satire attributed to al-Farazda against the caliph Mu#wiya, contrary to what Nallino maintains, is far from being definitely authentic. Nevertheless circumstances, fortuitous or contrived, must have affected his behaviour occasionally: it is known, for example, that al-Farazda, as a result of some rather obscure proceedings, had to flee from #Ir and seek refuge in Medina to escape the threat that Ziyd, the governor of Bara, laid upon his life (in 49/669). At Medina the poet was welcomed most warmly by the local authorities, and he remained in this town till 56/675-6; he then returned to #Ir immediately after the death of Ziyd to attach himself to the latter's son, #Ubayd Allh. In 67/686, the panegyrist confirmed his attachment to the Umayyad branch of the Marwnids which was in power, by celebrating prince Bir, who had come to #Ir, and his brother #Abd al-#Azz, whose praises he sang in a threnody in 85/704 (Dwn, ed. w, 225 ff.). [II 788b] There is no doubt that under the governorship of al-\a [q.v.], probably because of the intrigues of his enemy arr, who was in the good graces of this powerful personage, al-Farazda was more or less in disgrace. Nevertheless he dedicated a number of laudatory poems to al-\a and to some members of his family. Perhaps his delicate position in relation to the governor of #Ir prevented al-Farazda from obtaining the protection of the caliph #Abd al-Malik and it is to be noted that no ode was addressed by him to this ruler. On the other hand, under Wald I, al-Farazda became the official poet of the caliph, as witness numerous panegyrics dedicated to him and to his two sons. Under Sulaymn he enjoyed the same favour. It was otherwise on the accession of #Umar II in 99/717, when al-Farazda was rather in the shade. However, the insurrection of Yazd b. al-Muhallab gave the poet the chance to recover favour and, under the caliph Yazd II, he violently attacked the rebel whom he had celebrated several years before, at the time of his power (see the panegyrics to Yazd II and to Maslama, dated 101/720 and 102/720-1 in Dwn, 262-7 and 201). At this time, al-Farazda, who was eighty years old, hardly ever left Bara. Caught up in the whirlwind of conflicts between the "Yemen" and |ays factions, he experienced many difficulties with governors of #Ir belonging to one or other of them. Twice he was thrown into prison because of this, but succeeded in getting out thanks to local support. In his career, struggles against rivals occupied a prominent place. Political attitudes, notably attachment to the "Yemen" or the |ays faction, provoked or aggravated these enmities. In the background one can also sense some tribal partisanship. This is the reason for the implacable hostility nursed by al-Farazda for arr, also a Tamm, but of another branch. There is no doubt that the contentions between these two rivals have been a fruitful source for anecdotal literature (as one can ascertain from Kitbal-An3, viii, 32-7). Moreover,

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Extract from the Encyclopaedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition v.1.1

it is certain that this opposition inspired al-Farazdaand his enemy likewisewith the poems which most clearly characterize their work. These diatribes should not however, allow us to forget those other relationships, of a different kind, maintained with al-Awa [q.v.] at Medina, with the "reader"-grammarian Ab #Amr ibn al-#Al" [q.v.], or with al-\asan al-Bar (cf. An1, xix, 14). Al-Farazda seems to have been too unusual a figure not to have stimulated the imagination of the "logographers" who interested themselves in him. In the biographical facts we have, there often comes to light a tendency to exaggerate the eccentricities of his personality, to accentuate his cowardice, bawdiness, drunkenness, and venality. This harsh approach is in fact of little concern because it does not touch on the essentials. What is important in reality is to discover in al-Farazda the traits which are of relevance for the panegyrist, the satirist, and the representative of a generation torn between bedouin culture and the new ethics. On these lines might be explained certain traits of his character, his recantations and his final impenitence, all to be found echoed in his poetry. The greater part of his poetry has survived, because of Tamm particularism on the one hand, and also because of the favour al-Farazda still retained in learned circles in Bara. After an oral transmission about which we have few facts, his poetry was equally well received at Kfa (see An1, xix, 2, 11 f.) There is no doubt that it is from this time that al- [II 789a] Farazda, along with arr and al-Aal [q.v.], becomes one of a trio who for several centuries furnished a theme for discussion among the cultivated. In his own lifetime, al-Farazda did not hesitate to appropriate the verses of his contemporaries (cf. Ibn Sallm, 126 and An3, ii, 266-7, viii, 96); there is also reason to doubt the authenticity of many of the poems which appear in al-Sukkar's recension in the 3th/9th century. The Dwn, in w's edition, numbers about 7,630 verses, which is the largest total that is known in the whole of Arabic poetry. His work is presented in the form of fragments or of complete poems of 20 to 30 verses, rarely more. Many poems are in asda form. With al-Farazda this form had a tripartite structure with a short nasb (e.g., Dwn, ed. w, 7, 8, 74-6, etc.), but usuallyand this is remarkablethis elegiac prelude is omitted (so ibid., 84-7, 99 f., 228-33 etc.), and very frequently the ada is reduced to the laudatory elements alone (so ibid., 57-9, 63-7, 70-1, 99-101, 309-14, etc.). The thematic sequence in the ada with nasb often anticipates the sequence which imposed itself on the "classical" theoreticians (so ibid., 219-24, 302-8 etc.). Too often the threnodic form is difficult to find in this poet, but we have a good specimen in the threnody composed on Bir (ibid., 268-70). The various types of poem are unequally represented in al-Farazda. First and foremost come the laudatory themes made up of the traditional sterotypes, among which should be pointed out the traditional theme of the greatness as caliph and the religious value of the Caliph-Imm (so ibid., 63-7, 89-92 lines 12 ff., 219-24 lines 18 ff. etc.). Naturally enough, tribal and personal far is frequent in this poet. Like his contemporaries, al-Farazda treated the epigram in short impromptus or developed it as a thematic element in a ada. In this latter case he obtains an effect of contrast with the laudatory elements (so ibid., 115-23 where the glories of the Drim are contrasted with the "shames" of the Kulayb, arr's tribe). In al-Farazda, more than in his contemporaries, the satirical genre has a rare vigour and obscenity (e.g., the piece directed against al-Tirimm, in Dwn, 135-7). The traditional wisdom, poorly represented in the work of this panegyrist and satirist, is of a distressing banality, and the Islamic ethic has in no way enriched in depth a spirit completely impregnated with Bedouin culture. Sometimes, however, the poet seems to have been able to strike a moving tone, in lamenting, for example, the death of a child (so Dwn, 764 and An1, xix, 12-3). It is worth noting that, dissolute as al-Farazda is supposed to have been, he did not to all intents and purposes write in the Bacchic genre (cf. Ibn |utayba, 294). Likewise this epicurean hardly felt the need to celebrate his loves, and the ode composed on a gallant adventure confirms this deficiency in his sensibility (ibid., 255-62). Similarly in the fragments, in any case suspect, on his separation from his wife Nawr, the poet is without deep emotion and reduced to repeating banal formulas (see Ahn1, xix, 9).

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Extract from the Encyclopaedia of Islam CD-ROM Edition v.1.1

The language and style of the works ascribed to al-Farazda are of a remarkable homogeneity: very rarely does one find a laboured effect due to the use of rare terms or hapax legomena. In this poet as in his contemporaries of the #Ir circle, only the five current metres are employed; raaz is employed only sporadically. From this point of view, his work is well worth attention, in the sense that it enables us to assess the prosodic resources available in this epoch to a poet dependent on the Tamm tradition. [II 789b] Put beside the poetry of arr, it is thoroughly representative of the poetry of the great nomads of Eastern Arabia at its height, at the very moment when, in contact with the big #Ir cities, it was to yield before new influences. (R. Blachere) Ibn Sallm, abat, index Ibn |utayba, i#r, index An3, i, 116, 148-9, viii, index and especially 33-8, 44-5, xv, 441-7, and An1, xix, 1-61 $mid, 166 and index Marzubn, Mu#am, ed. Krenkow, 272, 477, 486-7 idem, Muwaa, index Ibn allikn, Wafayt, Cairo 1310, ii, 196-202 Badd, izna, Cairo 1347, i, 202-7 (summarizes or quotes Ibn |utayba and An). The #Ir anthologists and others have frequently quoted or mentioned al-Farazda, see esp.: i, Bayn, index Ibn |utayba, #Uyn, index Ibn #Abd Rabbih, #Id, Cairo 1359/1940, index (72 mentions and quotations) |urai, amhara, 336-44. Edition of the Dwn by Sukkar (see Fihrist, 158, l. 27-8) for the manuscripts of the Dwn, see Brockelmann, I, 56, S I, 85 Mu. b. \abb, Na"i arr wa'l-Farazda, ed. Bevan, passim editions of the Dwn by R. Boucher, Divan de Ferazdaq, recit de Mu. b. \abb, Paris 1870 (1st part, 270 nos.) and by J. Hell, photolithographic ed., Munich-Leipzig 1900-1 (2nd part) note also other editions, Beirut (n.d. and 1937), Cairo (1293, very defective) another edition by w, ar Dwn al-Farazda, Cairo 1354/1936 (782 poems and fragments, amounting to about 7630 verses besides the fragments and short pieces, it includes about 80 long satires, 94 panegyrics, 24 threnodies, often brief it is an uncritical and mediocre edition, with glosses often of slight importance there is no indication how the known mss. were utilised it seems to reproduce Boucher and Hell, but it has the advantage that it adds the text of the Na"i) a partial French translation by Boucher (Paris 1870-5) and by Hell (Leipzig 1902: trans. of the panegyric to Wald II), also idem, in ZDMG, lix (1905), 595-600 and lx, 1-35 on the Muhallabids, cf. Rosen in Zapiski, xvii (1906), 931-48 Schwarz in ZDMG, lxxiii (1919), 80-5 and Krenkow in Islamica, ii, 344-54. Notes and studies: Caussin de Perceval, Notice sur ... al-Farazdaq, in JA, xiii (1834), 507-52 Hell, Einleitung ber das Leben des Farazda, Leipzig 1902 Lammens, Etudes sur le regne du Calife omaiyade Mo'awia Ier, in MFOB, iii (1908), 145 ff. (= 281-448 of the offprint) Nallino, Litterature arabe, index Blachere, Litt., III, 3rd part, chap. I, section C.

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