Ibn Abi Hasina

Ibn Abi Hasina was born in Ma'arrat al-Nu'man in 998 and belonged to the Banu Sulaym, a large and geographically widespread Arab tribe, hence his epithet al-Sulamī.[1] He received much of his early education in his hometown, which at the time was a cultural center.[1] In circa 1019, he met Thimal ibn Salih, the son of the Mirdasid leader Salih ibn Mirdas, in the town of al-Rahba.[1][2] He dedicated a poem to Thimal during that encounter and in 1022,[2] which exhibited his poetic skills and attracted the Mirdasids' favor.[1] When the latter established their state in Aleppo in 1024–1025, Ibn Abi Hasina took residence there and came under Mirdasid patronage. He devoted numerous poems praising their virtues and conquests.[1]

In 1045, Ibn Abi Hasina was sent by Thimal, then emir of Aleppo, to Cairo on a diplomatic mission to the Fatimid caliph, al-Mustansir.[1] Ibn Abi Hasina wrote al-Mustansir a panegyric and was granted a noble title, making him an amir (prince).[1] He later visited Damascus and wrote poems praising its beauty and dedicating a eulogy to the city's qadi (head Islamic judge), Hamza ibn al-Husayn.[1] Throughout his life, Ibn Abi Hasina remained loyal to the Mirdasids.[1] He died in Saruj on 22 July 1065.[1]

Ibn Abi Hasina specialized in the panegyric, which accounted for most of his literary work.[1] According to historian J. Rikabi, Ibn Abi Hasina "was distinguished by the quality of his language, his themes remaining the traditional ones".[1] In his panegyrics to the Mirdasid emirs, he extolled their generosity, bravery, martial skills and noble ancestry, all virtues honored in Bedouin culture.[2] However, he also wrote romantic and elegiac poetry.[1] He often sent his poetry to his contemporary and hometown friend, al-Ma'arri, for the latter's commentary.[1] Ibn Abi Hasina's diwan (poetry collection) was published in Damascus in 1956 by Muhammad As'ad Talas.[1] The diwan consisted of two volumes, the first containing Ibn Abi Hasina's poems, the second containing commentary by al-Ma'arri.[1] Among the poems attributed to Ibn Abi Hasina is the following verse:

When we stopped to say a mutual farewell,
and whilst her heart and mine were overflowing with passion and with love,
she wept liquid pearls;
my eyelids let fall cornelians,
and both formed a necklace on her bosom.
— Excerpt from a love poem attributed by historian Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282) to Ibn Abi Hasina, whom he describes as a "poet of some reputation".[3]