Safi al-Din al-Hilli

Safī al-Dīn al-Hillī
Safī al-Dīn al-Hillī
Native name	صفي الدين الحلي
Born	August 26, 1278; Hillah, Iraq
Died	1349 (aged 70–71)
Occupation	Poet
Language	Arabic

Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥillī (Arabic: صفي الدين الحلي‎; 1278-1349), more fully known as Safi al-Din Abd al-Aziz ibn Saraya al-Hilli, al-Ṭāʾī al-Sinbisī, Abu ’l-Maḥāsin,[1] was a 14th century Arab poet.

Life

Despite his being one of the most famous poets of his century, the historical record of Al-Hilli's life is often vague.[1] Al-Hilli's birth is recorded as August 26, 1278 in most sources, though one of his contemporaries gives his birth as October or November 1279.[1] He was born in Hillah, modern-day Iraq,[2] to a Shii family.[3][1] Early in his life, one of his uncles was murdered, and Al-Hilli fought in a battle to avenge his death.[2] He wrote a poem about his family's exploits in this battle, which won him some fame.[2]

After he achieved his initial success as a poet, wars and disasters forced him to leave Iraq in 1302, leaving behind his wife and family.[2] At this time, he became a court poet in Mardin, Turkey under the Artuqids.[3] He made his living through commerce, and by writing eulogies of wealthy princes.[2]

Al-Hilli died in 1338[1] or 1349.[2]

Poetry

Al-Hilli, alongside Ibn Nubata, was one of the two most celebrated Arab poets of the 14th century.[4][1] Al-Hilli's poetic style was innovative and experimental, integrating established poetic traditions with new vocabulary.[5]

Al-Hilli is perhaps best remembered for the poetic lines which inspired the Pan-Arab colors: "White are our deeds, black are our battles, / Green are our tents, red are our swords."[2] These lines are from Al-Hilli's fakhr ("boasting") poem written to celebrate his family's victories in the battle to avenge his uncle.[2]

His major poetic works are a collection of eulogies titled Durar al-Nuhur ("Jewels for Necks") and his Diwan ("Poems").[2] In his Diwan, he organizes his poems into twelve categories: 1. Boasting and bravery. 2. Eulogy, praise and thanksgiving. 3. Hunting poems and other description. 4. Friendship. 5. Elegy and condolence. 6. Ghazal and other erotic themes. 7. Wine and flower/nature poems. 8. Complaints and chiding. 9. Gifts, apologies and requests for leniency. 10. Riddles and complex ideas. 11. Adab, asceticism and other things. 12. Funny and satirical anecdotes.[2]

Al-Hillī is also noted for composing one of four collections of epigrammatic maqṭūʿ-poems that were seminal for the development of the genre in the fourteenth century: his twenty-chapter Dīwān al-Mathālith wa-l-mathānī fī l-maʿālī wa-l-maʿānī ('The Collection of Two-liners and Three-liners on Virtues and Literary Motifs'). This was composed between 1331 and 1341 at the princely court in Hama, and dedicated to al-Malik al-Afḍal (r. 1332–41).[6]^:47–50

In addition to writing poetry, he wrote several works of literary criticism on poetic forms.[3]

External links

Poetry Collection of Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥilli (in Arabic) at World Digital Library.

References

Heinrichs, W. P. (2012-04-24). "Ṣafī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Sarāyā al-Ḥillī". Encyclopaedia of Islam (Second ed.). Brill Reference Online. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_com_0966. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
Jayyusi, Salma (2006). "Arabic Poetry in the Post-Classical Age". Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Period (1st ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 51–54. ISBN 978-1-139-05399-0. OCLC 664103369.
Esposito, John L. (2003). "Hilli, Safi al-Din Abd al-Aziz ibn Saraya al". Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-989120-7. OCLC 52362778.
Conermann, Stephan (2013). Ubi Sumus? Quo Vademus?: Mamluk Studies, State of the Art. Goettingen. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-3-8471-0100-0. OCLC 829755503.
Jayyusi, Salma (2006). "Arabic Poetry in the Post-Classical Age". Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Period (1st ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-139-05399-0. OCLC 664103369. Al-Hilli is famous for his active interest in the new experiments in form that were affecting both formal and vernacular poetry... He was aware both of the inherited poetic idiom he had mastered and of the vocabulary in use in his day, and showed great dexterity in incorporating words from the new vocabulary into the entrenched syntax of the inherited verse, so harmonizing the new with the old without hindrance to the assimilation of meaning or to the flow of the poem’s rhythms.
Adam Talib, How Do You Say “Epigram” in Arabic? Literary History at the Limits of Comparison, Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures, 40 (Leiden: Brill, 2018); ISBN 978-90-04-34996-4.

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[Brill-1] Heinrichs, W. P. (2012-04-24). "Ṣafī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Sarāyā al-Ḥillī". Encyclopaedia of Islam (Second ed.). Brill Reference Online. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_com_0966. Retrieved 2019-12-30.

[Cambridge-2] Jayyusi, Salma (2006). "Arabic Poetry in the Post-Classical Age". Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Period (1st ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 51–54. ISBN 978-1-139-05399-0. OCLC 664103369.

[Esposito2003-3] Esposito, John L. (2003). "Hilli, Safi al-Din Abd al-Aziz ibn Saraya al". Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-989120-7. OCLC 52362778.

[Conermann2013-4] Conermann, Stephan (2013). Ubi Sumus? Quo Vademus?: Mamluk Studies, State of the Art. Goettingen. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-3-8471-0100-0. OCLC 829755503.

[Cambridge-quote-5] Jayyusi, Salma (2006). "Arabic Poetry in the Post-Classical Age". Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Period (1st ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-139-05399-0. OCLC 664103369. Al-Hilli is famous for his active interest in the new experiments in form that were affecting both formal and vernacular poetry... He was aware both of the inherited poetic idiom he had mastered and of the vocabulary in use in his day, and showed great dexterity in incorporating words from the new vocabulary into the entrenched syntax of the inherited verse, so harmonizing the new with the old without hindrance to the assimilation of meaning or to the flow of the poem’s rhythms.

[:Talib-6] Adam Talib, How Do You Say “Epigram” in Arabic? Literary History at the Limits of Comparison, Brill Studies in Middle Eastern Literatures, 40 (Leiden: Brill, 2018); ISBN 978-90-04-34996-4.