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The Abbasid Construction of the Jahiliyya: Cultural Authority in the Making

1996; Brill; Issue: 83 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1595735

1958-5705

Rina Drory,

Education and Islamic Studies

Sometime in the mid-sixties of the eighth century CE, an historic event concerning the canonization of classical Arabic poetry took place, which was to substantially affect medieval and eventually our knowledge and perception of pre-Islamic poetry. A medieval source recounts that the Caliph al-Mansmr (reigned 754-775) overheard his son, the Crown Prince al-Mahdi, reciting an ode by the pre-Islamic poet al-Musayyab, in front of his tutor al-Mufaddal al-Dabbi, a celebrated philologist and connoisseur of pre-Islamic poetry (d. ca. 785). He stood there unnoticed until the boy had finished his reciting, then went to one of his chambers and called for the boy and his teacher. The Caliph al-ManSar told al-Mufaddlal of his appreciation of the boy's recitation of the ode, and added, if you would select for your pupil the best works of poets whose poetry is rare (1), you would be performing a great service . And this, concludes our source, is exactly what al-MufaddIal consequently did (2). This account of the origins of the highly regarded anthology of early (mainly pre-