Al-Khansa': Difference between revisions

| name = Alal-KhansaKhansāʾ

| birth_place = [[NajdSafeena]], [[Arabian peninsulaPeninsula|Arabia]] <br/>{{smaller|(present-day Mahd Al-Dhahab [[RiyadhMadinah Region]], [[Saudi Arabia]])}}

| death_place = [[Najd]], [[Arabian peninsula|Arabia]] <br/>{{smaller|(present-day [[Riyadh]], [[Saudi Arabia]])}}

| occupation = [[Arabic poetry|PoetessPoet]]

'''Tumāḍir bint ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Sharīd al-Sulamīyah''' ({{lang-langx|ar|تماضر بنت عمرو بن الحارث بن الشريد السُلمية}}), usually simply referred to as '''al-Khansāʾ''' ({{lang-langx|ar|الخنساء|links=no}}, meaning "snub-nosed", an Arabic [[epithet]] for a [[gazelle]] as [[metaphor]] for beauty) was a [[7th century in poetry|7th-century]] [[tribe]]swoman, living in the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. She was one of the most influential poets of the [[Pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic]] and early Islamic periods.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Ayyıldız|first=Esat|date=2020|title=El-Hansâ' Bint 'Amr: Eski Arap Şiirinde Öncü Bir Mersiye Şairi Hanım|url=https://mutefekkir.aksaray.edu.tr/mutefekkir/article/view/413/164|journal=Mütefekkir|volume=7/13|pages=201–224}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Al-Khansāʾ {{!}} Arab poet|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Khansa|access-date=2020-08-30|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

In her time, the role of a [[Arabic poetry|female poet]] was to write [[elegy|elegies]] for the dead and perform them for the tribe in public [[Oral literature|oral competitions]]. Al-Khansāʾ won respect and fame in these competitions with her elegies, and is widely considered as the finest author of [[Arabic poetry|Arabic elegies]] and one of the greatest and best known female Arab poets of all time.<ref>{{cite book|title=Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology|translator=Geert Jan van Gelder|location=New York|publisher=New York University Press|year=2013}}</ref><ref name="Talhami">{{cite book|author=Ghada Hashem Talhami|title=Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa|language=en|url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Historical_Dictionary_of_Women_in_the_Mi/?id=4ddqaCdZdZ0C|year=2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=202|isbn=978-0-8108-6858-8 }}</ref> In 629, she went to [[Medina]] with a deputation from her clan and, after meeting the ProphetIslamic prophet [[Muhammad]], embraced the new religion. Some say al-Khansāʾ was Muhammad's favorite poet. He wept when he heard her elegies for her two brothers, Ṣakhr and Muʿāwiyah.<ref name="Qurrat al-Absar (The Discerning Eye's Delight)">{{cite web|last1=Yusuf|first1=Hamza|title=The Life of the Best of Creation ﷺ|url=https://deenstream.vhx.tv/qurrat-al-absar-shaykh-hamza-yusuf/season:1/videos/r08-qurrat-10|access-date=14 July 2020|website=Deen Stream|ref=51:13}}</ref> Her poetry was later recorded by Muslim scholars, who were studying unaltered Arabic of her time in order to [[Explication|explicate]] the language of early Islamic texts.<ref name=":0" />

In 612, her brother Muʿawiyah was killed by members of another tribe. Al-Khansāʾ insisted that her brother, Ṣakhr, avenge Muʿawiyah's death, which he did. Ṣakhr was wounded in the process and died of his wounds a year later. Al-Khansāʾ mourned her two brothers' deaths in poetry, writing over a hundred elegies about the two of them alone,<ref name="Talhami" /> and began to gain fame for her elegiac compositions, especially due to her powerful recitals.<ref name="Talhami" /> The contemporary Arab poet [[al-Nabighah al-Dhubyani|al-Nābighah al-DhubyānīNabigha]] said to her:, "You are the finest poet of the [[jinn]] and the humans." ({{lang-langx|ar|إنك أشعر الجن والإنس|links=no}}).<ref name="Qutayba">{{cite book|author=Ibn Qutaybah|author-link=Ibn Qutaybah|title=al-Shiʿr wa-al-shuʿarāʾ|language=ar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKZGCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT219|year=1987|publisher=Dār ʾAḥyāʾ al-ʿUlūm|location=Beirut|page=218}}</ref> Similarly, another anecdote says that [[al-Nabighah al-Dhubyani|al-Nabigha]] told al-Khansāʾ, "If [[Al-A'sha|Abu Basir]]<ref>{{cite book|url=http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Asha|article=Asha|title=The Great Soviet Encyclopedia|year=1979}}</ref> had not already recited to me, I would have said that you are the greatest poet of the Arabs. Go, for you are the greatest poet among those with breasts".<ref name="Butrus al-Bustānī">{{cite book|author=Butrus al-Bustānī|author-link=Butrus al-Bustānī|title=Udabā' al-Arab fi al-Jāhiliya wa sadr al-Islām|language=ar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zmoiDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT202|year=1968|publisher=ktab INC.|page=209}}</ref> She responded by saying, "I'm the greatest poet among those with testicles, too".<ref name="Makdashi">{{cite book|author=Hasna Reda Makdashi|title=Arab Women Writers A Critical Reference Guide, 1873-1999|language=en|url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Arab_Women_Writers/?id=MB6gphBXU0kC|year=2008|publisher=American University in Cairo Press|isbn=978-977-416-146-9 }}</ref>

She was a contemporary of [[Muhammad]], and eventually converted to [[Islam]].<ref name="Talhami" /> It is said that the prophet [[Muhammad]] would ask her to recite some of her poetry for him, and he would love listening to her. Whenever she paused after a recital, he would gesture her to keep going and say, "Go on, Khunās!"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ahmad Fariq |first1=Khurshid |title=History of Arabic Literature: Volume 1 |date=1972 |publisher=Vikas Publications |page=106 |isbn=9780706901795 |url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/History_of_Arabic_Literature/oAQOAAAAYAAJ?hlid=enoAQOAAAAYAAJ&gbpv=1&bsqq=Khun%C4%81s+khans%C4%81&dq=Khun%C4%81s+khans%C4%81&printsec=frontcover}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ibn al-Athir |first1=Ali |title=Asad al-Ghabah fi Ma'rifat al-Sahabah |publisher=Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyah |page=7:90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZwlKCwAAQBAJ&q=%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%87+%D9%8A%D8%A7+%D8%AE%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B3&pg=PT72}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani |first1=Ahmad |title=Al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-Sahabah |publisher=Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyah |page=8:110 |url=https://waqfeya.com/book.php?bid=10575}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ibn 'Abd al-Barr |first1=Yusuf |title=Al-Isti'ab fi Ma'rifat al-Ashab |publisher=Dar al-Jayl |page=1827 |url=https://waqfeya.com/book.php?bid=3930}}</ref> The prophet [[Muhammad]] even rated al-Khansāʾ over the great [[Imru' al-Qais]], the most famous poet of the classical Arabic tradition, as the one with greater poetic abilities.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Bonnie G. |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: Volume 3 |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=18 |isbn=9780195148909 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFI7tr9XK6EC&q=Whatever+its+truth%2C+the+existence+of+this+narrative+points+to+a+profound+respect+for+the+poetic+skill+of+al-Khansa%CB%92%2C+as+well+as+for+the+social+values+expressed+in+her+poetry.&pg=RA2-PA18 |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: Volume 3 |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195148909 |page=18}}</ref>

She was married at least twice, and had six children, all of whom were also poets and eventually converted to Islam.<ref name="Talhami" /> Four of them, Yazīd, Muʿāwiyah, ʿAmr, and ʿAmrah, were killed in the [[Battle of Qadisiyah]]. When she received the news, she allegedly said, "Praise be to God who honored me with their martyrdom. And I have hope from my Lord that he will reunite me with them in the abode of his mercy." ({{lang-langx|ar|الحمد لله الذي شرفني بقتلهم، وأرجو من ربي أن يجمعني بهم في مستقر رحمته}}).<ref name="dughmi">{{cite book|last=Al-Dughmi|first=Muhammad Rakan|title=Al-Tajassus wa ʾaḥkāmuhu fī al-sharīʿah al-ʾislāmīyah|language=ar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e8lGCwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PT135|year=1985|publisher=Dār al-salām|location=Beirut|page=193}}</ref>

The poems of al-Khansā’ are short and marked by a strong and traditional sense of despair at the irrevocable loss of life. Apart from her poetical talent, her significance lies in having raised the early Arabic elegiac tradition to the level of [[qarīd]]{{what?|date=January 2023}} poetry instead of [[sadj‘]]{{what?|date=January 2023}} or [[radjaz]]{{what?|date=January 2023}}. Her style and expression, which assured her a superiority in this genre, became stereotyped in the later [[Rithā'|rithā’]] poetry. As an outstanding poet and female figure in the history of Arabic literature, the position of al-Khansā’ is unique.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Lynx Qualey|first=Marcia|date=2020-08-30|title=Sunday Classics: Al Khansa, the 'Greatest Among Those with Breasts' (& Testicles, Too)|url=https://arablit.org/2020/08/30/sunday-classics-al-khansa-the-greatest-among-those-with-breasts-testicles-too/|access-date=2020-08-30|website=ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly|language=en}}</ref> Al-Khansa’s elegies were later collected by [[Yaqub Ibn as-Sikkit|Ibn al-Sikkit]] (802–858 CE), a literary scholar of the early [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] era. Nearly a thousand lines of her poetry remain.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Al-Khansa' {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/al-khansa|access-date=2020-08-30|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

[[Category:6th-century ArabsArabic-language poets]]

[[Category:7th-century ArabsArabic-language poets]]

[[Category:FemaleWomen Sahabahcompanions of the Prophet]]

[[Category:Arabic-language writerspoets]]