Marwan ibn Abi al-Janub (Arabic: مروان إبن أبي الجنوب) (fl. 813–861) was a 9th century poet from Abbasid Baghdad. He was also governor of Bahrayn and Yamama. Marwan al-Janub was also known as Marwan al-Aṣghar (Arabic: مروان الأصغر).
Background and career
[edit]Marwan al-Janub was from a family of prominent poets, the most famous being his grandfather Marwan ibn Abi Hafsa (723–c. 797/8). Both were descendants of Abu Hafsa Yazid, a tax administrator and possible court physician who married the daughter of the amir of al-Yamama after being freed from servitude by Marwan I in 656.[1][2]
Al-Janub wrote panegyric poetry for Caliphs al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833), al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842), al-Wathiq (r. 842–847) and al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861). From al-Mutawakkil, he sought political favor by composing anti-Shi'a poems.[1][2] He also commemorated the day that al-Mutawakkil appointed his three sons as heirs by chanting an ode to them.[3] Most contemporaneous and subsequent critics considered al-Janub's poetry mediocre, however little of it has survived.[1][2]
Al-Mutawakkil made al-Janub governor of Bahrayn and Yamama. But in 861, he lost his positions when al-Mutawakkil was assassinated and his eldest son al-Muntasir came to power.[1][2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Bencheikh, J.E. (1991). "Marwān al-Akbar b. Abī Ḥafṣa and Marwān al-Aṣg̲h̲ar b. Abi 'l-D̲j̲anūb". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume VI: Mahk–Mid. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 625–626. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4981. ISBN 978-90-04-08112-3.
- ^ a b c d Meisami, Julie Scott; Starkey, Paul (1998). Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature. Vol. 2. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-18572-6. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- ^ Stetkevych, Suzanne Pinckney (2001). J.E. Bencheikh (ed.). "Early Islamic Poetry and Poetics — The Poetic Coterie of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil (d. 247 H.): A Contribution to the Analysis of Authorities of Socio-Literary Legitimation". Routledge. ISBN 9781315257273.
Further reading
[edit]- Al-Rasheed, Munierah Muhammad al-Yusuf (1980). "The Abu Hafsah Family of Poets Together with a Critical Edition of the Poetry of Principal Members of the Family". ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. The University of Manchester (United Kingdom) .
- Ali, Samer Mahdy (2002). "Ardor for memory: Mythicizing the patricide of al-Mutawakkil in court poetry". ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. Indiana University.
- Al-Zirikli, Khayr al-Din (2002). الأعلام : قاموس تراجم لأشهر الرجال والنساء من العرب والمستعربين والمستشرقين [Al-Alam: Biographical Dictionary of Famous Arab, Mozarab, and Orientalist Men and Women] (in Arabic). Vol. 7 (15 ed.). Beirut: Dar El-Ilm Lilmalayin. p. 209.