8vo. [55], 435 pp., Arabic text, modern hard back binding, few wormholes on margins, occasional foxing, otherwise copy in good condition, published at al-Matba’a al-Rahmaniya, Cairo, 1929.

Synopsis

Hassan bin Thabit al-Ansari, the most prominent of the poets who associated themselves with the Prophet Muhammad. The dates of his birth in Medina (into the tribe of Khazraj) and death are uncertain; however, he died at an advanced age. At the time of his conversion to Islam, which took place after the Hijra, he was already an esteemed poet. The Prophet approved and encouraged the invective against the unbelievers and panegyric on himself made by Hassan and others such as ‘Abdallah ibn Rawha and Ka’ib ibn Malik. This was often used in later times in the defense of poetry against pious puritans. “Hassan Diwan” contains both pre-Islamic and Islamic poems; but against Muhammad’s adversaries he applied the old style of invective which was more effective than the more religious approach of others. From an early date poems were falsely attributed to him, as in the biography of the Prophet by Ibn Ishaq, which had already been realised by Ibn Sallam al-Jumahi. This is the most comprehensive commentary of Hassan’s Diwan by al-Barquqi.