Literary CornerAn Anthology of Arab Humor In Arab Literature (2/3) [Archives:2005/878/Culture]
By Abu Al-Kalima Al-Tayyibah
Subject Book: An Anthology of Arab Humor In Arab Literature
Author: Ali Mroueh
Language: Arabic
Publisher: Riad El-Rayyes Books Ltd, London
Year Published: First Printing 1947, Second Printing 1991
Number of Pages: 8 volumes; Volume 1 – 182 pages
The eight volumes that make up the Anthology of Humor and Arab Literature are:
1) The Peculiarities of Poets and Literary Writers
2) The Peculiarities of Egyptians
3) The Peculiarities of Driven Away Personalities
4) The peculiarities of Judges
5) The Peculiarities of Women and Concubines
6) The Peculiarities of Geniuses and Fools
7) The Peculiarities of Administrators/ Workers
8) The Peculiarities of Odd People
In this corner we will cover the First Volume, which has seven chapters or parts: 1) An Introduction; 2) Poets and Authorities; 3) Poets and Needs; 4) Poets and Delight ; 5) Poets and Employment; 6) Poets and Mood.
The introduction explains humor in general and the importance of humor in life and that without it there can be no real enjoyment in life. Humor is viewed by the author as a phenomenon of stature of a culture and stimulates genius. Then he brings out instances where great men of history had their moments of humor, even the Prophet Mohammed (PBAUH) was one to enjoy a laugh or two every now and then, notwithstanding the seriousness of his mission. He told his followers that people should not shun humor but should, in life opt for some of the innocent delights of this world and for the rewards of the hereafter as well. He also said: “Take pleasure and play. I would hate for people to see in your religion severity or harshness”.
Then he goes on to give the history of humor going to the Greek philosophers and later thinkers and philosophers spanning the ages of history.
Most of the Arab literary personalities in the pre-Islamic history were poets, who occupied themselves with the glories of tribal warfare and other aspects of chivalry. However after Islam became entrenched in the Arabian Peninsula and a state became the dominant institution that governed most of the territory that fell to Arab/ Islamic rule, poets shifted their attention to other aspects of social life. Most poets busied themselves with trying to win the favor of rulers or senior government officials, who would generously pay out gratuities to poets who would compliment them and praise them.
The book starts off with he story of Abu Dalamah. Abu Dalmah was a black slave, but he had a fiery tongue that was feared or sought after, depending on how Abu Dalamah would look at the subject of his poetry. In the post Islamic period, many slaves did rise to social prominence either by their cultural attainments or artistic achievements. Abu Dalamah first appeared in the final days of the Umayyad Caliphate about 120 years or so after the Prophet Mohammed's (PBAUH) death. However his prominence was at its height in the days of the Abbasid Caliphate. In one of his poems, he pleads to Bu Ja'afar Al-Mansour to relieve him from the awful poverty that his wife has caused him, because of how she never gets enough:
No, Commander of the Faithful, who God has set for you the esteemed Caliphate,
I still give her all my earnings and she eats it, without anything for me and my children then she sleeps
I reminded her of the book of Allah, but she was never guided by the Book of Allah;
She told me: You want to tell me about the Book of God, you vile one you!
Go out and fetch us money and a farm like that of our neighbors.
Con our Caliph with a request (for a gratuity), the Caliph will easily oblige!
The Caliph then ordered two hundred lots of land swamps and arable, but Abu Dalamah was not satisfied and said “I will give you four Thousand lots of swamps from Al-Hira to Al-Najaf!” The Caliph laughed and ordered all the land to be arable without swampland.
Then Abu Dalamah fell in love with a beautiful concubine. He sent a poem to Al-Abbass Ibn Al-Mansour, one of the Abbasids describing his love for a concubine, who was sold to him by a “terrible greedy merchant, for two thousand Derhims, who threw the amount as a loan on my shoulders,
so how can I enjoy my delight with this beauty, with such a heavy debt?
Al-Abbass read the poem and was pleased by the eloquence of Abu Dalamah in describing his love for this woman and ordered the amount be awarded to Abu Dalamah.
There are many stories like this of poets other than Abu Dalamah, who whiled away their lives going from one prince or governor to another selling their poems of praise or sometimes giving news of what the public is talking about them.
However not all dignitaries succumbed to this kind of pleading. A poet wrote to Abu Suleiman that he dreamed that a great prince was going to give him a big gratuity. The Prince replied: illusions and dreams, we have no knowledge of interpreting dreams! (This is what Pharaoh's advisers told him in the story of Joseph, about his dream of the seven good years, etc.)
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