Al-Mutanabbi’s Ode to Sayf Al-Dawlah OR Al-Mutanabbi’s Eulogy for Those Whose Deaths Were Fated
“Who dares, wins!” as proclaimed by Al-Mutanabbi al-Kindi is the opening line of a striking ode titled, Strong Resolves Come (1). Al-Mutanabbi’s famous Qasida is translated from the Arabic; in Arabic the title اهل قدرعلىالعزم
is in fact the poem’s opening line which translates verbatim to, “strong resolutions come to those who dare.” It is not a rarity to be humbled by the tendency of classical Arabic poetry to assume an exalted stature. Al Mutanabbi is a key figure in exalted-Arabic-literature if not one of its pioneers. He was born in 915 CE and for the next fifty years until his death was said to have authored over three hundred poems. He is renowned for writing panegyrics or verses that are to be delivered
with high praise. His ode to Sayf Al-Dawlah is exactly that— an exaltation for the founder of the Hamdanid Dynasty of Aleppo and his courageous efforts against Byzantine aggressions. The poem begins with Al-Mutanabbi’s introduction for our hero and his prowess as a Hamdanid prince. Al-Hadath the Red, as mentioned in the poem’s third stanza, is a town in what is present- day Turkey that was occupied via Sayf Al-Dawlah’s skillful direction. The poem continues in its adorations for the leader; notably, Al-Mutanabbi personifies Al-Hadath the Red as a damsel in distress— a life who must be protected against the threats that have “driven her away” (12). “How could [they] have hoped/ to raze her when your spears were/ her foundations?” begins the fourth stanza which concludes the praise for Al-Hadath, the fortress turned woman.
Nevertheless, Al Mutanabbi continues in his celebrations for the remainder of the qasida commending the emir and romanticizing his brutal conquests. The poem surmises in proclamations of divinity: Sayf as a hand of God and thereby a writer of fate.
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Ode to Sayf Al-Dawlah, written by Al-Mutanabbi al-Kindi translated to the English by A.J.
Arberry in
Arabic Poetry: A Primer for Students