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MOFADDALTYAT

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 645 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MOFADDALTYAT , strictly MuFADDALIYAT, an See also:

anthology of See also:ancient Arabic poems, which derives its name from al-Mufaddal, son of Muhammad, son of Ya'la, a member of the tribe of Dabba, who compiled it some See also:time between A.D. 762 and 784 in the latter of which years he died. Al-Mufaddal was a contemporary of See also:Hammad ar-Rawiya and' Khalaf al-Abmar, the famous collectors of ancient Arab See also:poetry and tradition, and was some-what the junior of See also:Abu 'Amr See also:ibn al-`See also:Ala, the first See also:scholar who systematically set himself to preserve the poetic literature of the See also:Arabs. He died about fifty years before Abu 'Ubaida and al-Asma'i, to whose labours posterity is largely indebted for the . arrangement, elucidation and See also:criticism of ancient Arabian See also:verse; and his anthology was put together between fifty and sixty years before the compilation by Abu Tammam of the Ijamasa (q.v.). Al-Mufaddal was a careful and trustworthy See also:collector both of texts and traditions, and is praised by all authorities on Arabian See also:history and literature as in this respect greatly the See also:superior of Hammad and Khalaf, who are accused (especially the latter) of unscrupulous fabrication of poems in the See also:style of the ancients. He was a native of See also:Kufa, the northernmost of the two See also:great military colonies founded in 638 by the See also:caliph 'See also:Omar for the See also:control of the wide Mesopotamian See also:plain. In Kufa and See also:Basra were gathered representatives of all the Arabian tribes who formed the fighting force of the Islamic See also:Empire, and from these al-Mufaddal was able to collect and See also:record the compositions of the poets who had celebrated the fortunes and exploits of their forefathers. He, no doubt, like al-Asma'i and Abu 'Ubaida, also himself visited the areas occupied by the tribes for their camping grounds in the neighbouring See also:desert; and adjacent to Kufa was al-I-Ara, the ancient See also:capital of the Lakhmid See also:kings, whose See also:court was the most celebrated centre in pre-Islamic See also:Arabia, where, in the See also:century before the See also:preaching of the See also:Prophet, poets from the whole of the See also:northern See also:half of the See also:peninsula were wont to assemble. There is indeed a tradition that a written collection (diwan) existed in the See also:family of an-Nu'See also:man, the last Lakhmid See also:king, containing a number of poems by the Fuhul, or most eminent poets of the See also:pagan time, and especially by those who had praised the princes of the See also:house, and that this collection passed into the See also:possession of the Omayyad caliphs of the house of Marwan; to this, if the tradition is to be believed, al-Mufaddal probably had See also:access. The date of al-Mufaeldal's See also:birth is unknown; but he lived for many years under the caliphs of the Omayyad See also:line until their overthrow by the 'See also:Abbasids in 749. In 762 he took See also:part in the rising led by See also:Ibrahim ibn 'Abdallah ibn al-Ilasan, the 'Alid, called " The Pure Soul," against the caliph al-Mansur, and after the defeat and See also:death of Ibrahim was See also:cast into See also:prison. Al-Mansur, however, pardoned him on the intercession of his See also:fellow-tribesman Musayyab ibn See also:Zuhair of Dabba, and appointed him the instructor in literature of his son, afterwards the caliph al-See also:Mandi.

It was for this See also:

prince that, at al-Mansur's instigation, al-Mufaddal compiled the Mufaddaliyat. The collection, in its See also:present See also:form, contains 126 pieces ofverse, See also:long and See also:short; that is the number included in the recension of al-Anbari, who had the See also:text from Abu 'Ikrima of Dabba, who read it with Ibn al-Arabi, the stepson and inheritor of the tradition of al-Mufaddal. We know from the Fihrist of Muhammad an-See also:Nadim (A.D. 988) that in his time 128 pieces were counted in the See also:book; and this number agrees with that contained in the See also:Vienna MS., which gives an additional poem, besides those annotated by al-Anbarl, to al-Muraqqish the See also:Elder,and adds at the end a poem by al-Harith ibn Hilliza. The Fihrist states (p. 68) that some scholars included more and others fewer poems, while the See also:order of the poems in the several recensions differed; but the correct text, the author says, is that handed down through Ibn al-Arabi. It is noticeable that this traditional text, and the accompanying scholia, as represented by al-Anbari's recension, are wholly due to the scholars of Kufa, to which See also:place al-Mufaddal himself belonged. The See also:rival school of Basra, on the other See also:hand, has given currency to a See also:story that the See also:original collection made by al-Mufaddal included a much smaller number of poems. The See also:Berlin MS. of al-Marzugi's commentary states that the number was See also:thirty, but a better See also:reading of the passage, found elsewhere,' mentions eighty; and that al-Asma'i and his school added to this See also:nucleus poems which increased the number to a See also:hundred and twenty. It is curious that this tradition is ascribed by al-Marzugl and his teacher Abu `All al-Farisi to Abu `Ikrima of Dabba, who is represented by al-Anbari as the transmitter of the correct text from Ibn al-Arabi. There is no mention of it in al-Anbari's See also:work, and it is in itself somewhat improbable, as in al-Asma'i's time the See also:schools of Kufa and Basra were in See also:sharp opposition one to the other, and Ibn al-A'rabi in particular was in the See also:habit of censuring al-Asma'i's interpretations of the ancient poems. It is scarcely likely that he would have accepted his rival's additions to the work of his step-See also:father, and have handed them on to Abu 'Ikrima with his annotations.

The collection is one of the highest importance as a record of the thought and poetic See also:

art of Arabia during the time immediately preceding the See also:appearance of the Prophet. Not more than five or six of the 126 poems appear to have been composed by poets who had been See also:born in See also:Islam. The great See also:majority of the authors belonged to the days of " the See also:Ignorance," and though a certain number (e.g. Mutammim ibn Nuwaira, Rabi'a ibn Magrum, 'Abda ibn at-Tabib and Abu Dhu'aib), born in paganism, accepted Islam, their work bears few marks of the new faith. The ancient virtues—hospitality to the See also:guest and the poor, profuse See also:expenditure of See also:wealth, valour in See also:battle, faithfulness to the cause of the tribe—are the themes of praise; See also:wine and the See also:game of maisir, forbidden by Islam, are celebrated by poets who professed themselves converts; and if there is no mention of the old See also:idolatry, there is also little spirituality in the outlook on See also:life. The 126 pieces are distributed between 68 poets, and the work represents a gathering from the compositions of those who were called al-Mugillun, " authors of whom little has survived," in contrast to the famous poets whose See also:works had been collected into diwdns. At the same time' many of them are extremely celebrated, and among the pieces selected by al-Mufaddal several reach a very high level of excellence. Such are the two long poems of 'Algama ibn 'Abada (Nos. 119 and 120), the three odes by Mutammim ibn Nuwaira (Nos. 9, 67, 68), the splendid poem of Salama ibn Jandal (No. 22), the beautiful nasib of ash-Shanfara (No. 20), and the death-See also:song of 'Abd-Yaghuth (No.

30). One of the most admirable and famous is the last of the See also:

series (No. 126), the long See also:elegy by Abu Dhu'aib of Hudhail on the death of his sons; almost every verse of this poem is cited in See also:illustration of some phrase or meaning of a word in the See also:national lexicons. Only one of the poets of the Mu'allagat (see MO'ALLAKAT), al-Harith, son of Ililliza, is represented in the collection. Of others (such as Bishr ibn Abi Khazim, al-Hadira, 'See also:Amir ibn at-Tufail, 'Alqamah ibn 'Abadah, al-Muthaqqib, Ta'abbata Sharra and Abu Dhu'aib) diwans or bodies of collected poems exist, but it is doubtful how far these had been brought together when al-Mufaddal made ' In the dhail or supplement to the See also:Amati of al-Qali. (Edn. See also:Cairo 1324 H., p. 131). his compilation. An interesting feature of the work is the treatment in it of the two poets of Bakr ibn Wa'il, See also:uncle and See also:nephew, called al-Muraqqish, who are perhaps the most ancient in the collection. The elder Muraqqish was the great-uncle of See also:Tarafa of Bakr, the author of the Mu'allaga, and took part in the long warfare between the See also:sister tribes of Bakr and Taghlib, called the See also:war of Basus, which began about the end of the 5th century A.D. Al-Mufaddal has included ten pieces (Nos.

45-54) by him in the collection, which are chiefly interesting from an antiquarian point of view. One, in particular (No. 54), presents a very archaic appearance. It is probable that the compiler set down all he could gather of this ancient author, and that his See also:

interest in him was chiefly due to his antiquity. Of the younger Muraqqish, uncle of Tarafa, there are five pieces (Nos. 55-59). The only other authors of whom more than three poems are cited are Bishr ibn Abi Khazim of Asad (Nos. 96-99) and Rabi'a ibn Magrum of Dabba (Nos. 38, 39, 43 and 113). The Mufaddaliyat differs from the IIamasa in being a collection of See also:complete odes (gasidas), while the latter is an anthology of brilliant passages specially selected for their interest or effectiveness, all that is prosaic or less striking being pruned away. It is of course not the See also:case that all the poems of al-Mufaddal's collection are complete. Many are See also:mere fragments, and even in the longest there are often lacunae; but the compiler evidently set down all that he could collect of a poem from the memory of the rawis, and did not, like Abu Tammam, choose only the best portions.

We are thus presented with a view of the literature of the See also:

age which is much more characteristic and comprehensive than that given by the brilliant poet to whom we owe the .Uamasa, and enables us to form a better See also:judgment on the See also:general level of poetic achievement. The Mufaddaliyat is not well represented by See also:MSS. in the See also:libraries of the See also:West. There is an imperfect copy of the recension of al-Marzugi (died 1030), with his commentary, in the Berlin collection. A very ancient fragment (dated 1080) of al-Anbari's recension, containing five poems in whole or part, is in the Royal Library at See also:Leipzig. In the See also:British Museum there is a copy made about a century ago for C. J. See also:Rich at See also:Bagdad of a MS. with brief glosses; and at Vienna there is a See also:modern copy of a MS. of which the original is at See also:Constantinople, the glosses in which are taken from al-Anbari, though the author had access also to al-Marzuqi. In the See also:mosque libraries at Constantinople there are at least five MSS.; and at Cairo there is a modern copy of one of these, containing the whole of al-Anbari's commentary. In See also:America there are at Yale University a modern copy of the same recension, taken from the same original as the Cairo copy, and a MS. of See also:Persian origin, dated 1657, presenting a text identical with the Vienna codex. Quite recently a very interesting MS., probably of the 6th century of the Hegira, but not dated, has come to See also:light. It purports to be the second part of a See also:combination of two anthologies, the Mufaddaliyat of al-Mufaddal and the Agma'iydt of al-Asma'i, but contains many more poems than are in either of these collections as found elsewhere. The commentary appears to be eclectic, See also:drawn partly (perhaps chiefly) from Ibn as-Sikkit (died 858), and partly from Abu-Ja'far Ahmad ibn 'Ubaid ibn Nasih, one of al-Anbari's See also:sources and a See also:pupil of Ibn al-Arabi; and the compilation seems to be older in date than al-Anbari, since its glosses are often quoted by him without any name being mentioned.

This MS. (which is the See also:

property of Mr F. Krenkow of See also:Leicester) appears to represent one of the recensions mentioned by Muhammad an-Nadim in the Fihrist (p. 68), to which reference has been made above. In 1885 See also:Professor Heinrich See also:Thorbecke began an edition of the text based on the Berlin codex, but only the first fasciculus, containing See also:forty-two poems, had appeared when his work was cut short by death. In 1891 the first See also:volume of an edition of the text, with a short commentary taken from al-Anbari, was printed at Constantinople. In 1906 an edition of the whole text, with short glosses taken from al-Anbari's commentary, was published at Cairo by Abu Bakr b. 'Omar Daghistani al-Madani; this follows generally the Cairo codex above mentioned, but has profited by the scholarship of Professor Thorbecke's edition of the first half of the work. A complete edition of al-Anbari's text and commentary, with a See also:translation of the poems, undertaken by See also:Sir C. J. See also:Lyall (see J. R.

A. S., See also:

April 1904) was in the See also:press in 1910. (C. J.

End of Article: MOFADDALTYAT

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