Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online Volume 1, Issue 1

2/2/2016 Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online In the Shadows of the Master: al-Mutanabbi’s Legacy and the Quest for the Center in the Fatimid and the Andalusian Poetry By: Majd Yaser al-Mallah In the Shadows of the Master: al-Mutanabbi’s Legacy and the Quest for the Center in the Fatimid and the Andalusian Poetry. Berkshire, UK: Berkshire Academic Press, 2012. 147pp. $69.95. ISBN: 1907784071. Volume: 1 Issue: 1 April 2013 Review by Abed el-RahmanTayyara, PhD Department of Modern Languages Cleveland State University Cleveland, Ohio Al-Mallah’s In the Shadow of the Master is an important addition to the study of classical Arabic poetry in a time of political fragmentation, and the creation of new political entities. Specifically, this study investigates the role that poetic discourse played in communicating political and religious legitimacy during the 10th, and the beginning of the 11th centuries. To this end, al-Mallah takes the reader on a journey to witness the impact of this panegyric poetry in four different Islamic political settings: the Hamadanis in Aleppo under Sayf al-Dawla (d. 967); the Fatimids under the rule of al-Mu‘zz (d. 975), and al-‘Aziz (d. 996); the ‘Amirids under al-Mansur (d. 1002); and the Tujibis under the leadership of al-Mundhir b. Yahya (d. 1022). The book’s argumentation is based on the analysis of five odes (with full translations) composed by four poets who were associated with the courts of these rulers. The starting point of this study is a panegyric written by Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi (d. 965), who was one of the most acclaimed classical Arab poets. His poetic model was so influential that it served as a paradigm for many poets, especially in the Andalus. Al-Mallah examines alMutanabbi’s influence on three poets: Ibn Hani’ al-Andalusi (d. 973); Tamim b. al-Mu‘izz (d. 985); and IbnDarraj al-Qastalani (d. 1030); hence, the book’s title In the Shadow of the Master. Al-Mallah’s central argument is that in composing these odes, the poets emphasize the political or religious legitimacy of the respective patrons seeking to place their leadership at a new “center of history rather than remain on the margins” (p. 2). In so doing, these panegyrics perform important political and ritual functions that demonstrate certain facets of social interaction between the poets, their respective patrons, and the community. The book consists of five chapters and has a bibliography and an appendix of the Arabic texts. In the first chapter, the author lays down the theoretical framework that explains the book’s methodology and objectives. This chapter also offers a historical background of the period in question, where an emphasis is placed on political fragmentation within the Islamic world. Special attention is paid to the “speech act theory” which is used as a framework that “will allow us to explore the formative role that they played in specific political and cultural contexts” (p. 13). Al-Mallah commences his literary analysis with al-Mutanabbi’s panegyric that was composed after his patron, Sayf al-Dawla, suffered disastrous defeat at the hands of the Byzantines in the year 950. The author seeks to show that the classification of this ode as simply a historical document is insufficient to fully understand its real objectives. Placing this ode within the context of court ceremonial, the author argues that al-Mutanabbi applies different rhetorical strategies aiming to legitimize the ruler’s position in the community by turning this defeat into military victory. Thus, this defeat serves here as a moral lesson that al-Mutanabbi recast in the form of “a ritual test or contest, a rite of purification through which the weak and the cowardly have been eliminated, the poet declares Sayf al-Dawlah and the Ummah strengthened, renewed, purified, and reinvigorated by experience.” (p. 18). Interestingly, al-Mallahdoes not refer to an important book by Margaret Larkin, entitled Al-Mutanabbi: Voice of the ‘Abbasid Ideal Poetic (2008) that deals, inter alia, with the poet’s high status in classical Arabic poetry and his influence on later poets, such as Ibn Hani’. In the next chapter, al-Mallah analyzes Ibn Hani’ al-Andalusi’s ode dedicated to the Fatimid ruler al-Mu‘izz after his general, Jawhar al-Siqilli conquered Egypt. The main objective of this ode is—according to the author—to establish, through al-Mu‘zz’s Imamate the religious and political legitimacy of the Fatimids. At the same time, Ibn Hani’ ridicules the Abbasid and portrays them as illegitimate rulers. To achieve this goal, Ibn Hani’ employs motives of noble origin, closeness to the Prophet, restoration and fertility, and generosity. The scope of the fourth chapter remains within Fatimid politics where the author analyzes an ode by Tamim b. al-Mu‘izz, who seeks to strengthen the Fatimids’ claim for legitimate imperial power. The author contends that this panegyric should be understood within the Fatimid imperial agenda and not simply as part of their Shi‘ite propaganda. He argues that the ode’s purpose is “to communicate the Fatimid view (or narrative) to the mostly Sunni general public in Egypt and elsewhere, a message that has resonance during the time period of composition (this is the imperial http://localhost/membr/review.php?id=16 1/2

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