al-G̲h̲azāl
in Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English)Search for other papers by A. Huici Miranda in
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, Yaḥyā b. Ḥakam al-Bakrī , a native of Jaén, was called by this name (‘the gazelle’) in his youth because of his slenderness and good looks. He became prominent, along with ʿAbbās b. Firnās, at the court of al-Ḥakam I, who, on returning from his continual campaigns, liked to take part in the poetical tournaments of the little literary group which he had allowed to spring up round him. Al-G̲h̲azāl was already 50 years old when his star shone even brighter at the court of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II, who made him one of his favourite poets. In 225/840, after receiving with every honour the embassy of the Byzantine emperor Theophilus and being much flattered by this acknowledgement of his power, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II caused the Constantinople ambassador, when he returned to his country, to be accompanied by two Muslim emissaries: the poet Yaḥyā al-G̲h̲azāl and another Yaḥyā called ṣāḥib al-munayḳila (‘the man with the little clock’). These two were charged with bearing the amīr of Cordova’s reply to Theophilus’s letter, in which he had proposed an alliance against the ʿAbbāsids of the East and their vassals the Ag̲h̲labids of Ifrīḳiya because of their naval activities in Sicily. After delivering ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II’s reply and presents to Theophilus in Constantinople al-G̲h̲azāl caused a stir at the Byzantine court with his talent and sparks of sly wit which he demonstrated brilliantly before the Emperor himself, his wife Theodora, and the crown prince Michael. By his charming manners and notorious cupidity he obtained jewels for his daughters from the Empress, just as he had contrived, before embarking on his mission, that the Cordovan amīr assign them a pension in case he should not return. His witty and sometimes coarse repartee was as famous as his avarice. He was a poet of mordant wit and greatly dreaded for his merciless satires. They were composed in a clear style devoid of rhetorical figures, which placed them within reach of the common people. Besides the personal gifts made to him by the court he brought back from his stay in Constantinople stocks of a variety of fig tree, of which the figs, called doñegal , are still known under the variant name boñigar given s.v. higo in the Dictionary of the Spanish Academy. During his time the musician Ziryāb [q.v.] introduced the game of chess to Cordova, where it had a great success. But it was not approved by al-G̲h̲azāl, for in a poem addressed to a nephew of his who was a keen chess-player he declared it to be sinful and an invention of the devil. Al-G̲h̲azāl’s unusual diplomatic mission and the memory of Viking incursions gave rise to the legend invented in the 12th or 13th century by the Valencian Ibn Diḥya ( Muṭrib , Ḵh̲artoum 1954, 130 f.) according to which ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II, satisfied with the way in which al-G̲h̲azāl and his companion had carried out their mission, entrusted to them in later years another embassy to the North with the aim of dissuading the king of the Vikings from attempting a fresh landing in Andalusia. According to this story the poet and his companion fulfilled their task in northern Europe and returned to Cordova after a dangerous voyage of nine months in Atlantic waters. The falseness of this is obvious at a glance. The more or less marvellous elements of which it is formed are copied for the most part from episodes attributed in the 10th century to al-G̲h̲azāl’s journey to the Greek emperor. No doubt the unusual activity of the Byzantine emperor in Cordova and the daring landing of the Vikings on Spanish territory, enriched with romantic details, finally amalgamated in the popular beliefs of Andalusia and so gave rise to a combined legend which little by little distorted the historical reality.
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al-G̲h̲azāl
in Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English)Search for other papers by A. Huici Miranda in
Current site
Google Scholar
(1,472 words)