Safī al-Dīn al-Hillī | |
---|---|
Native name | صفي الدين الحلي |
Born | 1278 AD/677 AH Hillah |
Died | 1349 AD/749 AH (aged 71) Baghdad |
Occupation | Poet, mujahid, literary critic, politician |
Language | Arabic |
Nationality | Ilkhanate |
Period | Late Middle Ages |
Genre | Qasida, Ghazal, Adab, Maqtu, Dhikr |
Notable works | Diwan, Durar al-Nuhur |
Abu ’l-Maḥāsin Ṣafī al-Dīn Abd al-Aziz ibn Saraya al-Ḥillī al-Ṭāyyʾī al-Sinbisī (Arabic: أبو المحاسن صافي الدين عبد العزيز بن سرايا الحلي الصاع السنبيسي; 26 August 1278 – 1349 AD/5 Rabi' al-Thani 677 – 749 AH), more commonly known as Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥillī or Ṣafiddīn al-Ḥilli (Arabic: صفي الدين الحلي),[1] was a 14th-century Arab warrior poet.
Despite his being one of the most famous poets of his century, the historical record of Al-Hilli's life is often vague.[1] Al-Hilli's birth is recorded as 26 August 1278 in most sources, though one of his contemporaries gives his birth as October or November 1279.[1] He was born in Hillah, modern-day Iraq, to a Shia Muslim family of the renowned Tayyi tribe.[2][3] Early in life, after one of his uncles was murdered, Al-Hilli fought in a battle to avenge his death.[3] He wrote poems about his family's exploits in this battle, which garnered a lot of attention.[3]
After he achieved his initial success as a poet, a war broke out, having to leave his wives and his family behind, he was forced to leave Iraq in 1302.[3] Around this time, he became the court poet in Mardin, modern-day Turkey, under the Artuqids.[2] In his youth he made money mostly through commerce, later in life he made a living by writing eulogies for wealthy princes.[3]
Al-Hilli, alongside Ibn Nubata, was one of the two most celebrated Arab poets of the 14th century.[4][1] Al-Hilli's poetic style was considered innovative and experimental, integrating established poetic traditions with new vocabulary.[5]
Al-Hilli is perhaps best remembered for the poetic lines which inspired the Pan-Arab colors: "White are our deeds, black are our battles, / Green are our tents, red are our swords."[3] These lines are from Al-Hilli's fakhr ("boasting") poem written to celebrate his family's victories in the battle to avenge his uncle.[3]
His major poetic works are a collection of eulogies titled Durar al-Nuhur ("Jewels for Necks") and his Diwan ("Poems").[3] In his Diwan, he organizes his poems into twelve categories spanning most major Arabic thematic genres:
Al-Hillī is also noted for composing one of four collections of epigrammatic maqṭūʿ-poems that were seminal for the development of the genre in the fourteenth century: his twenty-chapter Dīwān al-Mathālith wa-l-mathānī fī l-maʿālī wa-l-maʿānī ('The Collection of Two-liners and Three-liners on Virtues and Literary Motifs'). This was composed between 1331 and 1341 at the princely court in Hama, and dedicated to al-Malik al-Afḍal (r. 1332–41).[6]: 47–50 In addition to writing poetry, he wrote several works of literary criticism on poetic forms.[2]