Farid, Abu Hafs Umar IBN Ali Al-Sadi IBN Al-

Farid, Abu Hafs Umar IBN Ali Al-Sadi IBN Al-

 

Born 1182 in Cairo; died there 1235. Arab Sufi poet. His small divan is one of the most popular collections of Arabic poetry. His best known works are “The Song of Wine” and the “Large Taiya” (qasida, or ode, rhyming inati), which consists of 760 bayts (couplets) expressing the Sufi inspiration of the poet. He constantly praised love, hence his nickname sultan al-ashikin, “king of the lovers.” Al-Farid sacrificed grammar for mellifluous verse. His poems are sometimes ponderous and confused.

WORKS

Diwan. Damascus, 1840.
Das arabische hohe Lied der Liebe, das ist Ibn a I Faridh’s Taïjet in Text und Ubers etzung. Edited by J. Hammer-Purgstall. Vienna, 1854.

REFERENCE

Al-Fakhuri, H. Istoriia arabskoi literatury, vol. 2. Moscow, 1961.