Al-Ma'arri
Encyclopedia
Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri was a blind
Arab
philosopher, poet and writer.
He was a controversial rationalist of his time, attacking the dogmas of religion
and rejecting the claim that Islam
possessed any monopoly on truth.
. He was a member of the Banu Sulayman, a notable family of Maʿarra, belonging to the larger Tanukh tribe. His paternal great-great-grandfather had been the city's first qadi
. Some members of the Bany Sulayman had also been noted as good poets.
He lost his eyesight at the age of four due to smallpox
.
He started his career as a poet at an early age, at about 11 or 12 years old. He was educated at first in Maʿarra and Aleppo
, later also in Antioch
and other Syrian cities.
Among his teachers in Aleppo
were companions from the circle of Ibn Khalawayh
. This grammarian and Islamic scholar had died in AH 370 (AD 980/1), when Al-Maʿarri was still a child. Al-Maʿarri nevertheless laments the loss of Ibn Ḵh̲ālawayh in strong terms in a poem of his Risālat al-ghufrān.
Al-Qifti
reports that when on his way to Tripoli
, Al-Maʿarri visited a Christian monastery near Latakia
where he listened to debates about Hellenic philosophy
, which planted in him the seeds of his later skepticism and irreligiosity; but other historians such as Ibn al-Adim
deny that he had been exposed to any theology other than Islamic doctrine.
He also spent two years at Baghdad
, where he was well received in the literary salons of the time, but he opted for an ascetic lifestyle, refusing to sell his poems, living in seclusion and observing a strict diet. He nevertheless enjoyed great respect and attracted many students locally, as well as actively holding correspondence with scholars abroad.
He returned to his native town of Maʿarra in about 1010, where he lived the rest of his life, practicing asceticism
and veganism
.
in his beliefs and denounced superstition and dogmatism in religion. Thus, he has been described as a pessimistic
freethinker, some argue that he might have been a deist.
One of the recurring themes of his philosophy was the rights of reason
against the claims of custom, tradition and authority.
Al-Maʿarri taught that religion was a "fable invented by the ancients," worthless except for those who exploit the credulous masses.
Al-Maʿarri criticized many of the dogmas of Islam, such as the Hajj
, which he called, "a heathen’s journey."
He rejected claims of any divine revelation. His creed was that of a philosopher and ascetic, for whom reason
provides a moral guide, and virtue
is its own reward.
Al-Maarri's fundamental pessimism is expressed in his recommendation that no children should be begotten, so as to spare them the pains of life. In an elegy
composed by him over the loss of a relative, he combines his grief with observations on the ephemerality of this life:
His religious skepticism and positively antireligious
views are expressed in a poem which states "The inhabitants of the earth are of two sorts: those with brains, but no religion, and those with religion, but no brains."
of his poems appeared as "The Tinder Spark" (Saqṭ al-zand; ). It gained great popularity and established his reputation as a poet.
A second, more original collection appeared under the title "Unnecessary Necessity" (Luzūm mā lam yalza ); also Luzūmīyāt "Necessities"), alluding to the unnecessary complexity of the rhyme scheme used.
His third famous work is a work of prose known as "The Epistle of Forgiveness" (Risālat al-ghufrān ).
In this work, the poet visits paradise
and meets the Arab poets
of the pagan period
, contrary to Muslim doctrine which holds that only those who believe in God can find salvation .
Because of the aspect of conversing with the deceased
in paradise, the Resalat Al-Ghufran has been compared to the Divine Comedy of Dante.
"Paragraphs and Periods" (Al-Fuṣūl wa al-ghāyāt) is a collection of homilies, which have been characterized as a parody
of the Qur'an.
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
philosopher, poet and writer.
He was a controversial rationalist of his time, attacking the dogmas of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and rejecting the claim that Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
possessed any monopoly on truth.
Life
Abul Ala was born in Maʿarra, SyriaGreater Syria
Greater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....
. He was a member of the Banu Sulayman, a notable family of Maʿarra, belonging to the larger Tanukh tribe. His paternal great-great-grandfather had been the city's first qadi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...
. Some members of the Bany Sulayman had also been noted as good poets.
He lost his eyesight at the age of four due to smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
.
He started his career as a poet at an early age, at about 11 or 12 years old. He was educated at first in Maʿarra and Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, later also in Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
and other Syrian cities.
Among his teachers in Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
were companions from the circle of Ibn Khalawayh
Ibn Khalawayh
Ibn Khalawayh was a 10th-century Persian scholar of Arabic grammar and Koranic exegesis. He was active at the court of Sayf al-Dawla, the Hamdanid ruler of Syria, at Aleppo....
. This grammarian and Islamic scholar had died in AH 370 (AD 980/1), when Al-Maʿarri was still a child. Al-Maʿarri nevertheless laments the loss of Ibn Ḵh̲ālawayh in strong terms in a poem of his Risālat al-ghufrān.
Al-Qifti
Al-Qifti
Al-Qifti or Ibn al-Qifti was a medieval Muslim writer. He is remembered today mainly for his History of Learned Men.-Life and Works:...
reports that when on his way to Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
, Al-Maʿarri visited a Christian monastery near Latakia
Latakia
Latakia, or Latakiyah , is the principal port city of Syria, as well as the capital of the Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages...
where he listened to debates about Hellenic philosophy
Hellenistic philosophy
Hellenistic philosophy is the period of Western philosophy that was developed in the Hellenistic civilization following Aristotle and ending with the beginning of Neoplatonism.-Pythagoreanism:...
, which planted in him the seeds of his later skepticism and irreligiosity; but other historians such as Ibn al-Adim
Ibn al-Adim
Kamal al-Din ʻUmar ibn Aḥmad Ibn al-Adim was a biographer and historian from Aleppo. He is best known for his work Bughyat al-ṭalab fī tārīkh Ḥalab , a multi-volume collection of biographies of famous men from Aleppo, introduced with a volume on the...
deny that he had been exposed to any theology other than Islamic doctrine.
He also spent two years at Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, where he was well received in the literary salons of the time, but he opted for an ascetic lifestyle, refusing to sell his poems, living in seclusion and observing a strict diet. He nevertheless enjoyed great respect and attracted many students locally, as well as actively holding correspondence with scholars abroad.
He returned to his native town of Maʿarra in about 1010, where he lived the rest of his life, practicing asceticism
Asceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
and veganism
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
.
Philosophy
Al-Maʿarri was skepticPhilosophical skepticism
Philosophical skepticism is both a philosophical school of thought and a method that crosses disciplines and cultures. Many skeptics critically examine the meaning systems of their times, and this examination often results in a position of ambiguity or doubt...
in his beliefs and denounced superstition and dogmatism in religion. Thus, he has been described as a pessimistic
Pessimism
Pessimism, from the Latin word pessimus , is a state of mind in which one perceives life negatively. Value judgments may vary dramatically between individuals, even when judgments of fact are undisputed. The most common example of this phenomenon is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?"...
freethinker, some argue that he might have been a deist.
One of the recurring themes of his philosophy was the rights of reason
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
against the claims of custom, tradition and authority.
Al-Maʿarri taught that religion was a "fable invented by the ancients," worthless except for those who exploit the credulous masses.
- Do not suppose the statements of the prophets to be true; they are all fabrications. Men lived comfortably till they came and spoiled life. The sacred books are only such a set of idle tales as any age could have and indeed did actually produce.
Al-Maʿarri criticized many of the dogmas of Islam, such as the Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, which he called, "a heathen’s journey."
He rejected claims of any divine revelation. His creed was that of a philosopher and ascetic, for whom reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
provides a moral guide, and virtue
Virtue
Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....
is its own reward.
Al-Maarri's fundamental pessimism is expressed in his recommendation that no children should be begotten, so as to spare them the pains of life. In an elegy
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
composed by him over the loss of a relative, he combines his grief with observations on the ephemerality of this life:
His religious skepticism and positively antireligious
Antireligion
Antireligion is opposition to religion. Antireligion is distinct from atheism and antitheism , although antireligionists may be atheists or antitheists...
views are expressed in a poem which states "The inhabitants of the earth are of two sorts: those with brains, but no religion, and those with religion, but no brains."
Works
An early collectionDiwan (poetry)
-Etymology:The English usage of the phrase Diwan Poetry comes from the Arabic word diwan , which is loaned from Persian means designated a list or register. The Persian word derived from the Persian dibir meaning writer or scribe...
of his poems appeared as "The Tinder Spark" (Saqṭ al-zand; ). It gained great popularity and established his reputation as a poet.
A second, more original collection appeared under the title "Unnecessary Necessity" (Luzūm mā lam yalza ); also Luzūmīyāt "Necessities"), alluding to the unnecessary complexity of the rhyme scheme used.
His third famous work is a work of prose known as "The Epistle of Forgiveness" (Risālat al-ghufrān ).
In this work, the poet visits paradise
Jannah
Jannah , is the Islamic conception of paradise. The Arabic word Jannah is a shortened version meaning simply "Garden". According to Islamic eschatology, after death, one will reside in the grave until the appointed resurrection on . Muslims believe that the treatment of the individual in the life...
and meets the Arab poets
Arabic poetry
Arabic poetry is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry is categorized into two main types, rhymed, or measured, and prose, with the former greatly preceding the latter...
of the pagan period
Jahiliyyah
Jahiliyyah is an Islamic concept of "ignorance of divine guidance" or "the state of ignorance of the guidance from God" or "Days of Ignorance" referring to the condition in which Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia, i.e. prior to the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad...
, contrary to Muslim doctrine which holds that only those who believe in God can find salvation .
Because of the aspect of conversing with the deceased
Bangsian fantasy
Bangsian fantasy is a fantasy genre which concerns the use of famous literary or historical individuals and their interactions in the afterlife. It is named for John Kendrick Bangs who often wrote it.-Definition:According to E. F...
in paradise, the Resalat Al-Ghufran has been compared to the Divine Comedy of Dante.
"Paragraphs and Periods" (Al-Fuṣūl wa al-ghāyāt) is a collection of homilies, which have been characterized as a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the Qur'an.
External links
- Al-Ma'arri's poems (in English).
- Encyclopædia Britannica.