Ibn Khafaja
Encyclopedia
Ibn Khafaja or Abu Ishaq Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Abu Al-Fath Ibn Khafajah (1058-1138/9) of Alzira
was one of the most famous poets of Al-Andalus
during the reign of the Almoravids
. He was born in 1058 in Alzira
(Arabic: جزيرة شقر) near Valencia where he spent most of his life.
He developed nature poetry to a great level of sophistication. His poetry includes a few panegyrics, e.g. to Yusuf ibn Tashfin
whom he praised out of thankfulness that he had saved Al-Andalus
from chaos by retaking the region of Valencia from the Spaniards in 1109. During the occupation of the surroundings of Valencia by the Spaniards (ca. 1100) Ibn Khafaja had fled the city to North Africa. He remained umarried but had many friends. At the age of 64 he collected his poems and wrote introductions to them. He lived to be over eighty.
According to Khadra Jayyusi, Khafaja demonstrates, in some of his poems a revolutionary attitude to language, using a vocabulary of great originality, which she describes as "warm and sensuous, obsessed with human intimacy, turbulent and conscious of the violence of life around him in a war-ridden country, awed by nature and eternally mystified both by its beauty and by its permanence vis-avis human mutability."
Composer Mohammed Fairouz
set three poems of Ibn Khafajah to music in a cycle of vocal chamber music
written for the Cygnus Ensemble.
Alzira, Valencia
Alzira is a town and municipality of 45,000 inhabitants in Valencia, eastern Spain. It is the capital of the comarca of Ribera Alta in the province of Valencia.-Geographic situation:...
was one of the most famous poets of Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
during the reign of the Almoravids
Almoravids
The Almoravids were a Berber dynasty of Morocco, who formed an empire in the 11th-century that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus. Their capital was Marrakesh, a city which they founded in 1062 C.E...
. He was born in 1058 in Alzira
Alzira, Valencia
Alzira is a town and municipality of 45,000 inhabitants in Valencia, eastern Spain. It is the capital of the comarca of Ribera Alta in the province of Valencia.-Geographic situation:...
(Arabic: جزيرة شقر) near Valencia where he spent most of his life.
He developed nature poetry to a great level of sophistication. His poetry includes a few panegyrics, e.g. to Yusuf ibn Tashfin
Yusuf ibn Tashfin
Yusef ibn Tashfin also, Tashafin, or Teshufin; or Yusuf; was a king of the Almoravid empire, he founded the city of Marrakech and led the Muslim forces in the Battle of Zallaqa....
whom he praised out of thankfulness that he had saved Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
from chaos by retaking the region of Valencia from the Spaniards in 1109. During the occupation of the surroundings of Valencia by the Spaniards (ca. 1100) Ibn Khafaja had fled the city to North Africa. He remained umarried but had many friends. At the age of 64 he collected his poems and wrote introductions to them. He lived to be over eighty.
According to Khadra Jayyusi, Khafaja demonstrates, in some of his poems a revolutionary attitude to language, using a vocabulary of great originality, which she describes as "warm and sensuous, obsessed with human intimacy, turbulent and conscious of the violence of life around him in a war-ridden country, awed by nature and eternally mystified both by its beauty and by its permanence vis-avis human mutability."
Composer Mohammed Fairouz
Mohammed Fairouz
Mohammed Fairouz is an Arab American composer.Having fulfilling many commissions and created a substantial body of frequently performed works, he is considered one of the most sought after composers of the young generation. Fairouz began composing at an early age and studied at the New England...
set three poems of Ibn Khafajah to music in a cycle of vocal chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
written for the Cygnus Ensemble.
External links
- The Mountain Poem English translation and Arabic recording of Ibn Khafaja's most famous poem at Poems Found in Translation.