Ibn al-Farid
Ibn al - Farid, Arabic عمر بن علي بن الفارض, DMG ʿ Umar ibn ʿ Alī Ibn al - Farid (* 1181, † 1235 in Cairo ) is one of the greatest mystic poets of Arabic literature. He lived and died in Cairo, where he is buried in the cemetery of al - Qarafa on the edge of the mountain Muqattam ( in the southern city of the dead ). How many significant Sufis, he was venerated as a saint after his death, and in earlier times a so-called Mawlid, the celebration of his birthday, with processions took place. His grave is preserved to this day and is visited.
Biography
The external data from Ibn al - Farid's life are well attested by Arab historians, who were his contemporaries still partly. The image of the poet in the Islamic tradition is, however, primarily determined by his grandson Ali, the son of a daughter. He has collected the verses of his grandfather in a sofa and this collection a biographical report as a " preface " ( dībāğa ) prefixed, in which he is often at his uncle Kamal ad-Din († 1290 ), one of the two sons of the poet, based. The report must be viewed with skepticism in many respects. It contains a few facts, but many miracle stories, and forms the basis for the later worship of Ibn al - Farid's as a saint.
The poet of the family belonged to the class of religious scholars and was also connected to Sufism for generations. His father was a lawyer, specializing in the shares in estates of women ( Furud ), therefore the job title al - Farid comes in the name of the Son. This received a thorough training in classical Arabic literature and in the religious sciences and has already been introduced early in Sufism, which he developed a special inclination. So he retreated often into the mountains on the outskirts of Cairo Muqattam into solitude, and devoted himself mystical exercises. From a young age he is supposed to be emerged as a poet and, in addition mystical verses written and secular poems. He has worked as a religious scholar and hadith, the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad taught; from this period are known names of students.
After the death of his father Ibn al - Farid made the pilgrimage to Mecca; the date is disputed. He stayed 15 years in the holy places, in the Hejaz and Nejd, a time in which he recalls in his later poems with great longing. The reason for the breakdown is by his grandson with a simple greengrocer ( baqqāl ) associated, which invited the poet to go to Mecca, where he would find his enlightenment. Ibn al - Farid realized that it was a saint, and followed the instructions. The Return to Egypt 15 years later is brought into the " preface " to the greengrocer in context. The poet heard the voice of the saint who was dying and asked him to come to Cairo and to provide for his funeral. This time he followed the call, but we know from his verses that he is in his home no longer felt comfortable and up to his death homesick for friends, the Sufis in the Hejaz and Nejd, had. In Mecca he should have taken the famous Sufi Abu Hafs Umar al- Suhrawardi (1145-1234) in 1231, of his two sons, the khirqa, the mantle of the Sufis gave.
The last few years (1231-1235) spent the poet highly honored in Cairo, where he ( Dar al- ḫaţāba ), a hospice near the mosque al -Azhar lived in the "House of the preachers ". At his recitations and mystic sessions ( dhikr ) the religious and political elite of the city took part and shewed him the greatest respect. Even the Ayyubid Sultan al -Malik al - Kamil (reigned 1218-1238 ), sought him in his draw near to him and offered gifts to, but Ibn al - Farid is to be deprived of the attention of the ruler and have rejected his gifts. According to the statements in his verses he must have had students, but no school has formed, through which his teachings have been handed down.
The sofa
Ibn al - Farid's poetry survives in numerous manuscripts and different editors, of which the editors of the grandson is the most recent editions basis. However, it contains texts that have been attributed to the poet afterwards. After the critical edition by Giuseppe Scattolin (2004 ) is a collection that precedes the editors of the grandson of time, to be regarded as authentic. It consists of 15 poems in a total volume of about 1500 verses. Among them are 13 love poems, mystical texts that have been read but partly also as a secular love poems, as we know from the historiographical sources. The sofa also includes a mystical wine song ( Hamriya ) and a didactic poem of 761 verses with the title "The Order of the Way" ( Nazm as- Suluk ), also under the title "the great Tā ʾ iya " ( at- Tā ʾ iya al - Kubra ) known, "the great poem with the rhyme letter Tā ʾ ," in contrast to " small Tā ʾ iya ", a shorter poem of the divan, which also rhymes with Tā ʾ.
"The Order of the way " is the main text of the divan, as Ibn al - Farid in it 's own way to unity with God describes to the highest level and points. The path begins with a declaration of love to the " Divine Beloved" with which he seeks union, and ends with the highest level at which the mystic identifies himself with the cosmic principle that the world owes its origin. Basis of his mysticism are the monistic ideas of late Sufism, the unity of God and the world, as postulated in the theosophy of Ibn al -Arabi (1165-1240), was filed erroneously in the school of poets. However, Ibn al - Farid differs in many respects from his more famous contemporaries. Characteristic of him is his pronounced sense of beauty, which is closely related with its mysticism. Since God is manifested in the world, the contemplation of earthly beauty after Ibn al - Farid is a way to experience God. In the Islamic tradition, he is ( Sultan Al - ʿ āšiqīn ) called the " Prince of Love", but taking him way at the end of love mysticism addition, for in it is still a trace of dualism contain that fades in perfect unity.