Inan bint Abdallah
Arab female poet of Abbasid period
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ʽInÄn bint ʽAbdallÄh (Arabic: عÙا٠بÙت عبد اÙÙÙ, died 841)[1] was a prominent poet and qiyan of the Abbasid period, even characterised by the tenth-century historian AbÅ« al-Faraj al-Iá¹£fahÄni as the slave-woman poet of foremost significance in the Arabic tradition.[2] She was later the concubine of Harun al-Rashid.[3]
Inan bint Abdallah عÙا٠بÙت عبد اÙÙÙ | |
|---|---|
| Died | c. 810 or 841 |
| Resting place | Iraq |
| Pen name | Inan |
| Occupation | Arabic Poet |
| Language | Arabic |
| Nationality | Abbasid Caliphate |
| Period | Islamic Golden Age (Abbasid era) |
Biography
ʽInÄn was born a muwallada (daughter of an Arab father and slave mother) to ʽAbd-AllÄh.[4] To her appearance, she was described as a Blonde.[5] She was trained in Yamamah. She was sold to AbÅ« KhÄlid al-NÄá¹ifÄ«, who brought her to Baghdad.[6]
In the assessment of Fuad Matthew Caswell,
Her salon at the house of al-NÄá¹ifÄ« was frequented by the celebrated poets and men of letters of the time, including AbÅ« NuwÄs, Diʽbil al-KhuzÄʽī, MarwÄn b. AbÄ« Ḥafá¹£a, al-ʽAbbÄs b. al-Aḥnaf and al-MaâmÅ«n's tutor al-YazÄ«dÄ« al-ḤimyarÄ«, among a host of others, one of the attractions being that her master was devoid of jealously and tolerated the ease with which she bestowed her favours.
ʽInÄn's fame led Caliph HÄrÅ«n al-RashÄ«d to seek to buy her to include her in the Abbasid harem, but he refused al-NÄá¹ifÄ«'s asking price of 100,000 dÄ«nÄrs. However, on al-NÄá¹ifÄ«'s death, al-RashÄ«d had ʽInÄn put up for auction, ostensibly to help clear al-NÄá¹ifÄ«'s debts. Via an agent, al-RashÄ«d then acquired her for 225,000 dirhams (in that time 1 dinar was equal to 7 dirhams). As al-RashÄ«d's concubine, ʽInÄn bore him two sons, both of whom died young. She accompanied him to KhurÄsÄn where he, and, soon after, she died.[3]
Work
ʽInÄn was noted for her rapier-like repartee, which was often sexual or even vulgar in tone, and this will have been an important aspect of her fame/infamy.[7] A large part of her surviving corpus comprises her responses to male poets' challenges in verse-capping contests. A significant proportion of her surviving verse is dialogue with the famed poet AbÅ« NuwÄs.[8]
Example
As rendered by Eric Ormsby, one of the virtuosic yet obscene exchanges between ʽInÄn and AbÅ« NuwÄs runs thus:[9]
One day she asked him whether he was any good at scansion; when Abu Nuwas replied boastfully that he was superb at it, she said, "Try scanning this verse:
- I ate Syrian mustard on a baker's platter...
- (akaltu ʽl-khardalah sh-shÄâmi fÄ« á¹£afḥati khabbÄzÄ«...)
Abu Nuwas broke the line into metrical feet and responded:
- Akaltu ʽl-khar...ti-tum ti-tum
which means:
- I ate some shit ti-tum ti-tum...
The assembled courtiers broke into loud laughter at the poet's expense. Not to be outdone, he asked ʽInÄn whether she could scan the following (rather nonsensical) verse:
- Keep your church far from us, O sons of the wood-carrier...!
- (ḥawwilÅ« ʽannÄ kanÄ«satakum yÄ banÄ« ḥammÄlati l-ḥaá¹abi...)
She too had to break up the metrical feet to produce:
- ḥawwilÅ« ʽan tum-ti tum-ti nÄkanÄ«....
which comes out as
- Keep away tum-ti-tum-ti he has fucked me...
Editions and translations
- Ibn al-SÄʽī, Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad, ed. by Shawkat M. Toorawa, trans. by the Editors of the Library of Arabic Literature (New York: New York University Press, 2015), pp. 11â19 (edition and translation of one medieval anthology)
- Fuad Matthew Caswell, The Slave Girls of Baghdad: The 'QiyÄn' in the Early Abbasid Era (London: I. B. Tauris, 2011), pp. 56â81 (extensive quotation of translated poems)