Arabicus Felix, Luminosus Britannicus: Essays in Honour of A. F. L. Beeston on his Eightieth Birthday.

• Author: Montgomery, James E.

This is a celebration of the Oriental interests of Professor A. F. L. Beeston, a Festschrift to mark his eightieth birthday. In essence, the book is fittingly Oxford University's tribute, being edited by Alan Jones, being number 11 in the Oxford Oriental Institute Monographs series, under the auspices of the Ithaca Press which is establishing a reputation for itself in its collaborations with the Oriental Institute, and containing articles predominantly by members, past and present, of Oxford University. In some instances, the articles are a further tribute to A.F.L.B. in that they are the work of former students who have fallen under the spell, and have been affected by the enthusiasms, of this fondly regarded Arabist.

The contributed essays cover five broad areas of interest dear to A.F.L.B.'s heart: The Yemen, medieval Arabic literature (in its widest sense), modern literature, Semitica, and comparative Middle Eastern etymology. If one includes the "Personal Introduction" by Michael Gilsenan, an affectionate, accurate, and humorous depiction of A.F.L.B., there are in all 18 pieces. The three on the Yemen are: Paul Dresch's historical and topographical survey of the two halves of the Yemenite tribe of Hamdan, Hashid and Bakil, in the period after the appearance of al-Hamdani's (d.334/945) Iklil and Sifat Jazirat al-[Arab.sup.c] ("The Tribes of Hashid wa-Bakil as Historical and Geographical Entities," pp. 8-24); Wilferd Madelung's "The Origins of the Yemenite Hijra" (pp. 25-39), arguing that "the concept of the hijra in the Yemen is not of ancient tribal origin" but "was introduced by the Zaydi Shi-ites who understood by it emigration from the land of the 'sinners and oppressors"' (p. 25); R. B. Serjeant's informative and entertaining "Tihamah Notes" (pp. 45-60), observations made by the author in the field, between 1969 and 1986. The contributions on modern literature are informative and readable: "Mahmud Diyab's Contribution to Modern Egyptian Drama," by M. M. Badawi (pp. 181-201); "Romantic Poetry and the Tradition: The Case of Ibrahim Nagi," by R. C. Ostle (pp. 202-12); and "An Arabic Nobodaddy: The Gebelawi of Naguib Mahfouz," by P. J. Stewart (pp. 213-20). The Semitic pieces are: "Kullu nafsin bima kasabat rahina: The use of rhn in Aramaic and Arabic," by Jonas C. Greenfield (pp. 221-27); and "Semitic Marginalia," by Edward Ullendorff (pp. 228-35). The book's "envoi," "Etymologist's Quicksand," by Geoffery Lewis, is an enjoyable and marvelously witty caution on the pitfalls of comparative Middle Eastern etymology.

The bulk of the book (almost half, some one hundred and twenty pages) is concerned with various aspects of medieval Arabic literature and it shall, correspondingly, occupy my attention. David Wasserstein plausibly points out the "rapidity of the passage, for some Christians at least, from the dominion of Latin letters to that of Arabic in Islamic Spain" (p. 6), in "A Latin Lament on the Prevalence of Arabic in Ninth-century Islamic Cordoba" (pp. 1-7). C. E. Bosworth provides a competent and learned review of anecdotes and incidents relating to Buyid history and society ("Ghars al-Ni??ma b. Hilal al-Sabi's Kitab al-Hafawat al-Nadira and Buyid History," pp. 129-41) and D. S. Richards offers an exposition of al-Hamadhani's Rasail with some very high-quality translations of what are obscure and often defective texts. I should have liked to have seen more analysis and less cataloguing in these pieces which are essentially introductions to certain problems and aspects of their chosen texts. Fritz Zimmermann's discussion of what he terms "the Reply of the Nafidhite Imam ... an anti-qadarite epistle, apparently from the eighth century" (p. 163) hinges on our understanding of the use of negation plus the particle hatta as an idiomatic expression of "'far from ...'" and he establishes its relevance tof the oryx's legs ("hooves" being metonymical), set against the brilliant white of its pelage, are likened to stripes of dye on a piece of stuff. Similarly on p. 83, "with two-toned hooves" should be rendered as "with striated (lit. embroidered, decorated) shanks" (mawshiyyi akari??uhu). P.F.K. competently analyzes and compares his parallel passages. On p. 85, however, his statement that Labid's episode and al-Akhtal's episode "share the same narrative and descriptive paradigm of events and motifs" is somewhat misleading. Whilst not contending P.F.K.'s conclusion that "al-Akhtal's episode expands upon the individual motifs/events of Labid's narrative," there is one important difference between them, viz., that the development in Labid's episode is chronological or linear; the uneasy night, spent ill-at-ease through fear of the hunter, leads to the inevitable: the appearance of the hunter. The first line of Labid's episode is not "an adumbration of the whole episode" - it is the cause of the oryx's night of discomfort and disquiet. Al-Akhtal's narrative technique is otherwise. Line 1 of his episode sets the scene. Lines 2-6 are a flashback. In lines 7-12 the poet returns to the chronology of line 1 with his treatment of the stormy-night motif. It is not until line 13 that the hunter appears. This technique is designed to heighten tension, to frustrate narrative expectancy; the audience, in full expectation of the chase, wondering when the poet will introduce it, must wait twelve lines before the climax begins, with the commencement of the chase. In a sense, both the audience and the oryx are forced to wait for the inevitable. This acute awareness of audience psychology is one of the main features of Umayyad verse at its best. It is also worth noting that in all four oryx episodes discussed there are echoes and amplifications of some of the features of an oryx description in a renowned poem by Aws b. Hajar, viz., 21, 11. 18-26 (Diwan, ed. M. Y. Najm [Beirut, 1960!), which is also alluded to by al-Nabighah in another poem (cf. W. Ahlwardt, The Divans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets [London, 1870], 16 [of the Arabic text] = poem no. 14, 11. 10-13), a fragment not transmitted by al-Asma??i and sometimes ascribed, erroneously in my opinion, to Aws b. Hajar. It is quite possible that P.F.K.'s three poets had Aws b. Hajar's poem in mind when composing their tableaux.

The highlight of A.F.L.B.'s Festschrift for this reader is J. D. Latham's masterly study of "The Elegy on the Death of Abu Shuja?? Fatik by al-Mutannabi" (pp. 90-107). In a detailed analysis of the structure and the contents of this threnody, Latham makes some brilliant and highly illuminating remarks on what he terms "the acoustics of grief" (p. 98), on al-Mutanabbi's depiction of his grief by means of a vivid and intense use of language and metre (pp. 96-99); "to my mind, these two verses (1-2), if correctly recited, convey a very precise expression of feeling and may be described as a faithful transcript of their composer's grief" (p. 97). Such observations and the emphasis throughout on the poet's grief are a timely reminder of the need to confront the issue of emotion in medieval verse, when so many studies focus on the formal aspects of the poetry. Also salutary are the author's judgments on the integral nature of rhetoric and artistry in the medieval tradition, both Eastern and Western. Al-Mutanabbi's exaggerated and almost neurotic sense of his own worth is also brought in to account for the poet's grief and bewilderment, especially with reference to the vituperation of Kafur, in lines 29-32 of the poem, but on no occasion does Latham lose sight of the fact that this was intended as a public threnody and that the poem should be accordingly evaluated.

The contributions in this volume are of a uniformly high standard and are characterized by, in the words of J. D. Latham, "painstaking analysis ... close reading and punctilious attention to detail" which "more often than not ... reveal[s] fof the oryx's legs ("hooves" being metonymical), set against the brilliant white of its pelage, are likened to stripes of dye on a piece of stuff. Similarly on p. 83, "with two-toned hooves" should be rendered as "with striated (lit. embroidered, decorated) shanks" (mawshiyyi akari??uhu). P.F.K. competently analyzes and compares his parallel passages. On p. 85, however, his statement that Labid's episode and al-Akhtal's episode "share the same narrative and descriptive paradigm of events and motifs" is somewhat misleading. Whilst not contending P.F.K.'s conclusion that "al-Akhtal's episode expands upon the individual motifs/events of Labid's narrative," there is one important difference between them, viz., that the development in Labid's episode is chronological or linear; the uneasy night, spent ill-at-ease through fear of the hunter, leads to the inevitable: the appearance of the hunter. The first line of Labid's episode is not "an adumbration of the whole episode" - it is the cause of the oryx's night of discomfort and disquiet. Al-Akhtal's narrative technique is otherwise. Line 1 of his episode sets the scene. Lines 2-6 are a flashback. In lines 7-12 the poet returns to the chronology of line 1 with his treatment of the stormy-night motif. It is not until line 13 that the hunter appears. This technique is designed to heighten tension, to frustrate narrative expectancy; the audience, in full expectation of the chase, wondering when the poet will introduce it, must wait twelve lines before the climax begins, with the commencement of the chase. In a sense, both the audience and the oryx are forced to wait for the inevitable. This acute awareness of audience psychology is one of the main features of Umayyad verse at its best. It is also worth noting that in all four oryx episodes discussed there are echoes and amplifications of some of the features of an oryx description in a renowned poem by Aws b. Hajar, viz., 21, 11. 18-26 (Diwan, ed. M. Y. Najm [Beirut, 1960!), which is also alluded to by al-Nabighah in another poem (cf. W. Ahlwardt, The...