(575-ca. 645) poet
Al-Khansa’, whose name means “the snub-nose” or gazelle, is the foremost exponent of the Arabic ritha, or funeral elegy. She is also considered perhaps the greatest female Arabic poet of the classical period (ancient and medieval).
Few biographical details are known about al-Khansa’ apart from her six children and unhappy marriage. She was born a pagan but converted to Islam, traveling to Medina with tribesmen to meet muhammad. Her brothers Sakhr and Mu’awiya were killed in different tribal battles early in her life. Lamenting these losses and demanding revenge from her Banu Sulaym tribesmen became her chief poetic themes, as can be seen in the poem “The Dust Is Blown Over His Beauties.”
The ritha was a particularly important genre in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, which generally celebrated military prowess and courage. Most of these dirges were written by women, and Al-Khansa’ was the first to render these themes in exalted literary meters and rhymes.
Contemporary and later poets celebrated Al-Khansa”s passion and intensity. She would recite her poetry as if in a trance, adding great emotional impact:
To the pool that all men shun in awe you have gone, my brother, free of blame, as the panther goes to his fight, his last, bare fangs and claws his only defense.
Al-Khansa’ reputedly won a competition in the annual gathering of poets at the ‘Ukaz market, and so impressed was Muhammad with her recitation that he made her repeat several lines over and over. As a result of the quality of her work, Muhammad’s appreciation, and her own passion for poetry, al-Khansa’ became a much-imitated model for later generations of Arabic women poets.
An English Version of Works by al-Khansa’
Selections from the Diwan ofal Khansa’. Translated by Arthur Wormhoudt. Oskaloosa, Iowa: William Penn College, 1977.
Works about al-Khansa’
Irwin, Robert. Night and Horses and the Desert. Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 2000, 25-27, 239.
Nicholson, R. A. A Literary History of the Arabs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966,126-127.
