Born: 450 ah/1058 ad on Shuqr Island on a river near Valencia in Andalusia (Spain). Career: Independently wealthy; primarily composed nature poetry; left off writing poetry in midlife, perhaps in the wake of the Spanish conquest of Valencia; brief travel to Morocco; praised the Almoravids, especially the ruler Yusuf ibn Tashfin, in Valencia, Granada, and Murcia. Died: 533 ah/1117 ad on Shuqr Island.
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Diwan Ibn Khafajah (poetry). c. 533 ah/1117 ce; as The Diwan of Abu Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Abu al Fath ibn Khafaja, translated by Arthur Wormhoudt, 1987.
Critical Studies:
Ibn Khafajah by Muhammad Radwan, 1972; Hayat wa-athar al-sha’ir al-Andalusi Ibn Khafajah by Hamdan Hajaji, 1974; Ibn Khafajah al-Andalusi by Abd al-Rahman Jubayr, 1980; Ibn Khafajah: Sha’ir sharq al-Andalus: 450-533 H by Hasan Muhammad Nur al-Din, 1990; The Poetry of Ibn Khafajah: A Literary Analysis by Magda al-Nowaihi, 1993.
Ibrahim ibn Abi al-Fath Abu Ishaq Ibn Khafajah’s privileged background enabled him to devote most of his creative energy to nature poetry, rather than the panegyric poetry that was the main source of income for many poets of his time. Although his nature poetry encompasses both the ”Arabian” style, or depiction of bleak desert scenes in the tradition of the eastern Arab poets, and the ”Andalusian” style, or depiction of pleasant garden scenes, it is the latter style that predominates in his work and for which he is best known. Ibn Khafajah’s importance as a nature poet is emphasized in the classical anthologies and biographies. In addition, the references to him as ”the gardener” and as ”al-Sanawbari of the west”— linking him to the eastern Arab poet best known for his descriptive poetry—display the central role of nature poetry in his work. Ibn Khafajah’s talent in portraying nature also appears in other genres such as his panegyrics and his elegies.
His Andalusian nature poetry can be viewed in the broader context of Andalusian Arabic poetry, in which the description of pleasant garden scenes was proportionally more important than in eastern Arabic poetry. This may be due in part to the lush gardens throughout the region, including the island of Shuqr where Ibn Khafajah was born and raised. His nephew Ibn Zuqqaq is considered his imitator, while his style in nature poetry is said to be emulated by subsequent generations of Andalusian Arab poets.
Ibn Khafajah refers to the major eastern poets al-Mutanabbi, Mihyar al-Daylami, and al-Sharif al-Radi as his inspiration, although this inspiration has more to do with rhetorical style and ”Arabian” themes than the garden poetry for which Ibn Khafajah is best known. Ibn Khafajah’s style is noteworthy for his seamless interweaving of different spheres of experience, such as the animate and the inanimate, the human and the non-human, and the cosmos and the natural environment on earth. The depiction of human beauty is made vivid through the use of natural imagery, while the depiction of nature comes alive through the use of human imagery with physical, intellectual, and emotive dimensions. Within the depiction of nature, the cosmos and the natural environment on earth reflect one another and interact with one another. These rhetorical features give Ibn Khafajah’s poetry a magical quality. While mannerist elaboration of poetic expression was a common feature of Andalusian Arabic poetry, Ibn Khafajah’s manipulation of this potential stands out for both classical and modern critics.
As a privileged owner of plantations, Ibn Khafajah was able to enjoy a playful and adventurous youth, referred to by classical biographers as mujun, which refers to sexual promiscuity, especially homosexual, drinking and partying, and carefree living in general. This lifestyle may be related to his focus on pleasant garden scenes, where much of this type of socializing took place. However, he apparently repented for these youthful adventures later in life, and this repentance is assumed to be the source of much of his wisdom poetry. The best known example of this wisdom poetry is his fatalistic description of himself as a traveler who hears a mountain lamenting the loss of all who pass by. As in his garden poetry, the rhetorical integration of the animate and the inanimate in this poem contributes to its emotive force.
Ibn Khafajah is also noted for his ode on the Spanish conquest of Valencia. Like many Andalusian poets, he composed poetry on yearning for Andalusia during his travels in North Africa. As the compiler of his own poetry later in life, Ibn Khafajah included an introduction to his compilation that has been valuable for his classical and modern critics.
