SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Abu 'l-Hajjaj Yusuf b. Sulaiman b. 'Isa b. Sulaiman al-Nahmi al-A'lam al-Shantamari (died in A.H. 476/A.D. 1038) was generally known by the name of al-A'lam al-Shantamari. He was a native of Seville and one of the most famous scholars of that city. He was taught by the greatest scholars of his day such as Ibrahim b. al-Iflili and Abu Sahl al-Harrani from whom he learned a great deal about philology, grammar, and pre-Islamic poetry. Al-A'lam al-Shantamari was highly regarded by the 'Abbadids of Seville. They relied upon him to teach their children, to answer their questions on Arabic grammar and letters, and to write books for them when requested. He is considered one of the most reliable narrators. A great deal of pre-Islamic poetry, such as the Diwans of the six pre-islamic poets and the unique collection of poetry (Diwan al-Hamasa) have been handed down to us by him together with his excellent commentaries on them. Most of al-Shantamari's works are still in manuscript and this thesis attempts to produce a critical edition of al-Shantamari's Commentary on al-Hamasa. The thesis deals with the first chapter, Bab al-Hamasa, which presents 247 pieces of poetry and covers more than one third of the whole book. The thesis comprises a historical introduction and five chapters. The Introduction throws light on the conquest of Spain by the Arabs, on the Banu 'Abbad of Seville, the survival of Arabic in Spain, trends of literary composition, and finally Andalusian literature. Chapter One deals with the narrators of old poetry, early poetic composition, and the first recorded commentaries on old poetry. Chapter Two traces the history of al-Hamasa poetry in the Arab cultural heritage, anthologies of al-Hamasa, Abu Tammam al-Ta'i, the interpreters of Diwan al-Hamasa, and the interpreters whose works have, as far as we know, not survived. Chapter Three is concerned with al-A'lam al-Shantamari's activities. Chapter Four describes the construction of the text and describes fully the manuscripts utilized in constructing the text of al-Hamasa, the attribution of al-Hamasa to al-Shantamari, and study of Sharh al-A'lam. Chapter Five reproduces the Arabic text together with the necessary footnotes, takhrijat, the variants for each piece of poetry, and the indexes.