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Lot Essay
Abu al-'Ala Ahmad bin 'Abdullah bin Sulayman al-Ma'arri (973-1058 AD) was born and died in Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, a town between Aleppo and Homs, from whence he derives his nisba. At the age of four he went blind because of smallpox but still became a dedicated scholar, known as the "Philosopher of poets and the Poet of philosophers". As he retired in his native city, the Persian poet Nasir-i Khusraw (d. 1088) wrote of him that he 'was very rich, that all the inhabitants of [the town] were his servants, whilst he led a thoroughly ascetic life' (Brill, 1986-2000, vol.V., p.930). His famous work Risala al-Ghufran was reputedly the inspiration for Dante's Divine Comedy and he is considered one of the main figures of Arabic literary history (Meysami and Starkey, 1998, vol.I, p.24).
The present work Luzum ma la yalzam is the author's second collection of poems after the celebrated Saqt al-Zand ('The first spark of the tinder') but was far less popular due to its extremely ornate style. The Luzum ma la yalzam ('Unnecessary necessity') was composed after the author's stay in Baghdad and owes its title to the self-imposed constraint of rich rhymes, creating a new form of 'double' rhymes. In his preface, he describes his work as 'an admonition to the forgetful, an awakening of the negligent and a warning again the World's derision of God' (Brill, 1986-2000, vol.V., p.931). The unconventional form of his poem as well as its content were the subject of criticism by later authors who questioned al-Ma'arri's orthodoxy. It is thought that most of his work disappeared in the wake of the Crusades.
An early copy of one of his risalas sold at Christie's, London, 12 October 1999, lot 32. A copy of Saqt al-Zand sold at Sotheby's, London, 6 April 2011, lot 206 and a diwan sold at Christie's, South Kensington, 23 April 2012, lot 366.
The present work Luzum ma la yalzam is the author's second collection of poems after the celebrated Saqt al-Zand ('The first spark of the tinder') but was far less popular due to its extremely ornate style. The Luzum ma la yalzam ('Unnecessary necessity') was composed after the author's stay in Baghdad and owes its title to the self-imposed constraint of rich rhymes, creating a new form of 'double' rhymes. In his preface, he describes his work as 'an admonition to the forgetful, an awakening of the negligent and a warning again the World's derision of God' (Brill, 1986-2000, vol.V., p.931). The unconventional form of his poem as well as its content were the subject of criticism by later authors who questioned al-Ma'arri's orthodoxy. It is thought that most of his work disappeared in the wake of the Crusades.
An early copy of one of his risalas sold at Christie's, London, 12 October 1999, lot 32. A copy of Saqt al-Zand sold at Sotheby's, London, 6 April 2011, lot 206 and a diwan sold at Christie's, South Kensington, 23 April 2012, lot 366.