PROBABLY MOROCCO, NORTH AFRICA, CIRCA 15TH CENTURY

The author of this qasida (poem) appears in this manuscript as Harith bin Harith al-Shanfara al-Azdi and the title of the work is Lamiyat al-'Arab. This celebrated poem has been attributed to Thabit bin 'Aws al-Shanfara al-Azdi, a 'brigand-poet' of the 6th century. According to the preface, this poem was recited in front of the Prophet who who ordered that it be memorised and taught to the children.

There are three copies of the poem, the earliest of which is dated AH 666/1268 AD, in the British Library, London. The name of the author of Lamiyat al-‘Arab is given as Thabit ibn Aws al-Shanfara al-Azdi, see P. Stocks and C. Baker (editor), Subject - Guide to the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Library, London, 2001, p. 318, L.1. See C.Brockelmann, Geschichte des Arabischen Litteratur, Leiden, 1996 AL, I. 25, 248; suppl. I. 53.