Abu Kabir al-Hudhali

Abu Kabir al-Hudhali was an early Arab poet of the tribe of Hudhayl, after Abu Dhu'ayb the second greatest poet of the tribe. The unsigned Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.) entry says he belonged to the Banu Sa'd, or according to some to the Banu Djurayb. His real name is given in several forms, but he was always known by his kunya. He flourished in the second half of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh century. ¹

Some commentators, including al-Tibrizi on the Hamasa, say that Abu Kabir married the mother of Ta'abbata Sharran, and that the stepson was displeased, so that the mother advised him to kill Abu Kabir, and he failed because of his bravery. The article judges this story hardly true, and thinks it an attempt to explain the lines of the Hamasa in which Abu Kabir praises a companion in arms. Other versions reverse the roles. The article also gives little credence to the story that Ta'abbata Sharran was his constant companion, since his tribe was always at feud with the Fahm. ¹

By the content of his poems the article classes him firmly as a jahili poet. His diwan, first edited and translated by F. Bajraktarevic, has four long qasidas and nineteen short fragments, mostly wrongly attributed to him, all in the kamil metre. Arab critics rank him highly; al-Ma'arri admires some of his verses, and 'Awf b. Muhallim called him the greatest poet of Hudhayl. ²