Al-Nabigha

Pre-Islamic Arabian poet

Al-Nabigha
Born	c. 535 Near Mecca, Arabia
Died	c. 604
Occupation	Poet
Language	Arabic
Nationality	Arabian

Al-Nābighah (النابغة الذبياني), al-Nābighah al-Dhubiyānī, or Nābighah al-Dhubyānī; real name Ziyad ibn Muawiyah (c. 535 – c. 604); was one of the last pre-Islamic Arabian poets. "Al-Nabigha" means genius or intelligent in Arabic.

Biography

His tribe, the Banu Dhubyan, belonged to the district near Mecca, but he spent most of his time at the Lakhmid court of al-Hirah and the court of the Ghassanids. In al-Hirah, he remained under al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith, and then his successor in 562.^[1]

After a sojourn at the court of Ghassan, he returned to al-Hirah under al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir. Owing to his verses written about the Queen he was compelled to flee to Ghassan, but returned ca., 600. When Numan died five years later he withdrew to his own tribe.^[1]

His date of death is uncertain, but seems to predate Islam. His poems consist largely of eulogies and satires, and are concerned with the strife of Hirah and Ghassan, and of the Banu Abs and the Banu Dhubyan. He is one of the six eminent pre-Islamic poets whose poems were collected before the middle of the 2nd century of Islam, and have been regarded as the standard of Arabic poetry; some writers consider him the first of the six.^[1]

Religious beliefs

The religious beliefs of Al-Nabighah are unclear, but he appears to be represented as some sort of monotheist. Al-Nabighah regularly praises, in religious terms, the Christian Ghassanids, for example: "God has arranged for him [the king] the best creation; He [God] is his [king’s] helper over/against the humankind". The following Arabic phrase occurs concerning the Ghassanids: majallatuhum dhātu l-ilāhi. Though the meaning is disputed, Nicolai Sinai and Ilkka Lindstedt both have interpreted it in relation to the Ghassanids possessing some sort of scripture or book bestowed upon them by God (which may or may not refer to the New Testament).^[2]

Editions of poetry

His poems were edited by Wilhelm Ahlwardt in the Diwans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets (London, 1870), and separately by Hartwig Derenbourg (Paris, 1869, a reprint from the Journal asiatique for 1868).^[1]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Thatcher, Griffithes Wheeler (1911). "Nābigha Dhubyānī". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 147.
^ Lindstedt 2023, p. 111–113.

Sources

Lindstedt, Ilkka (2023). Muhammad and His Followers in Context: The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia. Brill.

Arabic literature

Old
Namara inscription Pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions

Pre-Islamic
Abu Layla al-Muhalhel Adi ibn Zayd Afira bint 'Abbad Al-Fāriʿah bint Shaddād Al-Hujayjah Al-Ḥurqah Al-Khirniq bint Badr Al-Shanfara Al-Nu'man ibn Humaydah 'Alqama ibn 'Abada 'Amir ibn al-Tufayl Amr ibn Kulthum Antarah ibn Shaddad Al-A'sha Harith ibn Hilliza Al-Yashkuri Hatim al-Tai Labīd Laila bint Lukaiz Mahd al-Aadiyya Mu'aqqir Al-Nabigha Imru' al-Qais Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya Tarafa Uthman ibn al-Huwayrith Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma Zuhayr ibn Janab Aktham ibn Saifi Al-Munakhal

Pre-Islamic

Classical

Early Islamic	Al-Akhtal al-Taghlibi Al-Farazdaq Abd al-Hamid al-Katib Fadl Ashsha'ira Hassan ibn Thabit Ibn Abi Hasina Maysun bint Bahdal Jamil ibn Ma'mar Suraqa bin Malik Jarir ibn Atiyah Ka'b bin Zuhayr Al-Khansa Kuthayyir Layla al-Akhyaliyya Suraqah al-Bariqi Qutayla ukht al-Nadr Waddah al-Yaman Yunus al-Katib al-Mughanni Zufar ibn al-Harith al-Kilabi Dhu Jadan al-Himyari Dorayd bin Al Soma Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a al-Mufaddal
Abbasid era	Bint al-Mahdī Ibn al-Ahnaf Ibn al-Mu'tazz Abu Firas al-Hamdani Abu Tammam Al-Mudabbir Abu'l-Qasimbal-Maghribi Arib al-Ma'muniyya Al-Asma'i Ahmad al-Tifashi Abu al-Atahiya ibn al-'Amid Al-Hamadani Baha' al-din Zuhair Bashshar ibn Burd Buhturi Al-Busiri Al-Isfahani Al-Fath ibn Khaqan Al-Hariri of Basra Ibn al-Farid Ibn al-Rumi Ibn Duraid al-Zajjaj Abu Mansur al-Azhari ibn al-Mahdi ibn al-Mudabbir Al-Ma'arri Marwan ibn Abi Hafsa Al-Mutanabbi Abu Nuwas Al-Jahiz Shāriyah Al-Armanazi Aban al-Lahiqi Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani Rabia of Basra Yunus ibn Habib Abu Nasr al-Jawhari Al-Farahidi Al-Shafi'i Ibn al-Muqaffa' Al-Mubarrad Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur Safiyya al-Baghdadiyya Al-Zahiri Abu Muhammad al-Anbari Ibn al-Anbari Ibn Qutaybah Dik al-Jinn ‘Inān Abu Ahmad Monajjem Ibn Bakkar Al-Sarī al-Raffā’ Al-Suli Niftawayh Al-Tughrai Laylā bint Ṭarīf Al-Tha'alibi Al-Daylami al-Tawhīdī Al-Sharif al-Radi Ibn Hayyus Al-Raghib al-Isfahani Sharif al-Murtaza Al Uyuni Yaqut al-Hamawi Al Suhrawardi Al-Hallaj Usama ibn Munqidh Ibn al-Qatta' al-Siqilli Ibn al-Shajari Ibn al-Nafis Ibn 'Adlan
Al-Andalus and Maghreb	Abu Ja'far Al-Rumaikiyya Maria Alphaizuli Ibn Ammar Buthaina Al-Rukuniyya Hamda bint Ziyad al-Muaddib Ibn Hamdis Ibn Abd Rabbih Ibn al-Abbar Ibn al-Zaqqaq Ibn Amira Ibn Baqi Ibn Bassam Ibn Juzayy Ibn Khafaja Ibn al-Khatib Ibn Quzman Ibn Sahl Ibn Zamrak Ibn Zaydún Lubna of Córdoba Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad ibn Hani al-Azdi Muhya Nazhun Qasmuna Al-Tutili Umm Al-Kiram Yusuf III Yusuf III Ibn Hazm Ibn Arabi al-Shushtari Abu Madyan al-Rundi Ibn al-Arif Ibn Wahbun Ibn Abdun Avempace al-Baji al-Fazazi Ibn al-Yayyab Ibn Jubayr Ibn al-Kattani Ibn Tufayl Ibn Abi al-Khisal
Mamluk era	Ahmad ibn Arabshah Ibn Al Ouardy Al-Busiri Ibn Manzur Ibn Battuta 'A'isha al-Ba'uniyya Ibn al-Wardi Hamdallah Mustawfi Ibn Nubata al-Nafzawi Ibn Khaldun Al-Qalqashandi
Ottoman era	Al-Nabulsi Fuzûlî Abdul Qadir al-Baghdadi Hanna Diyab Ibn al-Wannan Ahmed Ben Triki

Modern

Nahda

Contemporary

National literatures of Arab states
Algeria Bahrain Comoros Djibouti Egypt Copto-Arabic Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Mauritania Morocco Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Somalia Sudan Syria Tunisia U.A.E. Yemen

Authority control databases
International	FAST ISNI VIAF
National	Norway Spain France BnF data Germany Italy Israel United States Sweden Netherlands Vatican
Academics	CiNii
People	Deutsche Biographie Trove
Other	IdRef