Hafsa - The Foremost Poetess Of Moorish Spain
By Habeeb Salloum
Neither in the Muslim lands of the Middle Ages or in the realm of medieval Christendom did women shine in the world of poetry as they did in Moorish Spain. In that former European-Arab country, there were a considerable number of famous poetesses who were prominent, especially among the nobility and in intellectual circles. A good number of females from high class families played, in Moorish literature, a similar role to that played by women in French lettered society during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Foremost of these women were Wallada (d.1087 or 1091 A.D.), the daughter of the Caliph Muhammad Al-Mustakli (d. 1025), and Hafsa Bint al-Hajjah al-Rakuniya (d. 1184 or 1185 A.D.), labelled by some historians as the finest of the Moorish-Andalusian poetesses. Wallada, an able poetess, had a salon frequented by the leading intellectuals in her era and was noted for her love affair with Ibn Zaydun (d. 1071), one of the leading poets of his day. In the same fashion, Hafsa became renowned for her famous love story with the bard Abu Ja’far Ahmad ibn Sa`id (d. 1164).
Hafsa, a descendant of a noble family in Granada, was well known even before she met her lover Ibn Sa`id. Noted for her femininity and talent, she is mentioned in Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib’s Biographical Dictionary and in Ibn al-Abbar’s book Tuhfat al-Qadim as one of the illustrious Granadians. According to Al-Makkari, the great Arab historian of Muslim Spain, she worked as a teacher of women in the harem of the Almohad Berber Sultan Abd al-Mu’min ibn ‘Ali where she began her poetic career.
A.R. Nykl in his book Hispano-Arabic Poetry, writes that when she saw the Sultan writing the Almohad motto `Praise be to God Alone’, she improvised:
“Lord of the people, oh you whose mighty,
Strong help the people are awaiting,
Defend me by a shield which will
Be against fate’s blows a safeguard:
Your right hand will write upon it:
`Glory be to God only’!”
Her love story with the poet Ibn Sa`id is reminiscent of that of Wallada and Ibn Zaydun. Both liaisons inspired tender poetic words about love’s tribulations from these couples deeply in love. However, the two affairs ended tragically. Wallada and Ibn Zaydun’s amour broke up early because of jealousy; Hafsa and Ibn Sa`id’s romance was terminated due to the heartbreaking death of Ibn Sa`id.
After being insulted by Ibn Sa`id, Hafsa’s powerful admirer Abu Sa`id, the son of the Sultan Abd al-Mu’min and the governor of Granada, executed him. His death is reported to have caused a deep remorse in the poetess for the remainder of her life.
While it blossomed, Hafsa’s and Ibn Sa`id’s love affair produced a good number of beautiful verses. Ibn Sa`id was passionately in love with Hafsa and she returned his passions. A. Nykl quotes this translation of the poem the poetess wrote when she intentionally visited her lover’s home:
“A visitor came, his gazelle-like neck
Topped by a face, a crescent of beauty:
His glances flash with Babel sorcery,
His lips are sweeter than the daughter of vine:
His cheek put to shame all roses,
His teeth surpass all pearls in whiteness:
May he enter with your permission?
Or will you let him depart, perchance.”
Another time, following a tryst, she wrote:
“I praise that mouth, and, upon my word, I know what I say.
I do it justice, I would not lie before God;
It is sweeter than wine to taste.”
Once, after the two spent a night under a starry sky, amid perfume diffusing flowers in Hawr Mu’ammal, an enchanting popular-grove near Granada, Ibn Sa`id wished to convey his ardour in verse. He sent Hafsa these lines – quoted by A.J. Arberry in Moorish Poetry:
“God ever guard the memory
Of that fair night, from censure free,
Which had two lovers, you and me,
Deep in Mu’ammal’s popular-grove;
And, as the happy hours we spent,
There gently wafted a sweet scent
From flowering Nejd, all redolent
With the rare fragrance of the clove.
High in the trees a turtle dove
Sang rapturously of our love,
And boughs of basil swayed above
A gently murmuring rivulet;
The meadow quivered with delight
Beholding such a joyous sight,
The interclasp of bodies white,
And breasts that touched, and lips that met.”
Ibn Sa`id asked Hafsa for a reply about their rendezvous in the wooded garden. As was the custom in that age, women were expected to be prudent. Hence, a few days later, she replied with scepticism as seen in this translation by Arberry:
“Do not suppose it pleased the dell
That we should there together dwell
In happy union; truth to tell,
It showed us naught but petty spite.
The river did not clap, I fear,
For pleasure that we were so near,
The dove raised not her song to cheer
Save for his personal delight.
Think not such noble thoughts as you
Are worthy of; for if you do
You’ll quickly find and rue,
High thinking is not always wise.
I scarce suppose that yonder sky
Displayed its wealth of stars on high
For any reason but to spy
On our romance with jealous eyes.”
On the other hand, Hafsa was not always discreet in her poems to Ibn Sa`id. She had a deep feeling of passion and admiration for her lover. In Nykl’s translation, she says:
“…Shall I visit you or will you visit me? My heart
Is always inclined to what you wish of me:
My lips are a spring of sweetness unalloyed,
My flowing hair a cooling shade for you:
I hoped that you’d grow thirsty in midday’s heat,
When the siesta hour would bring me to your couch…”
Hafsa continues:
“…I praise those lips, because I express
In what I say, my knowledge and experience:
By God, I am telling a truth and not a lie:
The taste of their kisses was sweeter than wine.”
Hafsa also wrote poetry in admiration of the governor of Granada. In Nykl’s words, she wrote these lines on one of the feast days:
“O glorious one, son of the Khalif,
Of the Imam, with whom God is pleased:
May the festival bring to you,
By God’s decree, all that you wish…”
Ibn Sa`id despised the Berber governor Abu Sa`id for whom he had worked for many years. He thought of him as far below his intellectual standard and he was jealous of the attention Abu Sa`id showed to Hafsa. According to Nykl, one night, after carousing with his friends, Ibn Sa`id unleashed his hateful feelings in a poem he improvised in which he says in part:
“…I only obeyed myself in staying in his employ,
Would I obey a man whose glory is lesser than mine?”
Besides the insulting poem, it was reported to the governor that Ibn Sa`id told Hafsa “What do you see in that black fellow? If you wish, I could buy ten better ones in the slave market.”
After hearing that he was to be imprisoned, Ibn Sa`id went into hiding, but was eventually captured and executed in April 1164. Hafsa went into mourning, reproaching herself as having cost her lover’s death. It is said that until her death in Morocco some two decades later, this most noteworthy Andalusian woman poetess never again wrote beautiful verses.
Habeeb Salloum