Diwan
Mecca · 1235
I
Ibn al-Farid
Ibn al-Farid
1181 CE–1235 CE · Mecca
Sharaf al-Din 'Umar ibn 'Ali, known as Ibn al-Farid, was an Arabic poet of the Sufi (Islamic mystical) tradition, widely regarded as the finest mystical poet in the Arabic language. He was born in Cairo in 576 AH / 1181 CE; his family came from Hama in Syria, and the surname "Ibn al-Farid" reflects his father's profession of apportioning legal inheritance shares (fara'id). He studied Islamic law in the Shafi'i school (one of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence) and hadith (reports of the Prophet's words and deeds), but turned to a life of contemplation, withdrawing for periods to the Muqattam hills east of Cairo.
Later tradition, drawn largely from a hagiographic preface (Dibaja) composed by his grandson 'Ali about a century after his death, holds that he spent some fifteen years in and around Mecca, where his mystical inspiration deepened and where he is said to have met the Baghdad Sufi master 'Umar al-Suhrawardi; modern scholars treat both the length of this Meccan period and the meeting as uncertain.
His reputation rests on his Diwan (collected poems), above all the long ode Nazm al-suluk ("Poem of the Way," also called al-Ta'iyya al-kubra) and the Khamriyya ("Wine Ode"), which use the imagery of love and intoxication for the soul's union with God. He died in Cairo in 632 AH / 1235 CE and was buried at the foot of Mt. Muqattam, where his tomb became a venerated shrine. Whether his verse implies controversial doctrines of divine union was debated by later scholars.
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Mecca
What they did here
Tradition holds that he spent some fifteen years in and around Mecca, where his mystical poetry matured and where he is said to have met the Sufi master 'Umar al-Suhrawardi of Baghdad. This rests largely on the hagiographic Dibaja written by his grandson 'Ali roughly a century later; modern scholars (e.g. Homerin) question both the duration of the stay and the al-Suhrawardi meeting. Dates within this period are not securely attested.
About Mecca
Mecca (Makka), in the Hejaz of western Saudi Arabia, is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the site of the Ka'ba; it is Islam's holiest city and the destination of the annual hajj pilgrimage, toward which Muslims pray. As a centre of learning that drew scholars from across the Muslim world, it hosted many of the figures connected here during periods of study, teaching, or pilgrimage.
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Ibn al-Farid’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Ibn al-Farid’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.