Poetry
ديوان
Not translated into English
Ibn Razqa · 1731
Synopsis
The collection brings together the poems in classical Arabic of a scholar from Chinguetti. It contains panegyrics, including praises of saints and of masters of eloquence, funeral elegies, love poems that open on the traces of an encampment or the departure of the camels, and many short pieces: epigrams, answers to learned questions, a greeting addressed to a master of grammar. The author deploys the figures of Arabic rhetorical art, in which he was reputed a master.
Context
The divan was printed only in the twentieth century: Muhammad Said ibn Muhammad edited it in 1980 in Nouakchott, with Dar al-Muallimin al-Ulya. Only part of the work is known. The Encyclopaedia of Islam cites him among the scholars born in Chinguetti, a town whose name also designated the whole country in the Arabic tradition, and the Al-Diwan site now gives twenty-five of his poems online. He is counted among the figures of the Idaw Ali tribe, and one of his elegies is quoted.
Who it is for
Verse in classical Arabic, never translated; the art of rhetoric holds a large place in it.
Prizes and reception
Its author is regarded as one of the pioneers of Mauritanian poetry.
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