Barbara Ostafin

In al-Ğāḥiẓ’s treatise Kitāb Faḫr al-Sūdān calā al-Biḍān, the title of which in the already classic Polish study on Arabic literature was translated as The Superiority of Blacks over Whites, or Treatise on the Superiority of Blacks over Whites, the author of the work lists the characters of black inhabitants of the caliphate; among them he evokes al-Ḥayquṭān, whom he presents as a poet and a preacher of Abyssinian origin. He also quotes al-Ḥayquṭān’s poem, which is a paean to the courage and valor of the Abyssinians, referring to important events that took place in the Arabian Peninsula just before the birth of the Prophet Muḥammad.

In modern times, al-Ḥayquṭān’s poem is used in popular publications and online forums as a historical example of a reaction to racism and a reason to be proud of the bravery of the poem’s dark-skinned characters, as well as the example of literary achievement of the inhabitants of the caliphate of African descent.

The purpose of this article is to refer to the historical events mentioned in the work of the black poet, present him in the context of the few surviving Arabic sources, explore the potential circumstances of the creation of the work and reflect on the actual circumstances of its creation as described by al-Ğāḥiẓ.

The purpose of this paper is to shed some new light on the role of the male character in medieval Arabic literature. It focuses on the model of the ruler which features in Andalusian adab literature in Al-^cIqd al-Farīd, a work of Ibn ^cAbd Rabbih. The description of the ruler’s powers, privileges, tasks, and duties are included in the first chapter of the work, which is a typical example of paraenetic literature outlining specific patterns of conduct related to one’s position. Presenting the model ruler, Ibn c Abd Rabbih used the same sources that were known in the East and selected those that, in his opinion, made up the image of a perfect ruler. The fundamental features of the ruler described in his work indicate that there were some universal attributes of the dynast in the Middle Ages.