Died 1191, Marrakesh, Morocco | ||
Ḥafṣa bint al-Ḥājj ar-Rakūniyya (born c. 1135, died AH 586/1190-91 CE) was an Granadan aristocrat and perhaps one of the most celebrated Andalusian female poets of medieval Arabic literature.
Contents
Biography
Arabic authors do not tell us when she was born: it is possible, however, to trace the date of her birth at the earliest in AH 530/1135. We know little about the origin and early life of hafsa. She was the daughter of a Berber man, al-Hajj ar-Rukuni. A granadian Which does not seem to have left traces among biographers. This family was noble and rich. We can therefore consider the father of Hafsa a notable figure in the city. Around the time that the Almohads came to power in 1154, Ḥafṣa seems to have begun a relationship with the poet Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik Ibn Saʿīd; to judge from the surviving poetry, Ḥafṣa initiated the affair. With this, Ḥafṣa enters the historical record more clearly; the relationship seems to have continued until Abū Jaʿfar's execution in 1163 by Abū Saʿīd ʿUthmān, son of Abd al-Mu'min and governor of Granada: Abū Jaʿfar had sided with his extended family, the Banu Saʿid, against Adb al-Muʿmin.
Ḥafṣa later became known as a teacher, working for Caliph Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur to educate his daughters in Marrakech. She died there in 1190 or 1191. She is perhaps one of the most celebrated Andalusian female poets of medieval Arabic literature.
Poetry
Around 60 lines of Ḥafṣa's poetry survive, among nineteen compositions, making Ḥafṣa the best attested of the medieval female Moorish poets (ahead of Wallada bint al-Mustakfi and Nazhun al-Garnatiya bint al-Qulai’iya). Her verse encompasses love poetry, elegy, panegyric, satirical, and even obscene verse, giving her work unusual range. Perhaps her most famous exchange is a response to Abū Jaʿfar, here as translated by A. J. Arberry:
Abu Jaafar the poet was in love with Hafsa, and sent her the following poem: Hafsa replied in this manner: