Ḥamāsah (from Arabic حماسة valour) is a well-known ten-book anthology of Arabic poetry, compiled in the 9th century by Abu Tammam. Along with the Asma'iyyat, Mufaddaliyat and Mu'allaqat, Hamasah is considered one of the primary sources of early Arabic poetry. The work is especially important for having been the first Arabic anthology compiled by a poet and not a philologist and is perhaps the first in the Hamasah literary genre. The first and largest section of the work, al-ḥamāsah (valour), provides the name for several other anthologies of this type.
The anthology contains a total of 884 poems, most of which are short extracts of longer poems, grouped by subject matter. The selections date back to pre-Islamic, Islamic and early 'Abbasid times.
The Ḥamāsah was probably compiled around AD 835, while Abū Tammām was staying at Hamadan in Iran, where he had access to a very good library. It quickly acquired the status of a classic work. Saladin is said to have known it by heart.
Content
The ten headings are:
- Al-Ḥamāsah “Valour”
- Al-Marāthī, “Elegies”;
- Al-Adab, “Proper conduct”;
- An-Nasīb, “Love”;
- Al-Hijāʿ, “Invective”;
- Al-Adyāf wa al-madīḥ, “Hospitality and praise of the generous”;
- Aṣ-Ṣifāt, “Descriptive verses/pieces”;
- As-Sayr wa an-Nuʾas, “desert travel”;
- Al-Mulah, “Clever curiosities”;
- Madhammāt an-nisaʾ, “the censure of women”