13 - Wine poetry (khamriyyāt)

Summary

Wine poetry is found in all periods of Arabic literature, though with fluctuating frequency, and variation between incidental references and pieces devoted wholly to wine; in some periods, the theme of wine dominated poetic production. Prose works devoted to wine are also found, but far less frequently; two typical examples may be cited. In North Africa, at the turn of the fourth–fifth/tenth–eleventh centuries, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhām b. al-Qāsim, known as al-Raqīq al-Nadīm, wrote Quṭb al-surūr ft awṣaj alkhumūr (“The Acme of Joy in Praise of Wine”), an encyclopaedic work discussing the etiquette of wine and wine-parties, wine's remedial qualities, how to profit from its blends, textual citations dealing with it, legal arguments centred on it, entertaining stories about it, and an appendix of poetical references. In the East, at the beginning of the ninth/fifteenth century, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan b. ʿUthmān al-Nawājī wrote Ḥalbat al- Kumayt (“The Bay's Racetrack”; a punning allusion to the fact that kumayt, “bay-coloured”, is a conventional epithet for both horses and wine), which discusses the origins of wine, its names, appearance, advantages and properties according to learned writers, tales about persons accused of addiction to it, its qualities, both material and moral, the correct behaviour for a drinking-partner or boon-companion (nadīm), how to offer wine and issue an invitation to a wine-party, and description of the wine-party and all its appurtenances – drinking-vessels, singing, instrumental music, candles, flowers and gardens.