Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 (68 page)
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Authors: Khaled El-Rouayheb
BOOK: Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800
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includes several instances of poetry that mention the name of the male beloved. An example is the following couplet:
O moon, you have let my heart taste the cup of love, so be generous and hold back the swords of harshness.I am melting from love-enough harshness! O Aḥmad, has my love not elicited your good will?
161
Other poems by Ḥafni
seem to provide good examples of what Ibn Hajar called “setting up hints that lead to identification,” such as the following lines:
seem to provide good examples of what Ibn Hajar called “setting up hints that lead to identification,” such as the following lines:I offer my soul to the one whom I ardently love, but will not name him for fear of the mocker.His beginning in code is one-eighth of the following, and the last of his letters is a tenth of the third.
162
The poet is here using the system of letter-code (
ḥisa
b al-jummal
), whereby each letter of the alphabet has a conventional numerical value. The poet is alluding to the name Ahmad, which in Arabic is written with four letters with the following numerical values:
A
(I)—
Ḥ
(8)—
M
(40)—
D
(4).
ḥisa
b al-jummal), whereby each letter of the alphabet has a conventional numerical value. The poet is alluding to the name Ahmad, which in Arabic is written with four letters with the following numerical values:
A
(I)—
Ḥ
(8)—
M
(40)—
D
(4).
Other religious scholars were linked by ties of friendship to offending poets. For instance, Hasan al-‛Aṭṭa
r, who was Rector of the Azhar college in Cairo during Edward Lane’s sojourn in the city, was a close friend of the poet Isma
ʿi
l al-Khashsha
b (d. 1815), whose poetry often ignored the restrictions set up by jurists. It was in fact ʿAṭṭa
r who collected his friend’s poetry into a single volume.
163
The following couplet, ‛Aṭṭa
r wrote, was said of a youth called Sharaf whom al-Khashsha
b was said to have loved:
r, who was Rector of the Azhar college in Cairo during Edward Lane’s sojourn in the city, was a close friend of the poet Ismaʿil al-Khashshab (d. 1815), whose poetry often ignored the restrictions set up by jurists. It was in fact ʿAṭṭar who collected his friend’s poetry into a single volume.163
The following couplet, ‛Aṭṭa
r wrote, was said of a youth called Sharaf whom al-Khashshab was said to have loved:I fell in love with one whose glances are lethal yet languid; a succulent branch; a handsome form; slender.When my censurer foolishly blames me for fancying him, I reply: “By God, that’s my honor (
sharafī
)
.”
164
This was not the only such poem of Khashsha
bʾs that ʿAṭṭa
r reproduced. A similar couplet was composed of a singer named Wafāʾ:
bʾs that ʿAṭṭar reproduced. A similar couplet was composed of a singer named Wafāʾ:By God, a delicate fawn; ravishing; handsome; if he sings for us he cures morbid worries.Whenever his luminous guise shines on my companions, I say to them: “There! The beloved appeared (
wafa
165
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