Ibn Hamdis the Sicilian

William Granara is Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. He was awarded a Walter Channing Cabot Fellowship for his monograph Narrating Muslim Sicily: War and Peace in the Medieval Mediterranean World.

• 1 BORN UNDER A BAD SIGNThe Kalbids of SicilyMuslim Sicily UnravelingBorn in Syracuse, Becoming a PoetEducation in an Early Jihadi FrontierThe Rise of an Indigenous Muslim-Sicilian CulturePoetry in Muslim Sicily, From Philology to Art and PoliticsCrafting a Poetics of ‘Homeland’ 2 DILEMMA: TO REMAIN OR DEPARTSojourn in Sfax: Maintaining the Ifriqiya-Sicily ConnectionAsad ibn al-Furat: Muslim Sicily’s Founding FatherIbn Hawqal’s Sicilian ChapterIn the Shadow of the Norman Conquest 3 THE FIRST DESERT CROSSINGIfriqiya: A Divided and Turbulent MotherlandThe Zirid Dynasty of IfriqiyaThe ‘Arabs’ of Eleventh-Century IfriqiyaOn the Desert Highway: Traveling with Arab Companions 4 LA DOLCE VITA IN SEVILLEThe ‘Abbadid Kingdom of SevilleMuslim Spain and Muslim Sicily: A Comparative ViewElegy to a FatherServing the Patron: The Political PanegyricCourt Poet as Court FunctionaryThe Looming Threat of the Christian ReconquestPoetic Sparring: Poet as Client, Poet as Competitor 5 FROM THE DARK CLOUDS OF AL-ZALLAQA TO A SECOND EXILEConfrontation at Badajoz: Enter the AlmoravidsThe Battle of al-ZallaqaThe Fall of the ‘Abbadids of Seville 6 1091: ANNUS HORRIBILIS AND THE SECOND DESERT CROSSINGIntermission at Qal‘at Bani HammadReturn to MahdiaConnecting to the Zirids: Praise and Blame for TamimVigilant Eye on the Norman ConquestOde to a Falling HomelandBack to the Family in Sfax: Mourning the Loss of an Aunt and a Wife 7 THE POETICS OF JIHAD: AT THE ZIRID COURT IN MAHDIAAt the Court of Yahya ibn TamimRevolt and Murder at the Zirid PalaceBreaking Ranks in GabesFrom Seville to Nicotera and Mahdia: The Almoravids Move EastVictory at al-DimasThe Almohads on the Horizon 8 TIME OF REFLECTION: ASCETIC VERSES AND ARABS AT THE NORMAN COURTRetreat into Devotional VerseArabs and Muslim Culture at the Norman Court in Palermo 9 TWILIGHT: BLINDNESS, LOSS, AND DEFEATLosing SightSicily Forever on the MindElegy to a Nephew and Family HistoryMourning a Daughter, Mourning a HomelandDeath and BurialIbn Hamdis’s Legacy in History and Literature

‘An intriguing and original approach that brings together historical events and verses of the Siculo-Arab poet Ibn Hamdis. The author offers a wholehearted evocation of the life of a great human being and the difficult times of wars and political transitions he lived through.’