Arabic Poetry: Trajectories of Modernity and Tradition

Arab gift compendiums

In its evolution and scope, the brothers’ compendium, Kitmb al-Tu.af
wa-al-Hadmym, offers more than one piece of evidence to verify the role of gift
exchange in sustaining hierarchy. Whether commissioned by the emir of
Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawlah, or by the vizier AbnMu.ammad al->assan Ibn
Mu.ammad Ibn Hmrnn, al-Wazlr al-Muhalabbl(d. 352 H.) who overtook
Baghdad (334 H.), the brothers showed great diligence and art in meeting the
demands and wishes of their patron. In their introduction, the Khmlidiyymn,
as they are usually called, write:

You ordered us – May God prolong your munificence – to select for

you portions of what is communicated on poetry, and to ignore the

meaningless and the trivial, and to condense and sift. Therefore,

we embarked on this mission, closely and speedily applying your

guidelines, to give the effort its due and to fulfill its obligations.^5

Although seemingly a surplus in social communications, these “gratuitous
and least costly relations of exchange,” in Pierre Bourdieu’s words, “are likely
to create lasting relations of dependence.”^6 A dignitary as patron may derive
equal satisfaction from a mutual relationship, for both parties sustain and
nurture it through exchange. Such was the connection, for example, between
al-Bu.turlthe poet (d. 897 AD/284 H.) and the Shi‘lte Shaykh AbnJacfar
al-Qumml. The latter sent the poet some wine with a messenger, a male slave
of some charm. The poet was so impressed by the boy that he asked the
Shaykh to offer the boy as a gift:

I wish the gift were the messenger,

I wish the messenger were the gift.^7

Apart from the implications of desire for fetish objects, male slaves
included, al-Bu.turlobviously took it for granted that his poem would
ensure him such a gift. Both the patron and the poet enjoyed a privileged
position regarding the enslaved other who had no say in that exchange.
Among the ruling or dominating groups, reciprocity occurs according to
codes and rules of privilege and conduct. Less privileged communities can
develop their own rules, to be sure, but property exchange usually stands
behind the circulation of wealth, as poetic records indicate. Indeed, al-Rmghib
al-Ixbahmnl(d. early fifth century H) quoted a certain poet as defining
prestation in terms of dynamic social and economic exchange:

I noticed people engaged in gift giving

As sale at a market place: take from me and give back.

(Kitmb al-Tu.af wa-al-Hadmym, 230)

DEDICATIONS AS POETIC INTERSECTIONS