The Italian island of Sicily in the Mediterranean became the incubator of a flourishing Arab culture, which continued even after the Normans took control of it in 1072 AD, and the Arab poem settled in the island from the ninth to the twelfth century, including the time of the rule of the Norman kings and the many political turmoil that the island witnessed.

In the modern era, German orientalists were interested in Arab civilization, its language, sciences, studies and rare manuscripts.

Translations became active in their countries, the most important of which was the translation of the Holy Qur’an and many ancient Arabic manuscripts and books. The Mediterranean island, with its Arab past, received special attention.

Arabic manuscript in Sicilian Palermo

Among that knowledge effort was what was done in 2016 by the German orientalists Dr. Sebastian Heine (specialist in comparative linguistics in Oriental, Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages ​​in Germany), and Dr. Sargon Karam (Professor of Arabic literature and translation at the Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany). The city of Palermo - the capital of the island and the autonomous region of Sicily in southern Italy - was invited by the mayor of the city, Leo Luke Orlando, to reveal writings likely to be Arabic inscribed on the walls of the so-called Chamber of Wonders in Palermo.

From there, they set out to trace the traces of Arab civilization in the city and neighboring cities such as Shifalu and Shivala Diana.

During the research, they signed the manuscript of the Italian historian Michele Amari (died 1889) and his fellow Orientalist Celestino Schiaparelli (died 1919), a manuscript on the Sicilian Arab poet Ibn Hamdis (447-527 AH) (1055-1133 AD).

Since 2017, the Orientalists Hana and Karam began translating the poems of Ibn Hamdis related to the history of Sicily and the history of the Arabs in it. Germany's unique ontology.

From right: Secretary of the Italian Deputy Chamber of Deputies and Antonio Venturino, Vice-President of the Sicilian Chamber of Deputies, then Dr. Sebastian Heine and Dr. Sargon Karam (Al Jazeera)

Neglect of an Arab-European poet

Al Jazeera Net spoke to the orientalists Karam and Heine, who said that Ibn Hamdis al-Siqali suffers from complete neglect in European oriental studies in general and in the Arab world as well, especially in terms of not allocating sufficient studies to treat his poems, the environment in which he lived and the country to which he belongs, as this poet is classified in Ontology as an Andalusian poet, although the period that Ibn Hamdis lived in the court of Al-Mu'tamid Ibn Abbad in Seville did not exceed 13 years of his life.

But in fact, Ibn Hamdis is a Sicilian poet par excellence;

It can be considered the most important witness to the civilization of a lost world, namely the Muslims of Sicily, but rather Islam in Sicily at the time of its fall into the hands of the Normans.

For orientalists, the texts of Ibn Hamdis al-Siqilli are a treasure trove of information and a historical witness to a period of time considered the most difficult in the history of Arab civilization in Sicily, and a rich study material that calls on German orientalists to pay attention to his experience, especially since this poet contemplated important historical figures such as the emir of the Almoravids, Yusuf bin Tashfin in Morocco, the Zirid Sultan of Africa Ali bin Yahya in Tunisia, the Mu’tamid, the last king of Bani Abbad in Andalusia, the Seville poets Ibn Ammar and Ibn Zaydun, King Castile and Leon Alfonso VI, and Rodrigo Diaz de Pibar, nicknamed the master of the battlefield.

He also lived during the period of Rogar II, King of Sicily, who financed Al-Idrisi's book "Kitab Rogar - The Nuzha of the Longing for Penetration of the Horizons".

Regarding the fame of Ibn Hamdis al-Siqilli in Europe, Sebastian Heine considers that Europe did not know this poet except through Italian Orientalism.

This is because the Italian orientalist Michele Amari (1806-1889) is the founder of modern Arabic studies in Italy. He was born in Sicily in Palermo, and his studies focused on revealing the history of Muslims in Sicily.

This resulted in the publication of his most important books, including “The History of the Muslims of Sicily 1854-1872” (Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia), which is in three volumes, as well as his work entitled “The Sicilian Arabic Library - Texts and Translations. 1857-1887” (Biblioteca arabo- sicula - testi e traduzioni. 1857-1887), in which he studies the works of the Arabs of Sicily and is located in two volumes, Amari attempted to collect all the written Arabic sources - historical, literary and geographical - that speak of Sicily.

In following up on the first book, Heine adds that "Amari" talks about Ibn Hamdis in two pages and describes him as the most important Arab poet in Sicily, because he is the only one who has survived his complete collection to this day.

But he expanded on Ibn Hamdis al-Siqali in his second book in the second volume, and he devoted about 74 pages to it.

In these pages, Amari records selections for the poems of Ibn Hamdis that he singled out for Sicily, based on the manuscripts of his office in the Vatican, which is Amari's main source, and the second manuscript found in Petersburg, Russia, among the collection of Eastern manuscripts.

Sebastian Heine specializes in comparative linguistics in Eastern, Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages ​​in Germany (Al-Jazeera)

Amari heir

Heinah continues that the most important person who introduced Ibn Hamdis al-Siqilli to the Western world - which was benefited from and adopted by German orientalists in a scientific way - was Amari's favorite student and his scientific heir, Celestino Schiaparelli (1841-1919), who was tutored by Amari in Florence (Center for Arab Studies in Florence). all of Italy at that time), and continued to study Arabic in Rome.

Schiaparli issued a revised Ibn Hamdis collection in his book “The Diwan of Abd al-Jabbar Ibn Abi Bakr Ibn Hamdis.. A Groom Poet from Syracuse (1056–1133) The entire published Arabic text based on the manuscripts of Rome and Petersburg, in addition to some of his poems obtained from writers Others. Rome 1897".

After that, Ibn Hamdis's Diwan was not published until 1960 in Beirut by Ihsan Abbas.

As for the scientific studies on Ibn Hamdis in Italy, Sebastian Heine believes that there were only some articles that dealt with certain axes of his poetry.

Translation of the Arabic poetry of nostalgia

Regarding their translation of Ibn Hamdis’ poetry into German, Sargon Karam refers to the axes that were worked on during the translation of his poetry into German.

Ibn Hamdis, an Arab Sicilian poet and sage, was born in Italian Sicily and died in Mallorca, Spain (social networking sites)

In their studies that preceded the translation, the Orientalists worked on dividing Ibn Hamdis’ poems into axes, where Sargon Karam points out that the theme of nostalgia for the motherland has a great impact on Ibn Hamdis’ poetry, and he says in one of his poems:

And God has a land if you do not have its air, then your desires are in the earth scattered in order, and


your honor leads to humiliation and nuclei among you


.

While the Italian today considers Sicily part of his homeland, it is noted that this poet when he talks about Sicily considers his country and that the Norman-Italian is the occupier, Ibn Hamdis was born in Noto near Syracuse in the east of the island, and the feelings of sadness, pain and the resulting deep sorrow are evident in his poems About losing his homeland and longing for him as a result of everything that happened to him.

Fourth largest Islamic city

Karam continues to Al Jazeera Net, saying, "To clarify this idea, and with reference to historical sources, the geographer and historian Ibn Hawqal (died 977) described Palermo as the fourth largest city in the Islamic world after Cairo, the Levant and Cordoba. The city has the largest mosque that Ibn Hawqal saw during his trip and with more than 300 mosques. To this day, Surat Al-Fatihah is still on the pillar of the entrance to this mosque, which has been converted into a cathedral."

Church of San Cataldo in Palermo, Italy (Getty Images)

In their studies, the two German orientalists also deal with the axis of "Description of life and living in Sicily during the Arab rule in it", and they show accurate details provided by Ibn Hamdis about the way of social life, including the sessions of people and wine in the monasteries of nuns and dancers and the blissful life of Muslim and Christian Arab women.

The Orientalists also paid attention to the issue of jihad in Ibn Hamdis’ poems. Sargon Karam tells us about the stage after the fall of Palermo in 1076, where Ibn Hamdis organized an armed group called “Bani Thaghr”, and this group during a period of 3 or 4 years attempted to push back the attack. Normani about the city of Syracuse, and in this axis we see the Islamic culture of Ibn Hamdis.

There is a great contradiction in this axis with the previous two axes, while in the second axis a poet of wine and amusement appeared, in the third axis we see him as a jihadist leader who defends Islam in the name of religion and includes in his poetry a lot of Quranic evidence, and on the other hand we see him as a brave and brave knight alongside his brave brothers In the beginning of their youth, in the first row of the fight."

Sargon Karam refers to the poems in which Ibn Hamdis accurately described his military combat experience, describing military plans, comparing Arab and Norman horses, describing swords and the quality of armor, Greek fire and catapults, and the Normans' private ships to transport their knights and horses.

Karam continues by saying that Ibn Hamdis' military experience covers a period that extends from the fall of Sicily (the last castle fell in 1091) to the Battle of Zalqa, in which he participated alongside Yusef bin Tashfin (1086), through the Battle of Qousra in 1123, in addition to the battles of the Tunisian princes against the Norman kings. on the island.