Chapter Eleven. The Hebrew Transcription Of Risālat Al-Ḥātimī: A Comparative Study Between Sayings Attributed To Aristotle And Poetic Verses Attributed To Mutanabbī (Cambridge, T.S., Arabic, 45.2)

Abstract

Ḥātimī is considered one of the pioneers in the study of Arabic poetry in the latter half of the 10th century, playing an important part in the polemics on the poetry of Mutanabbī. Abū Ṭayyib Aḥmad b. al-Ḥasan, better known by his pen-name Mutanabbī, is perhaps the one Arab poet whose presence in Hebrew verse in Spain and in Judeo-Arabic literature during the Middle Ages was most felt, even more so than any other Arab poet. The great admiration felt towards Mutanabbī as a poet is not founded upon his poetry's prosodic and rhetoric values, per se, but rather upon the ideas emanating from his poetry. Ḥātimī's Risāla was printed twice in traditional Arabic editions within collections of Arab literature, with a German translation accompanied by a facsimile taken of one manuscript, and in a critical edition of its original Arabic.Keywords: Ḥātimī; Ḥātimī's Risāla; Arabic poetry; Hebrew transcription; Mutanabbī