Abstract
Mamluk Sultan al-Zāhir Baybars' (r. 1260-77) campaign against vice in Cairo is perhaps one of the most publicized and colorful episodes of the sultan's legacy. But little is known about its details, much less its impact on and depictions in contemporary popular literature. This paper offers a new reading, and the first full translation, of a famous poem by Ibn Dāniyāl (d. 1311) in response to the sultan's prohibition. Based on discussions pertaining to the poem's historical and literary contexts, it is argued that the poem should be read not only as a social satire, but also as a psychological drama and word play whose main purpose is to celebrate the poet's memories of things past and to express through the art of parody and rhetoric his desire for restoration of the repressed.
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