Diwan of Al-Akhtal

Author's name: Al-Akhtal

He was born and named Ghiyath, then he crawled and they called him Dobal, and when he spoke they called him Akhtal, and with this title he ascended the throne of the Caliphate as the poet of the Umayyad court. A liberated personality who loved the impossible. Tickled by the Taghlabi pride and stricken by life's hardships, he truly rebelled and wrote poetry that hit the nail on the head. Frank to the point of impudence, bold to the point of rebellion, loyal to the point of death. This is what the poet "Ghiyath bin Ghawth bin Taghlib, nicknamed Al-Akhtal" was, the author of the collection of poems included in this book. Al-Akhtal is a poet of genuine inspiration, eloquent in expression, bold in most of his poetry in the style of the ancients, and innovative in some of it. Al-Akhtal left us a rich collection of poems that is considered a documented historical record of all the political events and local disputes of his era. This collection was passed down orally from narrators for successive eras.

Anyone who wanders through the garden of this collection of poems and through the pages of this book will find that praise and satire make up the majority of it, as the poet excelled in praise and excelled in satire without obscenity, skillfully employing his poetry politically in order to bridge the gap between the ruling class and the people, demonstrating their good morals, the righteousness of their actions and the correctness of their call. If the reader wanders among the poems included in this collection, he will find the art of description striking the imagination with the power of its imagery and its ability to draw fertile moving pictures. The poet surpassed all his contemporaries in this ability. As for elegy, it contains only four verses, which he dedicated to Yazid bin Muawiyah, the one who bestowed favor upon him and a companion on a path that was full of joys.