Lamiyya by al-Shanfara and its Commentaries: Copies Available in the Holdings of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts and the Oriental Department Collection, Gorky Research Library

Abstract

The article “Lāmiyya by al-Shanfarā and its commentaries: Copies available in the holdings of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts and the Oriental Department collection, Gorky Research Library” reviews the problem of studying and describing oriental manuscripts, which gains more relevance in recent times. This research presents life facts of the famous pre-Islamic poet al-Shanfarā and the features of his most famous work, Lāmiyya. The study focus on the copies of this work, as well as copies of its commentaries stored in the holdings of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts and the Oriental Department collection, Gorky Research Library, SPbSU. The poetry of al-Shanfarā is traditionally compared with classical muallaq, where the authors praise tribal patriotism against the main idea — a life in exile. Lāmiyya got its name for the special repetitive rhyme. Among European researchers, this qaṣīda is also known as “The Desert Song”. The authors analyze the features of various copies of al-Shanfarā’s work and discuss the most important aspects of various commentaries on his work. The article provides illustrations of some sheets of al-Shanfarā’s copies and copies of Lāmiyya commentaries. The writing by al-Shanfarā was subjected to extensive research by national, Western and Arab experts. Through analyzing the most well-known commentaries on Lāmiyyat al-arab, it is possible to evaluate exactly what features call the attention of scholars. In addition, copies of Lāmiyya commentaries stored in manuscript collections deserve an independent careful study and description.