Fadl al-Sha'irah

Fadl al-Qaysi or Faḍl al-Shāʻirah (Arabic: فضل الشاعرة; "Faḍl the Poet"; d. 871) was one of "three early ʻAbbasid singing girls, particularly famous for their poetry" and is one of the pre-eminent medieval Arabic female poets whose work survives.^[1] She was a concubine of caliph Al-Mutawakkil.^[2]

Fadl al-Shaʻirah فضل الشاعرة
Born	Al-Yamama, Abbasid Caliphate
Died	c. 870/871 Samarra, Abbasid Caliphate
Resting place	Samarra
Pen name	Fadl
Occupation	Poet
Language	Arabic
Nationality	Caliphate
Period	Islamic Golden Age (Early Abbasid era)
Spouse	al-Mutawakkil

Life

Born in al-Yamama (now in Saudi Arabia), Fadl was brought up in Abbasid Basra, (now in Iraq). She was from the Abd al-Qays tribe.^[2] Her brothers sold her to Muhammad ibn al-Faraj al-Rukhkhaji,^[2] a leading officer of the Caliphate, and he gave her to Caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861).^[2]

Fadl became a prominent figure in the court. According to Ibn Annadim, a bibliographer (died 1047), Fadl's diwan extended to twenty pages.^[3] Her pupils included the singer Faridah.^[4] When Fadl was brought to before al-Mutawakkil the very day she had been given to him, al-Mutawakkil asked her, "Are you really a poet"? She replied: Those who buy and sell me all say so. He laughed and said "Recite some of your poetry to us" and she recited following verses:

The rightly guided Ruler acceded in the year three and thirty.
A Caliphate entrusted to al-Mutawakkil, when he was seven and twenty
Let's us hope, Rightly guided Ruler that your rule goes on for eighty.
God bless you! On all who do not say Amen" — The curse of Almighty

Abu al-Ayna said that the Caliph liked the poem and gave her fifty thousand dirhams.

She died in 870/71.^[5]

Poetry

An example of Fadl's work, in the translation of Abdullah al-Udhari, is:

The following poem was written in response to the poet Abu Dulaf (d. 840) who hinted in a poem that she was not a virgin and he preferred virgins, whom he compared to unpierced pearls.^[3]

Riding beasts are no joy to ride until they're bridled and mounted.
So pearls are useless unless they're pierced and threaded.