CONSORTS OF THE CALIPHS
In the name of God, Full of Compassion, Ever Compassionate, in Whom I place my trust
By praising God, lord of all the worlds, I begin * and by pronouncing blessings upon our master Muḥammad and his kin. * Having compiled The Lives of Those Gracious and Bounteous Consorts of Caliphs * Who Lived to See Their Own Sons Become Caliph * I now wish to write * about famous favorites * whether consorts or concubines of caliphs.
God grant me success! 0.1
1
ḤAMMĀDAH BINT ʿĪSĀ1
WIFE OF THE CALIPH AL-MANṢŪR
I cite the trustee ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAlī who gave me license to cite ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Shaybānī, who cites master2 Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī, who cites al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Bakr as saying that Abū Sahl Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Qaṭṭān3 said: 1.1
I heard Thaʿlab4 say:
When the caliph al-Manṣūr’s wife, Ḥammādah daughter of ʿĪsā, died, al-Manṣūr and his retinue stood at the edge of the grave that had been dug for her and awaited the arrival of the funeral procession.
The poet Abū Dulāmah was in the procession. Al-Manṣūr turned to him and asked, “What have you brought us on this sad occasion, Abū Dulāmah?”
“The body of Ḥammādah daughter of ʿĪsā, Sire!” he replied, and everyone burst into laughter.5
2
GHĀDIR
“Inconstance”
SLAVE OF THE CALIPH AL-HĀDĪ
Jaʿfar ibn Qudāmah writes:6 2.1
Ghādir had the most beautiful face and voice and al-Hādī loved her intensely. As she was singing to him one day, a thought occurred to him. One of his close companions asked him why he was preoccupied.
“I’ve realized I’m going to die, and that my brother Hārūn will succeed me as caliph and marry my slave,” he replied.
“God forbid!” everyone exclaimed, “May you outlive us all!”
Al-Hādī summoned his brother and told him about his misgivings, and Hārūn did his best to reassure him. But al-Hādī insisted, “Swear to me that when I die, you will not marry her!”
He had Hārūn swear that if he broke his vow, he would perform the hajj on foot, divorce all his wives, free all his slaves, and distribute everything he owned as alms. Al-Hādī also had Ghādir make a corresponding vow.
Less than a month later al-Hādī died. Hārūn was given the oath of allegiance, becoming the caliph al-Rashīd, and immediately sent an emissary to Ghādir, asking for her hand in marriage.
“What shall we do about the vow?” she asked.
“I’ll pay an atonement for all the vows,” al-Rashīd replied, “and perform the hajj on foot.”
So she accepted his offer and he married her.
Al-Rashīd fell so deeply in love with Ghādir that he would place her head in his lap as she slept and would not move or shift position until she woke. 2.2
One day, she was asleep and woke up in a fright, sobbing.
Al-Rashīd asked what was troubling her, and she said, “I’ve just seen your brother in a dream and this is what he said:
When the dead became my neighbors
the vow you took meant nothing to you.
You forgot me and broke your word
your vow was a shameless lie.7
Treacherously you bedded my brother:
‘Inconstance’—how well they named you!
I spend my nights with corpses,
you spend your days with dark-eyed beauties!
Curse your new love!
Disaster strike you!
Drop dead before morning!
As I am now, may you be too!
“I swear, Sire, I can almost hear him now! His words are graven on my heart and I can’t get them out of my mind!”
«Muddled nightmares!»,8 al-Rashīd replied, comforting her.
“No, no!” she cried, trembling. Then she gave a shudder and died on the spot.
This happened in the year 173 [789–90].
3
ʿINĀN, DAUGHTER OF ʿABD ALLĀH9
“Restraint”
SLAVE OF AL-NĀṬIFĪ10
ʿInān was a poet and woman of wit about whom there is a written body of anecdotes. 3.1
Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī mentions her in the Book of Songs. He writes: 3.2
Al-Nāṭifī’s slave ʿInān was a blonde of mixed parentage, brought up and trained in al-Yamāmah.
Al-Nāṭifī had purchased her and al-Rashīd wanted to buy her from him. But ʿInān’s notoriety and the fact that many poets satirized her prevented him from doing so, although he was quite besotted and infatuated with her. The story goes that al-Rashīd sent for ʿInān and offered to buy her from al-Nāṭifī, who named a price of one hundred thousand silver dirhams. Al-Rashīd agreed, kept her for a while, but then sent her back. Relieved, her master al-Nāṭifī gave away thirty thousand dirhams in charity.
When al-Nāṭifī died, she was sold for two hundred thousand dirhams.
ʿInān was the first poet to become famous under the Abbasids and the most gifted poet of her generation. The major male poets of the time would seek her out in her master’s house where they would recite their verses to her and have her pass judgment. 3.3
When her master died, ʿInān was freed—either because he had bequeathed her her freedom in his will or because she had borne him a child.11 3.4
Citing sources going back to Marwān ibn Abī Ḥafṣah, Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī reports that Marwān said: 3.5
One day I ran into al-Nāṭifī, who invited me to come and meet ʿInān. We went to his house and he entered her room ahead of me saying, “Look, I’ve brought you the greatest poet of all—Marwān ibn Abī Ḥafṣah!”
ʿInān was not feeling well and said, “I have other things than Marwān to worry about right now!”
Al-Nāṭifī struck her with his whip and called out to me, “Come on in!”
I entered and found her weeping. Seeing her tears...