Jarir ibn Atiyah

Jarir ibn Atiyyah al-Khatafi Al-Tamimi, an Arab poet and satirist of the Umayyad period, came from Najd, in what is now Saudi Arabia. He was born during the rule of the Rashidun caliph Uthman ibn Affan and belonged to the Kulayb tribe, itself part of the larger Banu Tamim. His home region was al-Yamamah, though he also spent time in Damascus at the courts of Umayyad caliphs.

Not much is recorded about his early years, but he managed to gain the favor of Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef, the governor of Iraq. Already well known for his poetry, he became even more famous through a long-standing rivalry with the poets Farazdaq and Akhtal.

Later, he traveled to Damascus and appeared before Caliph Abd al-Malik and his successor, Al-Walid I, but neither gave him a warm reception. He had better luck with Umar II, who was the only caliph to receive him. His poetry, like that of his contemporaries, is mostly made up of satire and praise.

A lengthy series of verses by Farazdaq mocks Jarir and his tribe, the Bani Kulaib, in the course of their feud. These poems have been collected as the Nakaid of Jarir and al-Farazdaq. The rivalry is said to have lasted forty years, and Jarir supposedly took such pleasure in it that when he learned of Farazdaq’s death, he lost his will to live and died on the spot.