Layla al-Akhyaliyya (fl. 650–660)

Seventh-century Arab Muslim poet who was widely acclaimed for composing poignant elegies. Name variations: Laila or Layla bint al-Akhyal. Pronunciation: LAY-la al-ak-ya-LEE-ya. Born in the central part of the Arabian peninsula sometime before the middle of the 7th century; date or location of death is uncertain as reports contradict each other, but it seems most likely that she died shortly after the beginning of the 8th century; married Sawwar Ibn Awfa al-Qushayri.

In pre-Islamic Arabia, it was customary for women to lament the deaths of their relatives by singing, dancing, tearing their clothes, beating themselves, and reciting elegies which celebrated the merits of the deceased. Originally, these elegies were composed in rhymed prose. However, by the time the Prophet Muhammad received his first revelation in the year 610, a poetic genre devoted to this type of expression had developed. In Arabic, it is called ritha' (lamentation). Both men and women composed poems in the ritha' genre but, because the display of emotions while mourning was considered more appropriate to women, it has often been associated with female poets. One of the first Muslim women to become famous for her elegiac verse was Layla al-Akhyaliyya.

Layla was born in the central part of the Arabian peninsula to the 'Amir Ibn Sa'sa'a group of the tribe of 'Uqayl, sometime before the middle of the 7th century, and she married a man named Sawwar Ibn Awfa al-Qushayri. Beyond this, very few details about her life have been preserved. Historians generally regard the decade between 650 and 660 as the high point of her career.

Despite the lack of information, there can be no doubt that Layla al-Akhyaliyya was an important historical figure. The verses attributed to her reflect not only her own concerns, but also major challenges facing the Islamic community during her lifetime. The Prophet Muhammad had died in 632 and, for several decades following his death, Muslims could not agree on who was best suited to succeed him or how his successor's authority should be defined. Layla reportedly composed an elegy in memory of the third man to follow Muhammad as leader of the Islamic polity (caliph), 'Uthman Ibn 'Affan, whose death by assassination in 656 is considered a major turning point in Islamic history. It marks the beginning of the first civil war from which the Umayyad family emerged victorious and, in time, established an Islamic empire.

Unfortunately, only fragments of Layla al-Akhyaliyya's poetry are extant. These have been preserved in encyclopedic texts and biographical dictionaries which were compiled beginning in the 9th century—such as Ibn Qutayba's al-Shi'r wa-'l-shu'ara' (Poetry and Poets) and Abu Faraj al-Isfahani's Kitab al-aghani (Book of Songs).

By the time these works were written, Layla was most famous for her elegies mourning Tawba Ibn Humayyir, a warrior from her tribe who had been killed in battle. According to tradition, he had remained devoted to her throughout his lifetime despite her marriage to another man, and evidence suggests that she shared his romantic feelings. Layla al-Akhyaliyya's verses lamenting Tawba's death express deep sadness at a personal loss. She recited, "I swear I will still compose elegies for someone who dies after Tawba, and shed tears for someone against whom calamities have turned. By your life! There is no disgrace for a young man in death, if faults did not afflict him in life."

Although Layla is renowned for her elegies, she also engaged in at least one poetic exchange in the hija' (lampoon) genre. Part of her repartee with a 7th-century poet named al-Nabigha al-Jadi has survived.

Layla al-Akhyaliyya reportedly died at the beginning of the 8th century while traveling to visit her cousin, the famous commander Qutayba Ibn Muslim, who was on a military campaign in Khurasan (northeast Iran) on behalf of the Umayyad governor al-Hajjaj.

sources:

al-Isfahani, Abu al-Faraj. Kitab al-aghani (Book of Songs). 24 vols, in progress. Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya, 1929–present.

The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Arabic Literature to the End of the Umayyad Period. Edited by A.F.L. Beeston, T.M. Johnstone, R.B. Serjeant, and G.R. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Gabrieli, F. "Layla al-Akhyaliyya," in Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2nd ed.

Ibn Qutayba. al-Shi'r wa-'l-shu'ara' (Poetry and Poets). Beirut: Dar al-Thaqafa, 1964.

Kate Lang , Assistant Professor of History, The University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire