Al-Sumaysir, poeta satírico testigo de las Taifas

Abstract

This paper examines the life and work of Abū l-Qāsim Khalaf b. Faraj al-Ilbīrī, the Granada-born poet who emigrated to Almeria and is known by the derogatory nickname of al-Sumaysir. Through his poetry and the anecdotes concerning him that have reached the present day in Arabic sources, and also making use of the different studies done on him, this paper explores his complex personal trajectory and his particular revolutionary vision of the times in which he lived, the 11th century. New information is provided on his personality and the reasons for his exile from Granada, and also about his life in the court of al-Mu‘taṣim of Almería. Al-Sumaysir’s irony and criticism were often aimed at the Taifa rulers, particularly the Berbers. He also authored sententious, elegiac, philosophical and ascetic poems, along with other, more mundane ones, including some daring love poetry of homoerotic inspiration. His apparently coarse, jocular and festive verse, which can in fact be read as a critique of various objectionable aspects of Andalusi society of his time, is a document of his sociopolitical and cultural setting.