If through poetry, the qiyan aimed at achieving freedom in regards to their bodies, the muhsanat (singular: muhasana) poets aimed at achieving freedom of mobility. Muhsana is the Arabic word for a noblewoman whose behavior is regarded as pious. Unlike qiyan, muhsanat did not take part in the male society, since it was considered as sinful to be part of the activities. Conversations with men, other than the men within her family, were considered immoral. If a free woman appear in public, her action would have left a stain on her honor (Garulo, 32). As de la Puente claims, “legal sources stress that a muhsana woman is only allowed to leave her house for an urgent reason and, when she does so, she must always be veiled. The cliche of the slave
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Love poetry was a popular theme used by muhsanat poets to express their emotions to their lovers in the context of the outside world that they were deprived from. Hasfa bint Hajj ar-Rakyniyya is an example of a muhsana that wrote poetry that focused on her physical mobility. In terms of biographical evidence, there is not much found, yet it known that she lived during the twelfth-century and was noted for her beauty, lineage and wealth. She made herself remarkable through the love poetry that she had written to the poet Abu Ja’far Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik Ibn Sa’id (Schippers, 148). By looking at the poetry of Hafsa bint Hajj ar-Rakuniyya, one can understand how a muhsana “stress reciprocity and mobility” through their poems addressed to their beloved (Sergol, 158). Hafsa writes,
Shall I visit you or shall you visit me? For my heart always bows to what you long …show more content…
She was born in 994 CE in Cordoba to Muhammad III, caliph of Cordoba and to a former Christian slave. Raised in a time period when Cordoba had a very low percentage of illiterate citizens, Wallada had access to a vast collection of information. Her young adulthood years were full of turmoil and bloody governmental conflicts, causing the death of her father. This event had played an important role in her professional life, since it led her to “sell her property rights, dispensed of male guardianship and opened the capital’s most influential literary salon in her own mansion” (Cuen, 50). Her literate talent that surpassed many other counterparts of hers, had encouraged her to transform her literary salon into an unofficial school through which women were given the opportunity to learn how to read, write and compose music. Her love for poetry was not just expressed through her civic actions, recited and written poetry but also through her creative decision of wearing her own words. Wallada is famous for her embroidered verses on her right and left sleeves. Those words that compose a short poem of four verses, represents her attitude in regards to her limited social mobility. The below verses, Wallada had embroidered on her robe’s
Love poetry was a popular theme used by muhsanat poets to express their emotions to their lovers in the context of the outside world that they were deprived from. Hasfa bint Hajj ar-Rakyniyya is an example of a muhsana that wrote poetry that focused on her physical mobility. In terms of biographical evidence, there is not much found, yet it known that she lived during the twelfth-century and was noted for her beauty, lineage and wealth. She made herself remarkable through the love poetry that she had written to the poet Abu Ja’far Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik Ibn Sa’id (Schippers, 148). By looking at the poetry of Hafsa bint Hajj ar-Rakuniyya, one can understand how a muhsana “stress reciprocity and mobility” through their poems addressed to their beloved (Sergol, 158). Hafsa writes,
Shall I visit you or shall you visit me? For my heart always bows to what you long …show more content…
She was born in 994 CE in Cordoba to Muhammad III, caliph of Cordoba and to a former Christian slave. Raised in a time period when Cordoba had a very low percentage of illiterate citizens, Wallada had access to a vast collection of information. Her young adulthood years were full of turmoil and bloody governmental conflicts, causing the death of her father. This event had played an important role in her professional life, since it led her to “sell her property rights, dispensed of male guardianship and opened the capital’s most influential literary salon in her own mansion” (Cuen, 50). Her literate talent that surpassed many other counterparts of hers, had encouraged her to transform her literary salon into an unofficial school through which women were given the opportunity to learn how to read, write and compose music. Her love for poetry was not just expressed through her civic actions, recited and written poetry but also through her creative decision of wearing her own words. Wallada is famous for her embroidered verses on her right and left sleeves. Those words that compose a short poem of four verses, represents her attitude in regards to her limited social mobility. The below verses, Wallada had embroidered on her robe’s