Ali The Poet

Ali as a poet

Ali was a distinguished poet. In his book Ali, the Superman, Dr. Ata Mohyuddin has assessed the poetry of Ali in the following terms: "Ali, in his poems is shown as a moralist, freely expressing the righteousness of his cause. In them, as in his sermons, he exhorts the pious to be sincere and steadfast, to refrain from doing wrong, and to stick to the faith. The poetry is neither romantic nor lyrical, but reformative. It contains no sensuous feelings or imagery and has nothing about it of the themes on which the old school of Arab poets delighted to dwell. There is no praise of women, wine, music, amusement and even of the sword. Ali's eloquence is reserved for the praise of patriotism, humility, modesty, chastity, piety, and resignation to God's will. Some of his verses are addressed to his followers, and are complaints about their infidelity. Others extol the virtue of loyalty to the community. Indeed he may be said to have laid the foundation of a national poetry. The style of the verses, which like Ali's prose is racy, lively and unstilted, manes the ethical truths expounded in them much more palatable than they might otherwise have been. The literary form adopted by Ali in his verses exerted a great influence on the trend of Arabic poetry in general. These verses still retain an importance second to none in Arabic literature".

Ali's Dewan

There is some controversy about Dewan, or the collection of the poems of Ali. According to one school, his "Dewan", a collection of 1500 verses and bearing the title "Anwar Oqueil", is extant. According to another account this collection includes poems written by the followers of Ali.

Samples of the poetry of Ali

In his book History of the Caliphs, Suyuti has given some samples of the poetry of Ali. These are:

1. "Where hearts contain despair and the spacious breast is stifled by what is within it, and cares make their abode and repose, and sorrows anchor in their habitations, and no way is seen for the dispelling of distress, and the stratagem of the cunning availeth not. There shall come to thee in thy despair a helper when the answered of prayer who is nigh shall bring. For all sorrows when they have reached their term there is linked to them an approaching joy".
2. "Consort not with a foolish brother, beware of him for how many a fool hath corrupted the gentle when he hath fraternized with them. A man is judged by the man with whom he consorteth for there are comparisons and similitude for one thing with another. The measure of a sandal is made when it is matched with it, and the evidence of the feeling of one heart towards another is when they meet".
3. "Men lust for the world and plot for it; yet, its clearness is mingled for them with impurities. They do not give thou of it thy portion according to thy wisdom when it is distributed. But men have their allotted shares according to their destinies how many there are of the wise and sagacious unprospered. While a fool has gained his wealth by errors, if it could be acquired by force and rapine falcons would sweep off with the subsistence of sparrows".
4. "Disclose not thy secret but to thyself for every confidant hath a confidant. For verily I have seen erring men who do not aspire to a high sense of honor".