ʿUMAR IBN ABĪ RABĪʿA AND ṮURAYYĀ IN RAWḌAT AL-QULŪB WA-NUZHAT AL-MUḤIBB WA-AL-MAḤBŪB

The subject of this paper is the love poetry of 'Umar ibn Abī Rabī'a to his beloved Ṯurayyā. It focuses on one of his poems, "Ṯurayyā's Farewell", which is included in the twelfth-century treatise on love, Rawḍat al-qulūb wa-nuzhat almuḥibb wa-al-maḥbūb, written by the Syrian author 'Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Naṣr ibn 'Abdullāh al-Šayzarī (fl. 1174 A.D.) With reference to the 2003 critical edition of Rawḍat edited by G. Kanāzi, to Abū al-Farağ al-Iṣbahānī's Kitāb al-Aġānī and to the Dīwān by 'Umar, I discuss the content and the main themes of the poem as well as al-Šayzarī's treatment of the existing reports about the couple 'Umar and Ṯurayyā, in which the influence of courtly love plays a major role.