Fadl al-Sha'irah

Fadl al-Qaysi or Faḍl al-Shāʻirah (فضل الشاعرة; "Faḍl the Poet"; d. 871) was one of "three early ʻAbbasid singing girls, particularly famous for their poetry" and is one of the pre-eminent medieval Arabic female poets whose work survives. She was a concubine of caliph Al-Mutawakkil.

Life
Born in al-Yamama (now in Saudi Arabia), Fadl was brought up in Abbasid Basra, (now in Iraq). She was from the Abd al-Qays tribe. Her brothers sold her to Muhammad ibn al-Faraj al-Rukhkhaji, a leading officer of the Caliphate, and he gave her to Caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861).

Fadl became a prominent figure in the court. According to Ibn Annadim, a bibliographer (died 1047), Fadl's diwan extended to twenty pages. Her pupils included the singer Faridah. When Fadl was brought to before al-Mutawakkil the very day she had been given to him, al-Mutawakkil asked her, "Are you really a poet"? She replied: Those who buy and sell me all say so. He laughed and said "Recite some of your poetry to us" and she recited following verses: "The rightly guided Ruler acceded in the year three and thirty. A Caliphate entrusted to al-Mutawakkil, when he was seven and twenty Let's us hope, Rightly guided Ruler that your rule goes on for eighty. God bless you! On all who do not say Amen" — The curse of Almighty"

Abu al-Ayna said that the Caliph liked the poem and gave her fifty thousand dirhams.

She died in 870/71.

Poetry
An example of Fadl's work, in the translation of Abdullah al-Udhari, is:


 * The following poem was written in response to the poet Abu Dulaf (d. 840) who hinted in a poem that she was not a virgin and he preferred virgins, whom he compared to unpierced pearls.

"Riding beasts are no joy to ride until they're bridled and mounted. So pearls are useless unless they're pierced and threaded."