Abstract
The great Arab poet and philosopher Abu al-‘Ala al-Ma‘arri (AD 973–1057) was known for his pessimistic outlook on life. Blind from an early age, he regarded procreation as a sin and universal annihilation as the best hope for humankind. True to his views, this unconventional thinker never married: he shut himself in his house, adopted ascetic practices, and passed the greater part of his life in relative seclusion. It is said that he wished that the following verse should be inscribed on his grave:
This wrong was by my father done To me, but ne’er by me to one.1
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Notes
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Camelia Sadat, My Father and I ( New York: Macmillan, 1985 ), p. 31.
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© 2013 Dalya Cohen-Mor
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Cohen-Mor, D. (2013). Fathers and Sons in Poetry and Politics. In: Fathers and Sons in the Arab Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137335203_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137335203_5
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