Court poet to Badr al-Kharshani at Damascus, 328/939

المتنبي مدّاح بدر الخرشاني بدمشق، ٣٢٨هـ/٩٣٩م

c. 939 CE · c. 328 AH

Damascus

At the beginning of 328/939 al-Mutanabbi became court poet to the amir Badr al-Kharshani — the Badr ibn Ammar of the Diwan — governor of Damascus for Ibn Ra'iq, who had just taken possession of Syria. Of Arab stock, Badr seemed to the poet the long-awaited Maecenas, and the panegyrics addressed to him carry sincere admiration; but intrigues of jealous rivals ended the friendship in about a year and a half, and al-Mutanabbi, no longer feeling safe, hid in the Syrian desert until Badr's departure for Iraq freed him 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
Abbasid Fragmentation
Region
Levant & Iraq

In time

930940950 c.
Abbasid Fragmentation · The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era

In space

Damascus

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Overview

At the beginning of 328/939 al-Mutanabbi became court poet to the amir Badr al-Kharshani — the Badr ibn Ammar of the Diwan — governor of Damascus for Ibn Ra'iq, who had just taken possession of Syria. Of Arab stock, Badr seemed to the poet the long-awaited Maecenas, and the panegyrics addressed to him carry sincere admiration; but intrigues of jealous rivals ended the friendship in about a year and a half, and al-Mutanabbi, no longer feeling safe, hid in the Syrian desert until Badr's departure for Iraq freed him 1.

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
al-Mutanabbi
Occurred at
Damascus
During the reign of
al-Radi bi-llah Abu al-Abbas Muhammad ibn al-Muqtadir

People and things also explored

the Cave of Qasyun (Jibril's Cave)· Qasr Hiraql / Qasr Shams al-Muluk· The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus· Gold-leaf glass mosaic tesserae (Umayyad)· The Fitna of the Hafiz Abd al-Ghani in Damascus in 595· Abu Dawud at Kufa, 221/836, and Damascus, 222/837· al-Afdal besieges Damascus and turns back· al-Adil's seizure of Damascus

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 7 p. 770
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Court poet to Badr al-Kharshani at Damascus, 328/939”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/mutanabbi-badr-damascus-328/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-09.

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Related

the Cave of Qasyun (Jibril's Cave)

The mosque raised inside the cave of Mount Qasyun by Abu al-Faraj Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Mu'allim beginning in 370, after a dream in which Jibril bade him build a mosque where God's name would be remembered — he called it Jibril's Cave; a broad prayer-hall floored in white marble, its columns all marble, never empty of the pious at remembrance.