Al-Sari al-Raffa'

Al-Sarī al-Raffāʾ (; died 362 AH / 973 CE), by his full Arabic name Abū l-Ḥasan al-Sarī ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Sarī al-Kindī al-Raffāʾ al-Mawṣilī , was an Iraqi poet in the court of emir Sayf al-Dawla, noted for his riddles and ekphrastic poetry. He compiled the anthology al-Muḥibb wa-l-maḥbūb wa-l-mashmūm wa-l-mashrūb, an extensive collection of 'verses about love, fragrant plants, and wine'.

Sample poem

One of al-Sarī's riddles runs as follows:

Aʿdadtu li-l-layli idhā l-laylu ghasaq, / wa-qayyada l-alḥāẓa min dūni l-ṭuruq, Quḍbāna tibrin ʿariyat ʿani l-waraq / shifāʾuhā in maruḍat ḍarbu l-ʿunuq.

I prepared for the night (when it darkened and fettered the eyes, obscuring the roads) Leaveless twigs of gold which, should they wilt, may be reanimated by cutting their necks.

The answer is 'candles'.

Editions Al-Sarī al-Raffāʾ, Dīwān al-Sarī al-Raffāʾ, ed. by Ḥabīb Ḥusayn al-Ḥasani, 2 vols. (Baghdad: Manshūrāt Wizārat al-Thaqāfah wa-l-Aʿlām, 1981). Al-Sarī b. Aḥmad al-Raffāʾ, al-Muḥibb wa-l-maḥbūb wa-l-mashmūm wa-l-mashrūb, ed. Miṣbāḥ Ghalawinjī (vols 1-3) and Majīd Ḥasan al-Dhahabī (vol. 4), 4 vols (Damascus: Maṭbūʿāt Majmaʿ al-Lughah al-ʿArabiyyah bi-Dimashq 1986–87).