Poetic parodies of Islamic discourses by Abū Nuwās
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Geert Jan van Gelder
Abstract
Abū Nuwās (d. c. 813), one of the greatest and most versatile of Arabic poets, practised every major genre. His fame and notoriety rest especially on his large corpus of Bacchic verse and love poetry, most of which is homoerotic. All his poetry is secular: no mystical verse, hymns on God or praise of the Prophet, but religion is never very far, if not in the foreground then in the background. Much of his verse is explicitly antinomian, flouting the prescripts of Islam. The present paper deals with his humorous and often obscene verse parodies of two kinds of Islamic discourse, the waṣiyyah (‘pious instruction’ or ‘testament’), and Hadith, the corpus of sayings and doings of the prophet Muhammad.
Abstract
Abū Nuwās (d. c. 813), one of the greatest and most versatile of Arabic poets, practised every major genre. His fame and notoriety rest especially on his large corpus of Bacchic verse and love poetry, most of which is homoerotic. All his poetry is secular: no mystical verse, hymns on God or praise of the Prophet, but religion is never very far, if not in the foreground then in the background. Much of his verse is explicitly antinomian, flouting the prescripts of Islam. The present paper deals with his humorous and often obscene verse parodies of two kinds of Islamic discourse, the waṣiyyah (‘pious instruction’ or ‘testament’), and Hadith, the corpus of sayings and doings of the prophet Muhammad.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- About the contributors ix
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Part I. Humour as tool and topic (essays)
- Humour, risk and religion 3
- Religion and humour 11
- The unquenchable laughter of the gods 17
- Is the application of modern humour theories on historical cases a joke? 23
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Part II. Christianity and Judaism in Late Antiquity
- Derisive laughter and religious identity in ancient Christianity 33
- Opponent or advocate? 47
- “This joke has gone on for long enough” 63
- The smile of the martyr 81
- Divine mockery and laughing Rabbis 93
- Converting comedians 107
- Biblical fun 127
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Part III. The Qur’an and early Arabic literature
- Humour and its ethics 145
- A laughing God, between Sunni approval and Shi’ite rejection 155
- Poetic parodies of Islamic discourses by Abū Nuwās 183
- Greek and Buddhist jokes and their corresponding versions in classical Arabic literature 207
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Part IV. Buddhism
- How is this sutra different from my ass? 221
- Finicking monkeys 235
- “Are you really serious?” 253
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Part V. Conclusion
- Humour in religion 273
- Index 301
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- About the contributors ix
-
Part I. Humour as tool and topic (essays)
- Humour, risk and religion 3
- Religion and humour 11
- The unquenchable laughter of the gods 17
- Is the application of modern humour theories on historical cases a joke? 23
-
Part II. Christianity and Judaism in Late Antiquity
- Derisive laughter and religious identity in ancient Christianity 33
- Opponent or advocate? 47
- “This joke has gone on for long enough” 63
- The smile of the martyr 81
- Divine mockery and laughing Rabbis 93
- Converting comedians 107
- Biblical fun 127
-
Part III. The Qur’an and early Arabic literature
- Humour and its ethics 145
- A laughing God, between Sunni approval and Shi’ite rejection 155
- Poetic parodies of Islamic discourses by Abū Nuwās 183
- Greek and Buddhist jokes and their corresponding versions in classical Arabic literature 207
-
Part IV. Buddhism
- How is this sutra different from my ass? 221
- Finicking monkeys 235
- “Are you really serious?” 253
-
Part V. Conclusion
- Humour in religion 273
- Index 301
