Al-Gassaniyya

Al-Gassaniyya (c. 10th or 11th century)[1] was an Andalusian adība (woman of letters) and poet from Bayyāna, present-day Pechina, Almería, Spain.[2]

Few details remain in the historic record about this Arab poet; her surname, the last remnant of her identity, indicates she belonged to the Gassān clan and was from Bayyāna.[2][3] She lived perhaps during the height of economic and cultural splendor in Taifa of Almería, coinciding with the reigns of Jairán [es] and Abu Yahya Muhammad al-Mutasim [es]. This would have made her a contemporary of Zaynab al-Mariyya, another Almerian woman poet.

She is known for writing panegyrics dedicated to the kings.[1]

Only six lines written by al-Gassaniyya have survived: part of a romantic prelude to a likely much longer qasida about Jairán, the king of Almeria, that emulates the work of the famous court poet Ibn Darraj al-Qastalli:[1][2][4]

Did it sadden you to hear them say:
"The palanquins of the women have departed"?
How could you bear it, woe is you,
when they left?
There are but only deaths on their departure,
and if not, a resignation.

References

1. Ávila, María Luisa (1989). "Las mujeres "sabias" en al-Andalus" (PDF). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (in Spanish).
2. Garulo, Teresa. "Al-Gassaniyya". Real Academia de la Historia (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-17.
3. Viguera, María Jesús (1989). La Mujer en Al-Andalus (in Spanish). Ediciones de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
4. Janés, Clara (2014). Guardar la casa y cerrar la boca : en torno a la mujer y la literatura (Edición en formato digital ed.). Madrid. ISBN 978-84-16280-83-4. OCLC 946561623.