Source: National Archives & Historic Records of Saudi Arabia
Literature & Poetry • Historical Archive • 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia • 1 views

Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma 🇸🇦

زهير بن أبي سلمى (Known as "The Wisdom Poet")
Pre-Islamic Wisdom Poet of the Mu'allaqat, Moral Philosopher
Born c. 520 🇸🇦 Najd, Saudi Arabia
Passed Away c. 609 Najd, Saudi Arabia
Lifespan 89 years old
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Notice / Correction
"War is nothing but what you have tasted and known; when you stir it up, it becomes a blazing fire that consumes everything."

Archival Overview

Venerated pre-Islamic 'poet of wisdom' whose golden Mu'allaqah celebrated the peacemakers who ended the bloody forty-year War of Dahis and Ghabra.

Biographical Record

Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma came from the Muzaynah tribe in Najd and grew up in an illustrious family of poets; his son Ka'b ibn Zuhayr later authored the famous Banat Su'ad poem for the Prophet Muhammad. Unlike the boastful warrior bards of his era, Zuhayr was an elder of profound moral contemplation, pacifism, and philosophical wisdom.

His masterpiece Mu'allaqah is an epic eulogy for the two noble chieftains, Harith ibn Awf and Haram ibn Sinan, who paid immense blood-money out of their private herds to end the devastating forty-year War of Dahis and Ghabra. Zuhayr spent an entire year polishing each of his major odes (hawliyyat), crafting verses that condemned war as a monstrous grinder of human flesh.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Muzaynah Tribal Cemetery
Medina, Saudi Arabia
GPS: 24.4700, 39.6100
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