Buhturi

Buhturi, Arabic, أبو الوليد بن عبيدالله البحتري التنوخي (al-Walīd ibn `Ubayd Allāh al-Buhturī) (820–897) was an Arab poet born at Manbij in Syria, between Aleppo and the Euphrates. Like Abu Tammam, he was of the tribe of Tai.^[1]

While still young, he went to visit Abu Tammam at Homs, and by him was commended to the authorities at Ma'arrat an-Nu'man, who gave him a pension of 4000 dirhams yearly. Later he went to Baghdad, where he wrote verses in praise of the caliph al-Mutawakkil and of the members of his court. Although long resident in Baghdad, he devoted much of his poetry to the praise of Aleppo, and much of his love-poetry is dedicated to Aiwa, a maiden of that city. He died at Manbij in 897.^[1]

His poetry was collected and edited twice in the 10th century, arranged in one edition alphabetically (i.e. according to the last consonant in each line); in the other according to subject. It was published in Istanbul in 1883. Like Abu Tammam, he made a collection of early poems also known as the Hamasah.^[1]

References

1.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Buhturī". Encyclopædia Britannica 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This references the Biography in McG. de Slane's translation of Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary (Paris and London, 1842), vol. iii. pp. 657 ff.; and in the Book of Songs of Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, vol. xviii. pp. 167-175.