Breaking the Rules A Stylistic Reading in an Abbasid Slave – Girl Anecdote

Abstract

This study is a close stylistic reading of a story of a poetic challenge act held between ‘Inan, an Abbasid slave – girl and Abu Hanash, a distinguished male poet of her time. Although the male superiority in poetry was unquestionable in classical Arabic literature the result of this challenge broke the rule and supported the anti – thesis of female superiority. From a personal point of view, this anecdote, though reported in few a lines by Abu ‘l- Faraj al- Asfahani, is loaded with significant indications. The aim of this paper is to explore, through detailed stylistic analysis of this anecdote, the conflicts among the contradictory components of the Abbasid society, and to review the woman status within literary and intellectual circles of this period.