19. From False Prophet to Master Poet
Al Mutanabbi’s precocious talent for verse won him a free education. During his childhood, the Qarmatians, a heretical cult discussed below that combined Zoroastrianism and Islam, began pillaging the Middle East. In his teens, the budding poet joined them. Claiming to be a Nabi, or prophet, at age seventeen, Al Mutanabbi led a Qarmatian revolt in Syria. The rebellion was suppressed and its teenaged leader was captured and imprisoned until he recanted two years later. The Nabi claim earned him the derisory nickname Al Mutanabbi, or “would-be prophet”.
After his release in 935, he became a wandering poet, traveling around the region’s courts and composing poems in praise of their rulers in exchange for patronage. Poems praising patrons have a long history that cuts across cultures. From ancient Sumer through ancient Greece and Persia, and among the Anglo Saxons, Arabs, Vikings and others, bards and poets sang and recited for their supper. But when they sought richer fare, the surest ticket was to compose something that flattered a wealthy and powerful figure.
