24. A Teenage Would-Be Prophet
Al Mutanabbi exhibited a precocious talent for verse that won him a scholarship and free education. When he was a child, the Qarmatians, a heretical cult that combined Zoroastrianism and Islam, began to pillage the Middle East, and he joined them in his teens. When he was seventeen years old, Al Mutanabbi claimed to be a Nabi, or prophet, and led a Qarmatian revolt in Syria. The rebellion was suppressed, and its teenage leader was captured and locked up until he recanted two years later. The Nabi claim earned him the derisory nickname Al Mutanabbi, or “would-be prophet”, by which he is known to history.
After his release in 935, he became a wandering poet, and traveled around the region’s courts to compose poems in praise of their rulers in exchange for patronage. Poems that praise patrons in exchange for patronage 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 supper. But when they sought richer fare, the surest ticket was to compose something that flattered a wealthy and powerful figure.
