User:Al-Andalusi/al-Sa'alik

Sa'alik, singular Su'luk (Arabic singular: صعلوك, plural: صعاليك) is the name for "wretched vagabonds and destitute outlaws" that were common in the Jahiliyya. The sa'alik thrived on defiance, alienation and extreme contempt for tribal mores and glorification of solitude.

he celebrated wandering bands of "robber-knights" famed for their chivilary and honour despite their predatory activities.

A su'luk was disowned by his tribe because of an act that dishonored tribal customs

famous for courage, solitude, physical strength, and familiarity with death. Their typical activities were raiding and distributing spoils among their followers, orphans and widwos. Their outrage at the shifting values all around them.

The group was headed by 'Urwa Ibn al-Ward. 'Urwaprovides a fine example: "Let me strive for riches, for I have seen that the worst of the people is the poor man al-faqir, and the most shameful and despicable among them, even though he may have had good birth and fortune and attained the utmost in generosity: his wife despises him and his children chase him away".

Poetry

Their poetry, assert Beeston et al., tells of their wild life as they sang defiantly of their "high ideals of liberty and exemplary conduct" (1983: 33).

Glorifuing their isolation, as though destitution, hunger and ostracism were bagdes of honour, they liken themselves to wolves or foxe

repeated mention of poverty, hunger,

much of whose works consisted of attacks on the rigidity of tribal life and praise of solitude. Some of these attacks on the values of the clan and of the tribe were meant to be ironic, teasing the listeners only in order finally to endorse all that the members of the audience held most dear about their communal values and way of life.

Notable Sa'aliks

• Ash-Shanfara Ibn Azd

• Ta'abbata Sharran

• 'Urwa Ibn al-Ward

• Al-Sulayk ibn al-Sulaka: was "one of the brigands among the Arabs and a runner so fast that horses could not outstrip him"