Despite the abundance of writings about Al-Mutanabbi by his adversaries, he remained a uniquely distinguished poet whose creativity is clearly manifested in his poetry. Within this context, the treatise of Al-Sahib ibn Abbad, Revealing the Flaws of Al-Mutanabbi’s Poetry, emerges as a critical attempt aimed at evaluating his poetry. However, it does not rely on a balanced and objective critical perspective.Ibn Abbad heavily depended on the use of satire as a principal critical tool in his treatise. This approach can be attributed to the nature of the Abbasid era, which witnessed a flourishing of literary criticism, where satire emerged as a prominent form of expression within both literary and critical traditions. Accordingly, satire in this treatise takes a trajectory that goes beyond analyzing the poetic text itself to targeting the poet’s persona. It does not remain confined to critiquing Al-Mutanabbi’s poetry but extends to his character as well. Despite Ibn Abbad’s assertion in the introduction of his treatise that one should avoid bias, his criticism does not entirely escape subjectivity. As a result, satire in many instances appears to be directed more toward the poetry than the text.
Jihan bint Saad bin Rashid Al-Hazzani (Tue,) studied this question.