Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Inheritance is not for anyone besides you. No, by the name of Allah, never
can it be for anyone else. 1
Al-Mutawakkil rewarded him by appointing him as the governor of Baḥrayn and
Yamāmah. He also gave him four garments and ordered that he be given three
thousand Dinars. The reason for this extraordinary gift is not unclear.
And Ibn al-Muʿtaz 2 said:
قتلنا أمية في دارها
ونحن أحق بأسالبها
We killed the Umayyads in their abode, and we are most deserving of their
remains.
And part of this poem is the following verses as well:
ونحن ورثنا ثياب النبي
لكم رحم يا بني بنته
فكم تجذبون بأهدابها
ولكن بنو العم أولى بها
And we inherited the clothes of the Nabī, so for how long will you pull its
edges.
You enjoy kinship, O sons of his daughter, but the children of the uncle are
more deserving. 3
On the other hand the Khulafāʾ had extended threats to any poet who was known
to be drawn toward the Alawids and to support them by enumerating their virtues
1 Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī 5/339; al-Aghānī 23/215; al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 6/140.
2 ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Muʿtaṣim al-Hāshimī, Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Ghālib bī Allāh. A
natural poet who was a master in literary criticism. The army pledged allegiance after the instability
of al-Muqtadir and his dismissal. Thereafter they reinstated him and obeyed and Ibn al-Muʿtaz went
into hiding and was eventually killed when he was found in 296 A.H. at the age of 48. He ruled for
one day only. He has written Ṭabaqāt al-Shuʿarāʾ, al-Sariqāt and al-Zahr wa al-Riyāḍ. See: Tārīkh Baghdād
10/95; Wafayāt al-Aʿyān 3/76; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 14/42.
3 Dīwān Ibn al-Muʿtaz 1/25.
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