That men of Negro blood should rise to distinction in Arabia is not at all
singular. By language and ethnological conformation the people of the
Arabian Peninsula belong to the great Semitic group of the human family.
But the proximity of Africa to Arabia carried the slave trade at a very
early period to that soil. Naturally, as a result of intermarriage,
thousands of Negroes with Arabian blood soon appeared in that part of Asia.
This was especially true of the midland and southern districts of the
peninsula. To-day, after several centuries of such unions, there is found
in southwestern Arabia, in northern and central Africa an ever-increasing
colored population of vast numbers, known as Arabised Negroes. Many of
these have become celebrities whose achievements form an integral part of
Arabian civilization and Mohammedan culture.[1] Emerging from this group
came Antar, the most conspicuous figure in Arabia, a man noble in thought,
heroic in deed, an exemplar of ideals higher than those of his age and a
model for posterity.
Antarah ben Shedad el Absi (Antar the Lion, the son of the Tribe of
Abs), the historic Antar, was born about the middle of the sixth century
of our era, and died about the year 615. Some accounts give the year
525 as the date of his birth. By Clement Huart, a distinguished
Orientalist, he is described as a mulatto.[2] "Goddess born, however,"
says Reynold A. Nicholson, "he could not be called by any stretch of the
imagination. His mother was a black slave."[3] All authorities agree that
Shedad, his father, was a man of noble blood and that his mother was an
Abyssinian slave.
The manner in which they became attached to each other is interesting. As
a result of tyrannical action upon the part of King Zoheir, chief of the
Absians, several chieftains seceded to attack and rob other tribes and
establish their own kingdom. Among these chieftains was one Shedad. In
their wanderings they attacked and conquered a certain tribe, among the
prisoners of which was a black woman of great beauty named Zebiba. Shedad
fell in love with this woman and to obtain possession of her yielded all
rights to the spoils. She then had two sons. Shedad lived in the fields
with her for a time, during which she gave birth to a son. As a boy his
strength was prodigious and courage unparalleled.
In his early life Antar was assigned to the lowly task of a keeper of
camels. Here he followed the usual routine incident to such a task while
the clan of his father roved from place to place, clashing with rivals in
quest of the prizes of the chase or the spoils of war, or rested in some
vale of Arabia and devoted itself to the simpler pastoral life. Following
this sort of occupation, he so distinguished himself as to impress the
woman whom he later married. This was Ibla, the beautiful daughter of
Malek, another son of King Zoheir. She was, therefore, Antar's cousin.
Antar's growth in courage, in bodily strength, sense of justice, and
sympathy for the weak excited her admiration and high esteem. His love for
Ibla found expression in deeds of valor and poems dedicated to her virtues,
but the jealousy of chieftains and his lowly birth prevented their union.
The magnanimity of Antar in the face of bitter opposition, however, and his
undying love finally won him Ibla as his bride.
Favored by great strength and a leonine courage, Antar soon passed from
the duties of a keeper of camels to those of a first-class fighting man.
By these virtues, so highly prized by the warlike Arabs, he ingratiated
himself both with his father and his tribe. Much of the life of Antar
is lost to authentic history, but that part which remains shows that he
followed the career of a great chieftain endowed with military qualities,
poetic gifts, and a talent for leadership of extraordinary order.
According to Huart, he took part in the terrible wars of the horses
arising out of the rivalry between the stallion Dahis and the mare
Ghabra.[4] Treachery alone prevented the famous courser from winning the
race, and in his vengeance Qais, chief of the tribe of Abs, waged bitter
war against his enemies. Antar was the rhapsodist as well as a participant
in these contests. Success in war rapidly followed. His kinsmen forgot his
lowly birth and former menial occupation and regarded him as the first
warrior of his day. His deeds of heroism increased his prestige and after
his father's death he became the protector of his tribe and the pattern of
Arabic chivalry.
Meanwhile he had shown such rare poetic gifts that his fame spread
beyond the circle of his clan and in due course of time he was selected
as a contestant in those poetic trials that were peculiar to the Arabs
in the pre-Islamic days. So successful was Antar's effort that he was
acknowledged the greatest poet of his time and one of his odes was
selected as one of the Mu 'Allakât, the seven suspended poems, while
judged by the assemblage of all the Arabs worthy to be written in letters
of gold and hung on high in the sacred Kaabah at Mecca, as accepted models
of Arabian style.[5]
The death of Antar is enshrouded in obscurity. Antar perished about the
year 615 while fighting against the tribe of the Tai. According to one
authority he had grown old and his youthful activity had forsaken him. He
is said to have fallen from his horse and to have been unable to regain
his feet in time. His death was a signal for peace and the end of the
long-drawn hostility. In spite of the tribe's desire to avenge its hero
and its bard, a compensation of 100 camels was accepted for the murder of
one of its scions and the poets celebrated the close of the long struggle.
Another author says the hero, stricken to death by a poison shaft sped by
the hand of a treacherous and implacable foe, remounted his horse to insure
the safe retreat of his tribe and died leaning on his lance. His enemies,
smitten with terror by the memory of his prowess, dared not advance, till
one cunning warrior devised a strategem which startled the horse out of its
marble stillness. The creature gave a bound and Antar's corpse, left
unsupported, fell upon the ground.[6]
His fame as a literary character transcends that of the modern authors of
black blood, such as Pushkin in Russia, and the elder Dumas in France.
After his death the fame of Antar's deeds spread across the Arabian
Peninsula and throughout the Mohammedan world. In time these deeds, like
the Homeric legends, were recorded in a literary form and therein is found
that Antar, the son of an Abyssinian slave, once a despised camel driver,
has become the Achilles of the Arabian Iliad, a work known to this day
after being a source of wonder and admiration for hundreds of years to
millions of Mohammedans as the "Romance of Antar." The book, therefore,
ranks among the great national classics like the "Shah-nameh" of Persia,
and the "Nibelungen-Lied" of Germany. Antar was the father of knighthood. He
was the champion of the weak and oppressed, the protector of the women, the
impassioned lover-poet, the irresistible and magnanimous knight. "Antar" in
its present form probably preceded the romances of chivalry so common in
the twelfth century in Italy and France.[7]
This national classic of the Arabian world is of great length in the
original, being often found in thirty or forty manuscript volumes in
quarto, in seventy or eighty in octavo. Portions of it have been translated
into English, German and French. English readers can consult it best in a
translation from the Arabic by Terrick Hamilton in four volumes published
in London in 1820. This translation, now rare, covers only a portion of the
original; a new translation, suitably abridged, is much needed. The fact
that its hero is of Negro blood may have chilled the ardor of English
translators to meet this need.
The original book purports to have been written more than a thousand years
ago--in the golden prime of the Caliph Harún-al-Rashid (786-809)--by the
famous As-Asmai (741-830). It is in fact a later compilation probably of
the twelfth century. The first Arabic edition was brought to Europe by an
Austro-German diplomat and scholar--Baron von Hammer Purgstall--near the
end of the eighteenth century. The manuscript was engrossed in the year
1466. The verses with which the volumes abound are in many cases
undoubtedly those of Antar.
One enthusiastic critic of this romance has said: The book in its present
form has been the delight of all Arabians for many centuries. Every wild
Bedouin of the desert knew much of the tale by heart and listened to its
periods and to its poems with quivering interest. His more cultivated
brothers of the cities possessed one or many of its volumes. Every
coffee-house in Aleppo, Bagdad, or Constantinople had a narrator who, night
after night, recited it to rapt audiences. The unanimous opinion of the
East has always placed the romance of Antar at the summit of such
literature. As one of their authors well says: "'The Thousand and One
Nights' is for the amusement of women and children; 'Antar' is a book for
men. From it they learn lessons of eloquence, of magnanimity, of generosity
and of statecraft." Even the prophet Mohammed, well-known foe to poetry and
poets, instructed his disciples to relate to their children the traditions
concerning Antar, "for these will steel their hearts harder than stone."[9]
Another critic has said: "The Romance of Antar is the free expression of
real Arab hero-worship. And even in the cities of the Orient today, the
loungers over their cups can never weary of following the exploits of
this black son of the desert who in his person unites the great virtues of
his people, magnanimity and bravery, with the gift of poetic speech. Its
tone is elevated; it is never trivial, even in its long and wearisome
descriptions, in its ever-recurring outbursts of love. Its language
suits its thought: choice and educated, and not descending--as in the
'Nights'--to the common expressions or ordinary speech. It is the Arabic
romance of chivalry and may not have been without influence in the spread
of the romance of mediæval Europe."[10]
An idea of this romance may be obtained from the following:
Years and years ago King Zoheir ruled Arabia. Now Shedad, a son, nettled
under the stern sway of his sire and longed for the chase and the combat.
The green plains becked, the murmuring streams sang until the heart of
Shedad grew sad. When the sun rose one morn he gathered his camels and
warriors and departed.
Far from the home of King Zoheir dwelt the tribe Djezila in peace but
Shedad fell upon them and slew them. As beautiful as a goddess was a black
woman named Zebiba who was captured. Now it came to pass that Shedad loved
Zebiba and dwelt with her and her two sons in the fields. In time she bore
him a son, as dark as an elephant, with eyes as black as night and a head
of shaggy hair. They called him Antar.
Antar grew in strength, in courage and in mind until the chieftains
disputed his possession, for his mother was a slave and Antar must tend the
herds. Zoheir summoned the chieftains and Antar and when he was brought
before him he marveled and threw him a piece of meat. But a dog that
chanced to be in the tent was quicker than he and seized it and ran off.
Rage gave Antar the fleetness of the wind. With mighty leaps he bounded
after the dog. Swifter darted no eagle upon its prey than Antar pursued the
rogue. With a mighty spring he caught it and seizing its jaws tore them
asunder down to the beast's shoulders, and in triumph he held the meat
aloft. But the King grew afraid and let Shedad depart with Antar. At ten
years of age he slew a wolf that harassed his flock and later killed a
slave who had beaten an old woman. Thus did the women find in him a
protector and they hung upon his words and recounted his deeds and his acts
of justice.
Now Shedad's brother, Malek, had a daughter named Ibla, who was as fair as
the moon. The ladies were wont to drink camel's milk morning and evening
when Antar had cooled it in the winds. It chanced one morning that Antar
entered Ibla's tent just as her mother was combing her hair, and the beauty
of her form transfixed him. A thing of loveliness fairer he had never seen,
nor ringlets of darker hue grace a human head. His heart beat wildly at the
birth of a great passion and the hot blood burned his dark cheeks. But
Ibla fled and Antar left with a light heart. For days he sang in measures
sweet of Ibla's beauty and his arm burned to do deeds. The weeds of the
field became the fairest of flowers; the limpid pools mirrored Ibla's face
in images beautiful and pure and the zephyrs whispered of love. But Antar
had dared love a princess and his father became wroth and came to the
fields one day with some chiefs to punish him.
When they arrived they found Antar in combat with a lion. With a roar like
thunder the beast lashed its tail and advanced. But Antar knew not fear. He
stepped forward to the fray. The snarling creeping beast scratched furrows
in the ground and bided the time for the spring. Then it leaped. Like a
flash Antar hurled his lance and leaped aside. A gleam of light and iron
met flesh as the mighty body hurtled by. Quickly he seized the shaft and
held it firmly while the beast lashed furiously and growled in its death
struggles, and then it lay still. But the heart of Shedad was softened and
he invited Antar and the chieftains to sup with him. Long into the night
recounted Shedad Antar's deeds but the dark eyes of Antar saw only Ibla and
his heart yearned for the morrow and the end of the feasting.
Not far from the land of King Zoheir dwelt the tribe of Temin and Zoheir
and his warriors departed to war against them. To Antar was entrusted the
care and protection of the women during Zoheir's absence. Antar swore to
protect them with his life and the women were not afraid. But the days are
long when lords are away and the women burned for entertainment. Then it
was that Semiah, the lawful wife of Shedad, called the women together and
spoke of a feast on the shores of a near by lake. When the day came Ibla
and her mother attended and as Antar saw her his heart leaped with joy.
Just then shouts were heard and from afar appeared a cloud of dust which
grew larger and filled the sky as it drew near. Out from the cloud of dust
sprang the tribesmen called Cathan and with yells they seized and carried
off the women.
But Antar sped up like the wind when he heard the shrieks of his beloved
Ibla and saw her anguished face and frenzied struggles. Horse he had none
but love and despair gave him the swiftness of a steed, the courage of a
lion and the strength of the elephant. Across the plains he coursed as
swiftly as the wind but the steeds were as swift as he. Clouds of dust
choked him and hid him from view but double burdens on tired coursers could
not continue the mad pace. Antar overtook one horseman, threw him off and
slew him. Then a cry arose among the tribesmen of Cathan to kill Antar,
but Antar lusted for battle and donning the armor of the slain man, he slew
warrior after warrior until the tribesmen of Cathan loosed the women and
fled. Then Antar comforted the women and drove many horses home before him,
among them a black charger.
When Shedad returned with Zoheir he went to visit his flocks and saw Antar
upon a black horse guarding the herds. Shedad inquired whence came the
horse, but Antar did not wish to betray the imprudent action of his
father's wife and remained silent. Thereupon Shedad called him a robber
and struck him with such violence that the blood ran. But Semiah saw the
cruel act and her heart went out to Antar. She clasped him in her arms and
throwing herself at her lord's feet, she raised her veil and told the
story of the attack and rescue and Antar's courage. Antar's silence and
magnanimity so touched Shedad that he wept. The news of Antar's feat soon
reached the king, who gave him a robe of honor and rich presents.
But jealousies among the chieftains toward Antar grew and plots were made
to kill him. Again and again he circumvented his foes and in triumphs
showed infinite pity and mercy. Deeds of darkness but increased the mutual
love between Ibla and Antar and the name of Antar was heard far into
distant lands.
Now it happened that a youth of wealth and lineage sought Ibla's hand in
marriage. But pride choked him and he basked in the glory of his fathers'
deeds. When Antar heard of the boastful youth's suit he swore a great oath
to kill him and he fell upon him. But the youth escaped. Now the chieftains
saw a chance to destroy Antar's power and encompass his destruction. They
appeared before Zoheir and demanded Antar's life. Then Zoheir stripped him
of his high estate and favors and sent him back to the fields to attend the
herds and Antar bowed his great head in shame and left. But the love he
bore for Ibla was as meat to his body and refreshment to his mind and his
great spirit died not.
Soon the tribe of Tex fell upon Zoheir and his warriors and sorely pressed
them. The pride of Zoheir, however, was great and Antar stayed far from the
battle, for his heart was heavy and he was again a tender of herds. Then
the day went against Zoheir and his warriors and many fell and sadness came
upon the land. And the men of Tex pressed the men of Zoheir harder and
carried off the women and with them Ibla. Still Antar tended the herds and
came not. But the mighty chieftains of Zoheir came to him and begged him to
cloak his wrath and do battle with them against the men of Tex. And Antar
heard the men of Tex in silence and his heart gave a bound when they spoke
of Ibla, but still he stayed in his tent and came not. Then the chieftains
sought to move him by his great love for Ibla. Thereupon Antar's face
beamed and he spoke and laid down the condition that Ibla must be given him
as a wife. Shedad and Malek agreed and Antar girt himself and with the
remnant of Zoheir's army went against the men of Tex. Now the strength of
Antar was that of a hundred men and his courage that of a thousand and
animated by his great burning passion and with the ardor of battle in his
nostrils he fell upon the tribe of Tex. Redder sank never a sun than the
plains blushed with the blood of men after that battle. Tears filled Ibla's
eyes when she beheld Antar and in triumph he led her back to the land
of King Zoheir. But the heart of Malek was false, and bitter plots were
rife, and even Shedad viewed in despair the rise of a black slave. Malek
demanded that Antar should give his bride a present of a thousand camels of
a certain breed that could be found only in distant lands. Now Antar read
his heart and saw his wicked artifice but he set out. Far from the land
of King Zoheir wandered Antar, far from the wiles of Malek and jealous
suitors, far from the tent of his beloved Ibla. But the heart of Antar was
not cast down nor did hope die.
Now it happened that Antar entered the country of Persia where he was taken
prisoner. His captors bound him upon a horse and departed for the village
of their king. Tidings came of the ravages of a fierce lion and no warriors
dared to give it battle. Fiercer had roamed no lion in the land of King
Zoheir nor in Persia. Whole villages fled before it and herds were but as
chaff. But Antar begged that he be loosed and they untied his bonds and
gave him a lance and he departed to attack the lion.
Courage is half victory and the arm of Antar was skilled in the art of the
lance and his heart was stout. But the strength of the lion was of the body
whilst that of Antar was of the body and the mind. With a mighty throw
Antar hurled the lance and it found its mark, but the lion bounded forward
and Antar stood unarmed. Then with a mighty wrench he jerked a young tree
from the ground and with powerful blows beat down the attack of the lion.
He gave a mighty swing and cleft the beast's skull and it fell down and
died, and Antar departed for the tent of the king. Then the men marvelled,
for none dared follow to see the terrible combat nor did people believe
until they saw the beast.
Then the king loaded Antar with rich gifts and honors and gave him the
thousand camels which he sought, and Antar departed for the land of King
Zoheir. Great was the rejoicing of Ibla when messengers brought tidings
of Antar's return. Great was the surprise of Malek and the rage of the
chieftains. But Shedad's heart softened and he yearned for his son and the
fair Ibla gave him her hand and Antar and Ibla married and dwelt in the
land of King Zoheir.
To this day the fame of Antar still persists. Rimsky-Korsakoff, a modern
Russian composer, has given us in his symphony "Antar" a tone picture of
this Arabian Negro's life that opens and closes with an atmospheric eastern
pastorale of great beauty. It has been played during the past winter with
marked success in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, at the
concerts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, that representative body of
great musicians. The remarkable career of Antar and the perpetuation of his
memory in history, literature and music, though removed by many centuries
from the life of the American Negro of today, offers to him many thoughts
for reflection.
While Arabia of the pre-Islamic days is not America of this generation nor
the Semitic people of the East like the Germanic races of the West, still
those human qualities that make for valor, for greatness of spirit, that
reflect genius devoted to literature and social service are compelling
forces in all climes and in all races. An opportunity for a free expression
of them and a recognition of their potent effect in the sum total of human
culture should be the mission of scholarship in all lands. Those elements
of character which the Arabs of Antar's day regarded as their _beau ideal_
were found not unworthy of admiration when manifested in one of Negro
blood. When his poetic fancy reflected the spirit of Arab life his works
were not rejected because his mother was an African slave but one of the
best was placed among the immortal poems of his father's country. When his
genius for warfare was shown it was given an opportunity to develop and
serve the cause of all who preferred valiant deeds to arguments of race.
When his life was spent it was not looked upon as one of an unusual Negro
rising above a sphere previously limited to his fellows of the same blood
but as an epic of success crowning human effort and worthy to be embodied
in the literature of Arabia as the exploits of a hero who exemplified the
spirit of the people, acceptable for all time as their model for valor,
poetic genius, hospitality, and magnanimity.