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One of the greatest poets of pre-modern Arabic literary canon is al-Mutannabī (d. 965 CE). He has quite a curious name: “al-Mutanabbī” means “the would-be prophet”. Why would he have a name such as this? Here’s a brief account … 
His actual name was Abū l-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Juʿfī, and he was born in southern Iraqi city of Kūfah in 915. Later in life he was said to be quite coy about the origin of his famous epithet “al-Mutanabbī”.
Another famous belletrist and friend, al-Tanūkhī (d. 994), asked him about it when he met him in Ahwāz in 965, shortly before al-Mutannabī’s death. “That was from my youth; a certain childishness brought it about (كان في الحداثة أوجبته صبوة),” he replied.
Another friend, Ibn Jinnī (d. 1002) suggested that it was not meant in a literal sense but on account of a line in his early poetry:
I am in a community—God rectify her!—a stranger like Ṣāliḥ among Thamūd
أنَا في أُمّةٍ تَدارَكَهَا اللّـــ ـــهُ غَريبٌ كصَالِحٍ في ثَمودِ
I am in a community—God rectify her!—a stranger like Ṣāliḥ among Thamūd
أنَا في أُمّةٍ تَدارَكَهَا اللّـــ ـــهُ غَريبٌ كصَالِحٍ في ثَمودِ
However, another contemporary—the poet al-Waḥīd al-Baghdādī (d. 995)—disputes this thinly veiled attempt to hide the *real* cause of his nickname. After relocating from Iraq to Syria, he posed as a prophet in districts of Jabalah and Lādhiqiyyah among the Bedouin.
During this time, he produced an 'divinely inspired' text, often called a qurʾan or a muṣḥaf, which was divided (like *the* Qurʾan) into 114 sections (each called a ʿibrah rather than a sūrah). They were also written in rhymed rhythmic prose called sajʿ.
Here's an example:
والنجم والسيّار والفلك الدوّار والليل والنهار إنّ الكافر [أو: الإنسان] لفي أخطار إمضِ على سبيلك [أو: سننك] واقْفُ أثرَ مَن كان قبلك من المرسيلين فإنّ الله قامعٌ بك زيغ من ألحد في دينه وضلّ عن سبيله
والنجم والسيّار والفلك الدوّار والليل والنهار إنّ الكافر [أو: الإنسان] لفي أخطار إمضِ على سبيلك [أو: سننك] واقْفُ أثرَ مَن كان قبلك من المرسيلين فإنّ الله قامعٌ بك زيغ من ألحد في دينه وضلّ عن سبيله
[1] wa’n-najmi ’s-sayyār
[2] wa’l-falaki ’d-dawwār
[3] wa’l-layli wa’n-nahār
[4] inna ’l-kāfira la-fī aḫṭār
[5] imḍi ʿalā sabīlik
[6] wa’qfu aṯara man kāna qablaka mina ’l-mursilīn
[7] fa-inna ’llāha qāmiʿun bika zayġa man alḥada fī dīnihi wa-ḍalla ʿan sabīlih
[2] wa’l-falaki ’d-dawwār
[3] wa’l-layli wa’n-nahār
[4] inna ’l-kāfira la-fī aḫṭār
[5] imḍi ʿalā sabīlik
[6] wa’qfu aṯara man kāna qablaka mina ’l-mursilīn
[7] fa-inna ’llāha qāmiʿun bika zayġa man alḥada fī dīnihi wa-ḍalla ʿan sabīlih
[1] As the star wanders
[2] and the firmament turns
[3] and night follows day,
[4] the infidel is in dire straits.
[5] Proceed on your way
[6] and follow in the footsteps of those messenger sent before you,
[2] and the firmament turns
[3] and night follows day,
[4] the infidel is in dire straits.
[5] Proceed on your way
[6] and follow in the footsteps of those messenger sent before you,
[7] For through you God will quash the error of any who perverts his religion and strays from his path.
It's uncertain whether or not this example (and others like it) are actually his compositions. But his poetry was, and still is, widely admired as a paragon of Arabic verse.
It's uncertain whether or not this example (and others like it) are actually his compositions. But his poetry was, and still is, widely admired as a paragon of Arabic verse.
The poet al-Maʿarrī (d. 1057) allegedly titled his commentary on al-Mutanabbī’s poems, *Muʿjiz Aḥmad* (“Aḥmad’s Miracle”)The classic study of the accounts of Mutnabbī’s epithet is Wolfhart Heinrichs', which can be viewed here:
books.google.com/books?id=jkiXK…
books.google.com/books?id=jkiXK…
