ABSTRACT
Arabic literature can boast of no more enduring element than madf~ (panegyrics), which antedates Islam and survives, in some form, until this day. And one cannot find a more visible example of the socio-political role of literature in medieval Arabic-Islamic culture. Madf~ fulfilled a twofold role as a ruler's commemorative portrayal and as an occasion for him to practice patronage. In addition, madf/; commanded the lion's share in the works of most professional poets of that era. All of this combined makes madf/; and its paragon genre, the qa:jfda, an ideal nexus for examining the relationship between patrons and poets. The madf/; of Ibn al-RfunI offers a unique opportunity to look at this relationship from within, for Ibn al-RfunI constructs in his praise poems an ethics of praise poetry. Ethics is understood here in the sense of the principles of conduct of the parties in a patronage relationship, on a human level as well as on a professional one. While Ibn al-RfunI's ideas, of course, may not have been widely held, they represent the standpoint of an expert practitioner of madf~.
