ABSTRACT
Arabic literature can boast of no more enduring element than madīḥ (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. Madīḥ fulfilled a twofold role as a ruler’s commemorative portrayal and as an occasion for him to practice patronage. In addition, madīḥ commanded the lion’s share in the works of most professional poets of that era. All of this combined makes and its paragon genre, the qaṣīda, an ideal nexus for examining the relationship between patrons and poets. The madīḥ of Ibn al-Rūmī offers a unique opportunity to look at this relationship from within, for Ibn al-Rūmī 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-Rūmī’s ideas, of course, may not have been widely held, they represent the standpoint of an expert practitioner of madīḥ.
