Al-Sumaysir, satirical poet and witness to the Taifa kingdoms

Se estudia la vida y la obra del poeta de origen granadino, emigrado a Almería, Abū l-Qāsim Jalaf b. Faraŷ al-Ilbīrī, conocido por el apodo peyorativo de al-Sumaysir. A través de sus versos y de las anécdotas que nos han llegado sobre él en las fuentes árabes, así como teniendo en cuenta los diversos estudios que se le han dedicado, el trabajo se acerca a su compleja trayectoria personal y a su particular visión revolucionaria de su épo-ca, el s. XI. Se aportan novedosos datos sobre su personalidad y los motivos de su exilio de Granada, al igual que sobre su vida en la corte del rey al-Mu‘taṣim de Almería. La ironía y crítica de al-Sumaysir alcanzaron a los régulos de taifas y, especialmente, a los beréberes. Es autor también de poemas de tono sentencioso, elegiaco, filosófico y ascético, junto con otros más mundanos, entre ellos atrevidos versos amorosos de inspiración homoerótica. Su poesía, aparentemente grosera, jocosa y festiva, arremete contra diversos aspectos repro-bables de la sociedad andalusí de su tiempo. Es un documento sobre su entorno sociopolí-tico y cultural.This paper examines the life and work of Abū l-Qāsim Khalaf b. Faraj al-Ilbīrī, the Granada-born poet who emigrated to Almeria and is known by the derogatory nickname of al-Sumaysir. Through his poetry and the anecdotes concerning him that have reached the present day in Arabic sources, and also making use of the different studies done on him, this paper explores his complex personal trajectory and his particular revolutionary vision of the times in which he lived, the 11th century. New information is provided on his personality and the reasons for his exile from Granada, and also about his life in the court of al-Mu‘taṣim of Almería. Al-Sumaysir’s irony and criticism were often aimed at the Taifa rulers, particularly the Berbers. He also authored sententious, elegiac, philosophical and ascetic poems, along with other, more mundane ones, including some daring love poetry of homoerotic inspiration. His apparently coarse, jocular and festive verse, which can in fact be read as a critique of various objectionable aspects of Andalusi society of his time, is a document of his sociopolitical and cultural setting