Namaeh Farhangistan

Namaeh Farhangistan

The Persian Takhallus (Pen Name) in Arabic Poetry of the Early Hijri Centuries

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Hosein Imanian
Associate Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran
10.22034/nf.2026.501446.1385
Abstract
One of the phenomena that manifests in Persian poetry from the very first Hijri centuries—suggesting it to be a much older tradition in Iranian poetry and art—is the inclusion of the poet’s artistic name (takhallus) in the concluding lines. This feature did not originally exist in Arabic poetry. Due to the extensive intertwining of Persian literature and art with Arabic literature in the post-Islamic centuries, this study aims to identify traces of the “takhallus” in Arabic poetry. Such traces must primarily be sought in the works of Iranian poets composing in Arabic, who were familiar with ancient Persian poetic traditions and occasionally employed them, sometimes unconsciously. Certain poets of Arab descent who, for various reasons, were familiar with Persian songs should also be included within this scope. Although one cannot definitively classify all the Arabic poetic examples recovered in this article as “takhallus”, this study represents an endeavor to examine the “takhallus” in Arabic poetry more rigorously.
To identify the earliest instances of the “takhallus” in Arabic poetry, a chronological approach has been adopted, highlighting the oldest examples that date back to the first Hijri century. In Arabic poetry, the “takhallus” is typically derived from the poet’s given name or his “kunya”. In some Arabic poems, particularly those of Sahib ibn 'Abbad, the name of the poet’s melodious reciter (rāwi) is also mentioned alongside the “takhallus”. Naturally, more examples become available from the fourth and fifth centuries AH onward, following the broader expansion of this phenomenon in Persian poetry and its subsequent recognition by literary critics.
Keywords
Takhallus (Pen name)
Persian poetry
Arabic poetry
Reciter (Rāwi)
Eulogist (Manāqib-khwān)
Subjects
References
Sources are in Persian unless otherwise specified.
Abolqāsemi, Mohsen and Yaḥyā ‘Ubayd Ṣāliḥ and Ibrāhim Khodāyār (2006). “A Comparison of the Methods for Selecting Titles (Laqabs) for Arab and Persian Poets”, Dirāsāt fī al-‘Ulūm al-Insāniyyah (Studies in the Humanities), vol.13, No.4 (Fall), pp.1-17.
Abū al-‘Atāhiyah (1986), Al-Dīwān, Beirut, Dār Bayrūt.
Abū al-Hindī (1969), Al-Dīwān, ‘Abdullāh al-Jubūrī (ed.), Baghdād, Maṭba‘at al-Nu‘mān.
Abū Nuwās, al-Ḥasan ibn Hāni’ (2001), Al-Dīwān. Beirut, Dār Ṣādir.
Al-‘Ajjāj (1995), Al-Dīwān, ‘Izzat Ḥasan (ed.), Beirut, Dār al-Sharq al-‘Arabī.
‘Amr ibn Kulthūm (1991), Al-Dīwān, Imīl Badī‘ Ya‘qūb (ed.), Beirut, Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabī.
Anvari (1958), Dīwān, Sa‘id Nafisi (ed.), 2nd ed., Tehran, Piruz.
Āzarnush, Āzartāsh (2006), The Conflict Between Persian and Arabic in the Early Centuries, Tehran, Nashr-e Ney.
Beyzā’yi, Bahram (2017), Theater in Iran (Namāyesh dar Iran), 11th ed., Tehran, Roshangarān & Motale‘āt-e Zanān.
Faqihi, ‘Ali Asghar (1986), Āl-e Buyeh (The Buyid Dynasty), s.l., Sabā.
Ḥusayn, Ṭāhā (n.d.), Ḥadīth al-Arbi‘ā’ (Wednesday Tales), 15th ed., Cairo, Dār al-Ma‘ārif.
Ibn al-Rūmī (2002), Al-Dīwān, Aḥmad Ḥasan Basaj (ed.), 3rd ed., Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah.
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1982), Akhbār al-Nisā’ (News of Women), Nizār Riḍā (ed.), Beirut, Maktabat al-Ḥayāt.
‘Imād al-Dīn al-Iṣfahānī (1998), Kharīdat al-Qaṣr wa Jarīdat Ahl al-‘Aṣr, ‘Adnān Muḥammad Āl Ṭu‘mah (ed.), Tehran, Mīrāth-e Maktūb.
Al-Iṣfahānī, Abū al-Faraj (1999), Al-Aghānī (The Book of Songs), Beirut, Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-‘Arabī.
Jaeger, Werner (1997), Paideia, trans. Mohammad Hasan Lotfi, Tehran, Khārazmi.
Al-Jāḥiẓ, ‘Amr ibn Baḥr (1990), Al-Ḥayawān (The Book of Animals), Yaḥyā al-Shāmī (ed.), 2nd ed., Beirut, Dār wa Maktabat al-Hilāl.
Jaḥẓat al-Barmakī (1996), Al-Dīwān, Jān ‘Abdullāh Tūmā (ed.), Beirut, Dār Ṣādir.
Al-Khārazmī, Abū Bakr (1997), Al-Dīwān, Ḥāmid Ṣidqī (ed.), Tehran, Mīrāth-e Maktūb.
Khodāyār, Ibrāhim and Yaḥyā ‘Ubayd Ṣāliḥ ‘Ubayd (2012), “Takhallos (Pen Name) in Persian and Arabic Poetry.” Funun-e Adabi (Literary Arts), vol.4, No.1 (Serial 6) (Farvardin), pp.61-78.
Mas‘ud Sa‘d Salmān (1983), Diwān, Rashid Yāsami (ed.), Tehran, Golshā’i.
Mihyār al-Daylamī (1925), Al-Dīwān, Cairo, Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyyah.
Mohammadi Āsiābādi, ‘Ali (2005), “Pseudonym and its application in Hafez poetry”, Pazhuhesh-hā-ye Adabi (Literary Research), No.8 (Summer), pp.51-74.
Mo’tamen, Zayn al-‘Ābedin (1976), The Evolution of Persian Poetry (Taḥawwol-e She‘r-e Fārsī), Tehran: Tahuri.
Al-Murādī, Muḥammad Khalīl (1988), Silk al-Durar fī A‘yān al-Qarn al-Thānī ‘Ashar, 3rd ed., Beirut, Dār al-Bashā’ir al-Islāmiyyah wa Ibn Ḥazm.
Muslim ibn al-Walīd (n.d.), Al-Dīwān, Sāmī al-Dahhān (ed.), 3rd ed., Cairo, Dār al-Ma‘ārif.
Nikmanesh, Mahdi (2006), “A New Understanding of Takhallos in Persian Poetry”, Majalleh-ye Dāneshkadeh-ye ‘Ulūm-e Ensānī-ye Dāneshgāh-e Semnān (Journal of the Faculty of Humanities, Semnan University), vol.5, No.15 (Fall), pp.125-133.
Pajouhandeh, Leilā (2006), “Takhallos (Pen Name)”, The Great Islamic Encyclopedia, vol.14, Tehran, Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia, pp.482-485.
Al-Qāḍī al-Jurjānī, ‘Alī ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz (2003), Al-Dīwān, Samīḥ Ibrāhīm Ṣāliḥ (ed.), Damascus, Dār al-Bashā’ir.
Qazvini, Muhammad (1984), Memoranda (Yāddāshthā), Iraj Afshār (ed.), 3rd ed., Tehran, ‘Elmi.
Rudaki (1997), Diwān, Sa‘id Nafisi and I.S. Braginsky (eds.), 2nd ed., Tehran, Negāh.
Al-Riyāshī, Muḥammad ibn Yasīr (1996), Al-Dīwān, Maẓhar al-Ḥajjī (ed.), Ḥimṣ, Dār al-Dhākirah.
Al-Ṣāḥib ibn ‘Abbād (2001), Al-Dīwān, Ibrāhīm Shams al-Dīn (ed.), Beirut, Mu’assasat al-A‘lamī.
Sanā’i Ghaznavi, Majdud ibn Ādam (1983), Diwan, M.T. Modarres Razavi (ed.), 3rd ed. Tehran, Ketābkhāneh-ye Sanā’i.
Shafi‘i Kadkani, Mohammad Rezā (2007), The Social Context of Persian Poetry (Zamineh-ye Ejtemā‘i-ye She‘r-e Fārsi), Tehran, Akhtarān & Zamāneh.
Shamisā, Sirus (1991), The Course of the Ghazal in Persian Poetry (Seyr-e Ghazal dar She‘r‑e Fārsi), 3rd ed., Tehran, Ferdows.
Suzani Samarqandi (1959), Diwān, ed. by Nasir al-Din Shāh-Hoseyni, Tehran, Amir Kabir.
Al-Tawḥīdī, Abū Ḥayyān (1992), Akhlāq al-Wazīrayn (The Conduct of the Two Viziers), Muḥammad ibn Tāwīt al-Ṭanjī (ed.), Beirut, Dār Ṣādir.
Al-Tha‘ālibī, ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad (1990), Al-Dīwān, Maḥmūd ‘Abdullāh al-Jādir (ed.), Baghdad, Dār al-Shu’ūn al-Thaqāfiyyah al-‘Āmmah.
—— (1983), Yatīmat al-Dahr fī Maḥāsin Ahl al-‘Aṣr, Mufīd Muḥammad Qumayḥah (ed.), Beirut, Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah.
‘Umar ibn Abī Rabī‘ah (1997), Al-Dīwān, Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd (ed.), Beirut, Dār al-Andalus.
Al-Waḍḍāḥ al-Yaman (1996), Al-Dīwān, Muḥammad Khayr al-Buqā‘ī (ed.), Beirut, Dār Ṣādir.
Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī, Shihāb al-Dīn (1993), Mu‘jam al-Udabā’ (Dictionary of Literati), Iḥsān ‘Abbās (ed.), Beirut, Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī.
Al-Yazīdī, Muḥammad ibn al-‘Abbās (1938), Al-Amālī, India: Maṭba‘at Jam‘iyyat Dā’irat al-Ma‘ārif.
Ziyād al-A‘jam (1983), Al-Dīwān, Yūsuf Ḥusayn Bikkār (ed.), s.l., Dār al-Masīrah.
Namaeh Farhangistan
Volume 25, Issue 2 - Serial Number 102
Nemeh Farhangestan (Comparative Literature)
May and June 2026
Pages 39-60

  • Receive Date 22 January 2025
  • Accept Date 17 February 2025