Abu Nuwas, Arab poet and singer of male love
Text by Adriano, Gionata Project volunteer, 12 December 2012
We have always been told that homosexual love in Arab countries is absolutely forbidden. For the Arabs and Persians, rather than being a sin, it is a taboo prohibited by the Muslim Shari'a.
However, there were times when homosexuality experienced periods in which it was not so repressed. One of the greatest Arab poets is al-Hasan ibn Haani, better known as Abu Nuwas, who lived in the 7th century.
Born in Iranian territory to an Arab father and a Persian mother, since he was a child he lived in Basra where he enjoyed the formation of his poetic education. He subsequently settled in Baghdad where he lived the life of a refined libertine.
His fame in the Arab world was vast, even reaching the court of the caliph Harun al-Rashid. The work of Abū Nuwās, literally the one with the tuft (Ciuffettino? Ricciolino?) nickname chosen by the poet himself, is vast and is particularly imbued with homosexual erotic themes, where he expresses words of praise to the beautiful features of Arab children and men. From an early age he was confronted with male love, his grace and beauty made him discover the love of more mature men.
He once wittily wrote: “Man is a continent, woman is the sea. I prefer dry land."
The poet Abou-Oussame, his cousin, a handsome blond man with a rosy complexion, was attracted by this beauty and did not hesitate to take him into his favor to help him discover a world where rhymes and caresses meet.
In his adolescence he studied Arabic literature and poetry which helped him refine his poetic art and which opened the doors of the Baghdad caliphate to him, becoming the lover of the son of the sovereign Harun, al-Alamin, who succeeded him to the throne.
The new caliph was a handsome young man of pure Arab origin, who shared with him the passion for Gelman (boys), for wine and for hunting. He had several fleeting relationships with young slave ephebes, generally Christians of Persian origin.
Au Bain Maure
What the trousers always reveal.
Tout est visible. Rince toi l'oeil à loisir.
You have a croupe, a couple of minutes and a quick one
et rien ne pourrait gâcher ton plaisir.
If you look at the simple formulas…
God, that bain is une chosen délicieuse!
Same as I come with your serviettes,
les garçons du bain ont troublé la fête.
To the Moorish bath
What the pants have hidden is now revealed.
Everything is visible. You can redo your eyes freely.
You can see a rear, a thin and slender back
and nothing can ruin your fun.
It whispers loving solutions to us…
God, the bath is a delicious thing!
Now, returning with their towels,
the boys in the bathroom ruined the party.
His critics and rivals were numerous, they reproached him for his homosexual tendencies and his sometimes too obvious phrasing, but he defended his talent thanks to the protective wing of the sovereigns. Nobody knows how his life really ended, some say in prison, others in a house of "Wisdom", a name embroidered to define a nursing home for the elderly.
