Dasu - al-Ayniyyah and the Plagued Heart of a Father

This exhibit is shaped around the masterful poem composed by Abu Dhu’ayb al-Hudhali, called The Ayniyyah (after its poetic structure–ayniyyah–ending with the Arabic letter ‘ﻉ’.) The goal of this exhibit is to highlight the poem’s central theme that any attempt to escape one’s fate or death is futile. As such, this exhibit will introduce the text, several relevant objects, the context in which it was written, and finally some important insights that can be stitched together with various pieces of information. There will also be a reading of the Arabic poem itself (or at least a portion of it) to highlight the repetition of a certain phrase that al-Hudhali begins each paragraph with to create a sense of inescapability. Overall, this masterfully composed poem by Abu Dhu’ayb requires deep analysis: his fatherly grief, and certainly his human weakness in the face of epidemic illness, is hidden behind valiant analogies of being hunted to death, hunting to no avail, and fatal knightly monomachies.