A Critical Look Into Ibn Al-Wardi`S "The News Of The Plague" Ra`Ed Mustafa Abdel-Rahim

Zein Al-Din Ibn Al-Wardi is ranked among the great literary figures of the early Mamluki period. Ibn Al-Wardi is a versifier and prose writer who perfected the various prose genres like speeches, letters, and magamat. This paper offers a critical analysis of the form and content of his most famous letter "The News of the plague," which was composed during the plague that afflicted the city of Allepo in 749 Higreyah. The Black Death brought to an end Ibn Alwardi`s life in the same year. The critics and historians of the early Mamluki period have highly praised this letter for various kinds of reasons. It is considered a landmark achievement because it was drafted by someone who himself experienced the agony and realistically depicted the city during the epidemic, thus making his letter a social and historical document. The letter is also aesthetically valuable due to the fact that it embodies the artistic values of the age and the special features of Ibn Al-Wardi`s art.