FARAH

farah, a town of afghanistan. it is situated on the river that bears its name on the main road between herat and kandahar, 160 m. s. of herat and 225 m. w. of kandahar. it is a place of some strategical importance, as it commands the approaches to india and seistan from herat. the town (2460 ft. above sea-level) is a square walled enclosure standing in the middle of the plain, surrounded with a walled rampart. owing to its unhealthiness it is now almost deserted, being only occupied by the afghan regiment quartered there. it is a place of great antiquity, being probably the phra mentioned by isidore of charax in the 1st century a.d. it was sacked by the armies of jenghiz khan, and the survivors transported to a position farther north, where there are still great ruins. the population returned to the original site after the destruction of the medieval city by shah abbas, and the city prospered again until its bloody siege by nadir shah. subsequently under constant attacks it declined, and in 1837 the population amounting to 6000 was carried off to kandahar. the sole industry of the town at present is the manufacture of gunpowder. in the districts east of farah are to be found the most fanatical of the durani afghan tribes. farazdaq [hammam ibn ghalib ibn sa'sa', known as al-farazdaq] (ca. 641-ca. 728), arabian poet, was born at basra. he was of the darim, one of the most respected divisions of the bani tamim, and his mother was of the tribe of dabba. his grandfather sa'sa' was a bedouin of great repute, his father ghalib followed the same manner of life until basra was founded, and was famous for his generosity and hospitality. at the age of fifteen farazdaq was known as a poet, and though checked for a short time by the advice of the caliph ali to devote his attention to the study of the koran, he soon returned to making verse. in the true bedouin spirit he devoted his talent largely to satire and attacked the bani nahshal and the bani fuqaim. when ziyad, a member of the latter tribe, became governor of basra, the poet was compelled to flee, first to kufa, and then, as he was still too near ziyad, to medina, where he was well received by sa'id ibn ul-asi. here he remained about ten years, writing satires on bedouin tribes, but avoiding city politics. but he lived a prodigal life, and his amorous verses led to his expulsion by the caliph merwan i. just at that time he learned of the death of ziyad and returned to basra, where he secured the favour of ziyad's successor 'obaidallah ibn ziyad. much of his poetry was now devoted to his matrimonial affairs. he had taken advantage of his position as guardian and married his cousin nawar against her will. she sought help in vain from the court of basra and from various tribes. all feared the poet's satires. at last she fled to mecca and appealed to the pretender 'abdallah ibn zobair, who, however, succeeded in inducing her to consent to a confirmation of the marriage. quarrels soon arose again. farazdaq took a second wife, and after her death a third, to annoy nawar. finally he consented to a divorce pronounced by hasan al-basri. another subject occasioned a long series of verses, namely his feud with his rival jarir (q.v.) and his tribe the bani kulaib. these poems are published as the _naka'id of jarir and al-farazdaq_ (ed. a.a. bevan, leiden, 1906 ff.). in political life farazdaq was prevented by fear from taking a large part. he seems, however, to have been attached to the house of ali. during the reign of moawiya i. he avoided politics, but later gave his allegiance to 'abdallah ibn zobair. the fullest account of his life is contained in j. hell's _das leben farazdaq nach seinen gedichten_ (leipzig, 1903); arabian stories of him in the _kitab ul-aghani_ and in ibn khallikan. a portion of his poems was edited with french translation by r. boucher (paris, 1870); the remainder have been published by j. hell (munich, 1900). (g. w. t.)