Rab?' Ibn Abi al-Huqayq
RAB?' IBN ABI AL-HUQAYQ
RAB?' IBN ABI AL-HUQAYQ (end of the 6th century). Jewish poet from the Jewish tribe of Ban? *Na??r in Yathrib, Arabia. A short poem of his is included in the anthology of Arabic poetry by al-Juma??, in the chapter on the Jews of *Medina (pp. 70–74). Except for al-*Samaw'al ibn '?diyah, he is the only poet in pre-Islamic Arabia mentioned by Moses Ibn Ezra in his book on Hebrew medieval poetry, probably based on Arab sources. Ibn Ezra raises the possibility that both Samaw'al and Rab?' were Arabs converted to Judaism. Rab?' took part in intertribal wars and in poetic contests with other famous Arab poets, such as al-N?bighah.
bibliography:
Al-Juma??, ?abaq?t al-Shu'ar?', ed. J. Hell (1913), 71; Moses Ibn Ezra, Kit?b al-Mu????rah, wa-al-Mudh?karah ed. A.Sh. Halkin (1975), 31; H.Z. Hirschberg, Israel ba-Arav (1946), 129, 172, 250–251.
[Yosef Tobi (2nd ed.)]