Il trattato di metrica Kitāb al-bāri‘ fī ‘ilm al-‘arūḍ di ibn al-Qaṭṭā‘

Ibn al-Qaṭṭā‘ was a man of letters, a grammarian, an expert of Arabic metrics, a poet, and an historian. He spent his life between Sicily and Egypt, and his fame is mostly due to his Kitāb al durra al-ḫatīra, a large anthology of Sicilian poets. The focus of my article is the Kitāb al-Bāri‘ fī ‘ilm al-‘arūḍ, a rather neglected but important work on Arabic metrical science. The text begins with an accurate definition of ‘arūḍ, including its main components. The author describes the fifteen meters according to the theoretical frame conceived by al-Ḫalīl. His aim is to write a compendium with educational purposes. The poetical lines are similar to those produced by al-Ǧawharī and al-Tibrīzī in their treatises. Ibn al-Qaṭṭā‘s K. al-Bārī‘ presents some interesting interpretations on peculiar metrical issues and it constitutes a clear evidence of the importance of metrics and poetry for the Sicilian cultural environment of the XII century.