Choral fun in old Medina

Abu ‘Abd Allah [al-Hishami?] said: One day, Jamila convened a gathering to which she wore a long burnoose, and dressed her companions in burnooses of lesser make. Among the group was Ibn Surayj, who compensated for his baldness with a hairy wig he used to put on his head. But Jamila liked the sight of his baldness, and when Ibn Surayj was given his burnoose, he uncovered his pate and said, "By the Lord of the Ka‘ba, you've pulled one over on me!" And he fitted the cowl of his burnoose over his head while the rest of the group laughed at his baldness.

Jamila then stood up and began to dance while strumming a lute, in her long burnoose with a Yemeni mantle about her shoulders. Ibn Surayj too stood up to dance, along with Ma‘bad, Ghariḍ, Ibn ‘A’isha and Malik, all of them costumed like Jamila, with lutes in their hands which they played in time with her strumming and dancing, and joined their voices with hers in song [meter: kāmil]:

   Youth has gone - if only it had not! -
      when a bright gray touch surmounts the hair's parting.
   Pretty women want companions who are other than you.
      Your intimates once, now all they do is leave.
   What I say is informed by experience truly.
      You have not heard from one so experienced before:
   Treat the noble with unmixed good, and uphold your honor.
      and from the blameworthy and his like just step aside.

Jamila then called for a dyed robe and a wig of hair like Ibn Surayj's, which she fitted to her head. The rest of the group called for similar outfits, which they all put on. Jamila began to promenade while playing the lute, and the rest of the group walked behind her, as in unison they sang [verses 3, 5 and 7 of a qaṣīda by al-Kumayt al-Asadi, meter: ṭawīl]:

   Slender of waist, they walk with stately buttocks,
     bent over like sand-grouses of al-Biṭaḥ.
   She is one of those women - shy but friendly,
      no shameless flirt but neither unperfumed.
   It's like a musk-and-wine concoction,
      the bouquet of her mouth when you get her aroused.

Jamila then gave an indelicate cry, which was echoed musically by the group. When she sat down, the others did likewise, stripping off their costumes and resuming their everyday clothes. A group of callers was at Jamila's door, and when she let them in, the male singers all departed, leaving her in conversation with her hetairai.

From the Book of Songs of Abu 'l-Faraj al-Iṣbahani

Men who loved women

Most of the [poets of the] desert Arabs—nay, all of them—were impassioned lovers. Among those of frequent mention and widespread fame for passion and love-song were:

   Qays Majnun of the Banu ‘Amir, who was the lover of Layla
   Qays ibn Dharih, who loved Lubna
   Tawba ibn al-Humayyir, who loved Layla al-Akhyaliyya
   Kuthayyir, who loved ‘Azza
   Jamil ibn Ma‘mar, who loved Buthayna
   al-Mu’ammil, who loved al-Dhalfa’
   al-Muraqqish, who loved Asma’
   al-Muraqqish the Younger, who loved Fatima bint al-Mundhir
   ‘Urwa ibn Hizam, who loved ‘Afra’
   ‘Amr (sic) ibn ‘Ajlan, who loved Hind
   ‘Ali ibn Udaym, who loved Manhala
   al-Muhadhdhib, who loved Ladhdha
   Dhu 'l-Rumma, who loved Mayya
   Qabus, who loved Munya
   al-Mukhabbal al-Sa‘di, who loved al-Mayla’
   Hatim al-Ta’i, who loved Mawiya
   Waddah al-Yaman, who loved Umm al-Banin
   al-Ghamr ibn Dirar, who loved Juml
   al-Nimr ibn Tawlab, who loved Hamza
   Badr, who loved Nu‘m
   Shubayl, who loved Falun
   Bishr, who loved Hind
   ‘Amr who loved Da‘d
   ‘Umar ibn Abi Rabi‘a, who loved Thurayya
   al-Ahwas, who loved Salama
   As‘ad ibn ‘Amr, who loved Layla bint Sayfi
   Nusayb, who loved Zaynab
   Suhaym ‘Abd Bani 'l-Hashas, who loved ‘Umayra
   ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Qays, who loved Kuthayyira
   Abu 'l-Atahiya, who loved ‘Utba
   al-‘Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf, who loved Fawz
   Abu 'l-Shis who loved Umama

These are just a few of the many impassioned lovers. We have limited ourselves to these few in preference to others so as not to go on too long and mar our book. For every one of these men there is a love story, relating the circumstances of their passions, with much to comment upon and describe.

From The Book of Refinement and Refined People
by Muhammmad ibn Ishaq ibn Yahya al-Washsha’ (Cf.)