Labid
LABID (Abu 'Aqll Labid ibn Rabl'a) (c. 560-6. 661), Arabian poet, belonged to the Bam 'Amir, a division of the tribe of the Hawazin. In his younger years he was an active warrior and his verse is largely concerned with inter-tribal disputes. Later, he was sent by a sick uncle to get a remedy from Mahomet at Medina and on this occasion was much influenced by a part of the Koran. He accepted Islam soon after, but seems then to have ceased writing. In Omar's caliphate he is said to have settled in Kufa. Tradition ascribes to him a long life, but dates given are uncertain and contradictory. One of his poems is contained in the Mo'allakat Twenty of his poems were edited by Chalidi (Vienna, 1880); another thirty-five, with fragments and a German translation of the whole, were edited (partly from the remains of A. Huber) by C. Brockelmann (Leiden, 1892); cf. A. von Kremer, Uber die Gedichte des Lebyd (Vienna, 1881). Stories of Labld are contained in the Kitabul-Agh&ni, xiv. 93 ff. and xv. 137 ff. (G. W. T.)
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
