Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri was an ancient poet and philosopher that espoused antinatalist and vegan views. He lived in what is now modern-day Syria. I dive into his life and his views on antinatalism and veganism in his poetry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THANKYOU~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you to Mani for his invaluable help with the research and translations for this video! You can find my interview with Mani here: youtube.com/watch?v=blU_sFPRC9M&t=2549s
Thank you to Will C. White for allowing me to use his amazing music (here: youtube.com/watch?v=yrnVjKz4oww&t=94s)! You can find my interview with Will here: youtube.com/watch?v=h_3_Z-keW4A&t=52s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~INFO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
📧 | Contact Me: lawrenceant@protonmail.com
🔥 | Support my work with a one-donation or monthly support for added perks: ko-fi.com/lawrenceanton
My projects:
🗯️ | Rebutting common natalist arguments: antinatalisthandbook.org
✅ | Increasing your impact as an antinatalist:: antinatalistadvocacy.org
Get your favourite antinatalist clothing:
👕 | Anti Natalist Social Club T-shirt: a12497-55.myshopify.com/products/anti-natalist-social-club-tee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIMESTAMPS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
00:00 - Intro
01:35 - The Life of al-Ma'arrī
09:04 - Antinatalism
17:06 - Animals & Veganism
22:11 - The Modern Day
24:15 - Outro
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LINKS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
al-Ma'arrī's books:
• Saqt al-Zand (The Tinder Spark): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saqt_az-Zand
• Luzūm mā lam yalzam (The Necessity of What is Unnecessary): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzūmiyyāt
• Risalat al-Ghufran (The Epistle of Forgiveness): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risalat_al-Ghufran
• al-Fuṣūl wa al-ghāyāt (Paragraphs and Periods): http://sites.dlib.nyu.edu/viewer/books/aub_aco000318/2
al-Ma'arrī's poetry:
• Diwan: aldiwan.net/cat-poet-almaarri
• Studies in Islamic Poetry (Reynold Nicholson): Amazon: amazon.co.uk/Studies-Islamic-Cambridge-University-Editions/dp/0521182247 Archive: archive.org/details/studiesinislamic00nichuoft
• The Quatrains of Abu'l-Ala (Ameen F. Rihani): Amazon: amazon.co.uk/Quatrains-Abul-Ala-Ameen-F-Rihani/dp/B01CO2L780 Archive: loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.quatrainsofabula00abua/?st=gallery
Article on al-Ma'arrī':
• Arabic: https://www.cgie.org.ir/ar/article/235563
• Persian: https://www.cgie.org.ir/fa/article/224866/%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B1%DB%8C
• English: referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/ISLO/COM-0038.xml
Books on al-Ma'arrī':
• Arabic: books4arab.co/تحميل-كتاب-أبو-العلاء-المعري-الشاعر-ال
• Persian: alefbalib.com/Metadata/639303/عقاید-فلسفی-ابوالعلا-فیلسوف-معره
Podcasts and articles on al-Ma'arrī:
• bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b072jfct
• bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04wmklk
• bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35745962
• en.majalla.com/node/289276/culture-social-affairs/syrian-refugee-france-al-ma’arri-statue-awaits-return-homeland
The Devil's Deception (Ibn Al-Jawzi): salafibookstore.com/product/the-devils-deception
معجم الادباء، إرشاد الأريب إلى معرفة الأديب (Yaqut al-Hamawi): archive.org/details/ar106biog70
Legend of travelling student: jstor.org/stable/1579130
al-Ma'arrī composing his own epitaph: jadaliyya.com/Details/32488
Grave: reddit.com/r/antinatalism/comments/qokjiv/almaarri_9731057_had_written_on_his_tombstone
Paper on The Epistle of the Horse and the Mule: mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/8/412
What a free-thinking medieval Muslim can teach us about animal welfare (Kevin Blankinship): prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/37522/what-a-free-thinking-medieval-muslim-can-teach-us-about-animal-welfare
Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī cultural centre in Ma'arrat Nu'man: youtube.com/watch?v=UnvumhqMYnY
More on the cultural centre:
• aljumhuriya.net/en/2017/11/06/al-qaedas-war-against-a-medieval-syrian-poet
• aljazeera.net/encyclopedia/2017/2/23/معرة-النعمان-حيث-يرقد-صاحب-رسالة
al-Maʿarrī statue in Canada: youtube.com/watch?v=QIP9_tIlJi8
Other videos:
• In Arabic – youtu.be/QrhaSERViAU?si=f-zeNvzT0SCYmexr
Outro Music // The Last Time - Kayou. // Provided by @LofiGirl
Abu al-'Ala' al-Ma'arri was an ancient poet and philosopher that espoused antinatalist and vegan views. He lived in what is now modern-day Syria. I dive into his life and his views on antinatalism and veganism in his poetry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THANKYOU~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you to Mani for his invaluable help with the research and translations for this video! You can find my interview with Mani here: youtube.com/watch?v=blU_sFPRC9M&t=2549s
Thank you to Will C. White for allowing me to use his amazing music (here: youtube.com/watch?v=yrnVjKz4oww&t=94s)! You can find my interview with Will here: youtube.com/watch?v=h_3_Z-keW4A&t=52s
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~INFO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
📧 | Contact Me: lawrenceant@protonmail.com
🔥 | Support my work with a one-donation or monthly support for added perks: ko-fi.com/lawrenceanton
My projects:
🗯️ | Rebutting common natalist arguments: antinatalisthandbook.org
✅ | Increasing your impact as an antinatalist:: antinatalistadvocacy.org
Get your favourite antinatalist clothing:
👕 | Anti Natalist Social Club T-shirt: a12497-55.myshopify.com/products/anti-natalist-social-club-tee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TIMESTAMPS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
00:00 - Intro
01:35 - The Life of al-Ma'arrī
09:04 - Antinatalism
17:06 - Animals & Veganism
22:11 - The Modern Day
24:15 - Outro
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LINKS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
al-Ma'arrī's books:
• Saqt al-Zand (The Tinder Spark): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saqt_az-Zand
• Luzūm mā lam yalzam (The Necessity of What is Unnecessary): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzūmiyyāt
• Risalat al-Ghufran (The Epistle of Forgiveness): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risalat_al-Ghufran
• al-Fuṣūl wa al-ghāyāt (Paragraphs and Periods): http://sites.dlib.nyu.edu/viewer/books/aub_aco000318/2
al-Ma'arrī's poetry:
• Diwan: aldiwan.net/cat-poet-almaarri
• Studies in Islamic Poetry (Reynold Nicholson): Amazon: amazon.co.uk/Studies-Islamic-Cambridge-University-Editions/dp/0521182247 Archive: archive.org/details/studiesinislamic00nichuoft
• The Quatrains of Abu'l-Ala (Ameen F. Rihani): Amazon: amazon.co.uk/Quatrains-Abul-Ala-Ameen-F-Rihani/dp/B01CO2L780 Archive: loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.quatrainsofabula00abua/?st=gallery
Article on al-Ma'arrī':
• Arabic: https://www.cgie.org.ir/ar/article/235563
• Persian: https://www.cgie.org.ir/fa/article/224866/%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B1%DB%8C
• English: referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/ISLO/COM-0038.xml
Books on al-Ma'arrī':
• Arabic: books4arab.co/تحميل-كتاب-أبو-العلاء-المعري-الشاعر-ال
• Persian: alefbalib.com/Metadata/639303/عقاید-فلسفی-ابوالعلا-فیلسوف-معره
Podcasts and articles on al-Ma'arrī:
• bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b072jfct
• bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04wmklk
• bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35745962
• en.majalla.com/node/289276/culture-social-affairs/syrian-refugee-france-al-ma’arri-statue-awaits-return-homeland
The Devil's Deception (Ibn Al-Jawzi): salafibookstore.com/product/the-devils-deception
معجم الادباء، إرشاد الأريب إلى معرفة الأديب (Yaqut al-Hamawi): archive.org/details/ar106biog70
Legend of travelling student: jstor.org/stable/1579130
al-Ma'arrī composing his own epitaph: jadaliyya.com/Details/32488
Grave: reddit.com/r/antinatalism/comments/qokjiv/almaarri_9731057_had_written_on_his_tombstone
Paper on The Epistle of the Horse and the Mule: mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/8/412
What a free-thinking medieval Muslim can teach us about animal welfare (Kevin Blankinship): prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/37522/what-a-free-thinking-medieval-muslim-can-teach-us-about-animal-welfare
Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī cultural centre in Ma'arrat Nu'man: youtube.com/watch?v=UnvumhqMYnY
More on the cultural centre:
• aljumhuriya.net/en/2017/11/06/al-qaedas-war-against-a-medieval-syrian-poet
• aljazeera.net/encyclopedia/2017/2/23/معرة-النعمان-حيث-يرقد-صاحب-رسالة
al-Maʿarrī statue in Canada: youtube.com/watch?v=QIP9_tIlJi8
Other videos:
• In Arabic – youtu.be/QrhaSERViAU?si=f-zeNvzT0SCYmexr
Outro Music // The Last Time - Kayou. // Provided by @LofiGirl
