After discussing the background to the emergence of several noted Christian writers
in Aleppo around 1700, this article presents the life and work of one of them, Niqūlāwus
a s- S ā ’i ḡ (1692–1756), a Greek Catholic monk who was mainly responsible for
establishing the Shuwayrite Basilian Order in his Church. While most of his poetry is
religious, a few poems are dedicated to secular and non-Christian personalities, most of
them political notables on whose support the Order depended. The article examines in
detail a panegyric of members of the Druze Abī al-Lam‘ family and a poem in reply to
one of A s - S ā ’i ḡ’s friends, a Šī‘ī religious dignitary, showing how A s - S ā ’i ḡ works
within the conventions of Arabic poetry of his time. It is noteworthy that he refers to
the religious and historical heritage of the addressees of his poems, while at the same
time reminding them that he himself is a Christian monk
