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55-643: The Mufaḍḍaliyāt is one of five canonical primary sources of early Arabic poetry . The four others are Mu'allaqat , Hamasah , Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab and the Asma'iyyat . Features Types Types Features Clothing Genres Art music Folk Prose Islamic Poetry Genres Forms Arabic prosody National literatures of Arab States Concepts Texts Fictional Arab people South Arabian deities The collection contains 126 long and short pieces of verse in its present form. This number

110-400: A certain number of taf'ilas which the poet has to observe in every verse ( bayt ) of the poem. The measuring procedure of a poem is very rigorous. Sometimes adding or removing a consonant or a vowel can shift the bayt from one meter to another. Also, in rhymed poetry, every bayt has to end with the same rhyme ( qāfiyah ) throughout the poem. Al-Khalīl ibn ʿAḥmad al-Farāhīdī (711–786 CE)

165-634: A collection of poems by a single author, as in selected works , or the whole body of work of a poet. Thus Diwan-e Mir would be the Collected works of Mir Taqi Mir and so on. The first use of the term in this sense is attributed to Rudaki . The term divan was used in titles of poetic works in French, beginning in 1697, but was a rare and didactic usage, though one that was revived by its famous appearance in Goethe 's West–östlicher Divan (Poems of West and East),

220-742: A great deal of invective. The tradition continued in a slightly modified form as zajal , in which two groups 'joust' in verse, and remains a common style in Lebanon . Arabic Andalusi poetry in al-Andalus , or Islamic Iberia (Islamic Spain), involved figures such as Ibn Abd Rabbih (the author of the Al-ʿIqd al-Farīd ), Ziryab , Ibn Zaydun , Wallada bint al-Mustakfi , Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad , Hafsa bint al-Hajj al-Rukuniyya , Ibn Tufail , Ibn Arabi , Ibn Quzman , Abu al-Baqa ar-Rundi , and Ibn al-Khatib . The rise of poetry in Al-Andalus occurred in dialogue with

275-617: A high degree of excellence. The last of the series, a long elegy (No. 126) by Abu Dhu'ayb al-Hudhail on the death of his sons is one of the most admired; almost every verse of this poem is cited in illustration of some phrase or meaning of a word in the national Arabic lexicons . Al- Harith ibn Hilliza is the only poet included also in the Mu'allaqat . Although diwans (poetry collections) by early poets survive; e.g., Bishr ibn Abi Khazim , al-Hadira , Amir ibn al-Tufail , 'Alqama ibn 'Abada , al-Muthaqqib , Ta'abbata Sharran and Abu Dhu'ayb ), it

330-564: A little longer, but ended with the expulsion of the Arabs in 1492. The corpus suffered large-scale destruction by fire in 1499 when Cardinal Jimenez de Cisneros made a public auto-da-fé in Granada , burning 1,025,000 Arabic volumes. Ghaylan ibn 'Uqbah (c. 696 – c. 735), nicknamed Dhu ar-Rumma , is usually regarded as the last of the Pre-Islamic poets. His works had continued the themes and style of

385-458: A reliable historical record of the political and cultural life of the time. Poetry held an important position in pre-Islamic society with the poet or sha'ir filling the role of historian , soothsayer and propagandist . Words in praise of the tribe ( qit'ah ) and lampoons denigrating other tribes ( hija' ) seem to have been some of the most popular forms of early poetry. The sha'ir represented an individual tribe's prestige and importance in

440-535: A result, is seen as having both positive aspects (it is a rosegarden, and thus analogous to the garden of Paradise) and negative aspects (it is a rosegarden full of thorns, and thus different from the garden of Paradise). As for the development of Divan poetry over the more than 500 years of its existence, that is—as the Ottomanist Walter G. Andrews points out—a study still in its infancy; clearly defined movements and periods have not yet been decided upon. Early in

495-774: A work published in 1819 that reflected the poet's abiding interest in Middle Eastern and specifically Persian literature . This word has also been applied in a similar way to collections of Hebrew poetry and to poetry of al-Andalus . Ottoman Divan poetry was a highly ritualized and symbolic art form. From the Persian poetry that largely inspired it, it inherited a wealth of symbols whose meanings and interrelationships—both of similitude (مراعات نظير mura'ât-i nazîr / تناسب tenâsüb ) and opposition (تضاد tezâd )—were more or less prescribed. Examples of prevalent symbols that, to some extent, oppose one another include, among others: As

550-420: Is a mystical interpretation of Islam and it emphasised the allegorical nature of language and writing. Many of the works of Sufi poets appear to be simple ghazal or khamriyyah . Under the guise of the love or wine poem they would contemplate the mortal flesh and attempt to achieve transcendence . Rabia al-Adawiyya , Abd Yazid al-Bistami and Mansur al-Hallaj are some of the most significant Sufi poets, but

605-562: Is a record of the highest importance of the thought and poetic art of Pre-Islamic Arabia in the immediate period before the appearance of the Prophet Muhammad . The great majority belonged to the days of Jahiliyyah ('Ignorance')—no more than five or six of the 126 poems appear to have been by Islamic era poets—and though a number of Jahiliyyah-born poets had adopted Islam (e.g. Mutammim ibn Nuwayrah , Rabi'a ibn Maqrum , Abda ibn at-Tabib and Abu Dhu'ayb ), their work bears few marks of

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660-455: Is included in the recension of al-Anbari , who received the text from Abu 'Ikrima of Dabba, who read it with Ibn al-A‘rābī , al-Mufaḍḍal's stepson and inheritor of the tradition. We know from the Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim (d. ca. 988 AD) that the original book, as transmitted by Ibn al-A‘rābī, contained 128 pieces and began with the poet Ta’abbaṭa Sharran Thābit ibn Jābir ; this number agrees with

715-453: Is one of the earliest forms of Arabic literature . Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry contains the bulk of the oldest poetic material in Arabic, but Old Arabic inscriptions reveal the art of poetry existed in Arabic writing in material as early as the 1st century BCE, with oral poetry likely being much older still. Arabic poetry is categorized into two main types, rhymed or measured, and prose, with

770-524: Is referred to as the Lady. The Hadith Bayad wa Riyad manuscript is believed to be the only illustrated manuscript known to have survived from more than eight centuries of Muslim and Arab presence in Spain. There were several elements of courtly love which were developed in Arabic poetry, namely the notions of "love for love's sake" and "exaltation of the beloved lady" which have been traced back to Arabic literature of

825-433: Is said that Nuwas struck a bargain with his contemporary Abu al-Alahijah: Abu Nuwas would concentrate on wine and love poems whilst al-Alahijah would write homilies . These homilies expressed views on religion, sin and the afterlife, but occasionally strayed into unorthodox territory. While the work of al-Alahijah was acceptable, others such as the poet Salih ibn 'Abd al-Quddus were executed for heresy . Waddah al-Yaman , now

880-403: Is the romantic or nostalgic prelude with which pre-Islamic poems would often start. In these preludes, a thematic unit called " nasib ," the poet would remember his beloved and her deserted home and its ruins. This concept in Arabic poetry is referred to as " al-woqouf `ala al-atlal " (الوقوف على الأطلال / standing by the ruins) because the poet would often start his poem by saying that he stood at

935-495: Is unclear how many were compiled before al-Mufaddal's anthology of forty-eight pre-Islamic and twenty Islamic-era poets. The uncle and nephew, called al-Muraqqish , were two poets of the Bakr bin Wa'il tribe and are perhaps the most ancient in the collection. The elder Muraqqish was the great-uncle of Tarafa of Bakr , the author of the Mu'allaqat , and took part in the long warfare between

990-578: The Hamasah , which comprises passages selected for brilliance, with the prosaic edited. Many poems in the Mufaddaliyat are fragments or incomplete, and even the longest have many lacunae. Mufaḍḍal al-Ḍabbī evidently strove to preserve the oral heritage in the poetic material memorized by the rawis . He selects the best from oral-literary tradition and more comprehensively preserves material representative and characteristic of his age, unlike that appearing in

1045-555: The Mu'allaqat (meaning "the hung poems", because they are traditionally thought to have been hung on or in the Kaaba ) and the Mufaddaliyat (meaning " al-Mufaddal 's examination" or "anthology"). The Mu'allaqat aimed to be the definitive source of the era's output with only a single example of the work of each of the so-called "seven renowned ones," although different versions differ in which "renowned ones" they chose. The Mufaddaliyat on

1100-541: The Arabian Peninsula , and mock battles in poetry or zajal would stand in lieu of real wars. 'Ukaz, a market town not far from Mecca , would play host to a regular poetry festival where the craft of the sha'irs would be exhibited. Alongside the sha'ir , and often as his poetic apprentice, was the rawi or reciter. The job of the rawi was to learn the poems by heart and to recite them with explanations and probably often with embellishments. This tradition allowed

1155-501: The Hamasah by the brilliant Abu Tammam . Arabic poetry Features Types Types Features Clothing Genres Art music Folk Prose Islamic Poetry Genres Forms Arabic prosody National literatures of Arab States Concepts Texts Fictional Arab people South Arabian deities Arabic poetry ( Arabic : الشعر العربي ash-shi‘r al-‘arabīyy )

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1210-630: The Kufan school . Sources from the rival school of Basra claimed however that al-Mufaddal's original dīwān ('collection') was a much smaller volume of poems. In his commentary (Berlin MS), Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Marzuqi gives the number of original poems as thirty, or eighty in a clearer passage,; and mentions too, that al-Asma'i and his Basran grammarians, augmented this to a hundred and twenty. This tradition, ascribed by al-Marzuqi and his teacher Abu Ali al-Farisi to Abu 'Ikrima of Dabba, who al-Anbari represented as

1265-513: The Middle East , North Africa , Sicily and South Asia , a Diwan ( Persian : دیوان , divân , Arabic : ديوان , dīwān ) is a collection of poems by one author, usually excluding his or her long poems ( mathnawī ). The vast majority of Diwan poetry was lyric in nature: either ghazals or gazel s (which make up the greatest part of the repertoire of the tradition), or kasîde s. There were, however, other common genres, most particularly

1320-517: The golden age of Jewish culture in Spain . Most Jewish writers in al-Andalus—while incorporating elements such as rhyme, meter, and themes of classical Arabic poetry—created poetry in Hebrew , but Samuel ibn Naghrillah , Joseph ibn Naghrela , and Ibn Sahl al-Isra'ili wrote poetry in Arabic. Arabic poetry declined after the 13th century along with much of the literature due to the rise of Persian and Turkish literature . Andalusi literature flowered for

1375-594: The mesnevî , a kind of verse romance and thus a variety of narrative poetry ; the two most notable examples of this form are the Layla and Majnun (ليلى و مجنون) of Fuzûlî and the Hüsn ü Aşk (حسن و عشق; "Beauty and Love") of Şeyh Gâlib. Originating in Persian literature, the idea spread to the Arab and Turkish worlds, and South Asia , and the term was sometimes used in Europe, not always in

1430-423: The 16th to the 18th centuries—came to display a unique balance of Persian and Turkish elements, until the Persian influence began to predominate again in the early 19th century. Despite the lack of certainty regarding the stylistic movements and periods of Divan poetry, however, certain highly different styles are clear enough, and can perhaps be seen as exemplified by certain poets: In Urdu poetry diwan are also

1485-555: The 9th and 10th centuries. The notion of the "ennobling power" of love was developed in the early 11th century by the Persian psychologist and philosopher , Ibn Sina (known as "Avicenna" in English), in his Arabic treatise Risala fi'l-Ishq ( Treatise on Love ). The final element of courtly love, the concept of "love as desire never to be fulfilled," was also at times implicit in Arabic poetry. Diwan (poetry) In Islamic cultures of

1540-579: The Vienna manuscript, which includes an additional poem, poems annotated by al-Anbari , al-Muraqqish the Elder , etc., and a poem by al- Harith ibn Hilliza . The Fihrist states (p. 68) that some scholars included more and others fewer poems, while the order of the poems in the several recensions differed. It is noticeable that this traditional text, and the accompanying scholia , as represented by al-Anbari's recension, derive from al-Mufaddal's fellow philolgists of

1595-499: The coming centuries. In ninth century Spain, Paulus Alvarus complained that Christian youths preferred Arabic poetry to Latin works. Hafs ibn Albar , who has been sometimes identified as Paulus' son, translated the psalms into Arabic in rhyme form, using rajaz verses as it resembled the metre used by Christians in the iambic verse. The translation and many other works enjoyed great popularity not only among Christians but also among Islamic and Jewish authors in Spain. Arabic poetry

1650-435: The constant juxtaposition of many such images within a strict metrical framework, thus allowing numerous potential meanings to emerge. A brief example is the following line of verse, or mısra (مصراع), by the 18th-century judge and poet Hayatî Efendi: Here, the nightingale is only implied (as being the poet/lover), while the rose, or beloved, is shown to be capable of inflicting pain with its thorns (خار hâr ). The world, as

1705-649: The creation narrative and other biblical or Christian motives. According to the church historian Sozomen , odes composed in Arabic celebrating the victory of queen Mavia over emperor Valens may not only be the earliest account of oral Christian poetry but also the earliest account of Arabic poetry in general. Under Islamic rule, though forced to live with certain restrictions, Arab Christians such as Al-Akhtal al-Taghlibi or Ibn al-Tilmidh continued to use Arabic for their poetry. However, these poets seldom addressed their personal Christian faith in their works. Other ethnicities under Arab rule adapted Arabic poetry over

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1760-401: The first major poets in the pre-Islamic era is Imru' al-Qais , the last king of the kingdom of Kinda . Although most of the poetry of that era was not preserved, what remains is well regarded as among the finest Arabic poetry to date. In addition to the eloquence and artistic value, pre-Islamic poetry constitutes a major source for classical Arabic language both in grammar and vocabulary, and as

1815-461: The former greatly preceding the latter. The rhymed poetry falls within fifteen different meters collected and explained by al-Farahidi in The Science of ‘ Arud . Al-Akhfash, a student of al-Farahidi, later added one more meter to make them sixteen. The meters of the rhythmical poetry are known in Arabic as "seas" ( buḥūr ). The measuring unit of seas is known as " taf‘īlah ," and every sea contains

1870-617: The history of the tradition, the Persian influence was very strong, but this was mitigated somewhat through the influence of poets such as the Azerbaijani Imadaddin Nasimi (?–1417?) and the Uyghur Ali-Shir Nava'i (1441–1501), both of whom offered strong arguments for the poetic status of the Turkic languages as against the much-venerated Persian. Partly as a result of such arguments, Divan poetry in its strongest period—from

1925-519: The matter being sent by Ibn Burd and Ibn Miskawayh , the poetic brinkmanship of badi led to a certain formality in poetic art, with only the greatest poets' words shining through the complex structures and wordplay. This can make Arabic poetry even more difficult to translate than poetry from other languages, with much of a poet's skill often lost in translation. Already before the arrival of Islam, Arab Christians composed poetry with biblical or Christian topics, such as Adi ibn Zayd who wrote poetry on

1980-458: The most famous poets of the pre-Islamic era are Imru' al-Qais , Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya , al-Nabigha , Tarafa , Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma , and Antarah ibn Shaddad . Other poets, such as Ta'abbata Sharran , al-Shanfara , Urwa ibn al-Ward , were known as su'luk or vagabond poets, much of whose works consisted of attacks on the rigidity of tribal life and praise of solitude. Some of these attacks on

2035-588: The national poet of Yemen , was also executed for his verse, but this was probably due to his over-familiarity with the wife of the caliph Al-Walid I . Court poets were joined with court singers who simply performed works included Ibrahim al-Mawsili , his son Ishaq al-Mawsili and Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi son of caliph al-Mahdi . Many stories about these early singers were retold in the Kitab al-Aghani or Book of Songs by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani . The Sufi tradition also produced poetry closely linked to religion. Sufism

2090-960: The new faith. While ancient themes of virtue; hospitality to the guest and the poor, extravagance of wealth, valour in battle, tribal loyalty, are praised yet other practices forbidden in Islam—Wine, gambling (the game of maisir), etc.,—are all celebrated by poets professing adherence to the faith. Neither the old idolatry nor the new spirituality are themes. Mufaḍḍal al-Ḍabbī gathers works by 68 poets in 126 pieces. Little of these poets, known as al-Muqillun , survives, unlike those poets whose diwans have ensured their enduring fame. Yet many pieces selected by al-Mufaddal are celebrated. Several, such as 'Alqama ibn 'Abada 's two long poems (Nos. 119 and 120), Mutammim ibn Nuwayrah 's three odes (Nos. 9, 67, 68), Salama ibn Jandal splendid poem (No. 22), al-Shanfara 's beautiful nasib (opening theme, or prologue) (No. 20), and Abd-Yaghuth 's death-song (No. 30), reach

2145-482: The opposition of "the ascetic" and "the darvish" suggests, Divan poetry—much like Turkish folk poetry—was heavily influenced by Sufi thought . One of the primary characteristics of Divan poetry, however—as of the Persian poetry before it—was its mingling of the mystical Sufi element with a profane and even erotic element. Thus, the pairing of "the nightingale" and "the rose" simultaneously suggests two different relationships: Similarly, "the world" refers simultaneously to

2200-457: The other hand contains a random collection of poetic material. There are several characteristics that distinguish pre-Islamic poetry from the poetry of later times. One of these characteristics is that in pre-Islamic poetry more attention was given to the eloquence and the wording of the verse than to the poem as whole. This resulted in poems characterized by strong vocabulary and short ideas but with loosely connected verses. A second characteristic

2255-494: The persecution Palestinian Christians suffered under caliph al-Hakim . Another medieval Arabic love story was Hadith Bayad wa Riyad ( The Story of Bayad and Riyad ), a 13th-century Arabic love story written in al-Andalus . The main characters of the tale are Bayad, a merchant's son and a foreigner from Damascus , and Riyad, a well-educated girl in the court of an unnamed Hajib of al-Andalus (vizier or minister), whose equally unnamed daughter, whose retinue includes Riyad,

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2310-413: The physical world and to this physical world considered as the abode of sorrow and impermanence, while "the rosegarden" refers simultaneously to a literal garden and to the garden of Paradise . "The nightingale", or suffering lover, is often seen as situated—both literally and figuratively—in "the world", while "the rose", or beloved, is seen as being in "the rosegarden". Divan poetry was composed through

2365-482: The poetry and doctrine of al-Hallaj was eventually considered heretic for saying "I am the Truth," which came to be compared as literal incarnation. Al Hallaj was crucified and later became known as a Martyr. The caliph himself could take on the role of court poet with al-Walid II a notable example, but he was widely disliked for his immorality and was deposed after only a year. An important doctrine of Arabic poetry from

2420-461: The pre-Islamic poets particularly eulogising the harsh but simple desert life, traditionally recited round a campfire. Although such themes continued and were returned to by many modern, urban poets, this poetic life was giving way to court poets. The more settled, comfortable and luxurious life in Umayyad courts led to a greater emphasis on the ghazal or love poem. Chief amongst this new breed of poet

2475-593: The ruins of his beloved; it is a kind of ubi sunt . It was the early poems' importance to Islamic scholarship which led to their preservation. Not only did the poems illuminate life in the early years of Islam and its antecedents but they would also prove the basis for the study of linguistics of which the Qur'an was regarded as the pinnacle. Many of the pre-Islamic forms of verse were retained and improved upon. Naqa'id or flytings , where two poets exchange creative insults, were popular with al-Farazdaq and Jarir swapping

2530-410: The same way. The English usage of the phrase "diwan poetry" comes from the Arabic word diwan (دیوان), which is loaned from Persian, and designated a list or register. The Persian word derived from the Persian dibir meaning writer or scribe . Diwan was also borrowed into Armenian , Georgian , Arabic , Urdu , Turkish . In Persian, Turkish and other languages the term diwan came to mean

2585-724: The sister tribes of Bakr and Taghlib , called the "War of Basus", which began about the end of the 5th century CE. Al-Mufaḍḍal includes ten of his pieces (Nos. 45–54), interesting chiefly from an antiquarian point of view. No. 54 in particular appears very archaic and the compiler probably gathered all the available work of this ancient author, based on his antiquity. Of the younger Muraqqish, uncle of Tarafa, there are five pieces (Nos. 55–59). The only other authors of whom more than three poems are cited are Bishr ibn Abi Khazim of Asad (Nos. 96–99) and Rabi'a ibn Maqrum of Dabba (Nos. 38, 39, 43 and 113). The Mufaddaliyat , as an anthology of complete qasida s (odes), differs from

2640-418: The start was its complexity, but during the period of court poetry this became an art form in itself known as badi` . There were features such as metaphor , pun , juxtaposing opposites and tricky theological allusions. Bashshar ibn Burd was instrumental in developing these complexities which later poets felt they had to surpass. Although not all writers enjoyed the baroque style, with argumentative letters on

2695-581: The transmission of these poetic works and the practice was later adopted by the huffaz for their memorisation of the Qur'an . At some periods there have been unbroken chains of illustrious poets, each one training a rawi as a bard to promote his verse, and then to take over from them and continue the poetic tradition. For example, Tufayl trained 'Awas ibn Hajar, 'Awas trained Zuhayr , Zuhayr trained his son Ka`b , Ka`b trained al-Hutay'ah , al-Hutay'ah trained Jamil Buthaynah and Jamil trained Kuthayyir `Azza . Among

2750-465: The transmitter of the integral text from Ibn al-A'rabi, gets no mention by al-Anbari, and it would seem improbable as the two schools of Basrah and Kufah were in sharp competition. Ibn al-A'rabi in particular was in the habit of censuring al-Asma'i's interpretations of the ancient poems. It is scarcely likely that he would have accepted his rivals' additions to the work of his stepfather, and handed them on to Abu 'Ikrima with his annotations. The collection

2805-451: The values of the clan and of the tribe were meant to be ironic, teasing the listeners only in order finally to endorse all that the members of the audience held most dear about their communal values and way of life. While such poets were identified closely with their own tribes, others, such as al-A'sha , were known for their wanderings in search of work from whoever needed poetry. Some of the most reputable collections of these poems included

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2860-399: Was Abu Nuwas . Not only did Abu Nuwas spoof the traditional poetic form of the qasida and write many poems in praise of wine, his main occupation was the writing of ever more ribald ghazal many of them openly homosexual . While Nuwas produced risqué but beautiful poems, many of which pushed to the limit what was acceptable under Islam, others produced more religiously themed poetry. It

2915-537: Was also used for apologetics . As such, the eleventh century Andalusi abu 'qasim ibn Al-Hayyat, originally a Muslim theologian, wrote a poem in defence of his conversion to Christianity. The early eleventh-century bishop Sulayman al-Ghazzi holds a unique place in the history of Arab Christian literature as author of the first diwan of Christian religious poetry in Arabic. The collection consists of over 3,000 lines loosely structured in 97 qaṣīdas which deal with biblical, theological, ascetical, and personal themes such as

2970-541: Was the first Arab scholar to subject the prosody of Arabic poetry to a detailed phonological study. He failed to produce a coherent, integrated theory which satisfies the requirements of generality, adequacy, and simplicity; instead, he merely listed and categorized the primary data, thus producing a meticulously detailed but incredibly complex formulation which very few indeed are able to master and utilize. Researchers and critics of Arabic poetry usually classify it in two categories: classical and modern poetry. Classical poetry

3025-445: Was written before the Arabic renaissance ( An-Nahḍah ). Thus, all poetry that was written in the classical style is called "classical" or "traditional poetry" since it follows the traditional style and structure. It is also known as "vertical poetry" in reference to its vertical parallel structure of its two parts. Modern poetry, on the other hand, deviated from classical poetry in its content, style, structure, rhyme and topics. One of

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