Development of Arabic Poetry During the Early Islamic Period
Development of Arabic Poetry During the Early Islamic Period
Development of Arabic Poetry During the Early Islamic Period
‘Poetry’ is the eldest, most complex, polymorphic, controversial, and widely criticized of all branches of literature. Poetry dominated the empire of world literature for centuries before the introduction of prose literature. But no one has ever come up with a consensus definition of what ‘poetry’ is. Different scholars have defined poetry in different ways, but one definition does not agree with the other. However, by ‘poetry’ we mean a work that contains an ornate and emotional description of an event, feeling or subject.
Like most languages of the world, Arabic has a rich store of poetry. There is no exact date of the beginning of Arabic poetry, but there is evidence that poetry in Arabic was widespread in the pre-Islamic period, from the fifth century onwards. The history of Arabic poetry is believed to have begun in the pre-Islamic period, as no Arabic literature before the fifth century has survived, although poetry probably began in Arabic earlier.
Scholars estimate that between the early fifth century AD and 622 AD, more than two hundred poets were born in Arabia and that they brought Arabic poetry to a high level of development.
From 610 AD, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was declared the Messenger of Allah and the Qur’an began to be revealed to him. However, the people of Mecca refused to accept the Islam he preached and began to persecute him in various ways. When the opposition to Islam and the persecution of the Prophet reached its climax, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) migrated from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD. The locals of Medina warmly welcomed the Prophet and accepted his religion. From then on, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) began to preach Islam openly and it spread rapidly. The main book of this religion is called the ‘Qur’an’. With the revelation of the Qur’an, Arab religious life, social life, political life, etc., as well as literary trends began to change. The pre-Islamic era was considered to come to an end and the Islamic era began with the migration of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to Medina in 622 CE. The first forty years of the Islamic era, from 622 AD to 661 AD, are called the ‘Early Islamic Period’. Arabic literature also began to change during this period. The major poets of this period were Nabigha al-Ju’di, Hasan bin Thabit, al-Khansa, al-Hutayya, Abu Zubayr al-Hujli, ‘Amr ibn Madikarib, etc. These poets were born in the pre-Islamic period and continued to practice poetry till the end of the early Islamic period. These poets who wrote poetry in both eras are called ‘Mukhadrim Poets’ These Mukhadrim poets could not completely come from the pre-Islamic poetic genre as they started their poetry in the pre-Islamic era. Nevertheless, they were spontaneously influenced by the Qur’an and Hadith, i.e. Islamic philosophy, which led to some changes in the content, language and style of Arabic poetry.
The main themes of the poems of the Mukhadrim poets were war, love, pride, condemnation, grief, nature, animals, etc.
These characteristics were also present in the poetry of the pre-Islamic period, but the Mukhadrim poets brought some changes in these matters. For example, they avoided conventional imagery as much as possible and created new imagery. There is no linguistic ambiguity in their poems. They were free from attractive and obscene descriptions of the female body. They emphasized the use of simple and straightforward words.
In addition to the above-mentioned poets, many other poets were born during the early Islamic period and they also contributed to the advancement of Arabic poetry.
In conclusion, it is to say that Arabic poets in the early Islamic period added Islamic philosophy and psychology to the tradition of Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and expanded the scope of Arabic poetry and simplified language and imagery. 0 0 0.
Development of Arabic Poetry During the Early Islamic Period
Read More: A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Pre-Islamic Period (500 AD-622 AD). Development of Arabic Poetry
Note: The article ‘Development of Arabic Poetry During the Early Islamic Period’ originally belongs to the book entitled ‘A Brief History of the Arabic Literature: Early Islamic Period (622 AD -661 AD)’ by Menonim Menonimus. Development of Arabic Poetry
Development of Arabic Poetry
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Development of Arabic Poetry During the Early Islamic Period
A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Early Islamic Period
