Zuhair bin Abi Salma | His Life and Poetic Career

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Zuhair bin Abi Salma | His Life and Poetic Career

Zuhair bin Abi Salma | His Life and Poetic Career

Zuhair bin Abi Salma | His Life and Poetic Career

Zuhair bin Abi Salma: His Life and Poetic Career

Brief Life Sketch: Zuhair bin Abi Salma (or Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma) is one of the great poets of the pre-Islamic era. It is not known exactly when he was born but he is guessed to have been born in the early part of the 6th century in an educated and rich family of the Murra community in a place called Najd. His father’s name was Abi Salma. From an early age, Zuhair grew up in the house of his maternal uncle, Bashwama al-Gadir. Bashwama was childless though he was a very cheerful person. He was also a poet. It should be noted that almost all the members of the Bashwama family had poetic talents. Her two aunts, Salma and Al-Khansa, were famous female poets of the time. Zuhair grew up in a poetic environment and was inspired to practice poetry from an early age.

At that time there was a long-running civil war between the Abas and Zubian communities. Many people were killed on both sides of the conflict. Harim bin Sinan and Harish bin Auf, both leaders of the Murra community, later settled the dispute and established peace between the two communities. The peace-loving Zuhair was so pleased with this settlement that he composed a long poem praising Harim bin Sinan. After reading the poem, Sinan praised Zuhair for his poetic prowess and donated him a large sum of money. Being encouraged by this, Zuhair wrote many poems.  But it is a matter of sorrow that most of his poems, except for a very small portion, have been lost for want of preservation.

Zuhair lived for almost a hundred years. He was a pious, generous, and kind-hearted man. He had a high level of judgment. He might have met Hazrat Muhammad, the founder of Islam. But he died a few years before Mohammad gained prophethood.

Poetic Career: Zuhair bin Abi Salma is considered to be one of the three greatest poets of the Jahili era. The other two were Imraul Qays and Al-Nabigha. Zuhair became famous as a poet of eulogy (laudatory poems). His poems contain praise of his patrons, humane qualities, and heroic deeds. Like the poems of Imraul Kays, his poems contain poetic descriptions of camels. It should be noted that his poems do not contain any description of the female body as found in the poems of his predecessor Imraul Qays. There is no description of wine, merriment, and enmity in his poems. In contrast, his poems deal with human qualities, morality, justice, and righteousness. One of his poems deals with the oneness of God, belief in the Last Judgment, and so on. In general, his poetry is free from obscenity. For this quality Hazrat Omar, the second caliph of Islam praised his poetry.

In poetic style, his poetry was simple and devoid of difficulty. He used similes and familiar words in his poems to make the subject matter easier.

In conclusion, it is to say that the poetry of Zuhair bin Abi Salma is not as powerful as the poetry of Imraul Qaiser, although as a poet of humane ideals, Zuhair bin Abi Salma is considered one of the greatest poets of the pre-Islamic era. 0 0 0.

Zuhair bin Abi Salma | His Life and Poetic Career

Read More: A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Early Islamic Period (622 AD-661 AD)

Zuhair bin Abi Salma | His Life and Poetic Career

N.B. This article ‘Zuhair bin Abi Salma | His Life and Poetic Career’ originally belongs to the book entitled ‘A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Pre-Islamic Period (500 AD-622 AD) by Menonim Menonimus. Zuhair bin Abi Salma | His Life and Poetic Career

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I am Menonim Menonimus, a Philosopher & Writer.

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