This article presents an edition of, and commentary on, a fragment of papyrus preserved in the collection of the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah (P.Utah 280). This well-preserved piece is a rare example of Arabic papyrus with lines of poetry. The text of the verses and their attribution in the papyrus will be studied in detail and traced through later sources, leading to a discussion on textual variation and authorship as well as on the (...) value of papyrological evidence vis-à-vis the corpus of classical Arabic literature. It will be shown that lineages of text and attribution can be highly complex and therefore do not lend themselves to linear representation, e.g., in book form or simple HTML format. The article outlines the requirements for alternative means of representation for textual layers and points to existing tools in Arabic studies and other disciplines. (shrink)

Notable examples of macaronics, the insertion of foreign vocabulary into poetry, are attributed to the well-known eighth-century poet, Abū Nuwās, who experimented with mixing Persian in his Arabic poetry but whose motivation remains unclear. This article looks at a selection of his and other macaronic verses ranging from the seventh to tenth centuries and argues that Persian was inserted deliberately as a marker of a Persian identity, standing for the “foreign Other.” Far from being a sign of (...) a pro-Persian shuʿūbī sentiment, the employment of Persian only reinforces the established hierarchy of the two identities in that period. By the tenth century, however, this hierarchy is cleverly flipped on its head in a macaronic poem by the popular Iraqi poet, Ibn al-Ḥajjāj. While many of the examples are comic and even obscene in character, this article shows that the employment of Persian in Arabic poetry was a deliberate practice with serious and meaningful implications. (shrink)

Turkish poet Sünbülzade Vehbi (d. 1224/1809) is one of the most important Turkish poets who wrote poetry in Turkish, Arabic, and Persian during the Ottoman era, and included these poems in his divan. This article deals with plagiarism of Arabic poetry contained in the collection of the Vehbi. The Arabic poetry contained in the collection of Vehbi, which he presented to Sultan Selim III (d. 1223 Ah/1807 ad) is mostly attributed to contemporary poets, namely (...) the doctor Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Iṣfahānī (d.1191 Ah/1777 ad), the poet Hātef al-Isfahānī (d. 1198 Ah/1784 ad), and the Iraqi poet Kāzim al-Uzrī al-Baghdādī al-Tamimī (1143-1213 Ah/ 1730-1798 ad). This article introduces the poet Sünbülzade Vehbi and the poets mentioned above. The Arabic poetry in his collection is also introduced. It shows the similarity that sometimes reaches the point of congruence between his poetry and the poems of his contemporaries mentioned above. The research identifies the common verses between Vehbi and the aforementioned poets, which constitute approximately 83% of Vehbi's Arabic poetry. This research, which takes the quantitative descriptive approach as its approach, suggests that most of the Arabic poetry contained in Vehbi's collection is plagiarized from the poetry of those poets whose poetry he familiarized himself with and may have met during his embassy to mediate between the governor of Baghdad and the Sultan of Iran. (shrink)

In this paper, I attempt to read the poetic principle behind the Tammuzi movement of modern Arabic poetry through the lens of speculative poetics. While speculative-poetic accounts of modern poetry, such as those provided by Allen Grossman, blazed new paths connecting poetry to personhood in modernity, their application to the development of modern poetry outside of Europe remains limited by their self-avowed focus on European history. This paper will outline a critical corrective to speculative poetics (...) which, I argue, can be of value in extending its domain of application to Arabic projects of poetic modernity, particularly the two tendencies of "free verse" and "commitment" poetry that emerged out of the Tammuzi movement. (shrink)

It is known that the text of the Qur'an is artistic prose that has reached an unprecedented level in terms of its unique style, superiority, and robustness. Likewise, it can be said for hadith texts reach the peak of eloquence and beauty. Scholars have paid attention to the Qur'an and Hadith texts for centuries in their scientific studies. There are also poets among those who care. Inspired by both texts, they tried to use their style in their odes and literary (...) products through quotation, reference, compensation, and similar arts. From this point of view, our research aims to examine the phenomenon of religious intertextuality in African Arabic poetry -on the condition that the study is limited to the West African region- and to explain its places. In addition to learning to what extent the African poet was influenced by the style, language structure, and methods of the Qur'an and hadith texts, it also explores the relationship adopted between his literary references. What gives this study important is that it attempts to apply one of the modern critical theories (intertextuality) to Arabic poetry from West Africa, which many researchers do not know about. This research will prove the rooting of the art of Arabic poetry in West Africa through its intertextuality with the ancient Arab heritage, as well as the validity of its use as a scientific material for contemporary theories. During the research, it was determined that various religious intertextuality was used in the poems of African poets. The poets did not adhere to a certain form in their poems, on the contrary, they used different methods at every stage of their poems. This revealed their culture and knowledge of Arabic literature and poets and showed the extent of their devotion to the Qur'an and Sunnah. Likewise, by referring to historical events and religious people with a religious dimension, they revealed creativity in their poems. For this reason, they were able to paint the most beautiful artistic paintings, which impressed both the reader and the listener. (shrink)

Sound and Sense in Classical Arabic Poetry. By Geert Jan van Gelder. Arabische Studien, vol. 10. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2013. Pp. xv + 399. €78.

The tradition of Lughz and muʿammā in Arab poetry has an important place. Ibn al-Fāriḍ (d. 632/1235) is a divine love poet that lived in the Ayyubids period. He is an important point in the process of change and transformation of Arabic poetry language. This research aims to carry out a theoretical and anecdotal examination of the Lughzes in Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s Dīwān. The work explains, firstly, the concept of Lughz in terms of conceptual content and theoretical structure (...) and summarizes its own method to be applied in solving and evaluating Lughzes in ten articles. The paper indicates whether the Lughzes in Dīwānhave a theoretical structure or not. In this context, it distinguishes the Lughzes from the number of layers, simple and compound structure maintenance. It examines the theoretical and functional contributions of the tahsīl, takmīl, tashīland tazyīlmethods, the stages of the establishment and the solution of the Lughzes.Abstract: Abū Hafs Sharafuddīn Omar b. Ali al-Hamavī al-Mısrī (d. 632/1235) known as the king of lovers, and called Ibn al-Fārid, is a divine love poet that lived in Egypt during the Ayyubids period (1171-1462). He is an important figure in the process of change and transformation of poetry language in Arabic literature. The lughz and muʿammā (enigma, enigmetic speech, allusion, inversion riddle, poetry puzzle, synecdoche and metaphoric language) means a word pointing to a name or something by symbol and sign. Numerous books have been written about lughzes. These include Arabic poetry, Persian poetry, Classical Turkish poetry, Arabic grammar, Islamic law, hadith, mathematics and inheritance law. The lughz and muʿammā have some linguistic features related to phonetics, statistical linguistics, morphology, lexicology, grammar, syntax, semantics and prosody. This tradition has an important place in Arabic poetry. The research aims to carry out a theoretical and anecdotal examination of the lughzes and muʿammās in Ibn al-Fārız’s Dīwān. The paper explains, firstly, the concept of lughz in terms of conceptual content and theoretical structure. The article summarizes its own method to be applied in analyzing and evaluating lughzes within ten items. The research examines the series of lughzes in Dīwānand divides them into parts according to the original question in the riddles. This work examines the secondary lughzes given in the details of poems in solution parts. The paper indicates whether the lughzes in Dīwānhave a theoretical structure or not. In this context, the research examines lughzes in terms of language and structure, especially in terms of the processes of establishment and solution. This paper categorizes the lughzes according to the number of layers and to whether they have a simple or compound structure. This paper examines the theoretical and functional contributions of the amal al-tahsīlī, amal al-takmīlī, amal al-tashīlī and amal al-tazyīlī methods in the stages of the establishment and the solution of the lughzes. The work applies the theoretical perspectives of these methods to each lughz. The research also examines the contribution of these four methods to the lughzes.There are many lughzes in Ibn al-Fārid’s poems. In Ibn al-Fārid’s Dīwān, in general, fifty-four things are asked. Fifty-one of them are words. Three of them are verbs. One of the verbs is in the order structure and two in the past tense. His lughzes have a theoretical and methodical structure. In terms of organizational structure, lughzes are generally multi-layered, intricate, compound and integrated. Composite lughzes are multi-layered, simple poems are single-layered. Approximately twenty words are asked in the lughzes. These words are always in the first layer of lughz, whether simple or compound. Thirty-seven words in the lughz are secondary lughz with an auxiliary and complementary nature. They are located between the second and sixth layers. Seventeen of the lughzes asked in the auxiliary nature are located in the second layer, thirteen in the third layer, five in the fourth layer, one in the fifth layer and one in the sixth layer. One of the lughzes is six-layered, one of them are five-layered, four of them are four-layered, eight are three-layered, four are double-layered and three are single-layered. According to this, the majority of lughzes in Ibn al-Fārid’s poems are in the unified form and multilayered.The lughzes are formed in terms of word, composition, phrase, grammar and meaning levels. The lughzes have both lexical and semantic characteristics. Ibn al-Fārid uses the configuration (amal al-tahsīlī), completion (amal al-takmīlī), facilitation (amal al-tashīlī) and addition (amal al-tazyīlī) methods to design the lughzes. The structure in the lughzes is shaped by these methods. The words in his lughzes constitute eleven categories, consisting of names, acts and noun verbs. The answers of the questions asked in the poems consist in general of prophet names, surah names, tribal names, administrator’s surnames, letters, cities, animals, food and drink names, attributes and actions. Verbs are in the past time or order form. Some of the lughzes in Ibn al-Fārid’s poems are built in an extraordinary style beyond being interesting. Not all the sentences used in couplets are part of the lughzes. These elements are mentioned in order to complete the lughzes in terms of rhythm and meaning. To be able to solve the lughzes of Ibn al-Fārid, one must be knowledgeable about the language and narrative features of Arabic and Islamic culture, as well as subjects such as the Quran, Sufism, abjad calculation, mathematics, geometry, geography, biology, botany and zoology. His poems contributes to the development and transformation of Arabic poetry. (shrink)

This work deals with concepts of time in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and in the Koran, placing them in relation to Hellenistic conceptions of time in Late Antique poetry. The analysis shows that just as in the much earlier field of Greek poetry, so too in Old Arabic verse time is seen as an inescapable power. The Arabic concept for endless time, dahr, is revealed to be the Arabic equivalent of the Greek concept aión. (...) In the Koran the power of time is denied completely and replaced by the absolute power of God, which is described with the help of Hellenistic conceptions of time. The research suggests the existence of an Arabic Hellenism, in the context of which Islam came into being. (shrink)

One of the most rooted topics in Arabic poetry is the dirge. It shows that during the Jāhiliyya period, people lamented the dead at the graves and remembered their beautiful qualities. A similar situation continued in terms of content in the dirges that were said in the following periods. However, with the change of social, political and cultural conditions in time, there have been partial changes in the writing styles and purposes of the dirges. For example, the effects (...) of political and sectarian factors were felt more in the process that started with the Umayyad period and continued in the following centuries. On the other hand, it has been observed that poets wrote dirges not only for the people they love but also for themselves, the animals they owned and the cities they lived in. In Arabic literature, dirges written for cities became famous and widespread, especially during the Andalusian period. However, considering that the poets of the Jahiliyya period lament the lands abandoned by the beloved, especially in the first part of the ode, it can be said that the tradition of writing elegies for cities dates back to much earlier times. On the other hand, the destruction of cities during the Abbasid period due to many wars, especially the Mongol invasion, caused many poets to recite dirges for these destroyed cities. One of the cities damaged during this period is Baghdad, one of the most important cities of Islamic culture and civilization. As it is known, Baghdad was occupied by the Mongols in 1258. As a result of this occupation, also known as the Baghdad disaster, many of the material and spiritual wealth of the city were destroyed. For this reason, the event had great repercussions in Arabic poetry, and many poets who could not remain unresponsive to what happened elegized for Baghdad. One of these poets is Shamsaddīn al-Kūfī (d. 675/1256), whose al-Kasīda al-Nūniya is the subject of our study. Shamsaddīn al-Kūfī, who was born in 623/1226 in Kufa, is one of the leading literary scholars and poets of his period. Due to the fact that the Baghdad disaster affected his poems to a great extent, he was given the title of Poet of Baghdad Disaster. When his poems are examined in general, it can be said that the dirges he sang for family members, friends, children of his friends and the city of Baghdad, which was destroyed by the Mongolian invasion, are at the forefront. The poet, who uses verbal arts such as tibāq and rad al ajuz alā al sadr intensively, places more importance on the meaning dimension of the issue in his dirges and uses arts related to meaning skillfully. al-Kasīda al-Nūniya, written by Shamsaddīn al-Kūfī in the Kamil bahr for Baghdad, is composed of 27 couplets. The theme of complaint about separation is addressed in the introduction part of the kasīda. Then, the main subject of the kasīda was put forward with the themes of the effects of the Mongolian occupation in Baghdad, the poet's feelings about this occupation, and the longing for the beautiful days in Baghdad. In the conclusion part, by returning to the theme of complaint about separation, a different internal structure from the contents of traditional Arabic poetry is displayed. This organization, while in keeping with the spirit of the type of city dirge that reflects the disaster experienced in a city, also provides fluency. While words that are easy to pronounce and suitable for morphology rules are preferred in general, attention has been paid to the rules of eloquence. On the other hand, the poet mostly preferred informative sentences in which he conveyed the Baghdad disaster to the reader with all its truth. However, in the sections where he felt the need to express his emotional intensity in a more striking way, he enriched his expression with sentence types such as wonder, interrogation, oath and interjection. Shamsaddīn al-Kūfī frequently used jinās in his poems. In addition, the art of tibāk, which is one of the arts related to meaning, is one of the badī (creative) arts in its couplets. As a result, it was seen that the Mongol invasion had a considerable effect on Arab poetry within the framework of this city dirge, which Shamsaddīn al-Kūfī had recited, and that historical facts were transferred to the next periods with a poignant style in these poems. (shrink)

In this paper, I attempt to read the poetic principle behind the Tammuzi movement of modern Arabic poetry through the lens of speculative poetics. While speculative-poetic accounts of modern poetry, such as those provided by Allen Grossman, blazed new paths connecting poetry to personhood in modernity, their application to the development of modern poetry outside of Europe remains limited by their self-avowed focus on European history. This paper will outline a critical corrective to speculative poetics (...) which, I argue, can be of value in extending its domain of application to Arabic projects of poetic modernity, particularly the two tendencies of "free verse" and "commitment" poetry that emerged out of the Tammuzi movement. (shrink)

The subject of this study is Poetry in Arabs: Cultural Characteristics and Financial Supporters of the Ancient Literary Genre. The problem of this study is to question whether poetry can be evaluated from a cultural point of view in Arabs and a cute lifestyle, aesthetic, symbolic and semantic dimension. In this article, not only Arabic poetry is evaluated in terms of culture; the cultural dynamics that enable the development of poetry are also emphasized. There have (...) been great developments in social studies in the modern period. New sciences such as sociology, anthropology, archeology and cultural history were formed. Among these sciences, sociology primarily focused on Western societies, while anthropology investigated non-Western societies. These sciences have studied human diversity in ancient societies and peoples. As a result of these studies, a lot of data has been collected about the cultures of existing and ancient societies; The history of humanity has been tried to be understood and its future has been tried to be predicted. However, the poetry of the Arabs, one of the ancient societies, is known by everyone, and while the Arabs are an advanced society in poetry, the cultural aspect of poetry has not been adequately evaluated. Recent studies in this field are a repetition of the past as a method. These studies are certainly important, but as in the past, Arabic poetry is discussed in the context of history, content, form, subject and poets with the beginning date of poetry and the fairs where poetry is performed are emphasized. However, it is time to consider Arabic poetry around the cultural corpus, which is considered important today, with the dynamics of culture and cultural perspective. Therefore, in this study, ancient Arabic poetry has been evaluated in terms of culture. In this study, document analysis, one of the qualitative method techniques, was used; In addition to the works related to Arabic literature, some cultural and cultural history books were consulted. (shrink)

Classical Arabic Begging Poetry and Šakwā, 8th–12th Centuries. By Nefeli Papoutsakis. Arabische Studien, vol. 14. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017. Pp. viii + 254. €58.

There are many moral values that the Arab writers have written about either in prose or poetry. This emphasis on morality in classical Arabic literature has also been the subject of many academic studies. The abundance of the literary material in this field has attracted the attention of researchers. One of these is the emphasis on "naturalness" which we have seen in classical Arabic literature. In the Arab society which social ties are very strong the moral values (...) have been summarized with the concept of al-murūah/chivalry over time. In these sources that is including poems, parables and anecdotes about morality allthings on the moral values are brought together. Hereunder the main thing in the moral maturity is the naturality. Criticism of ostensible behaviors has taken place in an important part of these works. For example, ancient perception of morality is a predestination that comes from creation has found its response in Arabic poetry. Many Arab poets have stated that one's innate character will beat and the reason will be defeated. On the other hand, some poets tried to establish a balance between character and wisdom. Accordingly, it has been stated that people are innately inclined to falses but they also have the potential to restrain their innate evil tendencies with the ability of mind given to them. These poets liked to explain this balance through the simile stating he ambitious horse that wants to run at full speed is restrained with a bit. According to this simile the man is like a person on the back of a raging horse with the evil inclinations cultivated in his nature. The soul he carries wants to take him wherever it wishes. However, he has a mind that is like a bridle in return for the soul inside him. On the other hand, when we look at the encyclopedic sources of Arabic proverbs we see that there are proverbs comparing many moral attributes with animals. In Turkish proverbs, cunning is identified with the fox and industriousness with the ant, and in Arabic proverbs a very rich human character-animal pairings stand out. These proverbs are based on the idea that people's character is the product of nature. Because each animal species has appreciated characteristics and these features occur without learning and education. In addition, the issue of the naturalness of morality was also used for the purpose of praise and satire in the classical Arabic poets. The poet makes his reproach or anger towards someone through his character. When describing his lover he states that the beauties that adorn him come from creation. Therefore, it can be said that the emphasises of character/nature/temperament in the poems in which these and similar emotions are aroused, are the motifs that serve the purpose of the poet. Finally Arab writers have offered many recommendations in literary form on issues such as brotherhood, solidarity and cooperation for the healthy continuity of social relations in the Muslim society, and they have included anecdotes and poems within the framework of the subject. The study is mainly based on the descriptive method, however, the way the authors handled the subject is analysed when it is deemed to be appropriate. Considering that there is no specific study in Turkish and Arabic literature within the framework of the present study, it is aimed to investigate the literary material in the subject in question. (shrink)

Ottoman Turkish.1 The shared metrical taxonomy for the four languages provided by al-Khal¯ıl’s elegant system is a convenient frame of reference, but also tends to mask major differences between their actual metrical repertoires. The biggest divide separates Arabic and Persian, but Urdu and Turkish have in their turn innovated more subtly on their Persian model.

Poetry and History: The Value of Poetry in Reconstructing Arab History. Edited by Ramzi Baalbaki, Saleh Said Agha, and Tarif Khalidi. Beirut: American University of Beirut Press, 2011. Pp. xii + 459. $40.

Classical Arabic poetry, which constitutes an important aspect of Islamic Civilization, has an important function in understanding Islamic texts, especially the Qur'an and hadith. In this context, the poetry of Jahiliyyah, which is the source of the Qur'an's style and expressive power (expression/utterance), is important in terms of having the mentioned function.The work, which was introduced, fills a significant gap in the field by referring to the contacted function of the poem of Jahiliyyah in a theoretical and (...) practical sense. The work analyzes selected eulogies from the poems of important poets of the Jahiliyyah period in a deep way, taking into account the morphological and syntactic functions of the language. The work, which refers to the elements that should be considered in the analysis of poetry through the texts, draws attention with its didactic and dialectical style, on which the taste for language is based. (shrink)

The Body in Arabic Love Poetry: The ʿUdhri Tradition. By Jokha Alharthi. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021. Pp. xviii + 270. $29.95 (paper).

Classical Arabic poetry is replete with animal and fruit metaphors commonly used for endearment purposes. The comparative analysis of love metaphors in classical ghazal shows, however, a shift in the poetics of love from the use of animal metaphors in Badi poetry to the occurrence of fruit imagery in Bedouin ghazal. Based on a selection of classical Arabic love poetry, the paper traces the journey of love and sexuality to illustrate the conceptual change from the (...) prevalence of the gazelle metaphor in Bedouin ghazal of pre- and early Islam times to the emergence of fruit metaphors in Badi poetry of the Abbasid era. Evidenced in poetry, the metaphorical shit mirrors a change in the portrayal of women, who cease to be conceived as wild preys, fearing and fleeing male hunters to become exotic ripe fruits, waiting for the male to pick. Seemingly fortuitous, the shift in love imagery is reminiscent of sociocultural changes that help redefine the poetics of love in classical Arabic literature and inform gender dynamics in medieval Arabia. (shrink)

In Aesthetics in Arabic Thought from Pre-Islamic Arabia through al-Andalus José Miguel Puerta Vílchez analyzes the discourses about beauty, the arts, and sense perception that arose within classical Arab culture from pre-Islamic poetry and the Quran (sixth-seventh centuries CE) to the Alhambra palace in Granada (fourteenth century CE). He focuses on the contributions of such great thinkers as Ibn Ḥazm, Avempace, Ibn Ṭufayl, Averroes, Ibn ʻArabī, and Ibn Khaldūn in al-Andalus, and the Brethren of Purity, al-Tawḥīdī, al-Fārābī, Avicenna, (...) Alhazen, and al-Ghazālī in the East. The work also explores literary criticism, calligraphy, music, belles-lettres (adab), and erotic literature, and highlights the contribution of Arab humanism to shaping the field of Aesthetics in the West. (shrink)

The first eulogies (Qaṣāīd) about the Prophet Muḥammad (pbuh) appeared when he was still alive. Ḥassān ibn Thābit (d. 60/680 [?]), ʿAbd Allāh b. Rawāḥa (d. 8/629) and Kaʿb b. Mālik (d. 50/670), important Muslim poets of the period, praised the Prophet and inspired future generations of poets. Depending on the developments in the following centuries, there had been a great increase in the number of poems sung to express enthusiastic feelings towards the Prophet and to defend him and his (...) Prophethood. Andalusia is one of the places where this genre increased the most. The first examples of the praise of the Prophet appeared in Andalusia during the Mulūk al-Ṭawāʾif period (1031-1090). The praises of the Prophet, which were processed in the poems of asceticism, dirge and elegy until the end of the 5th/11th century, became an independent genre called al-Madāʾiḥ al-Nabawiyyah/Nabawiyyāt thanks to the ever-increasing Ṣūfī thoughts penetrating literary circles. The turning point of the praise of the Prophet in Andalusia, as in the East, is the period of the The Almohads (1147-1238), which coincides with the 7th/13th century. The mawlid celebrations, which were first initiated by the Fāṭimids in the 4th/10th century to give legitimacy to their rule, and held every year in North Africa on the twelfth of the month of Rabi'ulawwal, moved to Andalusia at the end of the The Almohad period and gradually became one of the largest official and religious holidays in Andalusia. Giving awards to high-quality poems read on the mawlid festival and celebrations made all over Andalusia has greatly contributed to the literary richness in this field. In praise of the Prophet, talented poets such as Abū Zayd al-Fāzāzī (d. 627/ 1230), Ibn al-Jannān al-Anṣārī (d. 650/1252), Ibn Jābir (d. 780/1378) and Ibn Zumruk (d. 797/1395) emerged. Abū Zayd al-Fāzāzī, one of the most distinguished Prophetic ode poets of the Almohad period is said to have first pioneered the spread of Prophetic praises in Andalusia before the Iraqi poet Yaḥyā al-Ṣarṣarī (d. 656/1258) and the Egyptian poet Būṣīrī (d. 695/1296). He has a dīvān called al-Wasā’il al-mutaqabbalah, which he wrote in alphabetical order and dedicated to the praise of the Prophet. The fame of the odes he uttered about the Prophet spread as far as North Africa, and it has become a tradition to read his odes on special days. Because of the abundance and quality of Prophetic odes, Ibn al-Jannān, who witnessed the glorious days and the collapse of the The Almohad state, also commemorated the poet Ḥassān ibn Thābit, The Prophet’s Odic Poet. Ibn Jābir al-Andalusī, on the other hand, wrote the second ode in this field after Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥilli (d. 749/1348), the inventor of the axiomatic odes, and became the pioneer of axiomatic odes in Andalusia. The effect of political instability on Prophetic odes in Andalusia, which entered its collapse with the end of the Almohad state, is obvious. According to many poets, salvation from this plight of Muslims in Andalusia is possible by once again adhering to the Sunnah of the Prophet. Probably as a reflection of this idea, many poets from 7th/13th centuries onwards devoted their odes to narrating the Prophet and his Sunnah. Poets who describe the Prophet elaborately in their poems hope to be saved from the troubles they have fallen into and to reach the highest rank in heaven. Poets who touched upon the physical characteristics of the Prophet often likened his smiling face to a bright sun and a full moon. In terms of oratory, they stated that he had a fluent language and never uttered bad words. Andalusian poets, who praised the Prophet with moral virtues such as tolerance, justice and courage, stated that there was nobody more merciful and generous than him due to the abundance of his blessings resembling torrential rain. Andalusian Prophetic ode poets adhered to the traditional forms of Arabic poetry in terms of the structure of eulogy. In the introductory parts of odes, they generally express longing for the Prophet and the holy places. The main theme is mostly the Prophet and his outstanding virtues, and they usually end their eulogies with salutation to the Prophet. Save a few Sufi poets, it can be said that they used simple and understandable language in their poems. The sources of inspiration for their poems are the Qur'an and hadiths. Andalusian poets used non-material axiomatic arts in their poems without disturbing the structure of eulogy. In addition to the art of pun, they provided musicality in the poem with the ‘tent-frame’ meter and rhyme scheme, sometimes supporting it through repetition. It is possible to see all kinds of repetitions in, Ibn al-Jannān's odes. In this study, the place of the Prophet in Andalusia and odes, which are reflections of the love for him, will be examined. In addition, the concept of the Prophet in Andalusia will be explained within the political, social and cultural framework of the period. (shrink)

After receiving the divine authorization from Allah to openly notify people of Islam, the Messenger of Allah started to publicly to invite the people of Mecca to Islam. Idolaters however felt heavy shame to give up the faith of their ancestors, and the pagans did not accept the Prophet's invitation to Islam. They applied various pressures to the Messenger of Allah and the believers to renounce the cause of Islam. When the animosity against the new Muslims became intolerable, Almighty Allah (...) gave permission to immigrate, first to Habasha and then to Medina. Some of the companions of the Prophet periodically immigrated to Habasha and then to Medina. In the sources that have survived to the present day, poets (ṣaḥāba: companion of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him) reflect the events experienced during the immigration to Medina and the intensity of emotions they felt during the holy journey. These poets demonstrate in their writings a sense of elation and pride, having followed the Prophet's favorable advice to immigrate to Medina and portend that their religion will be strengthened in Medina by their presence. Their poems in terms of style are more focused on unscripted, or spontaneous feelings, a style of pauses to give harmony between the shorter verses, unlike long poetic tradition in the period of ignorance (Jāhiliyya).Summary: The Messenger of Allah comes into the world of Mecca, where injustice and distorted belief forms prevail, and when he is forty years old, he is commissioned as a prophet by Allah Almighty. Considering the possibility that the Islamic invitation will not be accepted and welcomed by the pagan Arabs in Mecca, the Prophet tries to spread his cause among the people only he has trusted for three years. When revelation regarding publicly conveying Islam came, the Prophet begins to openly invite the people of Mecca to Islam. Since leaving the beliefs that are patrimonies preponderated the pagans, they started oppressing the Prophet and the believers. When the pressure exerted by the pagans exceeded the limit of tolerance, the Prophet advised the Ṣaḥāba for the temporary migration to Abyssinia. Some Muslims in need of protection followed the advice of the Messenger of Allah, and they migrated to Abyssinia. In the meantime, the Prophet was under the protection of his uncle Abū Ṭālib. After the death of Abū Ṭālib, the pressure on the Prophet increased day by day. Moreover, it was even planned by the pagans to have them eradicated through conspiring against them. The Prophet, who understood that he cannot convey Islam in Mecca, went to Tāif to describe his case. The Prophet, however, faced a harsh reaction in Tāif and was forced to return to Mecca.In the meantime, the people of Medina were in search of a leader to eliminate the mess in consequence of wars and instability with Jews on the one hand and among each other on the other hand. The Prophet came to Mecca in the Ḥājj (pilgrimage) season and also presented the religion of Islam to groups from Medina People who perceived that the Prophet has the features to overcome the disasters between them, they pledge allegiance to the Prophet through the agreements known as Bay‘a al-‘Aqaba in the region called al-‘Aqaba, respectively as Bay‘a al-‘Aqaba I and II. In this way, the city of Medina became ready to welcome the immigrants and to be a base of the Islamic religion that will open up to the world. Almighty Allah is first allowed to Ṣaḥāba and then to Prophet to migrate to Medina and with migration of Prophet to Medina, a significant breakthrough was achieved in the history of Islam.Since the issue of the migration to Medina corresponds to the early period of Islam, the sources of poetry reflected the migration of the Ṣaḥāba to Medina are few in number. Relevant texts in the available sources can be found consist of five articles as, three of them belong to Abū Aḥmad b. Jaḥsh, the fourth belongs to Bujaid b. 'Imran al-Huzâ'î'e and the last one belongs to an unknown poet. Because of his connection to the hegira, a verse pursuant to idolater poet Utbe b. Rabî‘a was also included in the subject. In related poem texts, it is seen that the Ṣaḥābahs poets had prided themselves on the fact that they followed the advice made by the Messenger of Allah on his way to hegira to Medina and they tried to reflect the intensity of emotions they experienced in the face of the developments that occurred since the first moments of the movement of emigration to the poems. Determined to migrate to Medina in order to strengthen the Islamic invitation, the poet Abū Aḥmad reflected the self-confidence of walking on the right way. Abū Aḥmad promised the Messenger of Allah that he will migrate to Medina and he was faithful to his word. Abū Aḥmad tried to resolve his concerns of his wife Umm Aḥmad that they might be harmed by the polytheists if they migrate to Medina and emphasized that they migrate to Medina in order to strengthen the God Almighty against superstitions.Undoubtedly, the concerns of Umm Aḥmad in this context give clues about the dimensions of mobbing, oppression and torture policies applied to Muslims in Mecca. Abū Aḥmad and his associates were full of belief that Almighty Allah will meet their expectations as they migrate to Medina in line with the recommendations of the Prophet. In this respect, the poet turns a deaf ear to the advice of many men, women and friends to not to leave Mecca environment that he was born and grew up in and the memories that adorns his inner life shaped. The poet also points to the importance of the fellowship of Islam, rather than the spirit of Jāhiliyya As a matter of fact, because of tribal chauvinism, the poet called for the termination of hostilities in the past and convinced those around him to follow the call. In this respect, the poet is in peace with the fact that the family members will also have the blessings waiting for those who migrate for Allah. According to the poet, the idolaters who favored blasphemy and who opposed Muslims, deserved the wrath of Allah. Even if there are blood ties with the Muslims, the idolaters who favor the blasphemy and opposed the Muslims are frustrated. In another poem, the poet also boasts Ghanm family, of whom he was a member, because they had fulfilled the promise they had given to the Prophet, that they would migrate to Medina. According to the poet, the Ghanm family is essentially loyal to the Prophet. As a matter of fact, the Ghanm family, which once occupied Mecca and lived off in Mecca, left the lands they lived in for Allah and migrated to Medina in groups of single and two in order to strengthen the invitation to Islam.Poet Bujaid b. ʿImrān al-Khuāz‘i boasts about the fact that Khuzā'a tribe, of which he was a member, that is the lower tribe of the Kaʿb sons, supported the Prophet and some of his people migrated to Medina in his verses. In fact, according to the poet, the members of the Khuzā'a tribe trotted off to the Medina on the advice of the Prophet without wasting any time. Moreover, due to the agreement between the Khuzā'a tribe, who played a key role in the reasons causing conquest of Mecca, and the Prophet, Mecca was conquered and Mecca skies were cleaned from idolatry mist. The Khuzā'a tribe was instrumental owing to their admirable attitude in the conquest of Mecca and the Prophet to gain strength, despite the idolaters who once forced the Prophet to leave Mecca. In the verses of the unidentified poet, it is seen that the names of the eight Ṣaḥāba who were subjected to oppression in the most troubled early periods of Islam, who left their homeland for Allah, migrated to Abyssinia or Medina and were heralded to enter heaven were mentioned. According to an unidentified poet, it is not possible for anyone to reach the rankings of these eight people due to the beautiful actions they performed.In the last poem text, it is seen that the poet Abū Aḥmad was dissatisfied with the confiscation and sale of his house by Abū Sufyān when he emigrated to Medina. In the verses, the poet likens his home being unjustly confiscated by Abū Sufyān to a hunter holding the dove he seized tightly and he emphasizes that he will get his due in the afterlife from Abū Sufyān.The poetry texts bearing the traces of migration to Medina are a continuation of the poetry technique of the period of Jāhiliyya in terms of the poetry technique, when wordings that are in accordance with the spirit of Islam are left aside. As a matter of fact, poets try to reflect the intensity of emotions they live in short verses instead of long term poems. Again, poets use the types of art, such as borrowing, metaphor and comparison, which are frequently used in the poetry of the Jāhiliyya in order to bring the intensity of emotion they live in closer to the audience's perception. Poets build on these poems on taweel, muteqâreb, baseet and qamel, which are frequently found poetic measures in the poetry of Jāhiliyya. As a last word, it is necessary to say that the poetry texts of Ṣaḥāba poets are historical objects in terms of shedding light on the events experienced during the Hijra. Again, the poem texts in question are important in terms of getting an idea about the state of old Arabic poetry during the transition period from the period of Jāhiliyya to the period of Islam. (shrink)

Pessimism may be one of the most evident features of Arabic contemporary poetry; specifically, when the poet belongs to the Romantic school since s/he has been living in an imaginary world far from reality. The fact is that the effects of pessimism in Arabic poetry have been observed since old times to the present, and Romantic poets have been impressed by changes in their personal and social conditions and then began complaining about the grief and pain (...) of the time. Experiencing a painful life, Naji took a pessimistic view toward life. This paper attempts to focus on Ebrahim Naji’s pessimism to see whether he is the same as older poets, or whether his pessimistic attitude is derived from Romantic values which have a deep relationship with the romantic trend impressed by the west and its literature. (shrink)

Studies on the contributions made to the Arabic language and literature during the Ottoman period generally focused on the Arabic language grammar and rhetoric education given by the Ottomans in the madrasahs. However, it is seen that Ottoman scholars also produced some works in the field of Arabic poetry. In the mentioned period, the studies in the field of Arabic poetry and literature have been increasing in recent years. In this study, a poet, a (...) recitation scholar and an Ottoman Pasha, Köprülü Abdullah Pasha, who was a member of the Köprülü family, who made his mark on the Ottoman administration and served both the science and the state, and who wrote an Arabic divan, and the content of his poetry divan were examined. The poet's divan is in manuscript form in various libraries. There is no study on Abdullah Pasha's poetry and his manuscript. Due to Abdullah Pasha's family, he received a good education, served in the geographies where the Arabs lived, especially when he was the governor in Egypt, he benefited from the al-Azhar scholars and wrote poems about the subjects discussed in classical Arabic literature. It is thought that such studies will also contribute to the studies against the claims that Arabic collapsed during the Ottoman period. (shrink)

For the communication between people to remain effective and lively and for the expressive power to be permanent, the qualities of the words are as important as the quantity of words in a language. From this perspective, Arabic has many linguistic features like other developed languages. Parsing, deriviations, blending, synonymy, contrast, arabization, antithetical polysemy, commutation, ellipsis, polysemy, etc. Language features are intensely found in Arabic. As it is known, polysemy is one of the important issues of the (...) class='Hi'>Arabic language that has been taken into consideration since the compilation period. Although there are scholars among Arabic linguists who deny the existence of polysemous words, the vast majority have accepted the issue of polysemy. Among polysemous words, some words indicate several different meanings, as well as words that express many different meanings. In this respect, words that indicate a lot of meanings in the group of polysemous words have attracted the attention of poets. Poets wrote long odes using such words to demonstrate their mastery of the science of the dictionary and to prove their competence in the art of poetry. There are even poets who write different odes in terms of theme, using the same word. One of these poets is Ibn al-Munāṣıf from Cordoba, who lived between 1168 and 1223. The poet, better known as the jurist, wrote his famous ode using the common word "acuz". By ending each couplet with the word ʾujūz, the poet brought together the different meanings of the word ʾujūz in the ode in question. In this study, the issue of polysemy, which is considered an important feature of the Arabic language, will be briefly discussed. In addition, the Qasida of ʾUjūz will be translated and analyzed. (shrink)

The paper concerns the Commentary on Aristotle's Poetics written by Avicenna (Ibn Sina : 930-1037AD). The paper is divided into two parts, the first of which examines Avicenna's account of poetic imagination and the use he makes of this concept in justifying a 'poetic syllogism' that accounts for aesthetic validity. The second part develops this account of the poetic syllogism to show that the completeness of the syllogistic requires us to consider the kind of commurlty and moral validity sustained by (...) poetic validity. To explain the first claim - for poetic syllogisms - the paper examines Avicenna's writings on logic and parts of his commentaries on the Prior and Posterior Analytics, linking these to issues in his commentary on the Poetics. To explain the relation of poetry to community, the paper develops issues from the commentary on the Poetics, especially Avicenna's use of the concept of 'themes'. (shrink)

At the beginning, the poetry was considered as the genesis of the arabic art, and after then the prose of adab, both of them appeared with the idea of the "beauty science". This idea would be projected on the music. On the other hand, the greek heritage of the classic arabic philosophy legacy was reflected during the first manuscripts of the arabic philosophers and musical theoreticians as al-Kindf and al-Farabf, as a result appeared a new conception (...) of the "beauty" and "aesthetic". By this way, taking as a point of reference the greek classical world, the new parameters would appear as an result of this own reality and idiosyncrasy. Their poetry and musical legacy, joined to the philosopher and religious mind would complete the work of the "aesthetic musical art". The study of the arabic middle music prove that the harmony in the poetry, lingüistic and rhitmycal contents, go in parallel with the melodic content until it reached a harmonic relation and in definitive cosmic, and as a result an "aesthetic ideal". This ideal was based on "beauty" and the "aesthetic emotion" produced by the art and all that as reflet to the harmonic until the corp and the spirit and oriented to the spherical work and to the divinity. (shrink)