Basit (other)

''Basīṭ'' ( ar, بسيط), or ''al-basīṭ'' (البسيط), is a metre used in classical Arabic poetry. The word literally means "extended" or "spread out" in Arabic. Along with the '' ṭawīl'', '' kāmil'', and '' wāfir'', it is one of the four most common metres used in pre-Islamic and classical Arabic poetry.

Form of the metre

The metrical form of the basīṭ is often as follows (where "–" is a long syllable, "u" is a short syllable, and "x" is , i.e., a syllable which can be either long or short):

:, x – u – , x u – , – – u – , u u – ,

The mnemonic words (''tafāʿīl'') used by Arab prosodists to describe this metre are: ' ().

The metre is usually used in couplets of eight feet each.

Example

An example is the '' qasīda'' by al-Mutanabbi (915-965): “The poet reproaches Sayf al-Dawla” (king of Aleppo), a poem of 38 couplets, from which come the following well-known verses:

:, u – u – , u u – , – – u – , u u – ,
:, u – u – , – u – , – – u – , u u – ,

:
:
:
:
:

:
:

:
:

:
:

:
:

:
:

:If you see the lion’s fangs on display
:do not imagine for a moment that the lion is smiling.

:And a soul whose owner’s concern was my soul
:I have overtaken on a steed whose back was inviolable;

:His two hind legs in the galloping were one and his two forelegs were one,
:and his action was whatever my hand and my foot desired.

:And I have ridden with a blade between the two armies,
:until I struck while the wave of death was crashing round me.

:The horses and the night and the desert know me
:and the sword and the spear and the paper and the pen.

Variations

Although in the poem of al-Mutanabbi quoted above, the last foot of each half-verse is always , u u – , , other poets use the metre in the following form, where "uu" represents a biceps element, i.e. one where the two short syllables can optionally be replaced by one long one.
:, x – u – , x u – , – – u – , uu – ,

An example is the following drinking-song by Abu Nuwas which begins:

:

:
:
:, – – u – , – u – , – – u – , – – ,
:, u – u – , – u – , – – u – , – – ,

:"Censure me not, for censure but tempts me;
:cure me rather with the cause of my ill—"

The metre also exists in a trimeter form of which the half-verse is as follows:
:, x – u – , – u – , x – u – ,

There is also a catalectic trimeter form:
:, x – u – , – u – , x – – ,

Occasionally the first foot of each half-verse can be , – u u – , .

Very rarely (in less than 1% of lines) the third foot can be , u – u – , .Stoetzer, Willem (1982
"Some Observations on Quantity in Arabic Metrics"
''Journal of Arabic Literature'' Vol. 13 (1982), pp. 66-75

In a musical context

The term ''basīṭ'' is also used in a musical context; in the ''Andalusi nubah'', or classical suites, of Morocco, each ''nubah'', or suite, is divided into five main movements (called ''mīzān'' (; plural: ''mawāzīn'', )) each of which uses a different rhythm, as follows:

#''Basīṭ'' (6/4)
#''Qāim wa nusf'' (8/4)
#''Btāyhī'' (8/4)
#''Darj'' (4/4)
#''Quddām'' (3/4 or 6/8)