A ''rāwī'' was a reciter and transmitter of
Arabic poetry
Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that.
Arabic poetry ...
in the
pre-Islamic and early Islamic period (mid-7th–early 8th centuries). The term was also applied to transmitters of ''akhbar'' (narrative traditions) and
hadiths
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
(sayings and traditions attributed to the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
and his
companions).
Meaning
''Rawi'' is an Arabic term meaning "to bear by memory, to transmit or recite". It is a derivative of ''rawa'', an Arabic term meaning "to carry or convey water". The term ''riwaya'', or ''kathir al-riwaya'', meaning "copious transmitter", was the intensive form of the word and was used synonymously with ''rawi'' by the early Muslim literary sources.
Institution
A ''rawi'' may have been a profession or semi-profession, though it was often occupied by a relative of a poet. The ''rawi's'' role was to memorize a poet's verses and publicly recite them, particularly during the annual fairs in Arabia, and pass them down to the next generation. The institution served as the principal tool for the preservation of
pre-Islamic poetry
Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that.
Arabic poetry ...
. It is likely that the transmissions in the 6th century, especially among Bedouin poets, were oral, though the ''rawis'' and poets operating in the courts of the
Lakhmids
The Lakhmids ( ar, اللخميون, translit=al-Laḫmiyyūn) referred to in Arabic as al-Manādhirah (, romanized as: ) or Banu Lakhm (, romanized as: ) was an Arab kingdom in Southern Iraq and Eastern Arabia, with al-Hirah as their capital ...
of
al-Hira
Al-Hirah ( ar, الحيرة, translit=al-Ḥīra Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq.
History
Kingdom of the Lakhmids
Al-Hirah was a significant city in pre-Is ...
and of the
Ghassanids
The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...
of
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
may have written down their poetry.
During the early
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
period (661–750), the first volumes of poetry, the
Mu'allaqat
The Muʻallaqāt ( ar, المعلقات, ) is a group of seven long Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, the traditional explanation being that these poems were hung in the Kaaba in Mecca, while scholars have also ...
("the Hanging Poems"), were recorded in written form. The prominent poets
al-Farazdaq
Hammam ibn Ghalib ( ar, همام بن غالب; born c. 641; died 728–730), most commonly known as Al-Farazdaq () or Abu Firas, was an Arab poet.
He was born in, Kazma. He was a member of Darim, one of the most respected divisions of the Bani T ...
and
Jarir were known to have dictated their verses to ''rawis'', suggesting that writing initially assisted oral transmission until eventually replacing it. In the early
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
period (750–1258) Bedouin poetry was systematically compiled by sophisticated ''rawis'', who recorded the poetry they possessed and memorized them for recitation as well. They gathered their poems from Bedouin and questioned them to verify their authenticity. The Bedouin transmitters were also called ''rawis''. The historian Renate Jacobi notes of the early Islamic-era transmissions, "presumably the term ''rawi/riwaya'' was applied, as long as learning by heart and reciting of verses still played a part, even if a marginal one, in poetic transmission".
References
Bibliography
*{{EI2 , last=Jacobi , first=Renate , article=Rāwī , volume=8 , pages=466–467
Arabic poetry
Islamic poetry