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Arabic Literature
Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquette, and which implies politeness, culture and enrichment. Arabic literature, primarily transmitted orally, began to be documented in written form in the 7th century, with only fragments of written Arabic appearing before then. The Qur'an would have the greatest lasting effect on Arab culture and its literature. Arabic literature flourished during the Islamic Golden Age, but has remained vibrant to the present day, with poets and prose-writers across the Arab world, as well as in the Arab diaspora, achieving increasing success. History Pre-Islamic poetry Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry is referred to in traditional Arabic literature as ''al-shiʿr al-Jāhilī'', "poetry from the Jahiliyyah". In pre-Islamic Arabia, markets such as Souk Okaz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prosimetrum
A ''prosimetrum'' (plural ''prosimetra'') is a poetic composition which exploits a combination of prose (''prosa'') and verse (''metrum'');Braund, Susanna. Prosimetrum. In Cancil, Hubert, and Helmuth Schneider, eds. ''Brill's New Pauly''. Brill Online, 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2015. in particular, it is a text composed in alternating segments of prose and verse.Brogan, T.V.F. "Prosimetrum". In Green et al., pp. 1115–1116. It is widely found in Western and Eastern literature. While narrative ''prosimetrum'' may encompass at one extreme a prose story with occasional verse interspersed, and at the other, verse with occasional prose explanations, in true ''prosimetrum'' the two forms are represented in more equal measure.Harris & Reichl, p. 11. A distinction is sometimes drawnHanson, Kristin, and Paul Kiparsky. "The Nature of Verse and Its Consequences for the Mixed Form". In Harris & Reichl, p. 36. between texts in which verse is the dominant form and those in which prose dominates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-A'sha
Al-A'sha () or Maymun Ibn Qays Al-A'sha (d.c. 570– 625) was an Arabic Jahiliyyah poet from Al-Yamama, Arabia. He claimed to receive inspiration from a jinni called ''Misḥal''. Although not a Christian himself, his poems prove familiarity with Christianity. He traveled through Mesopotamia, Syria, Arabia and Ethiopia. He was nicknamed al-A'sha which means "weak-sighted" or "night-blind" after he lost his sight. He continued to travel even after becoming blind, particularly along the western coast of the Arabian peninsula. It was then that he turned to the writing of panegyrics as a means of support. His style, reliant on sound effects and full-bodied foreign words, tends to be artificial. His love poems are devoted to the praise of Huraira, a black female slave. He is said to have believed in the Christian eschatological themes of Resurrection and Last Judgment, and to have been a monotheist. These beliefs may have been due to his interactions with the bishop of Najr� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antara Ibn Shaddad
Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi (; 525–608 AD), also known as ʿAntar (), was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet and knight, famous for both his poetry and his adventurous life. His chief poem forms part of the '' Mu'allaqāt'', the collection of seven "hanging odes" legendarily said to have been suspended in the Kaaba at Mecca. The account of his life forms the basis of a long and extravagant romance. Life ʿAntarah was born in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. His father was Arab, Shaddād al-ʿAbsī, a respected warrior of the Banu Abs under their chief Zuhayr. His mother was an Ethiopian woman named Zabībah. Described as one of three "Arab crows" (''Aghribah al-'Arab'') - famous Arab with a black complexion, ʿAntarah grew up a slave as well. He fell in love with his cousin ʿAblah, but could not hope to marry her owing to his position. He also gained the enmity of his father's wife Sumayya. He gained attention and respect for himself by his personal qualities and courage in battle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Nabigha
Al-Nābighah (), al-Nābighah al-Dhubiyānī, or Nābighah al-Dhubyānī; real name Ziyad ibn Muawiyah (); was one of the last pre-Islamic Arabian poets. "Al-Nabigha" means genius or intelligent in Arabic. Biography His tribe, the Banu Dhubyan, belonged to the district near Mecca, but he spent most of his time at the Lakhmid court of al-Hirah and the court of the Ghassanids. In al-Hirah, he remained under al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith, and then his successor in 562. After a sojourn at the court of Ghassan, he returned to al-Hirah under al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir. Owing to his verses written about the Queen he was compelled to flee to Ghassan, but returned ca., 600. When Numan died five years later he withdrew to his own tribe. His date of death is uncertain, but seems to predate Islam. His poems consist largely of eulogies and satires, and are concerned with the strife of Hirah and Ghassan, and of the Banu Abs and the Banu Dhubyan. He is one of the six eminent pre-Is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuhayr Ibn Abi Sulma
Zuhayr bin Abī Sulmā (; ), also romanized as Zuhair or Zoheir, was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet who lived in the 6th & 7th centuries AD. He is considered one of the greatest writers of Arabic poetry in pre-Islamic times. Zuhayr belonged to the Banu Muzaina. His father was a poet and his elder son Ka'b bin Zuhayr also became a poet, reading his works to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Zuhayr's poems can be found in Hammad Ar-Rawiya's anthology, the ''Mu'allaqat'' ("the Suspended"), a collection of pre-Islamic poetry. He was one of the seven poets featured in that collection who were reputed to have been honoured by hanging copies of their work in the Kaaba at Mecca. He was Umar ibn al-Khattab's favourite poet. Zuhayr's poetry was written when two Arabic tribes ended a longstanding hostility. His poems deal with raids and other subjects of nomadic desert life. He also wrote satirical poems and poems about the glory of his tribe, but in his verses he was less satiric than mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amr Ibn Kulthum
ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm ibn Mālik ibn ʿAttāb ʾAbū Al-ʾAswad al-Taghlibi (; 526–584) was a poet and chieftain of the Taghlib tribe in pre-Islamic Arabia. One of his poems was included in the ''Mu'allaqat''. He is the grandson of the poet Abu Layla al-Muhalhel. Taghlibs The great Basus War, which was between the Taghlibs and the Bakrs, lasted for approximately forty years until the Lakhmids king of al-Hirah, 'Amr ibn Hind, urged them to make peace with each other on condition that some of their children were to be taken hostages by the king. The King of Hira said one day to his drinking companions, "Do you know anyone among the Arabs whose mother declines serving my mother?" They replied, "Yes, Amr Ibn Kulthum." The king asked, "Why is that?" His companions replied, "Because her father is Abu Layla al-Muhalhel, her uncle is Kulaib ibn Rabiah , her spouse is Kulthum Ibn Malik Ibn Etab an astounding knight of Arabs and her son is Amr ibn Kulthum chief of his clan." After that th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harith Ibn Hilliza
Al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥilliza al-Yashkurī () was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet of the tribe of Bakr, from the 5th century. He was the author of one of the seven famous pre-Islamic poems known as the ''Mu'allaqat''. Little is known of the details of his life. The story of the ''mu'allaqa'' which al-Harith composed is as follows. A dispute had arisen between the men of Taghlib and those of Bakr after a number of young Taghlib men had died in the desert. The men of Taghlib chose their prince, Amr ibn Kulthum, to plead their cause before Amr ibn Hind (d. 569), the king of al-Hirah Al-Hira ( Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient Lakhmid Arabic city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq. The Sasanian Empire, Sasanian government established the Lakhmid state (Al-Hirah) on the edge of the ... in southern Iraq. Ibn Kulthum pleaded the Taghlib's cause by reciting the sixth of the ''mu'allaqāt''. A quarrel then broke out between Ibn Kulthum and al-Nu'm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarafa
Tarafa ( / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarafah ibn al-‘Abd ibn Sufyān ibn Sa‘d Abū ‘Amr al-Bakrī al-Wā’ilī''; 543–569), was an Arabian poet of the tribe of the Bakr. He is one of the seven poets of the most celebrated anthology of ancient Arabic poetry, known as the '' Muʿallaqāt'', however just one of his poems is included. His fellow poets preserved in this work are Al-Nabigha, Antarah ibn Shaddad, Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma, 'Alqama ibn 'Abada and Imru' al-Qais. Life Ṭarafah was the half-brother or nephew of the elegist Al-Khirniq bint Badr. He traveled with his uncle Al-Mutalammis to the court of the king of Al-Hirah, ʿAmr ibn Hind, and there became companion to the king's brother. According to one legend, having ridiculed the king in some verses he was sent with a letter to the ruler of Bahrayn, and, in accordance with the instructions contained in the letter, was buried alive. Modern Translations *''The Divans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets, Ennabiga, 'Antara, Thara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imru' Al-Qais
Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi () was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet from Najd in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, and the last King of Kinda. He is sometimes considered the father of Arabic poetry. His qaṣīda, or long poem, "Let us stop and weep" ( ''qifā nabki'') is one of the seven Mu'allaqat, poems prized as the best examples of pre-Islamic Arabian verse. His father was said to be Hujr bin al-Harith ( ''Ḥujr ibn al-Ḥārith''), the Kindan regent over the Arab tribes of Asad and Ghatafan, and it is believed that Imru' al-Qais was born in the territory of Asad. His mother was said to be Fatimah bint Rabi'ah al- Taghlibi ( / ''Fāṭimah bint Rabī‘ah al-Taghlibī''). Legend has it that Imru' al-Qais was the youngest of his father's sons, and began composing poetry while he was still a child. His father strongly disapproved of this habit in his son, believing poetry to be an unseemly pastime for the son of a king. His father also disapproved o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above sea level. Its metropolitan population in 2022 was 2.4million, making it the List of cities in Saudi Arabia by population, third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Around 44.5% of the population are Saudis, Saudi citizens and around 55.5% are Muslim world, Muslim foreigners from other countries. Pilgrims more than triple the population number every year during the Pilgrimage#Islam, pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Islamic calendar, Hijri month of . With over 10.8 million international visitors in 2023, Mecca was one of the ten List of cities by international visitors, most visited cities in the world. Mecca is generally considered "the fountainhead and cradle of Islam". Mecca is revered in Islam as the birthp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mu'allaqat
The Muʻallaqāt (, ) is a compilation of seven long pre-Islamic Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, they were named so because these poems were hung in the Kaaba in Mecca. Some scholars have also suggested that the hanging is figurative, as if the poems "hang" in the reader's mind. Along with the '' Mufaddaliyat'', '' Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab'', '' Asma'iyyat'', and the '' Hamasah'', the ''Mu'allaqāt'' are considered the primary source for early written Arabic poetry. Scholar Peter N. Stearns goes so far as to say that they represent "the most sophisticated poetic production in the history of Arabic letters." History Compilation The original compiler of the poems may have been Hammad al-Rawiya (8th century). The grammarian Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Nahhas (d. 949 CE) says in his commentary on the ''Mu'allaqat'': "The true view of the matter is this: when Hammad al-Rawiya saw how little men cared for poetry, he collected these seven pieces, ur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
