THE QUR'ĀN AND ARABIC POETRY

To the Arabs the Qur'ān was not only a religious book which set up for them new principles of religious, moral and social conduct, but also a literary work of the highest quality, the very Speech of God that no man can surpass or rival and, therefore, the final authority regarding language and grammar and the standard by which a literary work might be judged. But in spite of this, and of the fact that Muhammad was taken by his Meccan opponents to be a poet and soothsayer, the influence that the Qur'ān has exerted on the development of the Arabic poem, its themes, structure, language and general spirit, is less significant than that exercised by the works of the pre-Islamic poets. The pre-Islamic qasīdah or ode remained the model after which the new poets, who were born after Islam, composed their works, and the standard by which these works were judged. This happened in spite of the hostile attitude expressed by the Qur'ān and the Prophet towards heathen poetry and poets, an attitude which amounts to a condemnation of poetic imagination and truth.

Three main reasons seem to have contributed to this peculiar phenomenon. At the time when Muhammad began his prophetic career the Arabic qasīdah was fully developed in structure, language and metrical scheme, the poetic traditions firmly established and the whole imaginative range of life in Arabia explored by the poets. Therefore, it was impossible for Islam to switch the course which the Arabic qasīdah was following or to abolish the poetic traditions which were created by the heathen poets.