The Origins of Arabic Poetry1

D. S. Margoliouth

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00054885

The Origins of Arabic Poetry1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

D. S. Margoliouth

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The existence of poets in Arabia before the rise of Islam is certified by the Qur'an, which contains one Surah named after them, and occasionally alludes to them elsewhere. Among the descriptions of the Prophet given by his opponents there was “ a Jinn-ridden poet” (xxxvii, 35), to which he replies that he has brought the truth. In another passage (lii, 29) the suggestions that he was a kāhin, a jinn-ridden man, and a poet are offered as alternatives. Since those who described him as a poet said they would wait to see what would happen to him (lii, 30) it might be inferred that poets were in the habit of foretelling the future. Elsewhere he asserts that his language is not that of a poet, but rather of an honourable messenger (lxix, 41), and that God had not taught him poetry, which would have been of no use to him (xxxvi, 69); his utterances were “ statement and clear lesson ”, whence we should infer that poetry was obscure. These hints about the poets are summarized in the Surah that bears their name (xxvi, 224, foll.), where we are told that they are followed by the misguided, rave in every valley, and say what they do not do. The sequel might seem to except certain pious bards from this condemnation, but the style of the Qur'an renders it uncertain whether this exception really applies to bards.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , July 1925 , pp. 417 - 449

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00054885 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1925

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References

^{page 418 note 1} Aghāanī, ed. 2, xiii, 48, 23.

^{page 418 note 2} Letters of Abu'l-'Ala, 66, 25.

^{page 418 note 3} Rāghib Ispahānī.

^{page 419 note 1} Agh. xiii, 64 ; xx, 2.

^{page 419 note 2} Musnad of Ibn Ḥanbal, ii, 331.

^{page 419 note 3} Baiḍāwī on xxxvi, 69.

^{page 419 note 4} Agh. xi, 76, 23.

^{page 419 note 5} Talbīs Iblīs, 240.

^{page 420 note 1} Dīwān, Beyrut, 1889, p. 83.

^{page 420 note 2} Bayān, ii, 184.

^{page 421 note 1} Irshad, ii, 366, 5.

^{page 421 note 2} Murūj al-Dhahab, i, 65.

^{page 421 note 3} Agh. xiii, 104.

^{page 421 note 4} Ṭabarī, i, 906; Agh. xiii, 118; xx, 9.

^{page 421 note 5} Poètes Arabes Chrétiens, p. 160.

^{page 421 note 6} iv, 148, 11.

^{page 421 note 7} Agh. xx, 15, 27.

^{page 421 note 8} PAC. 142.

^{page 422 note 1} Cf. Agh. xviii, 164.

^{page 422 note 2} Muzhir, ii, 243.

^{page 422 note 3} Agh. xi, 154 (Khuzaimah b. Nahd).

^{page 422 note 4} Jā ḥi ẓ, Bayān, ii, 184 (after Abū ‘Amr b. al-‘Alā).

^{page 422 note 5} Agh. viii, 75.

^{page 422 note 6} Ed. Lyall, 57, 9.

^{page 422 note 7} Agh. iv, 148.

^{page 423 note 1} Muzhir. i, 121.

^{page 423 note 2} Tha'ālibī, Histoire des Rois des Perses, 556, mentions Sawwār b. Zaid as the rāwiyah of the people of Ḥirah. He recited Arabic verses by a Persian king. The Rāwī of the people of Kufah (Mubarrad, Kāmil, i, 358) is Islamic.

^{page 424 note 1} Agh. xi, 100, 3.

^{page 424 note 2} Agh. xii, 123, 4.

^{page 424 note 3} Ḥārith, Mu‘allaqah, 67, speaks of treaties written on mahāriq, parchments ?

^{page 424 note 4} Kosegarten, 13, 6.

^{page 424 note 5} Agh. xi, 125, 21.

^{page 425 note 1} Agh. xx, 8, 13.

^{page 425 note 2} Agh. iv, 37.

^{page 425 note 3} Agh. xii, 112, Shamardal writes a poem.

^{page 425 note 4} Agh. xx, 24.

^{page 425 note 5} Diwan of Hudhail, ed. Kosegarten, 115, 2.

^{page 426 note 1} See Wright's Grammar, ii, 359.

^{page 426 note 2} iii, 15.

^{page 427 note 1} See Griffini, Il Poemetto di Qudam ben Qādim, Rome, 1918.

^{page 427 note 2} ii, 1102, 6.

^{page 428 note 1} Kitāb al-Kharāj, 105.

^{page 428 note 2} ii, 841, 21.

^{page 428 note 3} Tabrīzī's Preface.

^{page 428 note 4} See Rothstein, Die Dynastie der Lakhmiden, 1899.

^{page 428 note 5} Ibn Jinni, Kha ṣā'i ṣ, Cairo, 1914, i, 393; he wrongly renders ṭunūj by “ quires ”.

^{page 428 note 6} v, 172, ed. l ; 163, ed. 2.

^{page 428 note 7} Agh. v, 172.

^{page 429 note 1} PAC. 540 ; Ahlwardt, p. 81, etc.

^{page 429 note 2} Agh. xiii, 4, end.

^{page 429 note 3} Irshād, ii, 426, 3.

^{page 429 note 4} Irshād, ii, 366, 18.

^{page 430 note 1} Agh. iii, 23.

^{page 430 note 2} Irshād, vi, 110.

^{page 430 note 3} Irshād, vi, 215.

^{page 430 note 4} Irshād, ii, 236, 5.

^{page 430 note 5} Agh. xiii, 4.

^{page 430 note 6} Irshād, vii, 5, 13.

^{page 431 note 1} Irshād, i, 126.

^{page 431 note 2} Irshād, vii, 138.

^{page 431 note 3} Muzhir, ii, 242.

^{page 431 note 4} Irshād, ii, 8, 5.

^{page 431 note 5} Agh. xx, 19, 3 a.f.

^{page 432 note 1} Agh. i, 161, 10.

^{page 432 note 2} Ibid., i, 170.

^{page 432 note 3} Agh. xvii, 52.

^{page 432 note 4} Irshād, vi, 40, 1.

^{page 432 note 5} Agh. i, 126.

^{page 432 note 6} Agh. xiii, 102, 16.

^{page 433 note 1} Agh. xi, 129 med.

^{page 433 note 2} Agh. iii, 4.

^{page 433 note 3} Agh. iii, 2, 4, 10.

^{page 434 note 1} Fihrist.

^{page 434 note 2} ‘Amr b. Qami’ah, ii, 9.

^{page 435 note 1} Sukkari, Comm. on Ḥu ṭay’ah, p. 38.

^{page 435 note 2} Agh. xx, 139, 4 a.f.

^{page 435 note 3} A Moslem swears by the Torah and the Qur‘an, ibid., xii, 72, 9.

^{page 435 note 4} Diwan, 67, 1.

^{page 435 note 5} Dhu‘1-Asba’, Agh. iii, 9.

^{page 435 note 6} Agh. xiii, 5.

^{page 435 note 7} Ibid., 4.

^{page 435 note 8} Ḥārith, Mu‘allaqah, 44.

^{page 435 note 9} Agh. iv, 151, 6.

^{page 435 note 10} ‘Abīd b. Abras, 19, 8.

^{page 435 note 11} Ibid., 66, 12.

^{page 436 note 1} Ibid., 8, 23.

^{page 436 note 2} Ibn Qutaibah, 44, 10.

^{page 436 note 3} Agh. iv, 144, 15.

^{page 436 note 4} ‘Abīd b. Abra ṣ, 50, 17. Ḥārith, Mu‘allaqah, 55.

^{page 436 note 5} Agh. xi, 132, 6 a.f.

^{page 436 note 6} Agh. xiii, 7.

^{page 436 note 7} Ibid., near end.

^{page 436 note 8} ‘Abīd b. Abra ṣ, 13, 14.

^{page 436 note 9} PAC. 730, 4 a.f.

^{page 437 note 1} Cairo ed., 254.

^{page 437 note 2} xiii, 116, 12.

^{page 437 note 3} Cairo ed., 101, 154.

^{page 437 note 4} Ibid., 232.

^{page 437 note 5} Ibid., 237, 204.

^{page 437 note 6} Qiyāmah, 83, 247; ma ḥshar, 127.

^{page 437 note 7} So jabbār‘anīd, 191, 206, 231.

^{page 437 note 8} Agh. iv, 128, 4 a.f.

^{page 438 note 1} 80, 28.

^{page 438 note 2} Agh. iii, 9, 8. Surah viii, 63.

^{page 438 note 3} Ibn Qutaibah, 37, 15.

^{page 438 note 4} Dhū suhmah, for “ a relation ”, Lyall.

^{page 438 note 5} Agh. xi, 61, 11 ; ‘Amr b. Qami’ah, 64, 4.

^{page 438 note 6} Zuhair, Mu‘allaqah, 32 ; Hudhail, Kosegarten, 80.

^{page 438 note 7} PAC. 166, 6 a.f.

^{page 439 note 1} Surah xl, 18 ; Agh. xxi, 89.

^{page 439 note 2} Histoire des Rois des Perses, 47, 2.

^{page 439 note 3} Labīd, ed. Brockelmann, xxxiv.

^{page 439 note 4} xii, 123.

^{page 439 note 5} Livre de la Création, i, 75.

^{page 439 note 6} Ibid., ii, 145, Yaum al-taghābun, Surah lxix, 9.

^{page 439 note 7} Agh. iv, 136, 7.

^{page 439 note 8} Ed. Schulthess, 51, 15.

^{page 441 note 1} Agh. xi, 125, 4 a.f.

^{page 441 note 2} Agh. xx, 8, 13.

^{page 443 note 1} Ibn Rashīq, ‘Umdah.

^{page 445 note 1} Agh. iv, 129, 131.

^{page 446 note 1} Three texts are supposed to refer to music (xvii, 66, xxxi, 5, liii, 61), Talbis Iblis, p. 246. The reference is obscure.

^{page 446 note 2} Agh. iii, 84.

^{page 447 note 1} Ibid., xvi, 13.

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