II.

Pre-Islamic Literature

Arabic literature began before Islam in a period called the jahiliyya. This literature of a partly Bedouin (nomadic) society was dominated by poetry, and the poet often acted as the oracle of his tribe. A major poetic form of this time was the qasida, or ode. It required the poet to sustain the same rhyme and meter throughout the entire poem, which ran anywhere from 25 to 100 lines. The poet was supposedly moved to compose his poem by the sight of animal droppings, which signaled an abandoned encampment. Ibn Qutayba, a famous critic and writer of the 9th century, tied the creation of the ode to the remnants of a camp. The poet could describe his loves, his camel, his adventures, all in an ode with a highly formal structure. The qasida remains a favored form in Arabic literature to this day.

Legend has it that the Mu’allaqāt (meaning “the suspended ones”), the seven greatest qasidas from the pre-Islamic period, were hung upside down from the Kaaba, a structure in Mecca that became the holiest site of Islam. The legendary male poets of this period include Imru al-Qays, Tarafa, and Labid.

It is not only the poetry of male poets that comes down to us, however. Al-Khansa', a prominent pre-Islamic poet, became famous for elegies for her dead brothers, Sakhr and Mu'awiya, both of whom met violent ends. The genre in which al-Khansa' wrote, the ritha' (poetic elegy), was often used by women, usually to mourn the death of a brother or a father.