here's some islamic poetry i came across in a lecture by sheikh muhammad al-shareef:
la dara lel mar2ee ba3d al mowtee yaskonoha
illa alatee kana qabl al mawtee yabneeha
fa2in banaha be'7ayrin taaba maskanahu
wa in banaha be sharin, '7aba baneeha
roughly...
there is no home for a person after he dies to live in,
except the one he was building before he dies,
so if he builds it with khayr/good deeds, his home will be beautiful,
but if he builds it with the sin/disobedience, its builder will be in trouble.
a6a3see al ilaha wa anta tuzhiru 7ubahu
hatha la 3amree fel qeyasu badee3u
in kana 7ubaka sadiqan la a6a3tahu
inna al mo7iba leman yu7iba mo6ee3u
roughly...
how can you disobey Allah (SWT) and claim that you love Him,
this is a very strange and unique way of understanding,
if your love of Allah (SWT) were true, you would have obeyed Him,
for verily the person who loves someone will follow them.
Tags: poetry
Of course you do realize that (as evident by the example you have given), poetry and literary works hit rock bottom as a result of the introduction of Islam in the Arabian peninsula.
to the last comment:
perhaps a “literary” analysis rather than a blatant assumption might, possibly, (though i doubt it), have substantiated such a sweeping statement.
to the post:
:), for the post ; and i guess :\. for the dilemma entailed in the poem.
Umm.. I’m not making assumptions. If you know anything about the history of Arabic literature, you would know that literature hit a down low during the introduction of Islam up until the Umayyad dynasty came around.
How about you try and name me the famous Arab poets around that era (from the time Islam took off up to the Umayyad dynasty). Then go through the ones from before and after. Do you see a pattern?
This is nothing new or controversial. This is something you are taught in any school (in the Arab world).
thank you, i already know of that which you are referring to in terms of the transition of literature during that time period. poets such as farazdaq and jarir during the Umayyad dynasty emerged and molded in different ways the perception of pre-islamic traditions/bedouin culture vs. the emerging muslim state; however, arab schools also teach that the mode of poetry depicted in the Umayyad period became more and more distant (because of increase secularism) from the actual realm of the Islamic lifestyle, up until the Abassid dynasty took over. after this, i agree, the mode of arab literature changed.
my question is not about history, but instead what makes you say that this poem in particular is an example of rock-bottom literature — by what standards, according to what criteria.
anyways, the meaning of the poem is most worthy to be the criteria (in my opinion), and was most worthy to be the topic of discussion (also in my opinion).
actually, i should have said “my question WAS not about history, and what MADE you say” since that was my initial question… but i can’t have this conversation, since i won’t be here for the next few days, so never mind that.
It is direct, has no imagery, no play with words, etc. It is just a bunch of lines that rhyme. I mean, could you imagine this poem in a literature class?
“So.. what did the author really mean by ….”
“Umm.. exactly what he said”
Take away any previous religious bias and look at this poem objectively. Tell me what is so poetic about it.
perhaps these particular poems that i quoted just rhyme…
however, consider the following:
1. during the time of the Prophet (SAW), the arabs were, as you implied, huge on poetry. the Quran was revealed at this time on these people - and Allah challenged them to come up with a verse like that of the Quran, and none were able to do so.
2. the Prophet (SAW) had sa7aba whose main role was to write poetry. these sa7aba would then present this poetry to the people of Quraysh at that time to defend islam and the muslims. as thus, during the time of the prophet, one could argue that arabic poetry got stronger.
3. during the time of the tabi3een, people like imam al-shafi3ee became famous in the arab world for their poetry.
perhaps after that, the demise of arabic poetry began, but surely it wasn’t onset as a result of islam. similarly, the muslim ummah, when everyone was still following the quran and sunnah, had a “golden era” in which muslim inventors found all kinds of things that are now the basis of much fo modern day science and technology. muslims invented geometry, the number 0 [half of cs belongs to us!], and much much more.
just my $0.02.
to ahmed’s comment: i agree with ur speculation, and technically all of cs belongs to us (because u can’t have something (1) without acknowledging you first had nothing (0). disjointed logic, so what. and yet people still despute the origins of algebra, or more like al-jabr.
to the comment about the poem: how does one appreciate the poem by taking out any religious inclinations? i suppose that’s the whole point of disagreement. the poet’s not talking about some fleeting emotion, some escaping nostalgia, or some other artsy thing poems are usually about. he’s dictating a truth, pointing out a reality that evades our hearts, our minds, though the reality is quite simple.
you embellish that with is abstract by imagery, play on words, metaphors, diction, syntax, etc., but sometimes simplicity is really the best conveyor of a message.
in the literature class, even with the poet spelling it out, i wonder how many students could really get the meaning.
Hrmm.. no, the poet is not dictating the truth as he see it, as given in the Quran. Again, you must remove all religious bias if you are to look at it objectively. And really, it’s just plain boring.
It’s like the guy simply took a few hadiths and put it together in verse and rhyme. Nothing exciting, nothing moving.. at all! Why do you insist that it is a work of art worthy of even discussing?
To follow up, that first sentence came out wrong. I meant to say,
“No, the poet is not dictating the truth, he is telling it as he sees it, as given in the Quran.”
okay, i’m going to try to clarify and explain as tersely as possible.
clarification:
i think you’ve misinterpreted what i wrote on a few accounts: one, when i said truth, i meant the Truth, as in the Quran, not as he saw it; two, i never called this a work of art, though i liked it and yes, i thought the meaning was worth discussing.
explanation:
i like my religious bias. i like the poem because of my religious bias. most things i like are because of my religious bias, because again, i like my religious bias.
that’s really all there is to it. we judge things on criteria that is important to us, with or without a declaration of a bias. when you say look at something objectively, in essence you are saying judge it by the rules of the game in the arena it is played. we’re talking about art and literature. i agree that art as well as literature may very well have its rules (though some acclaimed artists i think break many of them), but much of accrediting is subjective.
faulkner wrote sentences that were pages long, picasso drew unreal depictions of people, yet both are considered artists. i don’t care for picasso, and yes it could be said that its because i don’t understand the game, but for me the most important thing is the game played in MY arena.
so, in my arena is Islam. though i care for eloquence in speech in presenting an Islamic topic (mainly because i believe you can’t yell hedayath into someone), i care for what depth a person addresses. a person could very articulately state something wrong, or someone else can say something beautiful but in very simple terms, not-so-coherent terms. so what if this poem was a concatenation of hadiths. i like hadiths.
in conclusion, though yes, its nice to have things put beautifully that weed they’re way to ur heart making u realize things u didn’t before, or to give an aura of grace and magnificence to something that wasn’t quite so in your head, my idea of looking things truly objectively (with my Islamic bias), is to look at it for what it addressed (because, again, i’m judging it with the rules in my arena). since the topic that was addressed in the poem was beautiful, the poem was beautiful to me.
never mind the terse bit.
So now I understand your point. You have no literary taste and don’t care for the artistic aspect of any work of literature as long as it shares your point of view. Super. So I can write any crap that confirms your belief system and it would be given your appraise.
That’s why, that era had a significant deterioration in artistic output. It’s that very same mentality shared by an obviously educated person like yourself. What a shame.
Let me make it clear though, I have no qualms with anyone writing about the “Truth”, whatever it may be. Not all religious poetry is bad. And when I say without religious bias, I meant, imagine all poetry in the world were about the same subject — would this piece still be worth looking at? I think not.
umm, okay. i think you’re running with this idea that i like everything “religious” and dislike everything “nonreligious”, failing to recognize that instead i am simply allowing more things into my liking, rather than shunning out everything so quickly and critically.
you’ve misunderstood what i was referring to when i said that i like things based on my “religious bias”. it simply meant that i can appreciate more things when putting them into the perspective of what’s important to me; its to look at something even non-”religious” or non-literary and take out of it a lesson of some sort i can apply to my “belief system”. i don’t know why u’re hung up on this poem, when i’ve already clarified that i didn’t think was a piece of art, yet that’s not the only reason for liking something.
you are quick to judge, and if you still think there’s something wrong with what i am saying, than there’s nothing i can do about that, and it’s not my education you should be worried about. anyways, i don’t really care to discuss my personal literary likings, something of which has no benefit to anyone, on a public blog, and this constant clarifying is getting tedious.
after reading your first paragraph, you might consider the art of persuasion (as in trying to get someone to actually change their supposedly defective mentality), as it is an art i can appreciate.
Bah, I by no means intend to persuade you into anything — I am sure you can make your own judgements without my assistance
Certainly didn’t mean to offend you (or anyone else for that matter).
al-Hamdulillah phew. i hate arguments, and i actually felt really really really bad yesterday considering my mode of discourse, and how it was rude and not very modest at all, but i didn’t know what to do … so i made dua that i stop putting myself in ridiculous predicaments :). yay for dua!
Thank God im not into reading comments.