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Contribution of the Umayyad Poets in the Development of Ghazal

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Contribution of the Umayyad Poets in the Development of Ghazal Contribution of the Umayyad Poets in the Development of Ghazal ABSTRACT !>-^r:p^ THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF Mottnx of ^fiiloiSoplip m ARABIC BY (Mrs.) RAIS FATIMA Sqa^i DEPARTMENT OF ARABIC ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVER»iTX A L I G A R H 1989 ABSTRACT TOPIC : CONTRIBUTION OF THE UMAYYAD POETS IN THE DHVELOPMENT OF <2tJAZAL, The Umayyad Era (661AJD-750 A.D.) is remarkably significant for Arabic Literature especially Poetry, During this period poetry underwent a seachange both in its content and style-qualitative and quantitative. It appears quite different from the poetry of earlier eraS/ as the Umayyads did certainly differ from their predecessors in politics and social life. They shifted the capital from Hijaz and took it to Damascus, The predecessors of the Umayyads were purely bedouin. Also* the Umayyads expanded their Kingdom through fresh con­ quests. Consequently, foreigners had started influencing them politically, socially, and culturally. Literature could not escape this influence, more particularly genre of the Ghazal, The present thesis aims at studying the aforesaid change and the influence of Umayyad poets and to take stock of their contributions to the development of Ghazal. Chapters I and V are divided into a number of sections. The first Chapter deals with the origin and development of Ghazal from Pre-Islamlc days to the early Islamic Psriod.The Ghazal is supposed to be one of the earliest disciplines developed by the Arabs in the realm of Poetry. The pattern of (^lazal did not remain the same -2- because with the advent of Islam certain restrictions were put on its subject matter. Earlier the ^Ei^zal was only in the shape of Tashbib or NasTb in the Odes and did not have a separate form. Also, previous poets dealt with many subjects in one and the same Ode, These pagan poets hardly aj^eared to be concerned with the morality, as such, their compositions from Islamic standards often sound quite obscene, Islam emphasized the moral aspects of life, and, therefore, obscenity was discouraged in literary composition. However, poetry did not disappear just for this reason as the decent and moral pieces were permitted. The fair sex found mention in panegyrics, where poets tried to stress the virtue, morals, and chastity, which were possessed by the ladies belonging to families or tribes of adorned persons. Ladies also found mention in satire, these were of the enemy tribe and their vices, were, therefore, stressed. However, this interlude between Pre-Islamic and Islamic periods was short lived, and Arabic Ghazal regained a praiseworthy position with the establishment of Umayyad dynasty. In general, the Umayyad Era is very important in Arabic Literature for now poetry of many kinds flourished, although the roots could still be traced to the Odes of -3- the Pre-Islamic period. The Umayyads encouraged the full development of satire. Eulogy, Elegy and Love Poetry, i.e., igiazal. Now, the poetry of this period is divided into three mainstreams (1) the Traditional Ghazal. (2) the 'Udhrite Ghazal, and, (3) the 'Umarite Ghazal. This period may be considered the golden period in Arabic Literature, for it can boast of a galaxy of well-known and celebrated Poets like { Jarlr, Farazdalj, Ajchtal, Kuthayyir-'Azzah, Jamil-Bu^aynah and al-Majnun, 'Uinar b. Abl Rabl'ah, Al-'ArjI, Al-Ahwas etc. In Chapter II, III, IV the general themes of the representative Ghazals of that era are highlighted. All these Chapters have presented the poetical specimens of the representative poets of the Gtiazal during the Umayyad days and assess their contributions to the development of Ghazal. It is also discussed side by side how much the verses of a Ghazal appeal to our hearts, due to the fact that, they depict the utmost warmth of emotions and sincerity of feelings. Mostly the poets in composing Ghazal paid their fullest attention and devotion to do justice to the poetic art itself. Chapter III analyses the factors which contributed significantly to the development of the Ghazal, An out­ standing feature of the poets of Ghazal of these three -4- periods/ viz^ Pre-Islamic, Islamic and the UmayyadS/ is that they represented the factors responsible for the development of Gljazal. In the conclusion attempt is made to evaluate the extent of Umayyad poets' contribution to the airtistic elevation of Ghazal which became a source of inspiration for the later poets. This is also true about the poets of the 'Abbasid era, although this 1 tter era is thought to be the golden age of Arabic Literature, The 'Abbasids could in fact, boast of having good prose compositions and other kinds of poetry than Ghazal and the laurels for poetry have ultimately to rest with the Umayyads and the poetic traditions especially of Ghazal of this period. Nevertheless, the classical tradition persisted because the supple love lyric which arose in later times seemed very different from the long, heavy, classical Ode, it Was really an adaptation of the amatory prelude of the tribal Ode, detached and handled as an independent unit. Contribution of the Umayyad Poets in the Development of Ghaza) THI^IS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF. JBottor of $]^iIofi!op^p IN ARABIC BY (Mrs.) RAIS FATIMA DEPARTMENT OF ARABIC ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH 1989 ^( t\cc No. '' ^^^tSi^SFCTTdR J 31 \n :s92 T3921 1^a:fS5tr|/aM Dedicated to my father - Hafiz Mohammad Ishaq - who inspired me to take up Arabic as a subject and who personally guided my further development in it. COl'TTENTS Page No. Acknowledgements Transliteration Table I - II Genealogical Table III Introduction I - XVI Chapter - 1 Ghazal before the Umayyads 1-40 I origin of the word Ghazal 1 - 6 II Ghazal in the Pre-Islamic Period 7-26 III Ghazal in the Early Islamic Period 27 - 40 Chapter - 2 Traditional Ghazal in the Umayyad 41 - 68 Period Chapter - 3 •Udhrite Ghazal 69 - 112 Chapter - 4 •Umarite Ghazal 113 - 158 Chapter - 5 Factors of the Development of the 159 - 229 Ghazal I Environment and Nature of an Arab 163 - 170 II Relation between Male and Female 170 - 186 III Arab's fondness of the Q^azal 186 - 195 IV Literary Salons 195 - 205 V Manifestations of luxury 205 - 229 Conclusion 230 - 247 Bibliography 248 - 255 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am highly indebted to Professor Mohd, Rashid, Chairman, Department of Arabic, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh whose personal interest and encouragement has^ in particular^ be en of inestimable help and inspiration to me. At the same time, I am also grateful to Dr. Abdul Bari, Reader, Department of Arabic, A.M.U,, Aligarh for his valuable advice and for the academic discussions that I had with him on the subject from time to time. My sincere thanks are also due to Prof, R.R. Sherwani, ex-Chairman, Department of Arabic, Kashmir University, srinagar whose helpful criticisms and suggestions enabled me to complete the work in the thesis in its present form, I should not fail to thank Mr, S.M, Asadullah, Lecturer, Department of Sunni Theology, A,M,U,, Aligarh for his valuable suggestions. I am really thankful to the entire staff of the Islamic studies and Arabic Department library, AMU for their cooperation and help especially to Mr. Yusuf Ali Khan who helped me in tracing out the books pertaining to my work. I owe more than I can possibly express to ray husband Dr, S.M, Imran who quite patiently and large heartedly shared with me the successes and disappoint­ ments during the course of my research work leading to the completion of this thesis. Finally.I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my teachers, well-wishers, and relatives for their moral support, encouragement and help in finalizing the present thesis. I am also greatly thankful to Mr. Ziaur Rehman who typed this thesis. (Rais Fatima) -1- Transliteration Table Consonants <f / \ a w> b k*» t (i:-» th x^ J T. h t Kh d > • ^ > R v/ Z </ cr s Sh cy ? d (> • > t • Z ij • t c • gh f K / K -ii- J 1 r m u n -6 h ^ W a Y s^ ah (e.g.4-J>t Patimah) J) (article) al- ( 'l e.g. Abu'l) Long Vowels i C5 /• _p^ ^ u Short Vowels y a i "•" J> u Dipthong • !> aw (J • ay • • iyy • * «• I (final form) *• f uww <t ^ u (final form) -III- •D 1(0 SI H H H x: x: C (t) (0 im >i H >i >i -H •H iW 3: •o .3 .IfO— 0) -"T^ s: 1 3 <0 a 13 S >^ 1 •H XI < » H (N• .1 u ro (t) H < nn- H (0 H H l-H I iH O Q) H 00 X! — m (D fH rH s(0 u I rH •iH fO o (t) m* c XI H o l< (t) < 3 0) to -'2 G XI (U _>ii 2rt H o "- ""•-^— 2 in P X- X) • H fO << ^ H (0 C (0 •*X3- 3 (0 S S 1' H H VO H -i-H N rt) CM INTRODUCTION To take up some aspect of prose or Poetry In general is a more difficult and pains-taking job than to do research on a literary figure and his achievements. The topic of the present doctoral thesis is the treatment of the Development of the Ghazal in Arabic literature. Though the poets who composed Ghazal in all periods of literary history are mostly criticised by those who are orthodox in their religious views, yet their Ghazals do have a universal appeal for the common reader. It is the Arabic word Al-Ghazal, extant in Arabia since the Pre- Islamic period, which was later adopted in some other languages like Persian and Urdu for love poems, A nximber of factors were responsible for the output of Ghazals in the Arabic literature.
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