Poetry through the ages

Date: 15 Jun 2003 16:57:20 -0700
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Poetry through the ages
By Jafar Wafa
From lyrical poems, to Qasidas, the true worth of Muslim poetry spans
many traditions.
Many, who may have heard the names of Saadi, Hafiz or Omar Khayyam,
know little about the excellence of their poetical compositions
bequeathed to us, and the times they lived in.
Before the Renaissance burst upon Mediaeval Europe in the wake of the
Muslim conquest of Constantinople in AD1463 poetry was considered
profane and frivolous by the European court and clergy alike. It was
the direct consequence of Muslim influence that lyrical poetry,
distinct from religious poetry, took birth in Europe.
It was the pre-Islamic poet-king of Arabia, the famous Imraul Qays, in
the sixth century after Christ, who composed poems based on
personal-feelings and 'experiences', a millennium before England
produced its Shakespeare. Imraul Qays wrote against Fate: "We are
birds, flies and worms and yet bolder than ravening wolves. The roots
of nobility reach deep into the earth, but death robs me of my youth
...." These lines remind the reader of Shakespeare's blank verse
uttered by a tragic character in one of his plays: "We are to the gods
as flies to the boys; they kill us for their sport."
While mentioning lmraul Qays and quoting his verses. it would be
improper if a significant fact - the poetic genre of Qasida (or ode) -
is not taken note of "The Qasida has nothing in common with the
English odes ('Ode to the West wind' or 'Ode to a nightingale'). The
Arabic Qasida was a long poem beginning with 'Tashbib', recalling the
exploits of youth, meeting the loved one (wisal), then facing the
agony of love and pangs of separation (hijr). It ended with the
glorification of the poet's tribe or patron. This particular kind of
poetry was peculiar to the Arab taste and talent.
'Political' as well as satirical poems originated during Banu Ummaya's
so-called 'golden age' under Abdul Malik and Hajjaj. Al-Akhtal, the
court poet, the leader of this genre, was outdone by his rival
Farazdaq. It was only in the 18th century that satirical poems
composed by Dryden and Alexander Pope gained recognition as poetry,
proper, in England.
In 740 A.D., Abdul Malik's successor Walid II, reported to be not
given much to piety, patronised drinking songs ( like 'Saqi Nama' in
Persian). Adi Ibne Zayd, a Christian started composing such songs. An
independent form of love poems was also introduced at this time to the
Arab connoisseurs of poetry which were composed by Umar ibne Abi
Rabiah. These love songs are different from the 'Tashbib' of the old
Qasidas.
The Abbasid caliphs, particularly during Harun-ur- Rashid's 23-year
rule (786-809 A.D.) particularly cultivated this form of poetry .In
his time love poetry, composed mainly by the by non-Arab residents of
Baghdad, became popular. Abu Nawas of Persian parentage, Marwan Ibne
All Hafsah, a Khorasanian Jew, Khalaful Ahmar of Farghana and Abul
Alahiyah, a Christian who later became an ascetic were famous poets of
these lyrics.
After the sacking of Baghdad by the Mongol Horde in 1258 A.D., Iran
came under Mongol rule. During this period under the Persian ruler
Saad ibne Zangi, who recognizing Mongol authority retained his
kingdom, the poet Saadi (d.1291), taking his name from his patron,
wrote original works of a moralising nature of mingled verse and
prose. The Gulistan (Rose Garden) and Bostan (Pleasure Garden) are
still regarded as classic expressions of Islamic morality and ethical
conduct. Half a century after Saadi, came the most celebrated of all
Persian poets, Shamsuddin Mohammad Hafiz from Saadi's city of Shiraz.
His 'Diwan' was first published in 1868 A.D. His poems centre on
praise for nature's beauty , on flowers blossoming in spring, on the
nightingale's song of yearning (like that of the English Romantic
poets), on the joys of youth and the pleasures of drinking. These
poems of Hafiz are the precursors of our extremely sensuous and
secular love lyrics, or Ghazals. But they have been invested with a
sacred significance and are admired by pious people as allegorical
verses, their inner meaning being about not a physical love but about
the love of the Creator - Ishqe Haqiqi.
Omar Khayyam (d.1132) lived and wrote before the Mongol tempest.
Although a mathematician of great worth, his real reputation is based
on his poetry. He composed his Rubaiyat, or quatrains, in Persian.
These are witty, hedonistic wine songs preaching a carefree enjoyment
of life. But even these quatrains are given a mystic meaning, as it
was unthinkable that a Muslim would write profane things so openly and
publicly.
But the greatest mystic (Sufi) poet of Islam, who wrote his Masnavi in
Persian, although he was brought up in Konya, Turkey, was Jalaluddin
Roomi, or Maulana Room. His Masnavi, or stanzas of eight verses (like
Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat of four-verse stanzas) is a masterly
exposition of Islamic mysticism through fables, stories and
metaphysical reflections centring around his main philosophical theme
- the dissolution of the ego ('khudi').
He anticipated our own poet-philosopher Allama Iqbal, who acknowledges
him as his source of inspiration.