The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 5
I - Early Sources of Sīrat & Islāmic History 5 advancement of Islāmic poets. Tribal civilization was the basis of Arabian lifestyle. Almost every tribe possessed a poet who would safeguard the particulars of his tribe through forceful Bedouin-like poetry. Moreover, it was a custom among the Arabs that they memorized these verses and would recite them in their gatherings. 1 Among the many poets of the Jāhiliyyah 2 , some who have gained distinctive recognition include Imra’-ul-Qais, Nābighah Dhubyānī, Zuhair, Ṭurfah, ‘ Antarah, ‘Alqamah, A‘ashā’, ‘ Amr bin Kulthūm, Umaiyyah bin Abī Ṣalt, Ka‘b bin Zuhair, Labīd, Ḥassān bin Thābit and Khansā’. The couplets of many of these poets have been preserved to this day and they exhibit such astounding eloquence, such powerful expression and craftsmanship that its likeness cannot be found in the poetry of any other country or nation of that era. Among the above mentioned poets, the four names mentioned last who also include the name of a renowned poetess at the end, became Muslim at the hand of the Holy Prophet sa. 3 Our statement that Arabian history prior to Islām was preserved through verbal narrations alone may astonish the unacquainted. For how could the history of such a vast country, spread over hundreds of years, be safeguarded merely through verbal narrations? However, our readers must bear in mind that this statement refers to a time period in which the historical records of the nations of the world were confined to verbal narrations of this kind. The only difference is where in most of these nations, narrations were commonly existent in an unsecured form and later in the historical period, were gathered in whatever form they existed, the system utilised by the Arabs in that time period, prior to the formal gathering of historical accounts, in order to safeguard narrations, was far superior to other nations of that era. It was a custom among the Arabs to memorize the historical accounts of their respective tribes by way of narrations or poetic verses, and as previously mentioned, for this purpose, the retentive faculties of the Arabs 1 Life of ‘Mahomet’, Sir William Muir, pp. li-lii, Reprint of the 1894 Ed. , Published by Voice of India New Delhi 2 In Islāmic terminology the Arabian era prior to Islām is known as the ‘Era of Ignorance’ 3 Mention of these poets is found in Kitā bus-Sh ‘ ir wa sh -Shu ‘arā’, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdullāh bin Muslim bin Qutaibah, Part 1, Dāruth-Thaqāfah, Beirut, 1964, on the following pages: Imra’-ul-Qais (pp. 50-57), Nābighah Dhubyānī (pp. 92-106), Zuhair (pp. 76-88), Ṭurfah (pp. 117-126), ‘Antarah (pp. 171-175), ‘Alqamah (pp. 145-148), A‘ashā’ (pp. 178-186), ‘Amr bin Kulthūm (pp. 157-160), Umaiyyah bin Abī Ṣalt (pp. 369-372), Ka‘b bin Zuhair (pp. 89-91), Labīd (pp. 194-204), Ḥassān bin Thābit (pp. 223-226), Khansā’ (pp. 260-262)