The poetics of Islamic legitimacy : myth, gender, and ceremony in the classical Arabic ode
Throughout the classical Arabic literary tradition, from its roots in pre-Islamic Arabia until the end of the Golden Age in the 10th century, the courtly ode, or qasida, dominated other poetic forms. In The Poetics of Islamic Legitimacy, Suzanne Stetkevych explores how this poetry relates to ceremony and political authority and how the classical Arabic ode encoded and promoted a myth and ideology of legitimate Arabo-Islamic rule. Beginning with praise poems to pre-Islamic Arab kings, Stetkevych takes up poetry in praise of the Prophet Mohammed and odes addressed to Arabo-Islamic rulers. She explores the rich tradition of Arabic praise poems in light of ancient Near Eastern rites and ceremonies, gender, and political culture. Stetkevych's superb English translations capture the immediacy and vitality of classical Arabic poetry while opening up a multifaceted literary tradition for readers everywhere
Print Book, English, ©2002
Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, ©2002
Criticism, interpretation, etc
xvi, 383 pages ; 25 cm
9780253341198, 9780253215369, 0253341191, 0253215366
48649785
Transgression and redemption: cuckolding the King, al-Na⁻bighah al-Dhubyn and the pre-Islamic royal ode
Transmission and submission: praising the Prophet, Kaʻb ibn Zuhayr and the Islamic ode
Celebration and restoration: praising the caliph, al-Akhṭal and the Umayyad victory ode
Supplication and negotiation: the client outraged, al-Akhṭal and the supplicatory ode
Political dominion as sexual domination, Ab⁻u al-ʻAt⁻ahiyah, Ab⁻u Tamm⁻am, and the poetics of power
The poetics of political allegiance, praise and blame in three odes by al-Mutanabb⁻i
The poetics of ceremony and the competition for legitimacy, al-Muhannad al-Baghd⁻ad⁻i, Muḥammad ibn Shukhayṣ, Ibn Darra⁻j al-Qasall⁻i, and the Andalusian ode