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Three of the most renowned praise poems to the Prophet, the mantle odes span the arc of Islamic history from Muhammad's lifetime, to the medieval Mamluk period, to the modern colonial era. Over the centuries, they have informed the poetic and religious life of the Arab and Islamic worlds. Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych places her original translations of the poems within the odes' broader cultural context. By highlighting their transformative power as speech acts and their ritual function as gift exchanges, this book not only demonstrates the relevance of these poems to contemporary scholarship but also reveals their power and beauty to the modern reader.
Three of the most renowned praise poems to the Prophet, the mantle odes span the arc of Islamic history from Muhammad's lifetime, to the medieval Mamluk period, to the modern colonial era. Over the centuries, they have informed the poetic and religious life of the Arab and Islamic worlds. Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych places her original translations of the poems within the odes' broader cultural context. By highlighting their transformative power as speech acts and their ritual function as gift exchanges, this book not only demonstrates the relevance of these poems to contemporary scholarship but also reveals their power and beauty to the modern reader.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Note on Translation and Transliteration
List of Abbreviations
1. Ka'b ibn Zuhayr and the Mantle of the Prophet
Introduction
The Pre-Islamic Prototype
1. 'Alqamah's A Heart Turbulent with Passion: The Poem as Ransom
Payment
2. Al-Nabighah's O Abode of Mayyah: Transgression and
Redemption
3. Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulmá's The Tribe Set Out: The Tacit Panegyric
Pact
The Pre-Islamic as Proto-Islamic
Ka'b ibn Zuhayr's Su'ad Has Departed
The Conversion Narrative
The Conversion Ode
Part 1: Lyric-Elegiac Prelude (Nasib)
Part 2: Desert Journey (Rahil)
Part 3: Praise (Madih)
Mythogenesis: The Donation of the Mantle
Conclusion
Hassan ibn Thabit's At Taybah Lies a Trace
2. Al-Busiri and the Dream of the Mantle
Introduction
Poetic Genre
Poetic Style: Classical and Post-Classical Badi'
The Poet and His Times
The Miracle and the Poem
'Umar ibn al-Farid's Was That Laylá's Fire
The Mantle Ode
The Structure of al-Busiri's Burdah
The Beginning of the Supplicatory Pattern: Parts 1-3
Part 1: Prophetic Nasib
Part 2: Warning against the Desires of the Self
Part 3: Praise of the Noble Messenger
The Sirah-Derived Passages: Parts 4-8
Poeticization and Polemicization
Part 4: The Birth of the Prophet
Part 5: The Miracles of the Prophet
Part 6: The Noble Qur'an
Part 7: The Night Journey and Ascension
Part 8: The Messenger's Jihad and Campaigns
Completion of the Supplicatory Pattern: Parts 9-10
Part 9: Supplication and Plea for Intercession
Part 10: Fervent Prayer and Petition
Conclusion
3. Ahmad Shawqi and the Reweaving of the Mantle
Introduction
Ahmad Shawqi and the Nahdah
Poetic Precedents
Authorizing the Text: The Khedive, the Shaykh, and the Adib
The Colonial Double Bind
Shawqi's Nahj al-Burdah: The Thematic Structure
Nahj al-Burdah Movement I: In the Path of al-Busiri—Parts 1-6
Part 1: Nasib: Complaint of Unrequited Love
Part 2: Chiding the Unruly Soul—Warning against Worldly
Temptations
Part 3: Repentance, Submission, and Supplication
Part 4: Prophetic Praise
Part 5: Sirah Themes: The Birth of the Prophet; The Night Journey
and Ascension; The Miracle of the Cave
Part 6: Metapoetic Recapitulation of Prophetic Praise
Nahj al-Burdah Movement II: The Ihya' Project: Parts 7-12
Part 7: Polemic against Christianity
Part 8: Defense/Praise of Jihad and the Prophet's Military
Campaigns
Part 9: The Shari'ah
Part 10: The Glory of Baghdad
Part 11: The Orthodox Caliphs
Part 12: Benediction and Supplication
Conclusion
Umm Kulthum, al-Qaradawi, and Nahj al-Burdah
Appendix of Arabic Texts
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Three masterpieces of Islamic devotional poetry in their cultural contexts
Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych is Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington. She is author of The Poetics of Islamic Legitimacy: Myth, Gender, and Ceremony in the Classical Arabic Ode (IUP, 2002).
"A work of scholarship at the highest level, critically groundbreaking, textually grounded, elegantly argued, and of a depth and breadth that is rare in any field." Michael Sells, author of Desert Tracings: Six Classic Arabian Odes "A great achievement in literary theory and Islamic thought and a significant contribution to Arabic literature." Muhsin al-Musawi, author of Reading Iraq: Culture and Power in Conflict
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