Kuwaiti Arabic Curriculum — Grade 12, Term 1 (لغتي العربية) — Page 154

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

تَدْوِينُ الشِّعْرِ الْجَاهِلِيِّ.

The recording of Pre-Islamic poetry.

ظَلَّ الشِّعْرُ الْجَاهِلِيُّ فِي مُعْظَمِهِ مُعْتَمِداً عَلَى الرِّوَايَةِ وَالْمُشَافَهَةِ وَلَمْ يَبْدَأْ جَمْعُ الشِّعْرِ الْعَرَبِيِّ وَتَدْوِينُهُ إِلَّا فِي عَصْرِ الْأُمَوِيِّينَ، وَإِنْ لَمْ يَبْلُغْ هَذَا الْجَمْعُ ذِرْوَتَهُ إِلَّا عَلَى أَيْدِي الْعُلَمَاءِ فِي عَصْرِ الْعَبَّاسِيِّينَ، وَقَدْ جَمَعَ اللُّغَوِيُّونَ فِي الْبَصْرَةِ وَالْكُوفَةِ مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الْأَشْعَارِ الْقَدِيمَةِ لِمَنْ بَعْدَهُمْ مِنَ الْأَجْيَالِ، طَوْراً فِي دَوَاوِينِ الْأَفْرَادِ الشُّعَرَاءِ، وَطَوْراً فِي مَجْمُوعَاتٍ شِعْرِيَّةٍ لِقَبَائِلَ، أَوْ طَبَقَاتٍ اجْتِمَاعِيَّةٍ مُعَيَّنَةٍ، وَأَخِيراً فِي مُخْتَارَاتٍ وَمُنْتَخَبَاتٍ.

Pre-Islamic poetry remained, for the most part, dependent on oral transmission and recitation, and the collection and recording of Arabic poetry did not begin until the Umayyad era, although this collection did not reach its peak until the hands of scholars in the Abbasid era; linguists in Basra and Kufa collected what remained of the ancient poems for the generations that followed them, sometimes in the anthologies of individual poets, sometimes in poetic collections of tribes or specific social classes, and finally in selections and anthologies.

وَأَقْدَمُ مَا بَقِيَ مِنْ مَجْمُوعَاتِ الْقَصَائِدِ الْكَامِلَةِ هُوَ الْمُخْتَارَاتُ الَّتِي جَمَعَهَا حَمَّادٌ الرَّاوِيَةُ وَسَمَّاهَا الْمُعَلَّقَاتِ أَوِ السُّمُوطَ وَأَرَادَ حَمَّادٌ مِنْ هَاتَيْنِ التَّسْمِيَتَيْنِ أَنْ يَدُلَّ عَلَى نَفَاسَةِ مَا اخْتَارَهُ، فَمَعْنَى الْمُعَلَّقَةِ هُنَا يَصِيرُ مُرَادِفاً لِمَعْنَى السَّمْطِ وَهُوَ الْعِقْدُ الْمَنْظُومُ مِنْ أَحْجَارٍ كَرِيمَةٍ، وَهُنَاكَ مَنْ يَقُولُ: إِنَّ هَذِهِ الْقَصَائِدَ كَانَتْ مَكْتُوبَةً فِي الْقَبَاطِيِّ بِمَاءِ الذَّهَبِ وَعَلَّقَهَا الْجَاهِلِيُّونَ عَلَى أَسْتَارِ الْكَعْبَةِ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَجْمَعَهَا حَمَّادٌ الرَّاوِيَةُ، أَوْ عَلَّقُوهَا فِي خَزَائِنِهِمْ، وَلِذَلِكَ سُمِّيَتْ بِالْمُعَلَّقَاتِ، وَكَمَا اخْتَلَفُوا فِي سَبَبِ تَسْمِيَتِهَا فَقَدِ اخْتَلَفُوا فِي عَدَدِهَا أَيْضاً، فَمُعْظَمُ الرِّوَايَاتِ عَدَّهَا سَبْعاً وَهِيَ مُعَلَّقَةُ امْرِئِ الْقَيْسِ الَّتِي مَطْلَعُهَا: قِفَا نَبْكِ مِنْ ذِكْرَى حَبِيبٍ وَمَنْزِلِ بِسِقْطِ اللِّوَى بَيْنَ الدَّخُولِ فَحَوْمَلِ.

The oldest remaining collection of complete poems is the selection gathered by Hammad al-Rawiya, who named them the 'Mu'allaqat' or the 'Sumut'; by these two names, Hammad intended to indicate the preciousness of what he had selected, for the meaning of 'Mu'allaqa' here becomes synonymous with the meaning of 'Samt', which is a necklace strung with precious stones. There are those who say that these poems were written on Egyptian linen (Qabati) in liquid gold and that the Pre-Islamic Arabs hung them on the curtains of the Kaaba before Hammad al-Rawiya collected them, or that they hung them in their treasuries, and for that reason, they were called the 'Mu'allaqat'. Just as they differed on the reason for their naming, they also differed on their number; most accounts count them as seven, the first being the Mu'allaqa of Imru' al-Qais, which begins: 'Stop, let us weep at the remembrance of a beloved and a dwelling, at the edge of the sandy tract between al-Dakhul and Hawmal.'

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Vocabulary · المفردات (18 verbs · 58 nouns)

• ظَلَّ — to remain
• بَدَأَ — to begin
• بَلَغَ — to reach
• تَدْوِين — recording
• شِعْر — poetry
• مُعْظَم — majority