al-Shi'r fi Khurasan min al-Fath ila Nihayat al-Asr al-Umawi
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al-Shi'r fi Khurasan min al-Fath ila Nihayat al-Asr al-Umawi (Poetry in Khurasan from the Conquest to the End of the Umayyad Era) is a scholarly monograph by the Jordanian literary scholar Husayn Atwan, dedicated to documenting and analyzing the history, themes, and characteristics of Arabic poetry composed in Khurasan from the early Islamic conquests through the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate .
Background and Methodology
In the introduction, Atwan notes that while Orientalists such as Gerlof van Vloten and Julius Wellhausen—as well as modern Arab historians such as Salih Ahmad al-Ali—extensively examined the political, social, and tribal history of the Arabs in Khurasan, literary scholars had largely neglected its poetry, with Shawqi Dayf being among the few who drew attention to the region's literary significance . Atwan was prompted to pursue the study after finding poets categorized by al-Marzubani in Mu'jam al-Shu'ara' as Khurasanian, supplemented by rich poetic and historical accounts in al-Tabari's Ta'rikh al-Rusul wa-l-Muluk . Encouraged and guided by the historian Abd al-Aziz al-Duri, Atwan adopted a method pairing literary criticism with historical analysis, examining poetry through history and history through poetry .
The work draws upon geographical sources, principally al-Istakhri's al-Masalik wa-l-Mamalik and Guy Le Strange's The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate; historical chronicles, foremost al-Tabari's history; and literary collections, notably Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani's Kitab al-Aghani, Abu Ubayda's Naqa'id Jarir wa-l-Farazdaq, and al-Marzubani's Mu'jam al-Shu'ara' . The preface of the study was completed in Amman on January 15, 1989, and a second edition was published by Dar al-Jil in Beirut in 1409 AH (1989 CE) .
Structure and Content
The book is organized into an introduction, three main chapters, a conclusion, and an index of sources :
- Chapter 1: Historical Geography (al-Jughrafiyya al-Ta'rikhiyya): Sets the physical and historical background of Khurasan, detailing its cities, villages, rivers, and administration under successive Umayyad governors . It examines Arab tribal migration from Basra and Kufa, estimating the Arab population (fighters and dependents) at up to half a million by the beginning of the second century AH . It outlines their military organization according to the five tribal divisions (akhmas), the severe factional rivalries between tribal coalitions (Azd, Bakr, and Abd al-Qays versus Tamim and Qays), and the interaction between the Arab settlers and the local population .
- Chapter 2: Themes and Characteristics of Poetry (Mawdu'at al-Shi'r wa-Khasa'isuh): Analyzes the core subjects treated by the poets, dividing them into chronological depictions of internal political conflicts, records of external military campaigns against the Turks and across Transoxiana, and traditional genres such as panegyric (madih), satire (hija'), tribal pride (fakhr), and elegy (ritha') .
- Chapter 3: Tribal Poets in Khurasan (Shu'ara' al-Qaba'il bi-Khurasan): Presents detailed monographs and critical assessments of six individual poets representing different tribal factions :
- Thabit Qatna (Azd)
- Ka'b ibn Ma'dan al-Ashqari (Azd)
- Nahar ibn Tawsi'a (Bakr)
- Al-Mughira ibn Habna' (Tamim)
- Hajib ibn Dhibyan (Tamim)
- Ziyad al-A'jam (a client of Abd al-Qays)
Poetic Characteristics and Findings
Atwan concludes that Arabic poetry in Khurasan was overwhelmingly composed in short fragments (muqatta'at) rather than extended odes (mutawwalat), functioning primarily as urgent "political declarations" of tribal stances or "military communiqués" from the battlefield . Because of this functional, spontaneous nature, poets largely abandoned conventional introductions (such as weeping over deserted campsites or hunting scenes) . When traditional opening motifs appeared in longer poems, they were adapted to reflect nostalgic longing for the home garrison towns of Basra and Kufa or descriptions of battlefield steadfastness .
The study observes that despite a century of residence alongside native populations, the poets adopted very few Persian loanwords (Atwan notes only five: dayzaj, al-karaz, al-sumruj, and al-baraziq) and showed an almost complete absence of descriptions of Khurasan's natural landscape, weather, or local inhabitants, remaining deeply engrossed in Arab tribal politics and military warfare .
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