Abstract

From the time that the Arabian tribes commenced to develop a poetic literature of their own, Jewish clans lived among them and spoke their language. The qasidas of the Jewish tribes of Arabia, to judge from the verses handed down, must be about as old as Arabic poetry. The Jewish poets played a significant role in the first years of Islam. Prophet Muhammad, the central figure of Islam, had many contacts with Jewish poets. But the Jewish leaders continued their resistance to Muhammad and their famous poets began a propaganda campaign against the prophet and his friends. The Jewish poets of Medina were known for insulting the Muslims of the city for obeying a religious leader not of their own kin. Thus they became the most significant political enemies of the nascent Islam. As a result of the anti-Islamic propaganda, Muhammad ordered to kill them because they composed poems that publicly ridiculed the local people who converted to Islam and allied with the prophet, calling for his assassination

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