Pre-Islamic Arabian Hidjāʼ

Abstract

Satire - hidjāʼ. The aim of this genre is to humiliate the rival or had a negative impact on hostile tribes. Such kind of poems served to concept the hope and raise spiritual awareness of their supporters. Satire reached its peak during the reign of Umayyad. During this period hidjāʼ became the means of raising the self-esteem of poets and as well as an important means of providing financial position. In addition, authorities and governors respected satirists along with poets who praised them. They realized that satirists could discredit them with their satiric poems. The problem was made worse due to the competition existing among court poets. Satirists often wrote satire about each other to compete with each other to be closer to a caliph. It is worthy to say that satire was not as important in Pre-Islamic poetry as it became after Islam was spread. Arabic satire was distinguished by harshness, offensive language, cursing words and slander. Poets did not have to follow the truth. It was more important for them to accuse, expose and defamation his opponents as hard as possible. It was not important whether the accusations were true or not. It was more important for a satirist to show his poetic talent, skills and emphasize his advantage over a competitor. It must be admitted that there could hardly be any poet fount who did not write satire.