The ancient Arabs used poetry not only to entertain themselves in the midst of their harsh life in the Arabian desert, but also to proclaim their cultural values, which were the moral-spiritual and material basis of their nomad society. Composing poetry therefore was almost a sacred rite for them. Its recitation in particular, was a main feature of certain ritual customs held annually during the aswaq (sg. suq , festival) season. The most common themes touched upon were the attributes of which a tribe may have been particularly proud, such as its victories and generosity to the vanquished, the bravery of its heroes in battle and on hard journeys, the beauty of its women and of nature, the genealogy of the tribe, and prayers to the Almighty. / Through verse the ancient Arabs expressed how they conceived of their deities, whether, idols representing various gods and goddesses, or Allah. These verses make it clear that Allah alone was not represented by any idol, allowing us to infer that He was regarded as superior to other deities. This thesis, therefore, attempts to show how the ancient Arabs expressed through poetry their belief in Allah as the Lord of Gods, which was the true nature of their ancestral belief, the h&dotbelow;anifiyya, the religion of their forefathers Abraham and Ishmael.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.30215 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Sayuti, Najmah. |
| Contributors | Ormsby, Eric (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Institute of Islamic Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001764664, proquestno: MQ64191, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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