Open AccessELEGIES FOR THE PROPHET'S FAMILY BY CONTEMPORARY LEBANESE CHRISTIAN POETS
Author(s) -
Khalid Ahmad SINDAW
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
rimak international journal of humanities and social sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2717-8293
DOI - 10.47832/2717-8293.15.46
Subject(s) - elegiac , poetry , literature , islam , meaning (existential) , phenomenon , chose , subject (documents) , object (grammar) , art , philosophy , history , theology , law , linguistics , epistemology , library science , political science , computer science
The study discusses elegiac poetry on the Prophet's family composed by Lebanese poets belonging to the Christian community there. We chose a selection of writings by four contemporary Christian poets: Joseph al-Hāshim, Paul Salāma, Raymond Qasīs and Joseph al-Ḥarb. The study opens with a discussion of the meaning of elegies as a human, social and individual poetic object, that has been cultivated by poets since pre-Islamic times. Next, the study discusses the reason why the Prophet's family has been the subject of so many elegies, namely the important position this family occupied among poets. Subsequently we discuss why Christian poets in Lebanon have composed numerous elegies for members of the Prophet's family, especially ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and his son al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī, namely the fact that elegies constitute a unique human phenomenon that is in keeping with divine teachings, especially concerning the Prophet's family. The study uses both descriptive and analytic methods.