Essay On Early Islamic Poetry

Early Islamic and Umayyad poetry
"O, how strange are the deserted campsites and their long-gone inhabitants! And how strangely time changes all! The camel of youth walks slowly now, its once quick pace is gone; it is bored with travelling."
(Salma K. Jayussi (trans.), The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, p.408) Early Islamic Period
The early Islamic poetry was slightly different from the pre-islamic poetry, not in the structure of the poem (qasidah), but in its purpose. During the early Islamic period, poetry was considered as one of the most important elements of advertising; therefore, poets used to avoid insulting Islam or any other religion because they were scared of the huge consequences that it may lead to. In addition to that, Muslim poets started to use their talent to invite people to join the religion by praising the prophet or by reciting a well organized poem describing how great the Islam is. Mecca and Medina were the center of the Arabic literature at that period; therefore, poetry written at that time was in Arabic and later on it was translated by other researchers.
During that period, the Quran was revealed and it led to a huge shift in the Arabic literature. The influence of the Quran on the development of Arabic poetry is

Poetry during the Umayyad period was not different from the early Islamic period in its structure, but it was different in its context and purpose. During the Umayyad period, Muslims conquered different empires such as the sasanian and the byzantine. They were also starting to take over most of North Africa and the Middle East. These conquests in addition to the Quran and the growth of wealth in this region affected poetry at that time. The different cultures that started to be added to the Arabic world changed the traditional, pre-Islamic poetry into a modern