كيفية وضع العروض العربي: قراءة سردية Initiation and Development of Arabic Prosody A Narrative Study Section Articles

Abstract

It's an unconsecrated, narrative study about how the Arabic Prosody was envisaged, rather discovered and reinvented, in its rules and regulations passed on from ancient Arabs after the centuries of oral tradition. Allusions to the olden as well as contemporary sources have been made to ascertain that there had been meters as well as flaws in the rhyme scheme that the Arabs were quite familiar with while versifying their odes/ poems. The narrative traditions clearly assert that the Arabs of Arabian Peninsula were well aware of the prosodic meters, which they called "Aqra", that were used in Pre-Islamic period to judge and differentiate between poetry and what they claimed to be poetry (like Quranic verses). Al-Khalil bin Ahmed Al-Farahidi, to whom the honour of originating the Arabic Prosody is attributed, did actually collect and assembled the scattered terms and rules that the Arabs had developed for taking as standards for their versification, in which they appear to resemble, in some ways, the poets of colloquial languages in our times. To complete the picture, it’s worth noticing that Al-Khalil benefitted from Sanskrit and Greek prosodic traditions as well, for he knew both the languages, in addition to getting help from his knowledge of music and mathematics. In naming the Metrical Feet (Maqate), he was influenced by the Greek tradition, just like he followed the Greeks in drawing the names of Catalexes (Zihafat & Ilel) from the diseases of animals. However, there are some meters, or metrical patterns, found in Pre-Islamic poetry, that need to be determined and systemized, as they do not correspond with the metrical system of circles (Dewaer) derived by Al-Khalil during the prosodic survey he made into that period. This clearly shows that the Arabic Prosody was not conceived and envisaged by Al-Khalil ex-nihilo, as commonly believed. It’s, however, to his genius for sure that he ably carved out the figure of Arabic Prosody despite the paucity of proper terminological as well as measuring material available to him on the subject from ancient Arabs.

Key Words: Arabic Prosody; Greek/ Sanskrit Prosody; Poetic Meters; Al-khalil bin Ahmad Al-Farahidi; Quranic Rhymes; Poetic Rhymes; Catalexes (Zihafat & Ilel).