Political Interpretation of Omar bin abi Rabi'a's Poetry: New Reading
Amal Nusair, Faculty of Arts, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
Abstract
This study attempts to give a new analysis of courting used by Omar Bin
Abi Rabee’ah. The study concludes that the courting used by Abi Rabee’ah is a political one that had been used to offend political foes through wooing their women. This type of courting was popular in Hijaz since pre-Islamic era, continued during Prophet Muhammad’s era and spread widely during the Umayyad period especially in Abdel Rahman bin Thanbet and Ibin Qais Al Ruqaiat’s works. There are many reasons that has led me to reach this conclusion most importantly is the political scene in Hijaz in that period, the political history of Omar’s family, and his refusal of using what has been thought then as the typical political poetry. He also uses repetition of detailed wooing scenes and phrases to
describe the state, women of the Court, scandal, in addition to the resemblance between his poetry and that of Ibin Qais al Ruqaiat. I have analysed Omar’s poetry from four angles. First, the political scene of
Hijaz, second, Omar’s Self, third is Omar and the Other and finally I have
compared between his poetry and Al Ruqaiat’s. Omar’s poetry can be read in different ways but reading it from the perspective of political courting is the closest to the nature of the Umayyad period.