Mantle Odes

Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych is Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington. She is author of The Poetics of Islamic Legitimacy: Myth, Gender, and Ceremony in the Classical Arabic Ode (IUP, 2002).

"Also author of The Poetics of Islamic Legitimacy (2002) and The Mute Immortals Speak (1993), Stetkevych (Indiana Univ.) provides an original translation and careful analysis of three landmark poems in Arabic Islamic literature: Ka'b ibn Zuhayr's "Su'ad Has Departed" (presented to the prophet in his life), Al-Busiri's "Mantle Ode" (13th century), and Ahmad Shawqi's "The Way of the Mantle" (early 20th century). The author argues that these are essentially praise poems with similar structural elements. They are addressed to the prophet in exchange for a gift, and the nature of this gift varies according to the poem's cultural and historical circumstances. Each of the book's three chapters presents a comprehensive and compelling line-by-line analysis of its subject poem. The book also includes an appendix of Arabic texts. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers/faculty. — Choice"—S. Gomaa, Salve Regina University, Jan. 2011"[T]he reader can learn much from Stetkevych's study . . . ."—Speculum"Stetkevych provides an original translation and careful analysis of three landmark poems in Arabic Islamic literature . . . Recommended."—Choice"A great achievement in literary theory and Islamic thought and a significant contribution to Arabic literature."—Muhsin al-Musawi, author of Reading Iraq: Culture and Power in Conflict"A work of scholarship at the highest level, critically groundbreaking, textually grounded, elegantly argued, and of a depth and breadth that is rare in any field."—Michael Sells, author of Desert Tracings: Six Classic Arabian Odes

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsNote on Translation and TransliterationList of Abbreviations1. Ka'b ibn Zuhayr and the Mantle of the ProphetIntroductionThe Pre-Islamic Prototype1. 'Alqamah's A Heart Turbulent with Passion: The Poem as Ransom Payment2. Al-Nabighah's O Abode of Mayyah: Transgression and Redemption3. Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulmá's The Tribe Set Out: The Tacit Panegyric PactThe Pre-Islamic as Proto-IslamicKa'b ibn Zuhayr's Su'ad Has DepartedThe Conversion NarrativeThe Conversion OdePart 1: Lyric-Elegiac Prelude (Nasib)Part 2: Desert Journey (Rahil)Part 3: Praise (Madih)Mythogenesis: The Donation of the MantleConclusionHassan ibn Thabit's At Taybah Lies a Trace2. Al-Busiri and the Dream of the MantleIntroductionPoetic GenrePoetic Style: Classical and Post-Classical Badi'The Poet and His TimesThe Miracle and the Poem'Umar ibn al-Farid's Was That Laylá's FireThe Mantle OdeThe Structure of al-Busiri's BurdahThe Beginning of the Supplicatory Pattern: Parts 1-3Part 1: Prophetic NasibPart 2: Warning against the Desires of the SelfPart 3: Praise of the Noble MessengerThe Sirah-Derived Passages: Parts 4-8Poeticization and PolemicizationPart 4: The Birth of the ProphetPart 5: The Miracles of the ProphetPart 6: The Noble Qur'anPart 7: The Night Journey and AscensionPart 8: The Messenger's Jihad and CampaignsCompletion of the Supplicatory Pattern: Parts 9-10Part 9: Supplication and Plea for IntercessionPart 10: Fervent Prayer and PetitionConclusion3. Ahmad Shawqi and the Reweaving of the MantleIntroductionAhmad Shawqi and the NahdahPoetic PrecedentsAuthorizing the Text: The Khedive, the Shaykh, and the AdibThe Colonial Double BindShawqi's Nahj al-Burdah: The Thematic StructureNahj al-Burdah Movement I: In the Path of al-Busiri—Parts 1-6Part 1: Nasib: Complaint of Unrequited LovePart 2: Chiding the Unruly Soul—Warning against Worldly TemptationsPart 3: Repentance, Submission, and SupplicationPart 4: Prophetic PraisePart 5: Sirah Themes: The Birth of the Prophet; The Night Journey and Ascension; The Miracle of the CavePart 6: Metapoetic Recapitulation of Prophetic PraiseNahj al-Burdah Movement II: The Ihya' Project: Parts 7-12Part 7: Polemic against ChristianityPart 8: Defense/Praise of Jihad and the Prophet's Military CampaignsPart 9: The Shari'ahPart 10: The Glory of BaghdadPart 11: The Orthodox CaliphsPart 12: Benediction and SupplicationConclusionUmm Kulthum, al-Qaradawi, and Nahj al-BurdahAppendix of Arabic TextsNotesWorks CitedIndex