New Scholarly Publication Highlights Chaste Umayyad Love Poetry in Al-Hasan al-Jamil min Akhbar al-Qaysayn wa Jamil

A new joint scholarly work by Professor Dr. Kamal Abdul Fattah Hassan and Professor Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Shihab has been published under the title:
“Al-Hasan al-Jamil min Akhbar al-Qaysayn wa Jamil.”

The book clearly reflects the authors’ objective of tracing the experiences of chaste love poetry (ʿUdhrī ghazal) among three of the most prominent poets of the Umayyad era: Qays ibn al-Mulawwah (Qays Layla), Qays ibn Dharih (Qays Lubna), and Jamil ibn Ma\’mar (Jamil Buthayna).

The book presents ghazal as a cultural phenomenon reflecting social and intellectual aspects of the Arab environment. The selected material is distributed among the three poets, with a focus on their emotional experiences as representative models of chaste love poetry during the Umayyad period.

The selection of poetic texts in this work is marked by a high degree of balance and precision. The authors carefully chose poetic samples that genuinely reflect the emotional depth of these poets. However, it is noted that some of the narratives and accounts included in the book were derived from a limited number of classical sources, such as Kitab al-Aghani, Masari‘ al-‘Ushshaq, and Mukhtar al-Aghani. These sources played a significant role in shaping the narrative content, despite some scholarly questions surrounding certain reports.

This publication represents an important academic contribution to the field of literary studies, as it offers a renewed reading of chaste Umayyad ghazal within its cultural and social context, and provides valuable material for researchers and those interested in classical Arabic literature.