Tribalism and political change as reflected in the poetry of the early Umayyad period

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

First part: In the first few pages of the first chapter \nan attempt is made to summarise the succession to the \ncaliphate from the death of the Prophet until the reign of \nMucäwiya, with a brief discussion of the procedure which was, \nadopted in, each case to ensure the succession of-the caliphs. \n \nThe remainder of this chapter is devoted to, a study of. the \nsituation in the Islamic state after the death of Yaold and \nthe reaction of the people to this. Particular attention \nis paid to the connection between the way in which Mucäwiya \nforced his son upon the people and the problems which \nafflicted the country as a consequence of this act. \n \nThe second chapter deals with the genealogy of \nthe tribes, since the blood bond was considered by the \nArabs to be the soundest relationship, on which to base their \nsocial organisations. In this chapter all tribes which \nplayed a significant role in this period are described and \ntheir supposed relationship to one another is indicated. \n \nThe third chapter is an attempt to define the \nearly Arab settlement in Syria and al-Jazira and classify \nthe Arab inhabitants of each town and province in order to \nexplain the backgrounds of the tribal conflicts over \nterritory. \n \nThe last chapter of this part is a discussion \nof the tribal conflicts, particularly in Syria where the \nmain confrontation between the contenders for power took \nplace \n \nThe second part is divided into four chapters. \nThe first deals with the role of political poetry. In \nthis chapter an attempt is made to define when real political \npoetry started. A distinction is also drawn between \npolitical and tribal martial poetry. The role which the \npoets played in their society is examined both in the pre- \nIslamic period and that of Islam, in the light of the \ncircumstances of both periods. Attention is paid to the \ngradual development of society and its influence on the \npolitical poetry, particularly in the Umayyad period. \n \nThe second chapter is concerned with the \ncontribution of poets to social and political problems which \ndeveloped in the Umayyad period. The views of each rival \ncontender for power are examined insofar as they are revealed \nin verse, as are the various opinions and the backgrounds of \neach group. \n \nThe third chapter is devoted to the tribal \ncompetition for power in the early Umayyad period. The \ndifferent approaches which each tribe adopted to achieve their \ngoal are pointed out, as are the ways in which they reacted \nafter they had been forced to accept the Umayyads. Yemen, \n \nTaghlib and Qays in Syria were involved in this competition \nand an extensive selection of verses are quoted to support \nour argument. \n \nThe final chapter deals with the policies of the \nUmayyads after cAbd \nal-Malik had established himself and was \nrecognised as the universal Caliph. First we have examined \nthe reaction of his former supporters, Yemen, as it appears \nin their poetry. After this we have tried to assess the \npoets' role as defenders of their community against \ngovernmental policy, on the one hand, or on the other as \nsupporters of the Umayyads and upholders of their policies. \nIn this chapter we study the ways in which poets criticised \ncorrupt leaders, governors, and caliphs, drew attention to \ntheir misbehaviour and neglect of their responsibilities, \nand accused them of exploiting their position in order \nto achieve purely personal interests.