Texts of Islam

Arabian Poetry: The Romance of Antar: Shiboob Brings Tidings of Abla

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This is a prose passage from a 19th-century anthology of Arabian poetry (W. A. Clouston's 1881 collection), excerpted from the medieval Arabic epic romance *Sirat Antar* (*The Life of Antar*), one of the great works of classical Arabic heroic literature. The passage recounts how the warrior-poet Antar learns, through his brother Shiboob's scouting mission, that his beloved Abla has been abducted and enslaved by a rival chieftain named Moofrij — the result of a jealous kinsman's treachery. The narrative interweaves prose storytelling with embedded verse: Shiboob describes overhearing Abla lamenting in captivity, and her lament itself shifts into poetry in which she calls on the wind, a mourning bird, and Antar's warrior reputation to urge his rescue. The verses are notably lyrical and formulaic in the tradition of Arabic *nasib* (the elegiac love prelude), using stock imagery — burning liver as the seat of passion, the sleepless night, the western breeze as messenger — embedded within an adventure plot of capture, ransom, and heroic obligation. Someone drawn to medieval epic romance, classical Arabic literary tradition, or the intersection of love poetry and heroic narrative would find this worthwhile; those seeking critical analysis rather than primary text should look elsewhere.

Arabian Poetry: The Romance of Antar: Shiboob Brings Tidings of Abla

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