Arabic poetry and its development in the subcontinent

الشعر العربي وتطوره في شبه القارة

Abstract

Arabic is considered one of the oldest languages ​​in the world. The Arabs traveled east and west with the Arab conquerors. Whenever Arab Muslims concurred any country, they adopted their mother tongue, Arabic, as their official language. It is difficult to determine when exactly relations between Arabs and peoples of the subcontinent developed. Under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty, led by the great Muslim general Muhammad bin Qasim, the Arabs invaded the subcontinent via Sindh as conquerors. The people of the subcontinent were very impressed with the richness of Arabic literature. They showed their interest in learning the Arabic language. When the Arab conquerors began to praise the achievements of Muhammad bin Qasim in poetic form, they proved highly poetic and led to the beginning of Arab poetry in the subcontinent. Abu Ata-ul-Sindi, Abu Zira al-Sindi, and Najie al-Sindi were the most prominent figures to use the Arabic language as a medium of expression. Abu Atta al-Sindi was the first poet to write elegiacs in Arabic. The resulting tradition of Arabic poetry continued in some arrangement after the founding of Pakistan in 1947. Arabic poetry became even richer when certain poets began to use different forms of poetry such as Madha, hijah, riz, and rasa to express their deepest feelings. Madha and rasa (elegy) are the two forms of Arabic poetry that were used in the subcontinent by different poets.