The Multiplicity and Variation of Women’s Names in the Diwan of Al-Muthaqeb Al-Abdi: A Descriptive and Analytical Study

Abstract

This study aims to trace the names of women that appear in the opening lines of the poems of  Al-Muthaqqaf Al-Abdi  to analyze and understand them within the overall context of the poem. It does not approach them through the rigid lens of organic unity as a fixed model, nor through external projections imposed upon the text, but rather through a search for the deeper meaning the poet himself unfolds.

To fulfill its aim, the study adopts a descriptive-analytical method. Its findings reveal the poet’s distinctive tendency to employ a multiplicity of women’s names at the beginnings of his poems. These names carry layered connotations and diverse semantic possibilities. At times, they have been interpreted as referring to the poet’s beloveds or wives; yet this remains only one possible reading among many. Supporting the rejection of their literal reference to real women is their  multiplicity and variation, as well as the poet’s lack of devotion to a single named beloved throughout his poetry. Indeed, he neither singled out one woman as the exclusive object of longing or passion, nor is there reliable evidence from his life to suggest enduring attachment to a single beloved or clear accounts of his marriages.

Accordingly, the study calls for a reconsideration of these women’s names, urging that they be understood in light of their symbolic resonance within their poetic context and in relation to the general meaning of the poems that  the  poet seeks to  convey

Keywords: Al-Muthaqqib al-Abdi, Diwan of Al-Muthaqqib, women’s names, pre-Islamic poetry.