The Composition of "AYYĀM al-ʿARAB" (Days of the Arabs)

Abstract

"AYYĀM al-ʿARAB (The Days of the Arabs) is one of the most reliable and unique sources of the pre-Islamic Arab world, known throughout the Arabian Peninsula, which has stood the test of time and become a national treasure of Arabic literature. The main reason for this is that its narratives focus not only on the daily life of the Arabs, but also on the changes in the lifestyle of the Arab tribes, which were ingrained in the consciousness of the Arabs themselves. The reality of the time, the conflicts, the heroes, the characters who really worked during the Jahiliyya period and played an important role in the formation of society, are accurately portrayed here. In short, there is no unity of real and fictional stories, as happens in various epic monuments, everything is real and the accuracy of the narratives is preserved. As for "AYYĀM al-ʿARAB" (The Days of the Arabs) as a literary monument, here in the prose part there is the so-called "symbiosis", the unity of prose and poetry. Most of the stories are prose, and the emotional background of these stories is conveyed in poetry. The style, the internal integrity, is business, that is, characters are described, news, battles, etc. are conveyed. It is not frozen at one point, but develops according to the factor of time and epoch. All this is conveyed briefly at first glance, but very specifically.