Nostalgia and the East in the Arabic and Hebrew poetry of Islamic Spain [Ressource électronique] / Anan Habeeb

Doctor of Philosophy : Near Eastern languages and cultures : Indiana University : 2015

Bibliogr. p. 297-314

This Ph.D. dissertation focuses on the nostalgic feelings of the Andalusian Arabs and Jews toward the East and on the role that eastern poetic conventions played in the literary composition of al-Andalus. The first chapter introduces a quick survey of nostalgia among Arabs from the pre- Islamic era up to the modern era and shows how political and social instability incited this phenomenon among Arabs in general. Chapter two introduces a lexicon of nostalgia by gathering the terms and vocabulary in Arabic and Hebrew that are often used in emotional, nostalgic poetry focused on the poet's roots and past. Chapter three focuses on selected terms from the previous chapter (five types of plants and four eastern rivers) and examines how these terms were used in al-Andalus to show direct nostalgia for the East or indirect nostalgia by relying on and employing the eastern poetic conventions. Chapter three also examines how the eastern poetic masterpiece "the muʻallaqa" of Imriʼ al-Qays functioned as inspirational poetry to many Andalusian poets, what indicates the strong literary bonds between al-Andalus and the East. Chapter four discusses the impact of the Islamic religion on the increasing religious and geographical nostalgia for the East in al-Andalus. Sufi poetry and poetry praising the Prophet Muḥammad (madīḥ nabawī) were discussed in this chapter to shed light on this phenomenon. Chapter five focuses on rithāʼ al-mudun (the elegy for the fallen cities of al-Andalus) and argues that, even when the Andalusian poet intended to express sorrow and pain over the loss of the Andalusian cities, he almost always referred to the East and the eastern poetic convention of the nasīb to convey his feelings. Chapter six focuses on the non-religious nostalgia of some Jewish Andalusian poets for Jerusalem, in particular, and the Land of Israel, in general. In this chapter, I argue that the insults aimed at Jews and Judaism increased these poets' feelings of not belonging and, as a result, increased the nostalgia for personal redemption among the Jews, in general, and in Shmuʼel Hanagid and Yehuda Halevi, in particular.