al-funūn al-sabʿah

The term al-funūn al-sabʿah refers to "the seven types" of Arabic poetry. This categorization emerged later, building upon earlier forms like qarīḍ (general poetry) and rajaz (a form possibly derived from rhyming prose). The seven types also included genres that utilized colloquial Arabic, such as the qumāʾ and kān wa kān. Two particularly influential forms that originated in the Iberian Peninsula and later spread to the eastern Islamic world are the zajal and the muwashshaḥ. These forms significantly enriched both elite and popular Arabic poetry traditions.1

The concept of "seven arts" can also refer to the liberal arts, a translation of the Medieval Latin septem artes.2