sajʿ
Quick Summary
Sajʿ is a form of rhyming prose that originated in pre-Islamic Arabia. It is characterized by a single end rhyme throughout its lines and was an early form of poetic expression. The Qurʾān, Islam's holy book, exhibits features of sajʿ, which complicated its analysis as it was neither strictly poetry nor prose. This form was heavily utilized but historically under-analyzed for centuries. Sajʿ is also found in the utterances of soothsayers and is considered a precedent to later Arabic prose traditions.12
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Arabic literatureBelles lettres and narrative prose…of pre-Islamic discourse known as sajʿ (usually translated as “rhyming prose” but almost certainly a very early form of poetic expression) complicated matters considerably, in that some of the earliest extant Arabic materials consist of the utterances of soothsayers (kuhhān) couched in precisely the same form of discourse. The similarities…
Read More…of pre-Islamic discourse known as sajʿ (usually translated as “rhyming prose” but almost certainly a very early form of poetic expression) complicated matters considerably, in that some of the earliest extant Arabic materials consist of the utterances of soothsayers (kuhhān) couched in precisely the same form of discourse. The similarities…
Read More- Arabic literatureNarratives of the imagination
…of style—especially the adoption of sajʿ, the ancient form of rhyming prose—with attractive vignettes of social and intellectual life into a totally new genre, the maqāmah, earning for himself the title of “Badīʿ al-Zamān” (“Wonder of the Age”). Developed by his great successor al-Ḥarīrī into a vehicle for tremendous feats…
Read More…of style—especially the adoption of sajʿ, the ancient form of rhyming prose—with attractive vignettes of social and intellectual life into a totally new genre, the maqāmah, earning for himself the title of “Badīʿ al-Zamān” (“Wonder of the Age”). Developed by his great successor al-Ḥarīrī into a vehicle for tremendous feats…
Read More 
Islamic artsProse…is the rhymed prose (sajʿ) peculiar to soothsayers, which developed into an important form of ornate prose writing in every Islamic country. Tales about the adventures and battle days of the various tribes (ayyām al-ʿArab, or “The Days of the Arabs”) were told and handed down from generation to…
Read More…is the rhymed prose (sajʿ) peculiar to soothsayers, which developed into an important form of ornate prose writing in every Islamic country. Tales about the adventures and battle days of the various tribes (ayyām al-ʿArab, or “The Days of the Arabs”) were told and handed down from generation to…
Read More