zuhdiyyah

(wine poems), ṭardiyyāt (hunt poems), zuhdiyyāt (ascetic poems), and ghazal (love poems).

The pre-Islamic muʿallaqah poet Zuhayr finishes his long poem recounting tribal warfare and attempts at reconciliation with a series of reflections and maxims:

The category of zuhdiyyah (ascetic poems) was invented by the poet Abū al-ʿAtāhiyyah (died 825/826) from Basra, the centre of early ascetic movements. His pessimistic thoughts on the transitory nature of this world were uttered in an unpretentious kind of verse that rejected all current notions of style…