Qawāʿid al-shiʿr

The Qawāʿid al-shiʿr (The Rules of Poetry) is a work by the 9th-century grammarian Thaʿlab of al-Kūfah. This text organized Arabic poetry based on syntactic principles, illustrating the connection between philological research and the study of early Arabic poetry.1

Literary criticism in Arabic literature dates back to pre-Islamic tribal festivals where poets competed, and a master poet judged the winner. This tradition of public performance and audience assessment continues today. The development of Arabic literary criticism was influenced by the need to record and authenticate texts like the Qurʾān, leading to the establishment of principles for evaluating literary works.12