ن عمْ وجھا الحیاة والموت ق راءة في قصیدة "ن عُمْ" للشاعر عمر بن أبي ربیعة

Abstract

This is an analysis study of the poem of Noam of Omar Ibnu Abi Rabia,an Umayyad Hijazi poet (643/711), read in classical tradition known as Manhaju Athaekty Almodarrabatu. The poem talks about one of the many illicit adventures of Omar with women, but the analysis reveal another deep meaning which reflects his philosophy of life. This poem can be divided to two parts. The first part is about the things that happened during his adventures and their causes that can be summarized as a meeting with his lover a married woman who is closely watched over by guards, who will kill him if they catch him there. All of this is just to see her for one night which will immediately end after dawn breaks. The second part is about his journey through the desert riding on his camel and how the parched camel has to drink muddy water to keep alive. Through many details of the poem and the efforts of the poet and his camel to stay alive it can be concluded that the poet wants to say that life is an unpleasant continuation; it is full of pain but human beings must live it as it is and accept it. This philosophy might make researchers in Arabic Literature studies rethink the previous ways by which they have been reading the poems of Omar Ibnu Abi Rabia and those of his peers, known as the urban love poets, who have been “regarded as lecherous, or at its best, realistic with many loves, of great amatory activity by Arab writers rather than chaste, pure and tender, and concentrating on one beloved like Udhri poets.”(The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, Arabic Literature to the end of Umayyad period,Cambridge University Press,1983, p.426.427.)