Yaqutato Da'watil Haqq Shehzadi Dr Bazat Tahera Baisaheba’s first book, AL-MU’AYYAD AL-SHIRAZI AND FATIMID DAWA POETRY: A Case of Commitment in Classical Arabic Literature, was the first in the academic field and was very well received.
Presented this week is an excerpt from this book, that explains the theme of poetry, munajaat, in the context of Syedna Al-Mu’ayyad’s Diwan. Tahera bensaheb explains in detail its derivation’s meanings, naja (to hold a secret conversation with someone, to whisper something to someone, or to confide in someone) and she continues to explain the genre of munajaat and its development in Arabic literature.
She then discusses Syedna Mu’ayyad’s significant contributions to this genre, “al-Mu’ayyad is the first to whom we can, with any degree of certainty, ascribe Arabic poems from the munàjàt genre”. She explains the eight features of munajat: direct address to God, spontaneous personal style, plea for forgiveness and sins, appeal for succor, invocation of the names of Mohammed and his progeny, vocabulary dominated by pathos and complaint, poignant imagery, and Qur'an and hadith quotations.
