ظاهرة الرثاء المدني في الأدب العربي النيجيري The phenomenon of rithau-madany: civil elegy in Nigerian arabic literature

Abstract

Perhaps, the nature of the political fluctuations that swept over Abbasid era which led to destruction and devastation of the cities has led to the emergence of the literary genre known as Rilhau-l-Madani”.i.e Civil Elegy in Arabic literature. Some scholars have given this genre of poetry other names like; poetry of calamities and disasters, sad poetry, as well as national poetry. This type of poetry is different from the well-known elegiac poetry of the pre-Islamic era. Elegy as one of the most basic themes of pre-Islamic poetry featured wailing about the dead, or the sound of speech coming out while weeping over the loss of the dead The pre-Islamic poets lamented the loss of their loved ones in wars, by mentioning their sterling qualities, attributes and high places with warm weeping over them, urging the tribe to take revenge, as it was recorded down between Al- Khansa in the threndy on her brother Sakhir and others. However, the civil elegy is a nascent of Abbasid era, even if its activities, characteristics and features have not developed as an independent literary genre till Andalusian era, which was occasioned by the nature of the political crises between the Christians and the Muslims. Civil elegy also has to do with lamentation that accompanied the fall of Islamic cities, the setbacks and defeats suffered by the Muslims in those countries, which led to vandalism, destruction, murder, expulsion and others. It is noteworthy to state succinctly that Nigeria is an Arabized Islamic country, whose people have been taking refuge in Arab and Islamic cultures for a long time, and they have succeeded in composing the verses and producing anthologies. Despite their linguistic affinities, familiarities, and intellectual prowess with Arabic poetry, themes and its branches of knowledge, the phenomenon of civil elegiac poetry has not featured in their poetry till twentieth and twenty-first centuries due to political unrest and religious extremism that led to the destruction, devastation, murder, destruction and expulsion of Nigerian citizens from their homes. Therefore, this research aims to study the phenomenon and trend of civil elegy in Nigerian Arabic poetry. Before delving into the point of discussion, the research will examine the concept of elegy and its characteristics throughout the Arab literary eras. Also, it will discuss the principles of civil elegy in the Arab literary heritage, its importance, characteristics, factors of its spread and its examples would be discussed. Likewise, the paper would explain the Position of civil elegiac poetry in Nigerian Arabic Poetry.