In praise of the Prophet: the performance and thematic composition of the Sudanese religious oral poetry

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Dissertation / thesis

Title:	In praise of the Prophet: the performance and thematic composition of the Sudanese religious oral poetry
Author:	Osman, Ahmed Ibrahim
Year:	1995
Pages:	366
Language:	English
Type of thesis:	Ph.D. dissertation
City of publisher:	Ann Arbor, MI
Publisher:	UMI Dissertation Services
Geographic term:	Sudan
Subjects:	Islam religious songs dissertations (form) poetry & literature
Abstract:	This book deals with the genre of 'madi? nabawi', religious poetry in praise of prophet Muhammad. In particular, it examines the roles 'madi?' poetry plays in the lives of two northern Sudanese riverain communities, the Bidairiyyah and Shayqiyyah, and its impact on modern urban popular culture. Special attention is paid to the role played by Sufism and the influence of the Egyptian Sufi poet al-Bu?airi upon Muslim poets in West and East Africa. The book starts with a description of the emergence of the 'madi?' genre in Arabic literature and its presence in West and East African Muslim communities. The second chapter describes how this genre is performed and transmitted as a cultural tradition in the two communities. The third chapter focuses on the nature, themes, structure, composition and prosody of 'madi?' poetry. The next two chapters examine the image of prophet Muhammad and the role of the '?ajj' (pilgrimage) in the genre. The appendix contains eleven 'madi?' poems in Arabic with English translation.