International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities Research · Vol. 2 No. January Issue (2026)

THE TYPES OF ARTISTIC IMAGERY IN KAʿB IBN ZUHAYR’S QASIDA “BAANAT SUʿAD”

Authors

  • Maryam Saidmalik 2nd-Year Master’s Student, Textual Studies and Literary Source Studies International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Keywords

Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr; Baanat Suʿad; qasida; artistic imagery; tashbih; istiʿara; Arabic poetry; poetics; Islamic literature; badiʿ tajrid.

Abstract

This article analyzes the types of artistic imagery and poetic devices 
employed in Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr’s qasida “Baanat Suʿad,” regarded as one of the earliest 
masterpieces of Islamic literature. The study highlights the poet’s mastery in utilizing 
artistic techniques such as simile (tashbih), metaphor (istiʿara), allegory, and irony, and 
examines their semantic and phonological dimensions. The analysis further explores 
the harmony between Pre-Islamic (Jahiliyya) poetic traditions and the Islamic spirit 
manifest in the literary devices of the qasida, with particular attention to the descriptions 
of Suʿad, the garobil (sieve) simile and its phonological significance, and the rhetorical 
device of tajrid (abstraction).

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

1. Abu Musa, M. (1991). Dirasat fi al-balagha wa-l-shiʿr [Studies in rhetoric and

poetry]. Maktabat Wahba.

2. Adonis (ʿAli Ahmad Saʿid). (2002). al-Thabit wa-l-mutahawwil: Bahth fi al-

ibdaʿ wa-l-itbaʿ ʿinda al-Arab [The static and the dynamic: A study of tradition and

innovation in Arabic poetry]. Dar al-Saqi.

3. Baghiyat al-Idah fi ʿilm al-badiʿ. (n.d.). [Vol. 4]. [Publisher not specified].

4. Filshtinskiy, I. M. (1985). Istoriya arabskoy literatury. V – nachalo X veka

[History of Arabic literature: Fifth to early tenth century]. Nauka.

5. Ibn al-Anbariy, A. B. (1980). Sharh qasidat Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr “Baanat Suʿad”

(M. H. Zayni, Ed.). [1st ed.]

6. Kaʿb ibn Zuhayr. (1992). Baanat Suʿad (Sharh al-Tibrizi, Ed.). Dar al-Maʿarif.

7. Krachkovskiy, I. Yu. (1956). Izbrannye sochineniya. Tom II: Arabskaya poeziya

[Selected works. Vol. II: Arabic poetry]. Izdatelstvo AN SSSR.

8. Sultanov, I. (2005). Adabiyot nazariyasi [Theory of literature]. Oʼqituvchi.

9. Vinogradov, V. V. (1963). Stilistika. Teoriya poeticheskoy rechi. Poetika

[Stylistics. Theory of poetic speech. Poetics]. AN SSSR.