Satirical Poetry handling the Topic of Cities and Provinces during Crusades

Abstract

This study investigates satiric poems (hijja) on cities and provinces

during huroub al firinja (Crusades). It is threefold: first, the art of satire is

dealt with both linguistically and idiomatically, and the importance of satire

in relation to Arab poetry is highlighted. The reasons behind the emergence of

satire are then expounded, hinging on the availability of poems; secondly, the

cities satirised by poets are minutely examined and arranged in alphabetical

order; thirdly, the provinces satirised by poets are classified and organised

alphabetically.

The study is carried out basically for two reasons: first, much has been

written on the topic during crusades era and secondly, to the best of the

researcher’s knowledge, none of the scholars who have studied satiric poems

has paid due attention to cities and provinces as such. The poets further

consider these as a part of the art of a satire. Literature written on such

kind of satire -at best- is thin and unsatisfactory. I adopted the descriptive

approach in the study.