Death in Arabic Poetic and Philosophical Traditions: An Ontological and Aesthetic Study

Abstract

In Arabic poetry and philosophy, death remains to this day to be one of the most important themes, not only as a physiological obligation, but as a phenomenon of ontology and aesthetics. This paper examines the portrayal of death in Arab philosopher-poets in terms of how it evolved in existential anxiety in pre-Islamic poetry to philosophical and mystical constructions in later times. The study explores the conceptualization of death as continuity, negation, heroism and transcendence through the analysis of selected poets including pre-Islamic elegists, Al-Mutanabbi, Al-Maarri, Ibn Sina, and Sufi poets, including, Al-Hallaj and Ibn al-Farid. It is an analytical and comparative method of study which adopts philosophical ontology and aesthetic aspects of the literary work to explore how the meaning of death is constructed and reconstructed through the use of the poetic language. It claims that the Arabic poetic language is not a description of death but rather it refolds it into a symbolic and epistemological system within which is discussed greater questions of being, self and ultimate reality. Moreover, the paper sheds light on how language, imagery and metaphor are used to turn death into a physical occurrence into a multidimensional aesthetic experience. This study will clarify the expression of the human condition and the re-definition of the boundaries of life, death and transcendence in the work of the Arab philosopher-poets who unite philosophical research with poetic expression.