Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab (Arabic: جمهرة أشعار العرب; The Gathering of the Arabs' Verses) is a pre-Islamic Arabic poetry anthology by . The date of publication is unknown, and al-Qurashi is supposed by various scholars to have lived in the 8th,[1] 9th[2] or 10th centuries.[3] It contains seven sections, each containing seven qasidas.[2]
The Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab is one of five canonical primary sources of early Arabic poetry. The four others are Mu'allaqat, Hamasah, Mufaddaliyat and the Asma'iyyat.[4] [5]
The first section consists of the seven Mu'allaqat.[2] The anthology is the first source to use the name Mu'allaqat; earlier writers describe the poems simply as "the Seven."[6] Al-Qurashi's choice of poems is somewhat idiosyncratic, as he includes Al-Nabigha and Al-A'sha among the seven and excludes Antarah ibn Shaddad and Al-Harith.[7]
The second section is called "al-Mujamharat" ("the assembled").[8] It contains poems by Abid ibn al-Abras, Adi ibn Zayd,,,,, and Antarah ibn Shaddad.
The third section is "al-Muntuqayat", "the chosen".[9] Represented poets include Abu Layla al-Muhalhel, Urwa ibn al-Ward, and Dorayd bin Al Soma.
The fourth section, "al-Mudhahhabat" ("the gilded ones") consists solely of poetry from the Banu Aws and Banu Khazraj tribes.[10] It contains poems by Hassan ibn Thabit, Abdullah ibn Rawaha, and Amr ibn Imru al-Qays.
The fifth section contains elegies, and the sixth, "al-Mashubat", contains "testimonies of faith mingled with heresy".[11] One of the Mashubat is by Ka'b ibn Zuhayr, famous for reciting the poem in question in front of Muhammad.
The final section, "al-Mulhamat", is ambiguous in meaning but probably means that the poems refer to bloody fights or struggles.[12] Represented poets include Al-Farazdaq and Al-Akhtal al-Taghlibi.