# Rajaz

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{{short description|Metre in classical Arabic poetry}}
{{for|the 1999 album by Camel|Rajaz (album)}}
[[File:Muqaddimat Ibn Rushd al-Jadd.pdf|thumb|A manuscript of an urjūza (versification) of ''Muqaddimat Ibn Rushd'' ("The Introduction of [Ibn Rushd al-Jadd](/source/Ibn_Rushd_al-Jadd)," grandfather of [Ibn Rushd](/source/Averroes) the philosopher)]]
'''Rajaz''' ({{lang|ar|رَجَز}}, literally 'tremor, spasm, convulsion as may occur in the behind of a camel when it wants to rise'<ref>''The Penguin Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature'', ed. by Robert Irwin (London: Penguin, 1999).</ref>) is a [metre](/source/Meter_(poetry)) used in classical [Arabic poetry](/source/Arabic_poetry). A poem composed in this metre is an ''urjūza''. The metre accounts for about 3% of surviving ancient and classical Arabic verse.<ref>Bruno Paoli, 'Generative Linguistics and Arabic Metrics', in ''Towards a Typology of Poetic Forms: From Language to Metrics and Beyond'', ed. by Jean-Louis Aroui, Andy Arleo, Language Faculty and Beyond: Internl and External Variation in Linguistics, 2 (Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2009), pp. 193-208 (p. 203).</ref> Some historians believe that rajaz evolved from [saj'](/source/saj').{{Sfn|Frolov|2000}}

==Form==

This form has a basic foot pattern of | '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | (where '–' represents a long syllable, '<nowiki/>'''⏑'''<nowiki/>' a short syllable, and ''''⏓'''<nowiki/>' a syllable that can be long or short), as exemplified through the mnemonic (''Tafā'īl'') ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|Mustafʿilun Mustafʿilun Mustafʿilun}}'' ({{lang|ar|مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ}}).<ref name="Classical Arabic Literature 2013 p. 93">''Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology'', trans. by Geert Jan van Gelder (New York: New York University Press, 2013), p. 93.</ref> Rajaz lines also have a [catalectic](/source/catalectic) version with the final foot | '''⏓''' – – |.<ref name=Wright362>Wright, William (1896), ''A Grammar of the Arabic Language'', vol. 2, p. 362.</ref>

The form of each ([metron](/source/Metron_(poetry))) may be ⏑ – ⏑ –, – – ⏑ –, or – ⏑ ⏑ –; only rarely ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ –.<ref name=Wright362 />

Lines are most often of three feet (trimeter), but can also be of two feet (dimeter). Thus the possible forms are:
:| '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | (trimeter)
:| '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏓''' – – | ( trimeter catalectic) 
:| '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | (dimeter)
:| '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏓''' – – | (dimeter catalectic)

Uniquely among the classical Arabic metres, rajaz lines do not divide into [hemistich](/source/hemistich)s.<ref>''Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology'', trans. by Geert Jan van Gelder (New York: New York University Press, 2013), p. xxiii.</ref> The early Arab poets<ref name=Wright362 /> rhymed every line on one sound throughout a poem.<ref>Geert Jan van Gelder, 'Arabic Didactic Verse', in ''Centres of Learning: Learning and Location in Pre-Modern Europe and the Near East'', ed. by Jan Willem Drijvers and Alasdair A. MacDonald, Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 61 (Leiden: Brill, 1995), pp. 103-18 (p. 107).</ref> A popular alternative to ''rajaz'' poetry was the ''muzdawij'' couplet rhyme, giving the genre called ''muzdawija''.<ref>''Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature'', ed. by Julie Scott Meisami, Paul Starkey, 2 vols (London: Routledge, 1998), s.v. 'Prosody (''‘arūḍ'')'.</ref>

Although widely held the oldest of the Arabic metres,<ref name="Classical Arabic Literature 2013 p. 93"/> rajaz was not highly regarded in the pre- and early Islamic periods, being seen as similar to (and at times indistinguishable from) the rhymed prose form ''[saj'](/source/saj')''. It tended to be used for low-status, everyday genres such as lullabies, or for improvisation, for example improvised incitements to battle.

Rajaz gained in popularity towards the end of the [Umayyad period](/source/Umayyad_Caliphate), with poets [al-‘Ajjāj](/source/al-%E2%80%98Ajj%C4%81j) (d. c. 91/710), [Ru‘ba](/source/Ru%E2%80%98ba) (d. 145/762) and [Abū al-Najm al-‘Ijlī](/source/Ab%C5%AB_al-Najm_al-%E2%80%98Ijl%C4%AB) (d. before 125/743) all composing long ''[qaṣīda](/source/qa%E1%B9%A3%C4%ABda)''-style pieces in the metre. [Abū Nuwās](/source/Ab%C5%AB_Nuw%C4%81s) was also particularly fond of the form.<ref name="W. Stoetzer, 1998 p. 646">W. Stoetzer, 'Rajaz', in ''Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature'', ed. by Julie Scott Meisami, Paul Starkey, 2 vols (London: Routledge, 1998), II 645-46 (p. 646).</ref>

In the twentieth century, in response to the aesthetics of [free verse](/source/free_verse), ''rajaz'', both in traditional form and more innovative adaptations, gained a new popularity in Arabic poetry, with key exponents in the first half of the century including poets [‘Ali Maḥmūd Ṭāhā](/source/%E2%80%98Ali_Ma%E1%B8%A5m%C5%ABd_%E1%B9%AC%C4%81h%C4%81), [Elias Abu Shabaki](/source/Elias_Abu_Shabaki), and [Badr Shakir al-Sayyab](/source/Badr_Shakir_al-Sayyab) (cf. his 'Un<u>sh</u>ūdat al-Maṭar').<ref>Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ''Trends and Movements in Modern Arabic Poetry'', trans. by Salma Khadra Jayyusi and Christopher Tingley, 2 vols (Leiden: Brill, 1977), II 607-10.</ref> Since the 1950s free-verse compositions are often based on rajaz feet.<ref name="W. Stoetzer, 1998 p. 646"/>

==Example==

A famous, early example is the following incitement to battle by [Hind bint Utbah](/source/Hind_bint_Utbah) (6th/7th century CE), showing the form | '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏑''' – '''⏑''' – |, with the first two elements mostly long, and the fifth one always short:<ref>''Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology'', trans. by Geert Jan van Gelder (New York: New York University Press, 2013), p. 94.</ref>
{|
|-
| {{lang|ar|
:نَحْنُ بَنَاتُ طَارِقِ،
:نَمْشِي عَلَى النَّمَارِقِ،
:الدُرُّ فِي المَخَانِقِ،
:وَالمِسْكُ فِي المَفَارِقِ،
:إنْ تُقْبِلُوا نُعَانِقِ،
:أوْ تُدْبِرُوا نُفَـارِقِ،
:فِرَاقَ غَيْرَ وَامِقِ.
}}
|| 
: ''naḥnu banātu ṭāriqī''
: ''namshī ‘alā n-namāriqī''
: ''wad-durru fī l-makhāniqī''
: ''wal-misku fī l-mafāriqī''
: ''’in tuqbilū nu‘āniqī''
: ''’aw tudbirū nufāriqī''
: ''firāqa ghayra wāmiqī''
|| 
: We are those Ṭāriq girls 
: We walk on carpets fair 
: Our necks are hung with pearls 
: And musk is on our hair 
: If you advance we'll hug you 
: Or if you flee we'll shun you 
: And we'll no longer love you
||
:| – '''⏑''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏑''' – '''⏑''' – |
:| – – '''⏑''' – | '''⏑''' – '''⏑''' – |
:| – – '''⏑''' – | '''⏑''' – '''⏑''' – |
:| – – '''⏑''' – | '''⏑''' – '''⏑''' – |
:| – – '''⏑''' – | '''⏑''' – '''⏑''' – |
:| – – '''⏑''' – | '''⏑''' – '''⏑''' – |
:| '''⏑''' – '''⏑''' – | '''⏑''' – '''⏑''' – |
|}

==Relationship to Sarī‘==
The rajaz metre is very similar to the sarī‘, of which the first two metra are the same as rajaz, but the third is shortened:<ref name=Wright362 /> 
:| '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | (trimeter)
:| '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | '''⏓''' '''⏓''' '''⏑''' – | – – | ( trimeter catalectic)

Unlike the rajaz, sarī‘ is used in couplets.

The third metron is usually – ⏑ –, ⏑ ⏑ – being very rare, especially at the end of a couplet.<ref name=Wright362 />

The two metres are considered by some scholars to be variations of the same metre.<ref>Maling, Joan (1973). ''The theory of classical Arabic metrics''. Unpublished dissertation, MIT; p. 49.</ref><ref>Golston, Chris & Riad, Tomas (1997). [http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~chrisg/index_files/ArabicMeter.pdf "The Phonology of classical Arabic meter"]. ''Linguistics'' 35 (1997), 111-132; p. 116.</ref>

==Key studies==

* ''Five Raǧaz Collections: (al-Aghlab al-ʻIǧlī, Bashīr ibn an-Nikth, Ǧandal ibn al-Muthannā, Ḥumayd al-Arqaṭ, Ghaylān ibn Ḥurayth)'', ed. by Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, Studia Orientalia, 76/Materials for the study of Raǧaz poetry, 2 (Helsinki: Finnish Oriental Society, 1995), {{ISBN|9519380264}}
* ''Minor Raǧaz Collections: (Khiṭām al-Muǧashiʻī, the two Dukayns, al-Qulākh ibn Ḥazn, Abū Muḥammad al-Faqʻasī, Manẓūr ibn Marthad, Himyān ibn Quḥāfa)'', ed. by Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, Studia Orientalia, 78/Materials for the study of Raǧaz poetry, 3 (Helsinki: Finnish Oriental Society, 1996), {{ISBN|9519380280}}
* Manfred Ullmann, ''Untersuchungen zue Raǧazpoesie. Ein Beitrag zur arabischen Sprach- und Literaturewissenschaft'' (Wiesbaden, 1966)
* D. Frolov, 'The Place of Rajaz in the History of Arabic Verse', ''Journal of Arabic Literature'', 28 (1997), 242-90, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4183399

==References==

{{reflist}}

== Sources ==

* {{Cite book |last=Frolov |first=Dimitry |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLNLEAAAQBAJ&dq=arabic%20saj'&pg=PA97 |title=Classical Arabic Verse: History and Theory of 'Arūḍ |date=2000 |publisher=Brill |pages=97–134 |chapter=Archaic Verse: Sajʾ|isbn=978-90-04-49245-5 }}

Category:Arabic poetry
Category:Poetic rhythm
Category:Arabic poetry forms
Category:Arabic and Central Asian poetics

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rajaz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajaz) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajaz?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.