Poetry and Religion: A Comprehensive Analysis of Islamic Thought from the Classical to the Modern Era

This research investigates the intricate and multifaceted links of poetry and religion within Islamic civilisation throughout history. Diwan al-‘Arab, poetry as we know it, underwent profound changes, especially with the advent of Islam which placed new ethical and theological parameters with which to frame it. This research adopts a qualitative literature approach. The findings of the research highlight three significant periods: (1) Islam’s reorientation of poetry from celebratory tribal pride (‘asabiyyah) towards the ideals of tawhid; (2) the Sufi masters Jalaluddin Rumi, Mansur al-Hallaj, and others, whose poetry expressed divine love and the mystery of the unitive life; and (3) the modern iqtibas of Muhammad Iqbal, who viewed poetry as philosophical and reformative within the broader framework of his notion of Khudi (the self). This research observes poetry in Islam as a form of aesthetic expression greatly politicised, especially in the later periods, as well as capturing with incredible fluency the unending struggles of the soul defending and negotiating within the confines of art and civilisation. Islamic thought, as revealed, mystified, and wedded with modern complexity through the transcendental eloquence of beauty and thought, the survivability of this civilisation mystified.