أبو محجن الثقفي المتأرجح بين المعصية و الطاعة

Abstract EN

This paper examines the impact of Islam on the poetry of veterans - who lived through the period of Al-Jahiliyyah (the state of Arabs before Islam: the ignorance of Islam and Allah) and the period of Islam- from the perspective of fixed and variable, discussing in particular the poetry that talked about topics forbidden by Islam such as the wine poetry.

The description of wine was commonly found in the pre-Islamic poetry; and Arabs were proud of drinking wine the same way they were proud of their championship and horsemanship.

Drinking wine for them was associated with religious roots.

Arabs before Islam believed that drinking wine gives its drinkers the qualities of God, enabling them therefore to do what God does, in which normal human beings are not capable of.

When Islam came, a number of poets kept on drinking wine -although it became forbidden - which they talked about in their poetry, and on top of those poets was Abu-Mehjan Al-Thaqafi who is a veteran poet and one of the few Knights known in Al-Jahiliyyah period (the ignorance of Islam).

The reader of Abu-Mehjan’s poetry will notice that his relationship with the wine appeared in his poems in two contradictory stages.

In the first stage he appears to be a rebellion against religious authority, bragging about drinking wine and committing sins.

However, this phase in his life did not last forever as Abu-Mehjan appeared in the second and final stage -repentance stageobeying all the orders of Allah as stated in the religion, while being fully aware of these orders.

Abu-Mehjan, during the second stage, wrote poems in dispraise of wine talking about its disadvantages, and asking people to stop drinking, inspired by the Quran and Islam orders.