Poetry in Praise of Prophetic Perfection

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The vibrant tradition of West African Arabic poetry is primarily represented by the genre of madīḥ, poetry praising the Prophet Muḥammad. Often overlooked in Western scholarship, this genre has been dismissed as mere 'pious praise' devoid of intellectual depth. Dr. Oludamini Ogunnaike challenges these misconceptions, delving into the rich lyrical nature of madīḥ poetry and its foundations in the Qur'ān, Ḥadīth, and early Islamic poetry, while also highlighting its connections to Sufism and its doctrines of cosmology, ontology, and epistemology. The author examines how West African madīḥ poetry articulates and facilitates the fulfillment of human potential, epitomized by the Perfect Human (al-Insān al-Kāmil) and the Praiseworthy Station (al-Maqām al-Maḥmūd), with the Prophet Muḥammad as the highest exemplar. The work features translations of numerous extracts from madīḥ poetry alongside the original Arabic, and the Appendix includes complete poems that are among the most popular and influential in this tradition. This book offers readers an opportunity to appreciate a unique genre of spiritual Islamic poetry, with the original Arabic facilitating recitation for devotional purposes.