Jalilah bint Murrah: A Pre-Islamic Arab Poetess

Abstract

This article is an unpublished chapter of Vol-2 of this writer's Urduwork (The Pre-Islamic Arabic Literature [Urdu]). It introduces tothe Urdu world a comparatively less known poetess, Jalilah bint Murrah of ancient Arabia who happens to be one of the central characters of the long war of Basus that ensued after a petty quarrel and continued for as long as forty years. The article sheds light on the culture, manners and sentiments of the pagan Arabs while highlighting their unusual talent for poetry

Keywords

• bakr, taghlib, jalilah, jassas, harb basus