ECHOES OF A THIRSTY OWL: DEATH AND AFTERLIFE IN

PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIC POETRY*

T. EMIL HOMERIN, University of Chicago

AN understanding and appreciation of early Arabic poetry ought to be based

upon a knowledge of the society within which it developed. By studying cultural key
words and concepts, a better perception of their contexts and of the poetry's el1anand
meaning become possible. M. M. Bravmann, in a number of studies, has unraveled
much of the sheer fabric of sense and feeling surrounding abstruse terms like himmah
and muri'ah, in order to expose the creative forces and social values of pre-Islamic
Arabia,' and his work can serve as an excellent guide for investigating other crucial
concepts, including those alluded to with seemingly more concrete motifs such as the
recurring plants and animals in their poetic niches. One such motif prominent in pre-
Islamic Arabic poetry is the owl, which was associated with specific views of life,
death, and afterlife, thus becoming an important religious symbol to the ancient
Arabs, a further instance of the inexorable interrelationship between the poetry and
the religious beliefs and practices of the pre-Islamic period.
In early Arabic poetry, references to religious concepts are often enigmatic, requiring
a grasp of the poetry's social and religious context as well as considerable speculation
for plausible explanations; yet, the reconstruction of this very context has been based
largely on the poetry itself. To escape this vicious circle, other sources, especially
Islamic writings, are useful but differences in time, place, and world view must be con-
sidered. Early Muslims concerned with codifying and propagating their faith showed
little interest in the pagan Arab religions, and they may have perceived, consciously or
not, that an examination of such matters could depreciate the wonder of Muhammad's
call and dampen its dramatic effect-a situation similar to the question of the literacy
of the Prophet. Nevertheless, a number of Muslim writers such as Ibn al-KalbT, al-
MascidT, and ash-ShahrastanTgathered substantial information about the pagan Arabs
which is invaluable to discovering and decoding poetic allusions to the owl and other
archaic and pre-Islamic beliefs and customs.2
Recent work in cultural anthropology and comparative religion and literature will
also help to elucidate the role of the owl in Arab religion and poetry. Studies of
existing nonliterate cultures provide significant insights into cultural and religious

* I want to thank Steven M. Goodman for ornitho-
logical advice and James Broderick for proofread-
ing the original draft and for examining Hebrew
words for owls. I especially wish to thank Professor
[JNES 44 no. 2 (1985)]
@ 1985 by The
University of Chicago.
All rights reserved.
0022-2968/85/4402-0001 $1.00.
165
Jaroslav Stetkevych, whose encouragement and
careful attention have made this paper possible.
Arabic texts are generally referred to by their
authors' names throughout this paper.
I M. M. Bravmann, The Spiritual Background of
Early Islam (Leiden, 1972).
2 NabTh AmTn FarTs in his introduction to Ibn
al-Kalbi's The Book of Idols (Princeton, 1952),
pp. vii-ix; see also W. Oxtoby, "Arabian Religions,"
in Enc,'clopaedia Britannica (1973-74 ed.), vol. 1,
pp. 1057-59.

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166 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

phenomena and demonstrate, together with various comparative studies, the occur-
rence and recurrence of similar beliefs and practices among peoples of a different time
and place. Older methods and materials can be combined with such contemporary
research and effectively applied to pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, its forms, themes, and
motifs. Thus, a careful examination of the owl motif within its semantic field and
social context will bring the importance of the owl into clearer perspective. By com-
paring Arab beliefs with notions of the owl and religious conceptions of other cultures,
particularly those of the ancient Near East, Egypt, and Greece, the owl's meaning and
function in pre-Islamic Arab society will be further defined. Then, returning to the
wider poetic context, we can develop a deeper sensitivity to the use of this motif and
so heighten our appreciation of Arabic poetry.
Ancient Arab beliefs concerning the owl were interrelated with the manners and
religious customs of that predominantly nomadic society. Some form of totemism
must have been important in early Arab religion, but what the Arabs perceived as
their relationship with these animals is unclear.3 In general, totemism results from a
utilitarian anxiety concerning what is most necessary for man's survival and his fasci-
nation with those things which attract his attention or threaten him; it is a selective
perception of what is useful, necessary, or feared with the simultaneous desire to con-
trol it.4 The owl was undoubtedly an awe-inspiring creature among the Arabs, and it
was believed to be one of the attendants of the jinn, supernatural and usually malevo-
lent beings.5 Owls were also thought to give true omens: the people of Rayy considered
the owl auspicious, while in Basra its appearance foretold calamity. If an owl landed
on a house, it was believed to announce the owner's death or that of a family member.6
Although the validity of folk beliefs was frequently mentioned in the more popular
cayyim literature, these were usually ridiculed and rejected by the poets.7 Further,

3 A good survey of pre-Islamic Arab beliefs
and their study is Joseph Henninger's "Pre-Islamic
Bedouin Religion" in Studies on Islam, ed. and
trans. M. L. Swartz (New York, 1981), pp. 3-22.
See also G. Ryckmans, Les Religions arabes pre-
islamiques (Louvain, 1951). For an extensive bib-
liography on pre-Islamic Arabia, including the
religious beliefs and practices there see M. Rodin-
son's, "A Critical Study of Modern Studies on
Muhammad" in Swartz's Studies, pp. 23-39.
4 B. Malinowski, Magic, Science, and Religion
(1943; Garden City, New York, 1954), pp. 20-21,
44-45. See also W. R. Smith, "Animal Worship and
Animal Tribes Among the Arabs and in The Old
Testament" in J. S. Black and G. Chrystal, eds.,
Lectures and Essays (London, 1927), pp. 459-66;
MahmQd Salim al-Hit, FT TarTqal-MAthiifuTivah
cinda al-cArab (Damascus, 1955), pp. 107-8. On
totemism and its social importance, see E. Durkheim,
Elementariy Forms of Religious Life, trans. Joseph
Ward Swain (1912; New York, 1915).
5 Muhammad ibn Miisd ad-DamTri, Kitib
Ha.vdt
al-IHayaw~n (Cairo, 1861), vol. 1, p. 224.
6 Al-JAhiz, KitTbal-Hayawan, ed. CAbd as-Salkm
Muhammad HriOn (Egypt, 1356/ 1938),vol. 3, p. 457;
T. Fahd, "Fa'l" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam,
2d ed., vol. 2, pp. 758-59. On other magical and
medicinal uses of the owl, see ad-DamTri, vols. 1,
p. 224 and 2, p. 512; Bukhtishu, Manific al-Hayawmn,
or Description of the Nature of Animals and Plants
and Their Medicinal Properties, trans. A. Yohannan
(New York, 1917), pp. 21-22; and John Sparks,
"Owls and Men," in John Sparks and Tony Soper,
eds., Owls: Their Natural and Unnatural History
(New York, 1970), p. 167. Also of interest is Tawfiq
Fahd's "Les Presages par le corbeau," Arabica 7
(1961): 30-58; E. Rehatsek, "Some Beliefs and Usages
among the Pre-Islamic Arabs," Journal of the
Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 12
(1876): 163-212, esp. 172-74; and Shams ul-Ulma
Jivanji Jamshedji Modi, "The Owl in Folklore,"
Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal 19 (1924): 51-60, esp. pp. 51-52. Modi notes
that in many languages the word for omen is derived
from a word meaning bird, "auspice" from "avis";
"margu"(Persian) from "murg"(bird); "tair"(Arabic)
from the same word meaning bird. Birds were
probably important for predictions of seasonal
change due to their migratory patterns. Owls of the
desert, however, are usually sedentary.
7 H. Ringgren, Studies in Arabian Fatalism
(Uppsala, 1955), pt. 1, pp. 51-52.

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 DEATHAND AFTERLIFE
IN PRE-ISLAMICPOETRY 167
early Arabic poetry with its heroic nature, usually lacks any overtly religious subject,
being more homocentric in its outlook than the popular cults; it reflects the ethos of
the cultural el1iteswhose experiences and observations had driven out many of the
older beliefs and rites. But the Arabs' participation in the heritage of the Hellenistic
world and the cultural currents that were replacing it brought new anxieties, fed by
monotheistic and messianic ideas that spread throughout the area, entailing conver-
sions to Judaism and Christianity.8 The prevalent view of Arabian life in the poetry,
however, is one in which the gods are usually irrelevant. Dahr (time/fate) or manTyah
(fate/destiny) was the tyrannical sovereign, unpredictable and capricious, which set the
appointed time (qajal) for every man's death. Grudgingly, fate drove man into mis-
fortune, separating him from his loved ones, acting treacherously, corrupting and
destroying all that he cared for. Doctrines of resurrection were regarded as fantastic
stories; when death came at its appointed time meaningful existence was over.9
Nevertheless, ancient Arab burial customs point to a belief in some sort of afterlife,
probably a kind of reduced existence. These and other religious conceptions among
the Arabs are analogous to those of the patriarchal Hebrews and to the religions of
ancient Mesopotamia. In Gilgamesh, the Mesopotamian epic, Enkidu describes the
underworld to Gilgamesh in a mood comparable to the tone in some pre-Islamic
Arabic poems. It is a dreary place:'o
Wheredust is theirfood, clay theirsustenance;
Wherethey see no lightand dwellin darkness,
Wherethey are clad like birdswithgarmentsof wings,
Whereoverdoor and bolt dust has spread.
A similar negative and pessimistic view of death among the Arabs is clear from
poetic references to the grave. In sharp contrast to the living who "wandered," the
deceased was a muqTm(a "sedentary"), and this word in its transitive usage, "that
which causes to stay," became an epithet of the grave." Descriptions of the tribe's
departure from the grave, the home of the deceased, strengthened the idea of sedentary
life and death's oppressiveness. This hasty abandonment of the grave by the com-
panions or the clan in order to resume their wanderings became a motif of early
Arabic poetry, and it is suggestive of ancient Arab attitudes towards the deceased. The
dead were not believed to take part in the activities of the community; life was
precarious and often short, and the dead were no longer of consequence, though
perhaps remembered. The dead man's friends or relatives buried him in the evening
and quickly departed in the morning,12 again illustrating the separation between the

8 E. F. Peters, The Harvest of Hellenism

(New
York, 1970), p. 443; and Ghulam Hafiz Mustafa,
Religious Trendsin Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry,(Bom-
bay, 1968), pp. 40-125. See also Sigmund Freud,
The Future of an Illusion (1927; Garden City, New
York, 1961), pp. 24-25; and Fazlur Rahman, "Pre-
Foundations of the Muslim Community in Mecca,"
Studia Islamica 48 (1976): 5-24, esp. pp. 5-9.
9 Ringgren, Fatalism, pp. 61-85; Bravmann, Spir-
itual Background, p. 4. For a concise survey of pre-
Islamic Arab beliefs concerning an afterlife, see J. I.
Smith and Y. Y. Haddad, The Islamic Understand-
ing of Death and Resurrection (Albany, 1981),
pp. 147-55.
1OG. Roux, Ancient Iraq (London, 1964), pp. 99-
101; and Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near
East, trans. J. Sturdy (London, 1973), pp. 46-48.
Again we see the relationship between birds and the
dead in a dismal afterlife.
I Bravmann, Spiritual
Background, pp. 288-89.
The actual tomb structures varied with the terrain,
climate, and social status of the deceased. See
Rehatsek, "Beliefs and Usages," pp. 168-69.
12Bravmann, Spiritual Background, pp. 285-95.

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168 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

world of the living and the realm of the dead. However, among the ancient Arabs, as
in many societies where the dead are severed from the affairs of the living, a spirit
could return to this world in a nonhuman form to demand expiation for a neglected
matter." Therefore, the Arab custom of watering the grave was probably a pacifica-
tion ritual to slake the thirst of the dead,14 but if the dead person's vengeance had not
been taken, he returned as a thirsty owl haunting his kinsman.'5
Both al-MascidT and ash-ShahrastinT mention the owl in their accounts of pre-
Islamic Arab beliefs concerning the afterlife. Al-MascidT writes:16
Some of them [pre-Islamic Arabs] claimed that the soul (an-nafs) was a bird which was
spread out, at ease (yanbasit) in the body of man. So that when he [man] dies or is killed, he
continues to circle it [his body] assuming the form of a bird which cries out over his grave,
saddened by separation from it [the body] ....
... And they claim that this bird is small, and then it grows larger until it becomes a type of
owl (biim); it is always savage and shrieking, and it is alone in the desolate dwellings and the
sepulchers and where slain men fall and where death occurs. And they maintain that the owl
(himah) stays in that manner with the sons and grandsons of the dead person and keeps them
company, in order to learn about what occurs after him, so that she may inform him of it, to the
extent that as-Salt ibn 'Umayyah said to his sons:7

My owl informs me of what you feel,

so may you avoid the disgraceful and disgusting.

Ash-ShahrastnTi elaborates:
And among the Arabs are those who believe in transmigration, saying that when a man dies or
is killed, the blood of the brain and the parts of his physical constitution (binyah) join together,
at which point he arises as a bird, an owl (hamah), returning to the top of the grave every one
hundred years ... .

13See A. de Waal Malefijt, Religion and Culture
(New York, 1968), p. 156. Among the Babylonians
and Assyrians, the dead were weak shadows which
could return as an etimmu or demon to torment the
living. It was a terrible life, and the demon could be
driven off only with special incantations; see Ring-
gren, Religions, p. 121.
14I1. Goldziher, Etudes islamologiques d'Ignaz
Goldziher, trans. G. H. Bousquet (Leiden, 1962),
pp. 122-26.
15Among the Tigr6 tribes of Abyssinia, if a
man dies leaving important matters such as taking
revenge or the care of his children uncompleted
and no one undertakes them, he will return as
a gan, an owl with a human face which screeches
nightly over his grave until the affairs are concluded.
The gan is a composite of two ancient Arab be-
liefs: the dead man's return as an owl and the
jan (from jin), the spiritual counterpart of man. See
E. Littmann, "Abessinische Parallelen zu einigen
altarabischen Gebriuchen und Vorstellungen," Bei-
triige zur Kenntnis des Orients 6 (1908): 56-57; and
idem, Publication of the Princeton Expedition to
Abyssinia (Leiden, 1910), vol. 2, pp. 308-9; and
J. Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidentums (Berlin,
1897), pp. 148-49.
16Abj'l-Hasan CAll al-MasCudi, Muri4jul-
Dhahab (Beirut, 1966), vol. 2, pp. 287-88, pars.
1192-95 and pars. 1214 and 2082.
17Ibid., vol. 2, p. 287. For further examples of the
owl as informer, see AbOTammam, Sharh DTwanal-
Hamasah, ed. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-MarziigT
(Cairo, 1951), no. 350; and an example by JarTrin
The Naqiaid, ed. Anthony Bevan (Leiden, 1908-
1912), vol. 2, p. 828; vol. 1, p. 25.
18Ash-ShahrastanT, Kitab al-Milal wa'l-Nihal,
ed. FahmT Muhammad (Cairo, 1367/ 1948), vol. 3,
p. 264.

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 DEATHANDAFTERLIFE
IN PRE-ISLAMIC
POETRY 169
Other sources say that the owl formed from the bones of the dead or was a receptacle
of the dead person's spirit (riih) and further, that the owl exited from the head.19
Al-AnbriT, however, notes that in the early Arabic poetry, it is the unavenged that
return as owls thirsting for the blood of their murderers.
And it is said that man when he is killedand his revengenot taken,an owl comes out from his
grave and then continues screeching "Quench me!" "Quench me!" ('isqini, 'isqinT), continuing
so untilhis killeris killed.20
Incarnation as an owl, then, was not a form of resurrection for all who died, but
rather a troubled and tormented existence for one who had been disgraced by his
friends and relatives.
The Arab belief in the unavenged's reincarnation as a bird and his leaving the body
via the head has parallels in other cultures,21 and to better appreciate the pre-Islamic
Arab use of the owl as a motif and metaphor, we must widen our perspective and
explore areas which are obscure and often difficult to understand: the myths and
conceptions of preliterate man. The owl, associated with death and afterlife, is an
ancient and important religious symbol;22it is an archetypal motif which may lead us
into the primitive wonder-world, the unconscious life which surrounds consciousness
and forms the substrata for conceptualization.23
The depths of the psyche with its nocturnal fears and fantasies is like the dark realm
of the night, full of lurking creatures and sinister things; night, dark like death and the
grave, terrified our ancestors.
Guardus fromthe she-wolfand the wolf,
and guardus fromthe thief, O Night,
and so be good for us to pass.

For darkness,blottingout, has come

nearme, black,and palpable.
O Dawn,dispelit like my debts.24

19 Muhammad ibn Mukarram, Lisan

al-CArab
(Beirut, 1375/1956), vol. 12, p. 624; and Mahmid
Shukri ai-AlsTi, Buligh al-cArab fT Macrifat Ahwial
al-cArab, ed. Muhammad Bahjah al-Athari (Cairo,
1924-25), vol. 2, p. 311.
20 Al-Mufaddal ibn Salmah, ed.
Charles Lyall (Oxford, 1918-21), vol. 1, p. 322.
al-Mufad.dalTyat,
Professor J. Stetkevych has called my attention to
a passage in Aelianus's The Characteristics of An-
imals, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Mass.,
1958), vol. 1, p. 67, which recounts a popular tale in
which the raven croaks in summer because of a
parched thirst, declaring his punishment for disobey-
ing Apollo. The Greek term for punishment, tTmoria,
can also mean vengeance, and Professor Stetkevych
suggests that this, together with the fact that the
raven (ghuraib) is also a bird of ill-omen in Arabic
literature, may point to a transposition of motif; the
owl, the Arab's bird of death, cries out thirsting for
the vengeance which will end its punishment.
21 E. Norbeck, Religion in Primitive
Society (New
York, 1961), p. 76. See also pp. 176-77 below.
22 For conceptions of the owl in other
cultures, see
The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. 1,
pp. 523-24; for the owl in the Americas see
A. Hultkrantz, The Religion of the American Indians,
trans. Monica Settervall (Los Angeles, 1979).
23 C. G. Jung, The and the Collective
Unconscious (New York, Archetypes
1950), pp. 12-38. It is
questionable if we can speak of "inherited" arche-
types, though all animals including man exhibit
innate behaviors. A recent study, however (R. M.
Seyfarth et al., Science, 14 November 1980), has
determined the stimuli of vervet monkeys' three
alarm calls: leopards, snakes, and eagles. That preda-
tory birds were seen by early man as a threat cannot
be ruled out. Still, adaptive behaviors would not
necessitate genetic transmission. See W. Burkert,
Structure and History* in Greek Mithology and
Religion (Berkeley, 1979), pp. 41-45.
24 Rg Veda, vol. 10, p. 127, in A. L. Basham, The
Wonder That Was India (New York, 1959), p. 402.

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170 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

Owls move with silent flight through this dim landscape, calling with shrieks and
mournful voices, hunting and roosting in ruins and desolate places. Myths and super-
stitions about the owl are frequently based on these habits but supplemented by man's
projections of himself. Fears of possession and death transform the owl into "death's
dreadful messenger," a thing to be avoided; yet man has been attracted by the owl's
night vision and ferocity and has attempted magically to acquire them. Anthropo-
morphic characteristics also draw man's attention. The owl has a broad head and
some have widely spaced developed tufts ("ears"), and enormous eyes in the front of
its head surrounded by cheek-like facial discs. The beak, largely hidden, projects like a
nose, and the owl's vertical body, eyelids, and voice of human quality contribute to a
human illusion. Existing in various forms for at least six million years and on all
continents of the world, the owl has fascinated man since prehistoric times. The
Snowy Owl is depicted in the totemistic cave paintings of Trois Frbres in France, and
the many owl bones found there indicate the owl was of some type of importance to
paleolithic man. Owls and an owl-being are also found in ancient cave paintings at
Balu-Uru in northern Australia; in other parts of that country it was believed that
owls were repositories of women's souls, and bats held those of men.25 In ancient
Egyptian culture, as elsewhere, the owl was a bird of ill-omen; it was beheaded
when caught as preserved mummies attest. "Owl-city" was a predynastic fortress in the
western delta, and the Greeks identified the city's goddess, Neith, with Athena.26
Lilith, the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess of the storm and disturber of man's sleep,
is depicted with two lions and owls on a Sumerian tablet dating back to 2300-
2000 B.C., and the same deity is associated with owls in Isa. 34: 14-15.27
And wild beastsshall meetwith
hyenas,
the satyrshallcry to his fellow;
yea, thereshall Lilithalight,
and find for herselfa restingplace(v. 14).

Thereshallthe owl nest and lay

and hatchand gatherheryoung
in hershadow;
yea, thereshallthe kitesbe gathered,
each one with her mate (v. 15).28

Chapter 34 of Isaiah is an eschatological poem describing Yahweh's judgment

against all nations, especially Edom, and it is particularly interesting, not only for its
25 Sparks, "Owls and Men," pp. 11-20. On Trois
Frtres, see also Burkert, Greek Mythology, pp. 90-
93; F. Medlin, Centuries of Owls (Norwalk, Conn.,
1967), p. 1; and de Waal Malefijt, Religion and
Culture, pp. 123-27. J. Frazer in his The Golden
Bough (1922; New York, 1948), pp. 496, 688, men-
tions owls in Australian cults. Some Arabs have
also eaten owls although this is prohibited under
Islamic dietary laws; see ad-DamTri,vol. 1, pp. 122-
24; and C. Doughty, Travelsin Arabia Deserta (New
York, 1921), p. 349.
26 P. E. Newberry, "The Owls in Ancient Egypt,"
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 37 (1951): 72-74,
and R. Meinertzhagen, Nicoll's Birds of Egypt (Lon-
don, 1930), pp. 62, 75, and 349-64.
27 Ringgren, Religions, p. 89; Sparks, "Owls and
Men," p. 21.
28 The New Oxford Annotated Bible (New York,
1973), p. 863. See also G. R. Driver's "Birds in The
Old Testament," Palestine Exploration Quarterly 87
(1955): 5-20, 129-40, esp. pp. 134-38, for an attempt
to more clearly define the various creatures men-
tioned in Isaiah 34.

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 DEATHANDAFTERLIFE
IN PRE-ISLAMIC
POETRY 171

reference to Lilith who will rest where the owls roost, but also for the parallel and
contrast developed between the animals. Those mentioned in verses 6-7 are often
sacrificial animals (see Ezek. 39: 17-20), and they enrich man, helping him to prosper.
The owl, however, and the other animals mentioned in verses 11-15 are unclean (see
Deut. 14: 3-19); they are symbols of desecration, death, and chaos.29
But the hawk and the porcupine
shall possess it [the land],
The owl and the raven shall dwell
in it.
He shall stretch the line of confusion
over it,
and the plummet of chaos over
its nobles (v. 11).

This and other biblical passages may serve further as a useful contrast to Arabic
examples since similarities between certain passages of the Bible and pre-Islamic Arabic
poetry have long been recognized.30
In Psalm 102, a prayer for the healing of sickness, the owl is more explicitly linked
with man's fate.
Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to thee!
Do not hide thy face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline thy ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day
when I call!
For my days pass like smoke
and my bones burn like a furnace.
My heart is smitten like grass, and
withered;
I forget to eat my bread.
Because of my loud groaning
my bones cleave to my flesh.
I am like a vulture of the
wilderness,
like an owl of the wasteplaces;
I lie awake,
I am like a lonely bird on the
housetop.
All the day my enemies taunt me,
those who deride me use my name
for a curse.
For I eat ashes like bread,
and mingle tears with my drink,

29The New Oxford Annotated Bible and

Driver, ment," The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,
"Birds," pp. 5-20. 1914, pp. 253-66; and J. Stetkevych, "The Conflu-
30 See C. Lyall, "The Relation of the Old Arabian ence of Arabic and Hebrew Literature," Journal of
Poetry to the Hebrew Literature of the Old Testa- Near Eastern Studies 32 (1973): 216-22.

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172 JOURNAL
OFNEAREASTERN
STUDIES

becauseof thy indignaionand

anger;
for thou hast takenme up and
thrownme away,
My days are like an evening
shadow;
I witheraway like grass(vv. 1-11).31

Following the invocation, a cry for help (vv. 1-2), the poet laments his state
(vv. 3-11) in a mood and tone similar to that of the Arabic "elegy" (rithd') or "open-
ing" (nasTb).32He longs to be relieved of his present torments, craving the strength and
vitality possessed in the past. His body is analogous to the deserted campsite; only
traces of past human habitation remain, like an owl dwelling in the ruins. The sense of
loss is pronounced. He has been rejected by his beloved, Yahweh, who is angry with
him. The analogies between this psalm and the Arabic qasidah ("lyric") can be
extended. The psalm's elegaic prelude contrasts sharply with the following section
(vv. 11-22) which is a hymn of praise to Yahweh, a panegyric to the Lord, proclaim-
ing His grandeur and power. The poet again refers to his mortal state (vv. 23-24) and
then concludes, praising God's eternity (vv. 25-27) and anticipating the security and
prosperity due to the Lord's servants. Further, the "persona" of the psalm, like that in
the qasTdah,loses its limited subjectivity by dissolving into the collective perception of
a people.33This and similarities in motifs, themes, and especially in mood and tone are
suggestive of a common origin for some genres of Hebrew and Arabic poetry which
are, nevertheless, the product of their own particular, though perhaps parallel,
development.34
Although many motifs in Psalm 102 differ from those common in early Arabic
poetry, its use of the owl metaphor is a near equivalent, evoking the despair and
loneliness which awaits man in the grave. The "lonely bird on the housetop" may be
another reference to the owl which in many cultures announced the death of a person
by landing on his roof. In the Arabic case, the owl hoots from the stones piled upon a
dead man's grave.35
The owl's representation in ancient Greece was less metaphorical, revealing its occult
origins. It was a fetish animal in many regions of the peninsula and first appears on

31The New Oxford Annotated Bible, p. 733.
32 See J. Stetkevych, "The Arabic
Qas?dah:Form
and Content to Mood and Meaning," (Euchariston:
Essa'ys Presented to Amljan Pritsak on His 60th
Birthday, pt. 2), Harvard Ukranian Studies 3-4
(1979-80): 774-85, esp. 782-85; and idem, "Some
Observations on Arabic Poetry," Journal of Near
Eastern Studies 26 (1967): 1-12, esp. pp. 4-5.
33 Idem, "The Arabic Lyrical Phenomenon in Con-
text," Journal of Arabic Literature 6 (1975): 57-77,
esp. pp. 72-74.
34 Psalm 77 may also be useful for comparison.
See also D. B. MacDonald in The Hebrew Literaryi
Genius: An Interpretation, Being an Introduction to
The Reading of The Old Testament (Princeton,
1933). Stressing the importance of a comparative
approach for a better understanding of the Old
Testament both as a document with its historicity
and as a work of art, MacDonald notes that "every
kind of literature in the Old Testament, with the
partial exception of the Psalms, finds a pigeonhole
for itself in the great scheme of Arabic letters."
Apparently as a second thought he adds, "Many
... of the Psalms find their parallels in the poems of
the desert" (ibid., p. 1). However, MacDonald views
the Psalm and its Arab equivalent as the "impas-
sioned self-confession" born out of an individual's
dramatic emotional experience (ibid., pp. 18-19,
53-57).
35 Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. 1,
pp. 523-24. For an Arabic example see the lines by
cUrwah ibn al-Ward on p. 182.

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 DEATH AND AFTERLIFE IN PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY 173

Athenian coins in the late seventh century B.C. but without the goddess Athena. The
enormous eyes of the depiction suggest that the coinage also served as a talisman
against malevolent forces.36 The Greek word for owl, glaux, is related to glaukos, an
adjective which can modify the moon, stars, dawn, the sheen of an olive leaf, and the
sea. The owl then, was probably named for its bright, piercing eyes, and glaukos
describes other frightening eyes like those of the dragon and the glittering eyes of a
lion about to charge.37
Athena was not originally associated with the owl, and later she was depicted with
other birds as well. In the Iliad and the Odyssey Athena assumes the form of various
birds: the swallow, the falcon, the vulture, but never the owl. Perhaps it was only in
the second half of the sixth century B.C. that the two were united, indicative of the
war goddess' gradual absorption of indigenous cults of fertility and craft, commonly
linked with specific animals. Athena's self-transformation (and that of other Homeric
gods) into birds also bears traces of primitive naturalistic beliefs. Certain attributes of
Athena, such as her association with war and wisdom and her epithet glaukopis
("bright-eyed," "owl-eyed") reinforced but did not bring about her association with
the owl, a predatory bird with an intelligent expression.38 After the sixth century, the
owl became Athena's messenger to her favorites.39Given her connection with the owl,
Athena's birth from the head of Zeus,40 shows a remarkable similarity to pre-Islamic
beliefs about the slain man's owl forming from his brain.
During the Hellenistic period, the cult of Athena spread throughout the Mediter-
ranean world and the Middle East. Strabo mentions a temple to Athena Cyrrhestis in
Syria, and the Arab deity was identified with Athena due to her similar military
and fertility functions.41 The
All.tlatitudinarian nature of Hellenistic religion encouraged
the interpretation of foreign deities in terms of the native pantheon, promoting bor-
rowing and syncretism. The Nabataeans, who were Hellenized Arabs, actively traded
goods and ideas with Greeks, Egyptians, and Persians, as archaeological remains
attest.42 The tribes of the Arabian Peninsula which had been an important link in the
luxury trade since antiquity, also conveyed Indian deities to Egypt, and both Egyptian
and Arabian pantheons reveal a reciprocal influence.43However, it is more difficult to
trace the spread of religious beliefs, and evidence for a significant foreign influence on
Arab conceptions of the owl is meager. The slender numismatic evidence for Arabia is
of interest since Arabian coinage bore the Athenian owl with little variation in sym-
bols or legends,44 indicating that Arabs were familiar with the iconographical depic-

36 E. Pottier, "La Chouette d'Ath6na," Bulletin de Theogony. 886-98.

correspondance hell/nique 32 (1908): 529-48, esp.
536-40. For reference to the owl in Greek sources
see W. D'Arcy Thompson, A Glossary of' Greek Birds
(New York and Oxford, 1895), pp. 40, 45-46, 53,
87, 108-9, 119-20, 156, 174, 200.
37 W. F. Otto, The Homeric Gods, trans. M.
Hadas (New York, 1954), p. 58.
38 Pottier, "La Chouette d'Ath6na," pp. 534-47;
and M. P. Nilsson, The Minoan-Mycenaean Reli-
gion and Its Survival in Greek Religion, 2d ed., rev.
(Lund, 1950), p. 424.
39Otto, Homeric Gods, p. 45.
40 See the Homeric Hymn, no. 28, and Hesiod's
41 Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, trans. H. L.
Jones (New York, 1917), 7.247; and P. C. Hammond,
The Nabataeans (Gothenburg, Sweden, 1973), p. 97.
42 Peters, Harvest of Hellenism, pp. 171-72, 245,
294-95, 596-601. See also Pliny, Natural History,
trans. H. Rackham (Cambridge, Mass., 1949), 6.459-
60.
43 Ahmad Bey Kamal, "Les Idoles arabes et les
divinites 6gyptiennes," Recueil de travaux relatif
a la philologie et I'archeologie
l e gyptiennes et
assyriennes 24 (1902): 11-24.
44 Oxtoby, "Arabian Religions," EL, vol. 1,
p. 1057.

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174 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

tion of the owl and perhaps with its connection to Athena and war. It is not known if
the Arabs used the coins as talismans. Accounts of soul-birds were also well known
throughout the Hellenistic world; Pliny retold with derision a story of a man whose
soul was said to have flown out of his mouth as a raven.45In Nabataean paintings, an
eagle appears as a symbol of the soul on its ascent to the sun or stars,46 and two
passages of the Talmud link the soul with a bird: "the bird of his soul" and "after I
abandoned the corpse, I [will] fly in the air like a bird."47These notions of a soul-bird
appear to be of a much less developed form than Arab beliefs about the thirsty owl,
though contact with Egyptian, Jewish, and Greek ideas probably was reinforcing. All
were awed by the owl's appearance and behavior; enveloped in darkness and death the
owl was no longer a bird but a manifestation of ancient fears. Pliny wrote:48
The eagle-owlis a funeralbird,and is regardedas an extremelybad omen, especiallyat public
auspices; it inhabits deserts and places that are not merely unfrequentedbut terrifyingand
inaccessible;a wierd [sic] creatureof the night, its cry is not a musical note but a scream.
Consequentlywhenseen in cities or by daylightin any circumstancesit is a direfulportent....
Such cultural parallels in beliefs and poetry are invaluable to the demythologizing of
early Arabic poetry, and a study of this poetry's mythygenic factors provides valuable
insights into ancient conceptions, but it may also dull our sensitivity to the poetic
context.49 Myth is primarily a way to speak about complex problems. It is a method of
speculation and communication concerning things of collective importance, verbaliz-
ing phenomena in an attempt to make them coherent and intelligible.50When a myth
or belief is no longer accepted as a literal account, whether due to a period of crisis or
cultural transition, it may be recast in a new form, humanizing and assimilating more
primitive dimensions by the symbolic and evocative nature of metaphor. The primary
symbols of a culture are then perceived and colored by the individual consciousness
receiving a specific complexion over long periods of time, and their multiple, often
subtle, meanings lend themselves to those religious and poetic usages whose function is
to establish man's meaningful existence in a seemingly indifferent world."' Many
motifs and metaphors of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry reflect this process of mythopoesis,
and poets have used them to deepen the feelings and significance of their statements.
Kacb ibn Zuhair incorporated folk beliefs to vividly describe his fickle lover:52
de
•J
,1

45 Pliny 2.623. 49J. Stetkevych, "Arabic Poetry and Assorted

46J. G. F6vrier, La Religion des palmyriniens
(Paris, 1931), pp. 197-98.
47 I. Goldziher, "L'Oiseau representant I'me dans
les croyances populaires des Musulmans," in Etudes,
pp. 77-80, esp. p. 77. Goldziher, in these brief notes,
as in so many others, reveals his ability to grasp
many of the subtleties underlying pre-Islamic and
Islamic belief and ritual. Yet in this instance he does
not probe deeply into the issue but confines himself
to general statements and examples from folk beliefs.
48 Pliny 3.315-17.
Poetics," in M. H. Kerr, ed., Islamic Studies: A Tra-
dition and Its Problems (Seventh Giorgio Levi Della
Vida Conference) (Malibu, California, 1980), pp.
103-23, esp. pp. 122-23.
50 Burkert, Structure and History, pp. 23-25.
51 H. Slochower, Mythopoesis (Detroit, 1970),
pp. 14-33; and Jung, Archetypes, p. 5.
52 Mustafa, Religious Trends in Pre-Islamic Ara-
bic Poetry, p. 28; Guillame's translation from The
Life of Muhammad (Oxford, 1955), p. 599.

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 DEATH AND AFTERLIFE IN PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY 175

She is not stablein heraffection

even as the ghoulchangesthe hue of hergarments.
Labid in a poignant image compares the destitute woman to the camel left at the grave
to starve to death.53
.9
I J a /
J,,,,

Thereseeks refugeat the tent ropes(of the generousman)everyrejectedwomanher worn gar-

mentstorn, resemblingthe baliyyah(the starvingcameltied to the grave).
This transformation is also apparent in the owl motif whose thematic subtlety and
richness are reflected in its poetic contexts and their vocabulary.
Bifm, sad?, hamah, and their plurals are the most frequently used terms to denote
an owl in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry. A fourth term, duwac, of questionable etymology
and quite likely a foreign loan word, is occasionally found, and more popular appela-
tions like umm al-kharab ("mother of ruins") or umm as-sibyan ("mother of chil-
dren")54are rare in poetry. Bi~m,sad?, himah, and duwa' are collective nouns referring
to both male and female though some attempts have been made to distinguish them on
the basis of sex; b~m, sad~, and duwac are said to be male, bFimah, and hamah
female.55While this division is applicable to gender and agreement, sex distinction was
not important in the poetry, and the choice of a specific term was largely determined
by a poem's rhyme and meter. However, other factors were involved, relating to ety-
mologies and poetic usage.
The onomatopoetic quality of the word mimicking the owl's hoot is distinct,
and it was mentioned by ad-DamTrl, who used birm
as a collective designation for all
birm
night birds.56 There has been some debate on the word's origin. The Lisan al-cArab
states that it is a true Arabic collective noun with bNmah as its singular and bawwam
and Dabwaimas plurals; Lyall believed it to be a foreign loan word.57
It is more difficult to explain the usage of sadd (pl. 'asdi' ) to mean owl, though it is
a probable reference to the owl's hooting which is repetitive and of a reverberative
quality, since a primary meaning of sadi is "echo"; the fourth form of the verb, 'asda,
means "to echo, resound" and also "to die." Meanings of related roots support such an

53 Labid, "Mucallaqah," line 76, from al-Sabc al-
Muallaqdt, ed. F. E. Johnson (1893; New York,
1973), p. 121.
54 Umm as-Sibyan is a demon of the childbed
(qarinah); the owl is only one of the forms she takes.
Belief in this demon is still prevalent in Palestine,
Saudi Arabia, and Morocco. See Doughty, Arabia
Deserta, p. 349; and H. A. Winkler, Saloma und die
KarTna(Stuttgart, 1931), pp. 50-58.
55 Al-Jahiz, vol. 2, p. 30; ad-Damiri,
vol. 1, p. 122; Lisin al-cArab, vol. 12, p. 61, and al-
al-.Hayawiin,
'AlFisi, vol. 2, p. 311. Furthermore, the various
Arabic names for owls do not appear to refer to the
particular species of owls common in Arabia: Bubo
bubo (Eagle Owl), Bubo africanus (African Eagle
Owl), Tyto alba (Barn Owl), Strix butleri (Humes
Tawny Owl), Asio flammeus (Short-eared Owl),
Asio otus (Long-eared Owl), Athene noctua (Little
Owl), Otus bakkomoena (Collard Scops Owl), and
Otus scops (Scops Owl). See Meinertzhagen, Birds of
Arabia (Edinburgh, 1954), pp. 312-22, and A. E.
Chessman, In Unknown Arabia (London, 1926),
pp. 12, 14, 150-51, 163, 177, 271, 317-18, 381-82.
56 C. Whymper, Egyptian Birds (London, 1909),
p. 42, states that the Eagle Owl's call was "booom."
Onomatopoetic words for owls are common in many
languages as, for example, Pahalvi, ktf; Spanish,
buho; Japanese, fukuro, howo-waiwo. Ad-DamTri,
vol. 1, p. 511, quotes out of context. Al-
Jdhiz, vol. 2, pp. 298-99, does not use biGmto mean
al-J.hiz
night birds
57 Lisln al-cArab, vol. 12, p. 61; see also Lyall in
(.tuyiru-l-lail).
a note to line 16 of poem 70 in his edition of al-
MufaddalTylt. Bi m is used in Persian to mean owl.

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176 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

explanation; sdd can mean "to send back," sadd and sudd designating the "side of a
valley" or a "mountain side," places which may throw back an echo. Both sdd and sdh
bear the meaning of shouting, screaming, or shrieking, and a derivative of sdh, saidah,
is another name for owl."5The owl's hooting and shrieking are important elements of
many qasidas, particularly, as we shall see, in the rahTlsection, where an oppressive
atmosphere of fear and death often prevails; the echo-like hoot of the owl makes the
pitch-black night seem endless.
In reference to sada, Islamic sources attribute a curious statement to the pre-Islamic
Arabs: "as-sadi is in the head (hdmah), and hearing is in the brain."59Several com-
mentators define sada in this context as thirst, one of its primary meanings, referring
to the dead man's thirst for revenge, though in this case the purpose of its contrast
with "hearing in the brain" is obscure.60 However, another meaning of sadi is "brain,"
and the expression probably means, "the brain is in the head, and hearing is in the
brain,"61 designating the brain as the seat of perception. Ad-DamTrioffers the follow-
ing explanation for sadi's connection with the skull and brain, linking it to the third
important term for owl, haimah(pl. h~am,himat).62
As-sadi also designatesad-dimagh(the skull/brain)becauseit is shapedin the form of the owl
(sada).Thus, the skullwas namedal-hamah(owl/top of the head)becauseit resemblesthe head
of the owl (sada). Becauseit [the owl] is largeof headand wide of eye and has the resemblance
to the head of man, the head has been calledby its name,al-hamah.And al-hamahis as-sada,
and its being namedal-hamahis probablydue to the meaningbecauseof whichit [hamah]is
namedsada, i.e., "thirst"(catash). And it is conceivablethat the derivativetakes into account
that it [hamah] has been derived from al-huam . . . which is a disease affecting camels such that
they drinkbut are not quenched... ."
This association with the head or top of the head may help to explain the multiple
common meanings of sada and hamah. Saddi meaning "owl" probably acquired the
meaning dimaighdue to the belief that the owl was made from the brain or resembled
the skull; hamah may have originally meant "head" or "top of the head."63Because of
the owl's connection with the brain and the top of the head, it is conceivable that
gradually hamah became interchangeable with saddias "owl." Hdimahis additionally
associated with the brain in the expression Dummal-ham ("mother of the head," i.e.,
"dura mater") which is synonymous to Dummar-ra'as ("mother of the head" ) and
Dumm ad-dimdigh.64Not surprisingly, umm al-hdimcan also mean "mother of owls,"
and the poet DAus ibn GhalfaDal-Hujaimi plays on this double meaning in an invective
(hija D) from the Mutfaddallvat.65

& of

I I
,t.g.;?VIA
58 Ad-Damiri, vol. 2, p. 511.
59 Lisin al-'Arab, vol. 14, p. 454; and Lyall, ed.,
al-MufaddalTyjt, vol. 1, pp. 321-22.
60 Ibid.
61 This is also E. W. Lane's opinion, An Arab-
English Lexicon (Beirut, 1968), vol. 4, p. 1670. For
sadi = "brain," see Lisan al-CArab, vol. 14, p. 453
and ad-Damiri, vol. 2, p. 511.
-l
62 Ad-DamTri,vol. 2, p. 511.
63 Hlamah is related to hawama "to nod the head;
to sleep." Hiimah can also mean "headman" or
"chief."
64 Lane, Lexicon, vols. 8, p. 3046 and 3, p. 914.
65 Al-MufadcdalTyUt,no. 118, lines 11-12; vol. 1,
pp. 756-62.

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 DEATHANDAFTERLIFE
IN PRE-ISLAMIC
POETRY 177

And they struckyou on the headso that

the 'duramater'appearedfromthe bones.
Whencaringfor it, therearisesoverthem
a motherof owls, fearsomeof claws.66
The synonymity of sadd and hamah was further reinforced, and perhaps preceded,
by their common meaning of "thirst,"an important pragmatic and religious concern in
Arab life.
Man's conceptions of the afterlife are invariably influenced by his physical environ-
ment, and for those who live in climates where heat and drought are a constant threat,
an even more unquenchable thirst may await the dead. Mot the god of the underworld
in the Western Semitic Baal cycle from Ugarit was also the god of summer heat and
drought. The dead man in the story of Lazarus is parched and in anguish,67 and the
dead are often thirsty in pre-Islamic and Islamic poetry:68

Birdsand fate weregivenpoweroverthem,

and so they haveowls in the thirstof the grave.
As we have seen, the thirst of the dead signifies a state in need of rectification as well
as their suffering and agitation in the underworld.
The pre-Islamic Arabs marked the impending death of a person, especially the old
and the sick with the proverb, hidhi~ hmatu-l-yaumi Daw ghadin, i.e., "this is the owl
of today or tomorrow."69 But this is not the meaning of the owl motif in the poetry
where it means, implicitly or explicitly, the possibility or occurrence of a violent death,
and, although Muhammad is said to have forbidden belief in the owl as a manifesta-
tion of the unavenged dead, it remained a common poetic image well into the Islamic
period.70 Praising the governor of Khilrasdn, cAbd Alldh, for avenging a slain man,
the Muslim poet Ibn cAradah(ca. A.H.65) said:71

LI 4. L& Lab U
iu 1 J
So if thereis an owl hootingin Herat
then you havecausedowls to hoot in the two Mervs.
That pre-Islamic Arabic poets may not have accepted the story of the thirsty owl
literally is of secondary importance. The vitality of the concept and its metaphorical
use were linked to its antiquity and to the individual's own experiences of life and
66 Sharanbathah appears to be a of the thirst of the dead, see, for example, JarTr,
compound ad-
jective from sharr ("wicked," "evil") and nabith Naqd'id, vol. 2, p. 847 and al-Farazdaq's reply,
("wicked," "malignant"). This is the only physical ibid., vol. 2, p. 873.
description that I found of an owl in pre-Islamic 69 Lisan al-CArdb, vol. 12, p. 624; and Lyall,
Arabic poetry. Translation of Ancient Arabian Poetry (London,
67 M. Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion 1885), p. 43.
(1958; New York, 1963), pp. 198-99. For Lazarus, 70 Ibid., p. 67. The tradition is in al-BukharT.
see Lk. 16:24. For mot see Ringgren, Religions, 71 vol. 1, p. 322. This is also
p. 148. foundAI-Mufad.dalTyit,
in vol. 2, p. 299. For other uses of
68 Abil DQfPd al-lyadi, in al-MasCidT, vol. 2, p. the owl motif in the Islamic period, see, for example,
al-J.hiz,
287. The line may be a reference to the Battle of the Dhii ar-Rummah's DTwan; and al-Farazdaq, al-
Elephant; see Qurldn, siira 105. For later examples Naqd•id, p. 50.

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 178 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

death, while actual contact with an owl in its habitat naturally reinforced primordial
fears and anxieties. Much of the force and impact of the owl motif also depends upon
the wider context of genres and of the moods and thematic sequence of the qasidah or
"lyric." Beginning with a slow, elegaic opening (nasTb)the tempo increases with the
heroic travel sequence (rahTl),and the poem concludes with gusto in self-praise (fakhr),
praise of the tribe or patron (madTh), or with its satirical alternative, the invective
The owl may appear in any of the five thematic sections whose tone accentu-
ates specific
(h.ijd').72 aspects of the motif. In the nasTb,the owl heightens the feeling of loss and
despair, proclaiming the inevitability of death, while in the rahTi,the unseen hooting
owl contributes to an oppressive atmosphere of impending doom. The screeching,
thirsty owl is frequently present in descriptions of the battlefield whose violent and
gruesome deaths are a key element in fakr, hija', and madThpoetry.
The owl's most fearsome and primitive depiction is found in invective poetry (hija'),
one of the oldest Arabic poetic forms and one bearing traces of ancient ritual curse
formulas.7 In the curse, reference to the owl would have been an insult to the
individual and his clan, but also a terrifying death threat, conjuring up images of a
dismal afterlife of burning and unpropitiated desires for the unavenged. Such beliefs
and practices have been largely suppressed or disregarded in the pre-Islamic poetry we
possess, though remnants of archaic usage may be detected.
C V ' 0 - C *
!o9t ,..a , ";
o-" -o /'
,

O' cAmr,if you will not quit abusingand findingfaultwith me

I will strikeyou wherethe owl cries"Quenchme!"74
The owl's association with death and vengeance was skillfully used by some poets to
graphically depict the gruesome aspect of combat.

ib
C,
In everyvalleybetweenYathrib
-
and al-Qusfir,as far as al-Yamamah,
is the ululatingof a captive,the screaming
of a burntman, or the voice of an owl.75
Two lines ascribed by 'Abi Tammam to the pre-Islamic poet Baghthar ibn LaqTt
al-'AsadT are a terse example of this usage of the owl metaphor:76

72J. Stetkevych, "The Arabic

QasTdah,"pp. 779-
85; and idem, "Some Observations on Arabic Po-
etry," pp. 3-5.
73 Goldziher, Abhandlungen zur arabischen Phi-
lologie (Leiden, 1896-99), p. 277 ff.; and The Ency-
clopaedia of Islam, Ist ed., vol. 2, p. 300.
74 Dh~l •lsba in al-MufaddalTyat, no. 31, lines
1-4; vol. 1, pp. 321-27.
75 CAbid ibn al-'Abras, Diwans of CAbTdIbn al-
'Abras and cAmir Ibn at- Tufail, ed. C. Lyall (Leiden,
1913), no. 29, lines 5-6. AI-Qusiur, literally "the
palaces," may be a reference to al-HTra, capitol of
the Lakhmids and permanent residence of this poet.
See R. A. Nicholson, A Literary History of the
Arabs (1907; Cambridge, 1969), p. 39.
76 Al-Hamatsah, no. 237, lines
1-2; vol. 2, p. 694.
See also no. 294, line 16; vol. 2, pp. 729:40; and
Lisan al-'Arab, vol. 12, p. 624.

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 DEATH AND AFTERLIFE IN PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY 179

I Jb.,, LZ • ?_...ik I_

As for a wise man, I soughthis brain

and the restingplaceof his owl withthe edge of the blade.
And whenit was upon me to launchthe attack,I did not say
afterthe resolution,"Wouldthat I had not done (it)."
The use of hamah and ham intensifies the image of violent death by alluding to their
additional meaning of "head," which in a number of verses is their primary denota-
tion, as in this line of cAmir ibn at-Tufail:7

And we left the armyof the BaniiTamTm-

theirarmsand headssevered
Or again, in a battlesceneby cAbidibn al- Abras:78

V I

Did you not ask the armiesof Kindah

the day they turnedaway,"Whereto, where?"
Days of battlein whichwe strucktheirskulls
with sharp-edgedswordsuntilthey werebent.
The owl motif has a similar use and value in the Arabic poetry which seeks to rouse
the tribe to vengeance; the image of the owl symbolized the decrepit state of both the
unavenged and the tribe. The bedouin code of honor (muri~iah) required vengeance
for a slain kinsman, although it may be difficult to obtain and result in a protracted
feud. Not to take vengeance or compensation for a relative disgraced him; his life was
insignificant and without value. An unavenged person was also a source of shame for
his clan, suggesting their impotence and cowardice.

79 e
j. .
-
79) -.
? ,i= ,0, / O

May an owl not hoot for me upona promontory

for trulythe owl's hootingis a man'sdisgrace.
It calls,"Oh,quenchme!"whereasthe worstthirstis his,
and from sucha thingthe hairis whitened.

77 cAmir ibn
at-Tufail, DTwdn,no. 2, line 25. C. R. Barberand S. M. Stern (London, 1967), vol. 1,
78
cAbid ibn al-'Abras, DTwan,no. 7, lines 6-7. pp. 22-27; and Bravmann, Spiritual Background,
79 In al-'AlisT, vol. 2, p. 312. Concerning muriPah pp. 1-7.
and revenge, see Goldziher, Muslim Studies, trans.

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180 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

Al-Mughallis al-FaqcasT expands the metaphor to incite his comrades to action,

invoking the dead man's torment and affliction:8o

Yourbrother,I just recognizedhis place

at the foot of Quba--the whirlwindsblowing dust
upon it,
He has an owl whichcalls, whennightcoversit,
"Bani 'Amir, is there an avenger for al-HalliT?"
In the development of less violent themes like the journey or "setting-out" (rahTl),
use of the owl motif is not a reference to unavenged death but rather to the loneliness
and to the threat of destruction lurking in the dark, desert night; the owls' hooting and
screeching heighten the suspense of the desert crossing, contributing to the heroic
nature of this theme.

IA
I II I?. does 4W

I ;GL. 1 I
-- p1..1

And manya lean she-camel,her padsbleeding,

have I pushed bearing me to cross the forbidding desert.
I imposed upon her-and she thought it right-its burden;
an intense heat-like the seething blaze of fire-
in a wide, parched desert wherein destruction is feared-
its owls do not tire of hooting in the night.81

And many a desert, fearful when night descends upon it,

the owls screeching together there,
have
theIsaddle-pads
crossed on aslipping
reddish-brown
from strong
she-camel, a swift one,
flanks.82

The significance and development of the owl motif in the rahTlis also dependent on
the overall thematic sequence of the poem. The qasTdahbegins with recollections of a

80 Al-"AlfisT,vol. 2, p. 312, and al-Jahiz, vol. 2,
p. 299.
81 Rabicah ibn Maqrfim in al-MufaddialTyat,no.
43, lines 5-7; vol. 1, pp. 422-45. See also no. 70,
lines 1-16; vol. 1, pp. 798-99.
82 CAbTd ibn al-'Abras, DTwan,no. 9, lines 12-13.
For other examples, see al-Jahiz, vol. 2, p. 300, and
LabTd, Sharh DTwan, ed. Ihs~n cAbbas (Kuwait,
1962), pp. 114-15, lines 26-27.

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 DEATHANDAFTERLIFE
IN PRE-ISLAMIC
POETRY 181
blissful past which rouse the hero to action, and he sets out across a forbidding desert
in quest of his lost paradise which is now only a nostalgic memory. Perhaps the poet's
lover and her people deserted their campside during the season of migration, or
possibly he has been rejected, as was al-'Aswad ibn Yacffif when his lover "Asmi,
exchanged him for a younger man. After recalling the wine-like quality of his beloved's
lips, al-'Aswad saves his self-respect by riding into the desolate wasteplace, perhaps
seeking the lost vigor and glory of youth.83

4:i>J - J 0

-- - -
And I havecrossedwith manya lively,Ieasy-placedshe-camel,
.,JLm
a land in whichthe guideswere - tP
perplexed,a waterlessdesert-
desertsand wastelandswithouta companionin them
save the foxes and owls.
Often the hero must pass the trial of the desert night whose deep darkness becomes
a chaotic mass of unseen and unnameable things threatening his existence, as the poet
al-Muraqqish the Elder describes84when he invokes the echoing desert, full of dust
(wa-dawwTyatinghabrifa), long untraversed by man. His sturdy she-camel is his only
referent in this unknown place where the long pitch-dark night envelops his meager
campfire, near which-though unseen-the creatures of darkness crawl, and where,

j LJ& ,J I rg

You will heararoundus the hootingof owls, like the

sound of wooden clappers beaten in the still of the night

Further, the owl-motif in the journey sequence has a transitional function like the
theme itself. The screeching owl foreshadows danger, fierce struggle, and possible
death, elements of the fakhr or madThin which martial skills are often praised and, as
we have seen, the owl's frightful appearance is portrayed.

V
Of
The battle was brief, and then they were struck down by a blow
which set the large owls screeching.
Through the day the hyenas of Mujairat continued to attend them,
and of their flesh they gave them a real feasting."

83 AI-MufaddalTyat, no. 125, lines 1-11, vol. 1, 26-27.

pp. 847-49. 85 Muhriz al-Mukacbir in
84 Ibid., no. 47, lines 6-10, vol. 1, al-MufaddalTyit, no. 60,
pp. 462-27; see lines 3-4; vol. 1, pp. 510-11. See also pp. 176-80
Lyall's translation vol. 2, pp. 171-72. For other above. As a sucliik, or "brigand," this poet was
examples, see above nn. 30, 31; vol. 2, disowned by his own tribe and so revenge was not
p. 300; and Labid, Sharh DTwan, pp. 114-15, lines
al-Ji.hiz, required if he was killed.

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182 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

The more metaphorical elements of the owl motif are found in the elegy (rithf') or
in the nasTbwhere the owl's plaintive hoot in the still night evokes the sadness of loss
and sets the elegaic mood. In a state of reverie, the poet reflects upon his mortal
condition or that of a loved one, and the owl may elicit a contrast between the present
life and the pale shadow-world entered at death.
p -
* I
v ?- "
P
o,,pe
Wo 00 ?jiJ
:e ,
U

Lessenthe blameon me O daughterof Mundhir

and sleep,and if you do not cravesleep,then passthe nightawake.
Leaveme and my soul alone O motherof Hassan;indeedI will
buy with it-before I no longerpossessthe price-
heroictales whichremain,and the braveis not immortal
whenhe becomesan owl above the tomb
answeringthe stonesof the enclosureand complaining
to everyoneshe sees, acquaintanceor stranger.86
The desolation of death predominates in these opening lines of CUrwah ibn al-Ward's
famous qasidah; the screech of the owl echoes among the silent stones requesting from
any passer-by the vengeance for a young warrior who fell in battle seeking immortality
in accounts of his heroism. This dismal future incites the poet to plunge into life, to
experience it to the fullest and ignore his beloved's appeals to lead a more sedate,
though possibly longer life. The grave and the owl's despair are a real man's future; he
must fully savor this short life as cAbid ibn 'Abras advises,87 giving generously to
establish a good name until the grave becomes his bed.

Or until I becomea possessorof an owl on top of a hill

or at the bottomof exposed,open ground.
Sometimes the metaphor of the thirsty owl is extended in the nasib to refer to lovers
who died from unrequited love. One such man, Tawbah ibn al-Humayyir, is said to
have composed these lines.88

o0 .#0 o l'0 -P -.

86 cUrwah ibn al-Ward, DTwdn, ed. CAbd al-
Mucain al-Malfhi (Cairo, 1966), pp. 66-75, lines
1-4. See also al-'AlUsT,vol. 2, p. 313.
87 CAbidibn al-'Abras, DTiwn, no. 24, lines 16-18.
88 Ibn Qutaiba, Kitdibal-Shicr
wa-I-Shucar?', ed.
M. J. DeGoeje (Leiden, 1902), p. 270; this is also
found in al-MascFdi, vol. 2, p. 287; and al-Hamasah,
no. 513, lines 1-3, vol. 3, pp. 1311-12.

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 DEATH AND AFTERLIFE IN PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY 183

Ah, but if Laila al-'Akhailiyyah would greet

me, though I am under the earth and flag stones,
I would greet her joyfully or
an owl would shriek toward her from the side of the grave.

In the following example by an anonymous poet, the lover implies that if he dies his
indifferent lover is to blame, and so only her blood will satisfy his thirsty owl.89

O my Lord, if I am destroyed and you do not quench my owl

with Laila, I will die-no grave thirstier than mine.
And if Iconsole
I will think nomyself
more from
of Laila then though I am not unmindful
despair,
due to patience.

The full range of the owl motif is evoked when used with the elegaic tone and
mood. Ancient fears of the dark and death, the pathos of bereavement and of future
despair coalesce around the screeching, thirsty owl. In an elegy Qurid ibn Ghuwayyah
said:90

(1) Ifwhen
only my
I knew what Mukhariq
owl answers will say
the screeching
(2) And I am lowered into a deep shaft, itsowls,
dust pouring
upon me, in whose moist earth I'm long to stay,
(3) And they said "Truly his pride and attainment will not be far off
when the stud horses vie for glory."

(4) But
my distance is nothing
support and buthidden
oaths be that away from the people.

(5) Will he weep as I would for him if he were to die before me,
andIthank
(6) For mefle
wasancintfor my liberality
to him and generosity
in kindness towards him?
and a father
n*,A,? ,J-
in compassion and a mother who cradled him, then put him to sleep.
in L:- 4A_-_-A.t_:_
ut im o seep
A.-en

89 AI-Hamisah, no.
457, lines 1-3, vol. 3, pp. 1224- Lyall, Translation, p. 67.
26; this is also found in ash-ShahrastnTi, al-Milal, 90 Al-Hamdsah, no. 351, lines 1-6; vol.
2, pp.
vol. 2, p. 312. See also vol. 2, p. 300; and 1005-8.
al-J.hiz,

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184 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

Death, the grave, the screeching owl sound the elegaic theme developed in these
lines. The gloomy prospect of the long, final stay in the grave leads to the depressing
certainty of separation from what is familiar and cherished. The poet is haunted by
questions of his worth and importance to others; loneliness, despair, and unavenged
death are the owl's answer. There is no return to paradise, to the wonders of child-
hood, and although the poet may come to accept fate and appreciate life, a tragic note
lingers. The poet's companions, too, will die, as the fullness of life ebbs with the flow
of time. Al-'AsadT expresses his emptiness in an elegy for his two companions:9

Iisy
yuopn0n OP .0

L
r f X " cnJ
-,

(1) My two friendsawake!How long you'veslept;

Trulydoes your slumberingnot end!
(2) Don't you knowthat in all of Rdwandand Khuzaq
I haveno friendsotherthanyou?
(3) I will stay at yourgraves,not leaving
the long nightlest yourowls answer.
(4) I will pourwine uponyourgraves,
and if you do not taste it, I will moistenyourearth.
(5) I will mournfor you untildeath,
but what responseis therefor one who wailsas he mournsyou?
The poet longs to recreate the past and revive his companions, but at night near the
graves, he is gripped by the impossibility of his desires, and the owls do not answer.
Although his libation is not tasted, it waters the earth and dissolves the dead, per-
petuating their existence.

91'Al-Hamisah, no. 289, lines 1-5; vol. 2, pp.

875-78.

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