Abstract

Statement of the Problem and Objective: Elegiac poetry constitutes one of the most enduring genres in Arabic and Islamic literary heritage, deeply rooted in religious, cultural, and social traditions. Beyond articulating a poet’s grief over personal loss, the elegy functions as a mirror of faith, ideology, and social consciousness. Within this framework, elegies devoted to Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) occupy a distinctive place, combining emotional intensity with theological, historical, and critical dimensions. By depicting the injustices inflicted upon the Prophet’s family—especially in the tragedy of Karbalāʾ—these elegies have contributed profoundly to the formation of Shiʿi identity and the transmission of its doctrinal and moral values. Among the Abbasid poets, Diʿbil al-Khuzaʿī stands out as a loyal adherent of the Ahl al-Bayt and a central figure in the development of Shiʿi lamentation poetry. His compositions—particularly the celebrated Qaṣīda al-Tāʾiyya al-Kubrā—combine linguistic mastery with conceptual depth, intertwining his personal sorrow with the collective anguish of the Shiʿi community. Characterized by poignant diction, vivid imagery, and powerful religious themes, Diʿbil’s elegies sustain the collective memory of Shiʿism and serve as instruments of identity formation. Despite numerous studies on Abbasid poetry, a systematic conceptual analysis of Diʿbil’s elegiac corpus remains essential. Such analysis reveals not only his expressive strategies but also the cultural, political, and theological functions of his verse. This study therefore aims to construct a conceptual model elucidating the principal components of Diʿbil’s elegies for Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and to demonstrate their role in consolidating Shiʿi religious identity under the Abbasid caliphate.
Methodology: The research adopts a qualitative approach, focusing on the elegiac themes for Ahl al-Bayt in Diʿbil al-Khuzaʿī’s poetry. Primary data were drawn from Dīwān Diʿbil al-Khuzaʿī, as edited by Ḥasan Ḥammād and ʿAbd al-Ṣāḥib ʿImrān al-Dujaylī, complemented by historical and literary sources such as al-Aghānī, Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, and annotated commentaries. The analytical unit comprised all poems and verses directly related to the elegy of Ahl al-Bayt. Following triple-stage coding—basic, organizing, and integrative—the data were managed using Citavi and analyzed with MAXQDA software to map the conceptual structure. Validity and reliability were ensured through triangulation, document cross-analysis, and random recoding.
Discussion and Analysis: Content analysis of Diʿbil’s Dīwān reveals that his elegy transcends mere personal mourning, functioning instead as a framework for articulating Shiʿi identity, political dissent, and the moral supremacy of Ahl al-Bayt. The category “calamity and oppression” emerges as the most frequent and central organizing code, indicating that Diʿbil builds his elegiac structure around depictions of historical tragedies and injustices visited upon the Prophet’s family—images that evoke collective empathy and reinforce communal solidarity. Alongside this central motif, the codes “virtue and rank” and “devotion and love” are prominent. By exalting the spiritual and moral virtues of Ahl al-Bayt and emphasizing their divinely sanctioned status, Diʿbil redefines legitimate religious authority in opposition to the political power of the Abbasid caliphs. The dimension of maḥabba (devotion and love) manifests the poet’s inner attachment and transforms the elegy into a text suffused with reverence and fidelity. Additional imagery—martyrdom, weeping, sacred tombs, ruins, thirst, severed heads—intensifies the sensory and visual power of the poems, recreating scenes of grief and resistance that animate the Shiʿi historical imagination. These images not only evoke lament but also sanctify memory, turning geographical and material sites into markers of faith and identity. Furthermore, Diʿbil’s satirical attacks on the enemies of the Prophet’s household inject a sharp critical edge, elevating the elegy from passive mourning to an instrument of protest and defiance against Abbasid hegemony. The overall conceptual network that emerges from the analysis integrates emotional, historical, theological, and political layers. Thus, Diʿbil’s elegies function as both aesthetic compositions and ideological texts that preserve collective memory and affirm Shiʿi resistance. His poetry stands as a testament to the endurance of cultural identity under oppression and remains a foundational source for the study of Shiʿi ritual literature.
Findings: (1) Diʿbil’s elegiac corpus constitutes a multilayered semantic system, in which grief, protest, and devotion are intricately interwoven. (2) The dominant conceptual axis—the suffering and persecution of Ahl al-Bayt—forms the structural core of his elegies. (3) Secondary yet reinforcing motifs—virtues of the Prophet’s family and expressions of love and attachment—underscore the doctrinal and affective dimensions of his art. (4) Vivid references to sacred places and funerary imagery generate a ritual and sensory experience for the audience, enhancing spiritual empathy. (5) His biting tone toward adversaries transforms lamentation into a vehicle of political protest, bridging aesthetic expression with social activism. Accordingly, Diʿbil al-Khuzaʿī’s poetic heritage can be regarded as a cultural and theological document that encapsulates the Shiʿi collective identity and its enduring struggle for justice and remembrance.