Poetry in Praise of Prophetic Perfection

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"The vibrant tradition of West African Arabic poetry is dominated by the genre of madīḥ, that is, poetry in praise of the Prophet Muḥammad. This genre of poetry has been mostly ignored in Western scholarship and dismissed as mere 'pious praise' lacking any significant intellectual content. In 'Poetry in Praise of Prophetic Perfection', Dr Oludamini Ogunnaike challenges the misconceptions around West African madīḥ poetry and addresses the scope and depth of this genre ; he not only explores its rich lyrical nature and its foundations in the Qur'ān, Ḥadīth, pre-Islamic, and early Islamic poetry, but also its inextricable link to Sufism and Sufi doctrines of cosmology, ontology, and epistemology. Drawing on Sufi traditions and practices, the author expounds on the various ways in which West African madīḥ poetry both describes and facilitates the ultimate fulfillment of the human potential, the Perfect Human (al-Insān al-Kāmil) or the attainment of the Praiseworthy Station (al-Maqām al-Maḥmūd), of which the Prophet Muḥammad is the highest example. 'Poetry in Praise of Prophetic Perfection' includes translations of numerous extracts from madīḥ poetry (accompanied by the original Arabic) ; while the Appendix presents a selection of complete poems - the most popular and influential poems of this tradition. 'Poetry in Praise of Prophetic Perfection' is an opportunity for readers to gain access and appreciation of a unique genre of spiritual Islamic poetry, and the original Arabic also enables the recitation of the poetry for devotional purposes."--taken from back cover