Sources of Fear and Words Expressing Fear in Arabîc Poetry in the Age of Jahiliyah

Abstract

The subject of the study is fear and main sources of fear in Arab poetry of the Period of Ignorance. It is discussed that fear which is one of the important elements of human psychology, is expressed in their poems by poets of the period of Ignorance and that different words expressing different aspects of fear and its density are used in the verses. The lack of a general law enforcement entity to operate a state order and justice system to ensure security. Because of that life in a limited number of cities and nomadic tribes on the Arabîan peninsula have created a climate of natural fear. Desert life, where water and food resources are extremely scarce, has created a system in which the powerful crush the weak, the slaughter or enslavement of the losers by raiders, the handing over their honor, the destruction of their dignity have been elements that feed the fear. It was unthinkable that the poems which considered the "Diwan" of the Arab, in which ensâb/ ancestors was preserved, heroics were known and the language was learned from it, did not include this important psychological phenomenon, did not examine it at length and did not contain distant-close words about fear. Due to the fact that writing is not widespread, the fear related words in the poems was examined in our study, as the literary work that best reflects social life is poetry. In although we limited our research to the period of Ignorance, we also gave examples of Muhadram poets because of living a period of their part of life in Jahiliyah era.