ABSTRACT
Traditional commentators such as al-Anbārī tell people that Maʾsal is a place or mawḍiʿ without any further specification and the same is true of the commentaries of al-Khaṭīb al-Tibrīzī, Zawzanī, and al-Naḥḥās. The nasīb of the mu'allaqa of Imru' al-Qays is perhaps the most celebrated in the history of Arabic poetry. Vis-à-vis poetry, the Qurʾān is not only a rereading of scriptural literature, rewriting it and culturally translating it into Arabic. The morality that ensues from the poet's fatalist view of history is negotiated in the eschatological sections of the Meccan suras. The Qurʾān in turn offers an answer and a resolution to the human impasse by appeal to eschatology, salvation history, and cyclical mundane temporality. As such, the Qurʾān's ability to persuade the first audience rests in part on theologizing familiar poetical motifs and biblicizing Arabic poetic lore, which in turn was a reflection of concrete social reality.
