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Qatari literature

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Due to the increasing number of Qataris who began receiving formal education during the 1950s and other significant societal changes, the following years saw the introduction of short stories, and later, novels. Poetry, particularly the predominant nabati form, retained some importance but would soon be overshadowed by other literary types. Unlike most other forms of art in Qatari society, females have been involved in the modern literature movement on a similar magnitude to males.

Early Qatari literature

Literature in Qatar is typically divided into two periods: 1800–1950 and 1950–present. This divide is due to the vast societal changes in the mid-1900s resulting from the income generated by Qatar's oil exports. Oil revenues transformed the economy from ailing to prosperous, and the subsequent rural flight caused a decline in the popularity of many Bedouin traditions.

Poetry

Poems were the first literary form to be mass-produced by Qatari writers. Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a, a folk hero dating to the seventh century, was renowned for writing poetry. He led the Kharjite sect of Islam for a short period; his poems often glorified martyrdom. However, as a result of wide-spread illiteracy that historically prevailed in the Arabian Peninsula, poetry was more often spoken than written. It was seen as a verbal art that fulfilled essential social functions. Having a renowned poet among its ranks was a source of pride for tribes; it is the primary way age-old traditions are passed down through generations. Most often, poems were composed in the nabati form (also known as Bedouin poetry). Poems composed by females primarily focused on the theme of ritha, to lament. This type of poetry served as an elegy.

The beginnings of contemporary written poetry in Qatar date back to the early 1800s with Abdul Jalil Al-Tabatabai and Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Uthaymeen. The former poet was born in Basra but migrated to the flourishing coastal town of Zubarah at a young age. In September 1802, after the Sultan of Muscat and Oman Sultan bin Ahmad imposed a sea blockade of Zubarah, Al-Tabatabai wrote the following poem:

For you God will suffice against
the pangs of separation from your dead ones,
Your longing and pining is like a fire burning
in your heart
Your longing is not hidden,
A longing for the southern wind.

Al-Tabatabai later migrated from Qatar to Bahrain in the 1820s, following the lead of many other prominent residents of Zubarah. As for Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Uthaymeen, he was born in the mid-1800s in Saudi Arabia. He would go on to form a close relationship with Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, then ruler of Qatar, and even composed eulogies praising him. Nonetheless, according to academic Mohammed Al Qafud, these two poets did not leave a lasting impact on the poetry scene in Qatar, mainly due to the temporary nature of their stays in the country.

One of the first Qatari-born poets to leave an enduring impact on the peninsula's literary culture was Majid bin Saleh Al-Khulaifi, born in 1873. He expressed an interest in poetry from a young age, and his poems ranged in theme from war to his wife's death. Like most other poems produced in the Arabian Peninsula, his poems followed the nabati structure. Al-Khulaifi's poems were preserved and printed in a 1969 book entitled From Qatari Poetry alongside fellow poets Mohammed Al Fayhani and Ahmed Al Kuwari.

During Sheikh Jassim Al Thani's reign (1878–1913), he funded the printing of many Islamic texts. For instance, in 1892, he provided financing to print 100 copies of Mahmud al-Alusi's book Fathul Mannan: Completion of Laying the Foundation and Response to Brothers Reconciliation and then donated those copies to Muslim academics and students. The following year, in 1893, he gifted al-Alusi 100 copies of the book.

In the early and mid-1900s, two notable poets were Ahmad bin Yousef Al Jaber and Abdulrahman bin Qassim Al Maawda. Al-Jaber wrote many poems with religious as well as political themes, including a eulogy for Gamal Abdel Nasser, the recently deceased President of the United Arab Republic. The latter poet, Al Maawda, spent his life in Qatar and Bahrain. Similar to Al-Jaber, he wrote poems with a political slant, often about pan-Arabism.

Reference works

The first almanac produced in Qatar and one of the earliest preserved local literary works is the Zubarah Almanac, authored in 1790 by the Maliki Sunni scholar ‘Abd al Rahman al-Zawāwī. This calendar outlined the months and days of the year, specified prayer times, and included observations on agriculture and seasonal variations.

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