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The emergence of Islam and the revelation of the Qur’an brought about a profound transformation in Arab life, influencing intellectual, linguistic, and cultural domains. Language, in particular, underwent significant change: some lexical items acquired new semantic dimensions, while others were newly introduced. This impact is clearly observable in the works of Early Islamic poets, especially the mukhaḍramūn (those who lived during both the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods). These poets deliberately integrated Qur’anic terminology with its renewed semantic and religious connotations into their poetry, thereby “Quranizing” their texts. Through this process, they drew inspiration from Qur’anic discourse and promoted a lexicon that was redefined by Islam or newly coined within its framework. Examples include words such as kufr, which originally denoted “covering or concealing” but came to signify “disbelief in God,” and ṣalāh, which once meant “supplication” but became institutionalized as a religious practice. Other terms such as ḥajj, ʿumrah, tayammum, and rukūʿ underwent similar semantic shifts. The Qur’an also introduced new expressions like jizyah, ilḥād, īmān, islām, and hudā, as well as several of the Divine Names. Renowned for its rhetorical mastery and eloquence, the Qur’an constituted an unparalleled linguistic and literary milestone, exerting a decisive influence on Arabic literary production. Poets, by virtue of their linguistic sensitivity and rhetorical competence, were among the most receptive to this impact. Some became so engrossed in the Qur’an’s stylistic and semantic dimensions that it displaced their poetic endeavors altogether. This study investigates the imprint of the Qur’an on the poetic corpus of Early Islamic poets and their tendency toward “Quranization.” By examining their extensive Qur’anic knowledge and linguistic expertise, the research traces the Qur’anic lexicon, meanings, and verses embedded in their texts, which poets employed to strengthen their rhetorical strategies. These were deployed across traditional genres such as love, praise, satire, and elegy, in addition to newly emerging themes, most notably the call to Islam. The proximity of these poets to the formative period of Islamic revelation and their religious devotion contributed to their assimilation of Qur’anic language and concepts. The poets’ integration of Qur’anic semantics and religious connotations into their discourse not only enhanced its aesthetic dimension but also served pragmatic argumentative purposes. Consequently, “Quranization” became a distinctive stylistic and rhetorical marker of their poetry - a phenomenon simultaneously literary and discursive, and one that merits critical examination. This study, therefore, highlights the lexical and semantic borrowings from the Qur’an, outlines their pre-Islamic and Islamic usages, and demonstrates how these borrowings elevated the aesthetic and rhetorical dimensions of poetic expression. Keywords: Quranized Poetry, Early Islamic Poets, Qur’anic Lexicon, Semantic Change, Rhetorical Strategies, Poetic Discourse.
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