New poetry and sacred masks: a reading in medieval poetic discourse.

The article addresses what has come to be known in medieval Arabic criticism as "new poetry," while exploring sacralization from two angles--artistic and cultural. Artistically, the study analyzes the position of medieval critics who rejected this novel poetry because it departed from the norms of the classical qasida (ode) which donned a sacred mask and thus could not be questioned. Culturally, medieval critics viewed this new poetry as threatening to the dominant social and religious values. They accused the innovative poets of religious heresy or/and anti-Arab attitudes. The new poetry harbored a critical position towards the hegemonic and satirized religious practices. It encouraged readers to rethink the static values on which the social order was based by removing the masks of sacredness and revealing the corruption of authority. The article provides telling examples of verse that rebelled against religious dogma and social conventions, expressing its message in a provocative way.