An initial survey of arabic poetry in the Cairo Genizah

Abstract

The Cairo Genizah has shown its importance as a fruitful source for the study of both liturgical and secular Hebrew poetry. Yet, although the Cairo Genizah also contains hundreds of poetry fragments written in the Arabic language, its Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic poetry has hitherto received inadequate attention in research literature. This paper explores some of the Genizah’s Arabic poems written in both Hebrew and Arabic script, which are held at the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collections of Cambridge University Library. The paper concludes with a discussion about the importance of the Cairo Genizah to the study of Arabic literature and poetry, and Islamic studies in general, as well as a source for the study of the dissemination of knowledge within medieval Muslim and Jewish elites.