s Umayya ibn Abi-s-Salt, a
Meccan who did not accept Islam and died in 630. His poems are discussed
by F. Schulthess in the _Orientalische Studien_ dedicated by Th.
Noldeke, Giessen, 1906, and his relation to Mahomet by E. Power (in the
_Melanges de la faculte orientale de l'universite Saint-Joseph_, Beirut,
1906). Mahomet's relation to the poets generally was one of antagonism
because of their influence over the Arabs and their devotion to the old
religion and customs. Ka'b ibn Zuhair, however, first condemned to
death, then pardoned, later won great favour for himself by writing a
panegyric of the Prophet (ed. G. Freytag, Halle, 1823). Another poet,
A'sha (q.v.), followed his example. Labid (q.v.) and Hassan ibn Thabit
(q.v.) were also contemporary. Among the poetesses of the time Khansa
(q.v.) is supreme. In the scarcity of poets at this time two others
deserve mention; Abu Mihjan, who made peace with Islam in 630 but was
exiled for his love of wine, which he celebrated in his verse (ed. L.
Abel, Leiden, 1887; cf. C. Landberg's _Primeurs arabes_, 1, Leiden,
1886), and Jarwal ibn Aus, known as al-Hutai'a, a wandering poet whose
keen satires led to his imprisonment by Omar (Poems, ed. by I. Goldziher
in the _Journal of the German Oriental Society_, vols. 46 and 47).

Had the simplicity and religious severity of the first four caliphs
continued in their successors, the fate of poetry would have been hard.
Probably little but religious poetry would have been allowed. But the
Omayyads (with one exception) were not religious men and, while
preserving the outward forms of Islam, allowed full liberty to the
pre-Islamic customs of the Arabs and the beliefs and practices of
Christians. At the same time the circumstances of the poet's life were
altered. Poetry depended on patronage, and that was to be had now
chiefly in the court of the caliph and the residences of his governors.
Hence the centre of attraction was now the city with its interests, not
the desert. Yet the old forms of poetry were kept. The _qasida_ still
required the long introduction (see above), which was entirely occupied
with the affairs of the desert. Thus poetry became more and more
artificial, until in the Abbasid period poets arose who felt themselves
strong enough to give up the worn-out forms and adopt others more
suitable. The names of three great poets adorn the Omayyad period:
Akhtal, Farazdaq and Jarir were contemporaries (see separate articles).
Th