Mu'allaqat in the context of Peter Stearns

The Kufan School of Arabic Grammar, also the Grammarians of Kufa, was a school of thought that dominated amongst grammarians in Kufa during the Islamic Golden Age.

Al-Kūfah began as a military base ca. 638 near Ḥīrah on the western branch of the Euphrates river and grew, as had its counterpart at Al-Basrah also grown, from an encampment into a town that attracted the great intellectual elites from across the region. The first grammarian of al-Kūfah was Al-Ru'asi who lived in the eighth century, whereas the earliest scholars of the School at Baṣrah, lived during the seventh century. The great intellectual project that developed out of both schools of philology, created the sciences of Arabic grammar and lexicography. What emerged from an impetus to interpret the sacred texts of the Qu’rān and Ḥadīth, by humanists of al-Baṣrah and al-Kūfah, led to a communal quest for the purest, least corrupt, Arabic source material, for which they turned to the Pre-Islamic oral poetry as recited by the rāwī. The compositions of famous poets were collected, arranged, and committed to writing. The grammarians of al-Baṣrah and al-Kūfah collected the ancient Arabian poetry and arranged the material into “Dīwān” (pl. Dawāwan) according to certain principles; either by classes of individuals, tribal groupings, selected qaṣīdas, or by themes of fragments, and edited into anthologies. Examples of their works are the Mu’allaqāt, and the Mufaḍḍaliyāt by al-Mufaḍḍal al-Ḍabbī.

The Mufaddaliyyat (Arabic: المفضليات / ALA-LC: al-Mufaḍḍaliyāt), meaning "The Examination of al-Mufaḍḍal", is an anthology of pre-Islamic Arabic poems deriving its name from its author, Mufaḍḍal al-Ḍabbī, who compiled it between 762 and his death in 784 CE. It contains 126 poems, some complete odes, others fragmentary. They are all of the Golden Age of Arabic poetry (500—650) and are considered to be the best choices of poems from that period by different authors. There are 68 authors, two of whom were Christian. The oldest poems in the collection date from about 500 CE. The collection is a valuable source concerning pre-Islamic Arab life.

The Mufaḍḍaliyāt is one of five canonical primary sources of early Arabic poetry. The four others are Mu'allaqat, Hamasah, Jamharat Ash'ar al-Arab and the Asma'iyyat.

Imruʾ al-Qais Junduh bin Hujr al-Kindi (Arabic: ٱمْرُؤ ٱلْقَيْس جُنْدُح ٱبْن حَجْر ٱلْكِنْدِيّ, romanized: Imruʾ al-Qays Junduḥ ibn Ḥujr al-Kindiyy) was a pre-Islamic Arabian poet from Najd in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, and the last King of Kinda. He is sometimes considered the father of Arabic poetry. His qaṣīda, or long poem, "Let us stop and weep" (قفا نبك qifā nabki) is one of the seven Mu'allaqat, poems prized as the best examples of pre-Islamic Arabian verse. His father was said to be Hujr bin al-Harith (حجر ابن الحارث Ḥujr ibn al-Ḥārith), the Kindan regent over the Arab tribes of Asad and Ghatafan, and it is believed that Imru' al-Qais was born in the territory of Asad. His mother was said to be Fatimah bint Rabi'ah al-Taghlibi (فاطمة بنت ربيعة التغلبي / Fāṭimah bint Rabī‘ah al-Taghlibī).

Legend has it that Imru' al-Qais was the youngest of his father's sons, and began composing poetry while he was still a child. His father strongly disapproved of this habit in his son, believing poetry to be an unseemly pastime for the son of a king. His father also disapproved of Imru' al-Qais' scandalous lifestyle of drinking and chasing women and eventually banished him from his kingdom, or so the legend goes. But later, when the Asad rebelled and assassinated his father, Imru' al-Qais was the only one of his brothers to take responsibility for avenging his death. Renouncing wine and women, he fought the tribe of Asad until he had exacted revenge in blood, and spent the remainder of his life trying to regain his father's kingdom.