The Influence of Kurdish Meter on Sayyid Abdullah Belbari's Najm al-Qawa'ed

Sayyid Abdullah Belbari, a contemporary Iranian Kurdish poet, author, and mystic, has produced diverse works spanning jurisprudence, mysticism, and Arabic sciences in Persian, Arabic, and Kurdish languages. Among his notable works is Najm al-Qawa'ed, an instructional Arabic poem comprising 545 verses designed to teach the Arabic language to his disciples, including his son Najm al-Din Muhammad. Structured in the form of instructional Rajaz poems, each line features rhymed hemistiches. An intriguing aspect of Najm al-Qawa'ed is its departure from conventional prosodic norms, as the poet intentionally incorporates verses that defy traditional prosodic rules and conventions. This article aims to identify and elucidate these prosodic deviations by analyzing a selection of verses in a descriptive-analytical manner. The findings reveal that, in addition to employing various Rajaz meters, Sayyid Abdullah deviates from prosodic norms by integrating elements of Kurdish syllabic prosody. Specifically, he challenges prosodic rules such as the "Zahaf of Kaf" avoidance, omits case endings within verses, and alters morphology rules by converting conjunctive Hamzah to non-conjunctive forms and vice versa, as well as transforming Zamma and Kasra vowels to Sokoon in certain instances.