Khamriyyat

in Arabic literature, poetry devoted to the praise of wine, intoxication, and the pleasures of the table. Verses on this theme appeared in the very earliest period of pre-Islamic Arabic literature, originally as a section of the qasida, and reached their highest development in the works of Abu Nu-was (762–815), evolving as a distinct genre expressing the author’s extreme pro-Iranian sentiments. In New Persian and Tadzhik poetry, the khamriyyat theme appeared in the works of Ru-daki and his contemporaries. It was later developed in the divans of the 11th-century poets Farrukhi and especially Manuchehri, who glorified gastronomic pleasures in a song cycle composed in the unique strophic form musammat. The theme of wine acquired allegorical significance in Sufi poetry. Saki-nameh, short poems in praise of wine, are a special type of khamriyyat.