Themes of Imam Ali's Words in Mutannabi's Poetry

Intertextuality is an important aspect of today’s analyses of literary texts. Words of Imam Ali form a body of literary text which has been a source of inspiration during the past 14 centuries. His words are in fact an encyclopedia، a beautiful representation of the relationship between a human being and God، encompassing various aspects of this relationship، including theology، spiritual journey، worship، prayer، supplication، rejecting attachment to the world، heroism، morality، piety and purity of the soul، and social norms and principles. Thus، any person with any capacity will be able to draw on this valuable source; however، the more knowledge، capacity and intelligence a person has، the richer he will be able to reflect Imam Ali’s words in his works. Arab and Persian poets and writers have particularly been inspired by Imam’s words. Mutannabi was an Arab poet whose magical words have always attracted literary scholars. One of the fine qualities of his poems is their wisdom theme، which is why he was called “the wise poet”. In his wisdom poetry، as well as in other themes he used، he extensively drew on Imam Ali’s words and sayings. This paper aims to illustrate how Mutannabi’s poetry reflects themes from Imam Ali’s words، and then to analyze and discuss the findings.