Examining the Moral Values in Shanfara’s Lamiyat al-Arab using Thomas Nagel’s Ethical Theory

Shanfara is one of the most prominent Arab poetries. His poems, especially his ode Lamiyyeh, along with the poems of other notable pre-Islamic Arab poetries, have a specific literary and sociological reputation. He was living during the Jahili era. However, his writings are full of strong moral principles and foundations, indicating the existence of excellent human thoughts and ideas, as he has mentioned some of the most important values and principles in his poetry. This descriptive-analytical article uses Thomas Nagel’s ethical theory to investigate the ethical principles and values presented in Shanfara’s Lamiyat al-Arab.

This article uses a library and review method. In order to achieve the research objective, we explored the books relating to the subject and searched articles matching the research keywords in ISC and Science Direct databases from 1990 to 2023.

According to Thomas Nagel’s theory, Shanfara, as an Arab poet, is a freedom-loving human and a high-minded fighter whose character does not reflect racial or class discrimination and injustices used to rule society. Shanfara, to remove such inhuman customs, chose to fight. In addition, he was courageous, brave, and at the same time, forgiving and generous. He appreciates his friends, and while being able to exercise power and control, he does not prefer himself to others and respects their rights. Evidence of outstanding and valuable human and moral principles is extracted from the Lamiyah al-Arab poem.