Khamriyyat

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.