The Convergence of Judaism and Islam. Religious, Scientific, and Cultural Dimensions

One Thousand Years of Cultural Harmony between Judaism and Islam r 251

paytanic style, which had been prevalent since the third century. The lat-
ter included a combination of biblical and new words created by the pay-
tanim (poets) according to their special linguistic needs (Schirmann 1998,
39). The Spanish school of Hebrew religious poetry continued Dunash’s
legacy and insisted on rigid adherence to the form, syntax, and grammar
of pure biblical Hebrew (Tobi 2000, 56).

The Qasīda

In Cordoba, Dunash was the first poet to write perfect Hebrew qasīda,
the most prestigious and classic Arabic genre.^5 The qasīda comprises a
variable number of bipartite lines, up to one hundred, all of which have
identical meter. The rhyming scheme is aa ba ca da, etc., that is, the rhyme
appears in both parts of the first line and only in the second part in the
rest of the lines (Jacobi 1998, 630). Later on, in Islamic Spain, Ibn Gabirol
adopted and developed this genre (Schirmann 1998, 124).

Dunash’s Dror Yiqra (Proclaim a Release) (first stanza, author’s
translation): Poetic Characteristics, Content, and Melody

Proclaim a release for both son and daughter

And the LORD shall guard you as the pupil of His eye

Your name is pleasant and shall never cease

Sit [and] rest on the Sabbath day

Dror Yiqra M(55;78), was written in 960 when Dunash was in Spain (Al-
calay 1993, 160). It is sung during the Sabbath meals, especially during the
first meal on Friday evening. The poem reflects two of Dunash’s inven-
tions: Arabic quantitative meter and the exclusive use of biblical language.
Most scholars call Dror Yiqra a zemer (song) and do not relate to its
poetic genre (Allony 1947, 36, 38; Schirmann 1954, 40; Fleischer 1975, 412;
Ratzaby 1996, 1:47–48; Breuer 1993, 24; Weinberger 1998, 134; Schirmann
1998, 126, 128). In Dunash’s time, the qasīda had reached its greatest length
and was cut into strophes, with shorter lines and a unique rhyme situated
at the end of each of them, instead of one rhyme at the end of the longer
original line. As the first poet to write Hebrew qasīda, it is likely that Du-
nash was influenced by this development, and what we see here reflects
this effect (Breuer 1993, 24). Breuer relies on this assumption when he
tries to explain the reason for the combination of two poetic elements