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

One Thousand Years of Cultural Harmony between Judaism and Islam r 255

be a promiscuous and sensual form of song, performed by female slaves in
taverns. Here also, Schirmann views Ibn Gabirol’s act as courageous. He
wrote his muwashshah in the mu ̔ārada (imitation) technique prevalent in
Arabic poetry, particularly in this genre, which is based on the imitation
of an existing poem. The close contact that the Hebrew poets in general,
and Ibn Gabirol in particular, had with contemporary Arabic poets who
wrote muwashshahāt is attested by the numerous cases of mu ̔ārada that
still can be ascertained, despite the scarcity of the Arabic material (Stern
1974, 45).

Ibn Gabirol’s Shfal Ruah (With Lowly Spirit, Scheindlin’s translation
1991, 177): Poetic Characteristics, Content, and Melody

1a With lowly spirit, lowered knee and head

1b In fear I come; I offer Thee my dread.

2a But once with Thee I seem to have no worth

2b More than a little worm upon the earth.

3a O Fullness of the world, Infinity-

3b What praise can come, if any can, from me?

4a Thy splendour is not contained by the hosts on high,

4b And how much less capacity have I!

5a Infinite Thou, and infinite Thy ways;

5b Therefore the soul expands to sing Thy praise.

The Baqashah Shfal Ruah M(16;9) also appears in the liturgy and is recited
in the Morning Prayer of the second day of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New
Year).^9 It reflects the longing of the feeble and humble worshipper for
the unreachable and Almighty God, emphasizing the huge gap existing
between the two.
Ibn Gabirol uses the Arabic poetic genre called qit ̔a (pl. qita ̔), psuqah
in Hebrew: a short and monothematic version of the often polythematic
qasīda, which was widely used for zuhdiyyāt. The qit ̔a comprises not
more than ten lines, each divided over two hemistiches. In comparison
with the classical and sophisticated qasīda, the qit ̔a tends toward simpler
diction, less elaborated rhetoric, and greater lyricism.
This genre symbolizes the real Spanish revolution in Hebrew poetry
under the influence of Arabo-Islamic culture, not only through its form