A rāwī was a reciter and transmitter of Arabic poetry in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic period (mid-seventh–early eighth centuries).
"[1] The term riwaya or kathir al-riwaya, meaning "copious transmitter," was the intensive form of the word and was used synonymously with rawi by the early Muslim literary sources.
The rawi's role was to memorize a poet's verses and publicly recite them, particularly during the annual fairs in Arabia, and pass them down to the next generation.
[2] During the early Umayyad period (661–750), the first volumes of poetry, the Mu'allaqat ("the Hanging Poems"), were recorded in written form.
The prominent poets al-Farazdaq and Jarir were known to have dictated their verses to rawis, suggesting that writing initially assisted oral transmission until eventually replacing it.