Rajaz

Rajaz (رَجَز, literally 'tremor, spasm, convulsion as may occur in the behind of a camel when it wants to rise'[1]) is a metre used in classical Arabic poetry.

Thus the possible forms are: Uniquely among the classical Arabic metres, rajaz lines do not divide into hemistichs.

[7] A popular alternative to rajaz poetry was the muzdawij couplet rhyme, giving the genre called muzdawija.

[8] Although widely held the oldest of the Arabic metres,[9] rajaz was not highly regarded in the pre- and early Islamic periods, being seen as similar to (and at times indistinguishable from) the rhymed prose form saj'.

[10] In the twentieth century, in response to the aesthetics of free verse, rajaz, both in traditional form and more innovative adaptations, gained a new popularity in Arabic poetry, with key exponents in the first half of the century including poets ‘Ali Maḥmūd Ṭāhā, Elias Abu Shabaki, and Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (cf.