The Aesthetics of Religious Intertextuality in Andalusian Poetic Discourse: A Critical Study

Abstract

The poetic vision derived from the religious heritage dominated vast areas of Andalusian literary texts. The religious text thus became a central nucleus from which a renewed creative and artistic energy emerged, the features of which are clearly manifested in prominent religious employments. This proposition is based on the notion that intertextuality is a critical term grounded in the idea of textual interaction, representing one of the most significant sources upon which the artistic experience of a distinguished group of Andalusian poets was built.

The focus of this study revolves around Andalusian poetic discourse, tracing the manifestations of the Qur’anic text, the stories of the prophets, and the Noble Prophetic Hadith, which poets incorporated into their poems in a manner readily perceptible to the recipient. This intensive presence is attributable to the profound influence of Islamic teachings on these poets and to the breadth of their cultural knowledge. They believed that the Holy Qur’an brought about a radical transformation and a creative breakthrough in the course of Arabic literature. Accordingly, the study seeks to explore the extent to which these poets assimilated the religious heritage and to uncover the secrets of this intertextuality, which endowed the Andalusian text with a regenerative power and ensured its continuity and immortality across the ages, while granting their poetic texts distinctive creative dimensions and artistic potentials.