Research Summary:

Ambiguity is a distinctive feature of Arabic poetry, whether intentional or unintentional, in the presentation of meaning. Often, meaning becomes blurred between a deceptive appearance and a hidden, underlying meaning that requires considerable contemplation and reflection to arrive at the intended meaning. This signifies a lack of clarity in the poetic vision, leaving both the reader and the critic perplexed. It necessitates extensive contemplation and reflection to grasp the intended meaning, whether it be beauty or ugliness, praise or blame. Even the poet himself may be confused when the matter becomes ambiguous, unable to see things objectively. Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah expressed this frankly when he said:
"By God, I do not know if I have been blessed with a good fortune, or if love blinds, as has been said about love." (Abu Rabi'ah, n.d., 485)

He is caught between a vision governed by emotion and a reality shaped by women, and the matter oscillates between the two. This clear ambiguity is evident in much of his poetry, particularly in the distinction between beauty and ugliness. Consequently, we find a lack of clarity in many of Umar's verses about women, requiring considerable effort to decipher. This duality serves to double the effort to reach the intended meaning, or to move from the ambiguous meaning to the implicit, unstated one, behind this seemingly incongruous duality in the direct sense.

These examples abound in the poetry of Umar ibn Abi Rabi'ah in particular, and in Arabic poetry in general. The reader is often confused, unsure whether the poet is praising or satirizing his beloved, and unable to form a clear understanding of the poet's relationship with women, or his definitive stance on their beauty or ugliness.

Methodology:
This study employs a cultural approach to trace the aesthetics of the explicit image and its implicit ugliness, attempting to identify the duality of meaning and the resulting ambiguity in perspective and viewpoint.

Keywords: Beauty - Ugliness - Cultural Implicitness - Woman

Conference Title

Ambiguity: Interdisciplinary Approaches

Conference Country

Palestine

Conference Date

Dec. 3, 2025 - Dec. 4, 2025

Conference Sponsor

جامعة سيدي محمد المغرب