Nothing in literature illustrates more the belief in the magical power of poetry than the chapters in the _Book of Numbers_ dealing with the effort of the Moabite King Balak to get Balaam to curse the children of Israel. Balak believed that these curses would help him defeat the Hebrews. But instead Balaam blessed them, unwillingly, saying that he could but utter the words God put in his mouth, for the inspiration of the poet came to him always from hidden forces. He reached to ecstasy every time he spoke.
Arabic poetry then deals in intricate forms conveying ecstasy, with all the stock themes of poetry, but especially with love.
The similarities between Biblical Hebrew poetry and Pre-islamic Arabic poetry have been touched upon by Dr. George A. Smith in his _The Early Poetry of Israel_ and by Thomas Chenery in his excellent introduction to his translation of Hariri's _Assemblies_. Participators in various military events themselves composed the poems in which they told of their exploits, as you may note by comparing the _Muallaqat_ with the songs of Miriam and Deborah. There was the same interest in nature as you may see by comparing descriptions from the _Psalms_ and _Job_ to that of the thunderstorm by Imru'ul Qays in the _Muallaqat_. The poetry of both nations was often nomadic, the product of the influences of the desert. Both nations recorded personal emotions, springing from tribal events.
There was also the same tendency in both nations to utter ecstatically sententious and moral sayings. Though only one poem in the _Muallaqat_, that by Zuhayr, really moralizes, the later Arabic poets always loved to give vent to reflections, proverbs, words of wisdom. Two of the best Arabic poems of the kind are the improvisations of the vagabond Abu Zayd in the 11th and 50th Assembly of Hariri's _Assemblies_. Two finer poems which moralize without losing their poetic quality can scarcely be found in Arabic literature. Most of the reflective poetry of those two pessimistic, skeptic poets Abu l'Atahiya and Abu 'l Ala al Maarri are of this kind. The ecstatic potentiality in reflection is seen in _Job_, _Proverbs_ and _Ecclesiastes_.
The chief phase of Pre-islamic poetry that will not appeal to us is in the great body of martial verse where love of robbery and bloodshed, cruelty, revenge and hatred are fostered. The Bedouins gave us a transcript of their life. They dwelt in their vices with frankness, but they tried to make virtues out of them. We cannot blame them for not having our ideals of peace and it is also doubtful if cruelties in their warfare were greater than those in our own day.