At the time when the people refrained from expressing your superiority...

At the time when the people refrained from expressing your superiority, this Kumayt recited poetry for you and risked his live vis-à-vis the Umayyads.” The same poetry was the cause of the trouble that Kumayt endured.[^14] Prior to him, Farazdaq was also sent to the Umayyad prison because of his eulogy to Imam as-Sajjad ( ‘a ).[^15] During the ‘Abbasid period, sensitivity toward the truth-speaking poets was also strong, but since the Shi‘ah community had expanded then, less control was exerted against them compared to that of the Umayyad period.

When the ‘Abbasids gradually became weak, more poets were present on the scene for defending the school of Shi‘ism. As Dr. Shawki Ḍayf says, “During the second ‘Abbasid period, more Shi‘ah poems were recited, and the Shi‘ah poets during that period were of two groups: ‘Alawi poets and non-‘Alawi poets.”[^16] Meanwhile, scholars and notables such as Ibn Shahr Ashub, ‘Ali Khan Shirazi and the late ‘Allamah Amini have written about the numbers of Shi‘ah poets.

Yet, the most comprehensive work in this regard is by Sayyid Muhsin Amin who has counted the number of Shi‘ah poets according to their year of death up to 329 AH, i.e. the end of the minor occultation { ghaybah as-sughra }.[^17] The Leading Shi‘ah Poets In every period, some renowned and famous Shi‘ah poets were the vanguards of…