Maf’ú.látu Mustaf.’ilun Maf’ú.látu (ii. 9.6.9)
= - - - U | - - U - | - - - U |
6. Al-Mujtass, twice
Mustaf’i.lun Fá.’ílátun Mustaf’ i.lun (ii. 10.7.10)
= - - U - | - U - - | - - U - |
E. Dáirat al-Muttafik, circle of “the concordant” metre, so called for the same reason why circle B is called “the agreeing,” i.e. because the feet all harmonise in length, being here, however, quinqueliteral, not seven-lettered as in the Mátalif. Al-Khalil the inventor of the ’Ilm al-’Arúz, assigns to it only one metre:
1. Al-Mutakárib, twice
Fa’úlun Fa’úlun Fa’úlun Fa’úlun (ii. 1)
= U - - | U - - | U - - |
Later Prosodists added:
2. Al-Mutadárak, twice
Fá’ilun Fá’ilun Fá’ilun Fá’ilun (ii. 5)
= - U - | - U - | - U - |
The feet and metres as given above are, however, to a certain extent merely theoretical; in practice the former admit of numerous licenses and the latter of variations brought about by modification or partial suppression of the feet final in a verse. An Arabic poem (Kasídah, or if numbering less than ten couplets, Kat’ah) consists of Bayts or couplets, bound together by a continuous rhyme, which connects the first two lines and is repeated at the end of every second line throughout the poem. The last foot of every odd line is called ’Arúz (fem. in contradistinction of Arúz in the sense of Prosody which is masc.), pl. A’áiriz, that of every even line is called Zarb, pl. Azrub, and the remaining feet may be termed Hashw (stuffing), although in stricter parlance a further distinction is made between the first foot of every odd and even line as well.