Qafiyah:
a device employed in an ancient form of Middle Eastern & North African poetry known as the ghazal, to create a rhyme scheme and rhythm
/cah-fee-yah/ noun
What is a Qafiyah?
A qafiyah (pronounced cah-fee-yah) is a crucial part of the Middle Eastern style of poetry called a ghazal. First written in 7th century Arabia in Arabic, it was later adopted by other cultures in the Middle East and North Africa. Ghazals now have been written in multiple languages including English, Farsi, German, Hindi, Pashto, Spanish, Turkish, and Urdu.
A ghazal consists of 5 or more couplets, with the first couplet ending in the same word. This repeated word (known as the radif) is the last word in every couplet. Every radif is preceded by the poem’s rhyme scheme that is set in the first stanza. This rhyme scheme that creates the rhythm of the poem is known as a qafiyah.
The Qafiyah Review hopes to achieve what the qafiyah and ghazal once did: uniting Middle Eastern and North African artists and authors by celebrating their work in a literary magazine centered around the beauty of M.E.N.A cultures and identities.