Arabic language is a language of poem and prose. The Arabs used to compete among each other by composing poems during the pre-islamic era -Jaheliyah, and those poets were known as shuaraahul Jaheliyeen. Nevertheless, some of the Arabs were able to compose poems during the pre-islamic and islamic era, because they embraced Islaam and took their talents with them and instead of composing poems about the nature, alcohol, women and wars as their practice in the Jaheliyah era; they started to compose poems about Allah, His prophet, and the beaty of Islaam. These poets were known as shuaraahul al-mukhadrameen. And the most famous of the mukhadramun was the poet by the name Hassan bin Thaabit, who used to use his poems to defend prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. But in African literary activities most of the poems (Arabic) were composed in the islamic era; though of different themes. The vast majority of the early Muslims in Africa were Arabs, in North Africa, Berbars, in the same region, the Fulanis,in many part of West Africa, the Touregs in the same region, the Yorubas, the Hausas, all in West Africa, the Adandawas, mainly in Central Africa, the Nubians, also in Central Africa.
All these ethnic groups contributed to many Islamic poems. But some of the poems were actually anti-islam poems like the poems of Taha Hussein of Egypt. However, the poems of Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio, Sheikh Kamaludeen Al-Adabey, Faraj Tayib, Sheikh Adam Abdullah AlIlory were argueably Islamic poems of African origin.
