This Ph.D. dissertation examines the classical Arabic poetic phenomenon of mu‘ārad&dotbelow;ah (contrafaction) with a focus on panegyric odes by poets of al-Andalus (medieval Muslim Spain) that are imitations of odes by the Abbasid master-poets of the Arab East. Using contemporary theoretical approaches to poetic influence and speech act theory to analyze the relationship between the model text and the new poem, I argue that even though the later poet intends to invoke the beauty and authority of the model poem, he deviates from it in significant structural and thematic ways. The results are therefore not slavish imitations, but rather successful mu‘ārad&dotbelow;at are highly regarded as creative and “original” poetic pieces. In light of speech act theory, I examine how each poet employs effective and persuasive rhetorical and structural strategies that respond to his individual political context to fulfill his duties towards the patron and produce performatively, and poetically, successful panegyric odes.