This thesis considers the topic of the relevance of the study of pre-modern literature and religion in our global world. Employing Charles Long's concept of the "silent god," it argues that secular and religious experience share a confrontation with the undefined aspect of the divine and uncertainty it evokes. This can serve as a focal point of shared meaning cross-temporally and cross-culturally and between religious and non-religious identifying worlds. The central role of these themes of silence and uncertainty in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry is explored through a survey of the qadah and rith. The continued presence of the pre-Islamic vocabulary of uncertainty in the works of contemporary Arabic poets (and poets in other languages influenced by the tradition) is then noted. It is suggested that, in addition to shared universal experience, there are similarities in historical contexts that make the literatures of these two periods particularly resonant with each other.