The New International Encyclopædia/Arabic Language and Literature

ARABIC LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.The Arabic language forms a branch ofthe South-Semitic tongues, and with the exceptionof Aramaic (q.v.) is the only Semitic speechwhich deserves to be called a living tongue. Itis still spoken in Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia,Arabia, Egypt, northern Africa, and Malta, andit is more or less understood in all countries intowhich Mohammedanism has penetrated. We maydistinguish between the so-called (a) classicalArabic of the old poets, the Koran and theschools; (b) the Middle-Arabic of thepost-classical period; and (c) Modern Arabic, whichis subdivided into the following chief dialects:(1) of Syria and Palestine; (2) of Egypt; (3)of Mesopotamia; (4) of Oman and Zanzibar;(5) of Tunis, Morocco and Algiers; (6) ofMalta; and (7) the Mehri in South Arabia, theancient form of which is preserved in theMinæan and Sabæan inscriptions (see Minæans;Sabæans). The distinguishing features of thelanguage are an exceedingly extensive vocabularyand complicated grammatical forms. The Arabicalphabet, which is derived through the Nabatæan(see Nabatæans) from the ancient Aramaicscript, consists of twenty-eight characters, ofwhich eleven, however, are merely distinguishedby diacritical points placed above or beneath, sothat there are only seventeen distinct charactersused. The direction of the writing is from rightto left.

Arabic literature may be broadly divided intotwo periods, the first containing the Arabicnational literature, extending to the close of theOmmiad dynasty, c.750 A.D., and the secondcontaining the Islamic literature in Arabic. In thesecond period four subdivisions may be noted:(a) c.750 to c.1000, when literary activity reachedits height; (b) c.1000-c.1258, the post-classicalperiod; (c) c. 1258-1517, the period of decline anddecay; and (d) 1517 to the present time. Nothinghas survived earlier than the time ofMohammed except in verse, in which the pre-IslamicArabs attained a high degree of proficiency.They had poetical tournaments, and the poets viedwith each other at such annual fairs as that heldat Okaz (Ar., ‘Ūkāṣ), near Mecca. The subjectstreated were tribal strifes, vengeance, love,friendship, and hospitality. The most celebratedof these are those called Mu‘allaḳāt, comprisingthe poems of Amru al-Kais, Tarafah, Zuhair,Labid, Amr ibn Kulthum, Antarah and al-Harith,though, according to some collectors, Nabighahand Asha take the place of the last two.Fragments of the productions of more than twohundred pre-Islamic poets, among whom were Jewsand Christians, were collected in the tenthcentury. The largest collections are the Ḥamāsahof Abu Tammam (846); the Kitāb al-Aghānī(Book of Songs) of Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani(967), and the Jamharat ash‘ār al-‘Arab ofAbu Zaid (tenth century). A new period beganwith Mohammed (571-632). The Koran, whichgave birth to a religion and which founded thegreatest politico-religious system of the MiddleAges, soon dominated all branches of intellectualactivity. The earliest products of this dominationwere grammar and lexicography, the necessaryinstruments for the exegesis of the Koran.Schools were founded in Basra, Cufa, and Bagdad,where the sciences were studied, especiallyby Persian Mohammedans. Such a one was thefirst grammarian of Basra. Abd al-Rahman ibnHormuzd (c.730). Among the noteworthygrammarians and lexicographers may be mentioned:Abu al-Walid al-Duali (eighth century), theinventor of the diacritical points; al-Khalil, thefounder of Arabic metrics and the author of thefirst Arabic lexicon, Kitāb al-‘Ain; Sibawaihi(796), author of an extensive grammar (translatedinto German by Jahn, Berlin, 1894); IbnDuraid (d.934), author of the lexicon al-Jamharah;Ismail ibn Abbad al-Sahib (d.995),author of the lexicon al-Muhīṭ; Ibn Mukarram(d.1311), author of an extensive lexicon. Lisan*al-‘Arab; al-Zamakhshari (d.1143), author of agrammar al-Mufaṣṣal, and a lexicon Assās; andIbn Malik (d.l273), who wrote a grammar inone thousand verses under the title Kitābal-Alfīyah.

As all Mohammedan philosophy, theology, law,and statecraft is derived primarily from theKoran, its interpretation became the object ofdiscussion at a very early period. Hence animmense literature of commentaries andsuper-commentaries grew up, only the most importantof which can be mentioned: those by al-Tabari(d.923), al-Hasan al-Nisaburi (d.1015),Mohammed al-Kurtubi (d.l272), of al-Zamakhshari(d.ll43), of Fakhr al-Din Razi (d.1209), ofal-Baidawi {d.l286), and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti(d.1505). But Mohammedanism, as a system,rests as much upon the oral as upon the writtenlaw. The sayings and doings of Mohammed andhis immediate followers form the science of theHadith or traditions, which vary both as to valueand authenticity. Around these there has alsogrown up a large literature; the three greatcollections of such traditions were made by al-Bukhari(d.870), Muslim (874) and al-Tirmidhi (892).

As early as the end of the seventh century aschool of Mohammedan jurisprudence wasfounded in Medina by Abd Allah ibn Masud andAbd Allah ibn Abbas. Its decisions werecollected toward the end of the eighth century bythe distinguished jurist Malik ibn Anas, whoseal-Muwaṭṭa’ became the code for the Hejaz, Tunis,Algeria, and Morocco. There are three otherrecognized codes, of Abu Hanifah (q.v.), ofMohammed al-Shafii (d.820), and of Ahmad ibn Hanbal(d.855). Other codes, to the number of seventy-two,are prescribed as heretical. These haveproduced an extensive literature of commentariesand pandects, which has not exhausted itself inour own days.

The activity of the Mohammedans was notconfined to philological and theological studies.With the accession of the Abbassides a new fieldwas opened by the introduction of foreigncivilizations. Learned men were invited from othercountries and remunerated in a princely manner.The works of Greek, Syriac, Old-Persian, andIndian writers were translated into Arabic.Schools of philosophy were founded at Bagdad,Cordova, Cairo, etc., where the writings ofAristotle, Plato, and the Alexandrine philosopherswere expounded and commented upon. Dogmas,hitherto regarded as sacred, were freelydiscussed and rejected. (See Mutazilites.)From these schools issued the philosophersal-Kindi (eighth century), al-Farabi (960), IbnSina (Avicenna 980-1037), al-Ghazzali (1111),Ibn Badjah (1138), Ibn Tufail (d.1185), andIbn Roshd (Averroes, 1153-98), whose works,subsequently translated into Latin, were studied formany centuries in European universities.

In mathematics the Mohammedans made greatadvances by introducing the numerals and othermodes of notation, the sine instead of thechord, and by extending the application ofalgebra. Astronomy was zealously cultivated inthe schools of Bagdad, Cairo, and Cordova.According to Ibn al-Nadbi (1040), the library atCairo possessed two celestial globes and six thousandastronomical works. In the ninth centurythe three sons of the librarian, Musa ibn Shakr,calculated accurately the diameter of the earthand the precession of the equinoxes. At the sametime lived al-Farghani, author of an astronomicalencyclopædia, which was translated in thetwelfth century by Johannes Hispalensis. Inthe tenth century al-Battani (Albatagnius)flourished, to whose name is attached theintroduction of trigonometrical functions, and theobservation of the obliquity of the ecliptic.Among the astronomers whose works were translatedinto Latin may be mentioned Thabit ibnKurrah (901), Jabir ibn Aflah, who in 1196constructed the first observatory at Seville, andNasir al-Din al-Tusi, the paraphraser of Euclid.Medicine and natural history were cultivated bythe Mohanmiedans with a like success. In theseventh century the writings of Galen,Hippocrates, Paul of Aegina, etc., were translatedfrom the Greek into Arabic. Ibn Abi Usaibiah(1203-69) devotes a whole volume to the medicalliterature in Arabic. Among the medicalwriters may be mentioned Mohammed al-Razi(tenth century), whose works were translatedinto Latin; Ali ibn Ridwan (1061); Ibn Sina(Avicenna); Abu al-Kasim (1107), who wrote onsurgery and surgical instruments; Abd al-Malikibn Zuhr (1162), and Abd Allah ibn al-Baitar(1248), whose Materia Medica had greatvogue.

History in all its forms was cultivated at anearly time by the Mohammedans; several chronicleswere written in the days of the Ommiaddynasty. Persian historiography influenced theArabs to record the events of their past life as apeople; and the growing interest in the prophetand his times furnished a healthy stimulus.From the middle of the eighth century we havean uninterrupted series of historians. Theearliest of these were Mohammed ibn Ishak (768),whose biography of Mohammed was enlarged byIbn Hisham (821), and Mohammed al-Wakidi(823), who wrote the history of the prophet atMedina. No less than 140 titles of works writtenby al-Kalbi (c.819) are mentioned, dealinglargely with history and genealogy. It was aPersian, Abu Jafar al-Tabari (838-923), whoproduced the first universal history in Arabic,beginning with creation. A similar work wasproduced by Ibn al-Athir (1160-1234). Of theearly historians mention must also be made ofIbn Kutaibah (892) and al-Baladhuri (892),who deals especially with the early conquestsof the Arabs. In the tenth century wroteal-Hamdani (945), Hamzah al-Isfahani (961), andal-Masudi (956), who has left us a history ofcivilization. Among the historians of latercenturies mention may be made of Ibn Maskawai(1030), al-Makin (1273), Ibn al-Amid (b.1254),al-Biruni (1308), historian of chronology andthe Herodotus of India, Abu al-Fida (1331),and Ibn Khaldun (1406), the first to compose aphilosophy of history. The chief historians ofSpain were Ahmad al-Dhabbi (1195), Ibn Bashkuwal (1182), Mohammed ibn al-Abbar (1259),and Ahmad al-Makkari (1631). Among thenoted historians of Egypt were Abd al-Latif(1231) and al-Makrizi (1441). More characteristicof Arabic historiography are the numerouslocal histories and biographical monographsproduced. Among the most remarkable of theseare the works of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (1505),author of 510 works, among which were historiesof Cairo and Damascus; of Abu Ubaidah (824),author of 105 monographs, among which arehistories of Mecca and Medina; of Ali ibn Asakir(1175), author of a history of Damascus ineighty volumes, and of Baha al-Din ibn Shaddad(1234), author of a history of Aleppo. Mohammedal-Shahrastani (1153) wrote a history ofreligious and philosophical sects which is stillour chief authority on the subject. The mostnoteworthy biographical writers were AbuZakariyah, al-Nawawi (1274) and Ibn Khallikan(1282), who treats of 865 persons. Bibliographywas treated of by Mohammed ibn Ishak al-Nadim(995), Ali ibn Yusuf al-Kifti (1248), and HajjiKhalfa (1658). With the exception of IbnKhaldun the Arabic historians lack criticalsense; they are mostly mere chronographers. Ingeography they displayed nnieh greater abilityand have left us works of lasting value. Thechief geographical writers are Ibn Hisham,Khurdadhbah (912), Masudi, Ahmad ibn Fadlan(921), Abu Ishak al-Istakhri (tenth century),Ibn Haukal (977), al-Mukaddasi (985), thetraveller Ibn Batutah (1377), Yakut (1178),who, like al-Bakri (1094), wrote an extensivegeographical dictionary, al-Kazwini (1276) andAbu al-Fida.

Besides these advances in the solid branchesof knowledge the genius of the Arabs continuallyflowered into poetry. From Bagdad to Cordovathe Mohammedan world was full of sweet singers.Collections of the works of older poets(Dīwāns) were made, of single writers, of thepoems of individual tribes, or arranged accordingto the subject matter of the poems. Umar ibnRabiah (1328), the Arabian Minnesinger; AbuNuwas, the Heine of the court of Harun al-Rashid;the royal poets Abd al-Rahman (788) and Al-Mutamid(1095) of Spain; Muslim ibn al-Walid(757); Abd Allah ibn al-Mutazz (1502); AbuFiras (968); al-Tughrai (1120); and thepanegyrist of Mohammed, al-Busiri (1279), are a fewof the brightest stars. Though much of thispoetry was scholastic in form, al-Mutanabbi(965) is considered one of the greatest Mohammedanpoets and his Dīwān, with its 289 poems,was always widely read. A new species of poetrywas invented, the Makāmāt, a sort of rhymed prosein a finished and most ornamental style andexhibiting merely the literary prowess of the writer.Of such a kind were the writings of Ahmadal-Hamadhani (1007) and Abu Mohammedal-Hariri of Basra (1121). Side by side with thisscholastic poetry there grew up a large mass ofpopular verse, which refused to be bound by thecanonical metres and which developed the strophe,otherwise unknown to Arabic literature. Aparticular form of this was the Muwashshaḥ, orgirdle poem. A popular, and at times fantasticpopular prose literature also made its appearance,in which the Eastern craving for thewonderful and gorgeous was richly gratified. Thiswas largely influenced by non-Arabic literatures,as in the Fables of Bidpai, translated in 750by Abd Allah ibn al-Mukaffa from the Persian,in The Seven Wise Masters, and in the ArabianNights (q.v.). Pure Bedouin romances are thestories of Saif ibn dhi Yazan, of the Banu Hilāl,of al Zīr; and especially the Antar Romance,which gives the most faithful picture of desertlife, and which was not without influenceupon the romance and chivalry of mediævalEurope.

All this culture of the early centuries ofMohammedanism presents a strong contrast to thedecline which is evident from the ascendancy ofthe Turks in the sixteenth century to our ownday. Scholastic discussions on dogmatics andjurisprudence, and tedious grammatical discquisitionsbecame the order of the day. The expeditionof Napoleon to Egypt presaged the introductionof Western culture to the East, and a slowintellectual resurrection has commenced. Theprinting presses of Bulak, Fez, Constantinople,Beirut and of several Indian cities are extremelyproductive, and edition after edition is quicklyexhausted. Newspapers in Arabic are nowpublished all over the East, and even in Westerncities, e.g. Paris and New York. Writers havealso begun to attempt, with more or less success,to imitate European forms of thought and sentiment.Of these may be mentioned MichaelSabbagh of Syria (La Colombe Messagere, Arabic andFrench, Paris, 1805); the Sheik Rifaa of Cairo(The Broken Lyre, Paris, 1827); Manners andCustoms of the Europeans (Cairo, 1834); Travelsin France (Cairo, 1825). But despite all this,the results obtained in Egypt during the periodfrom 1798 down to the English tutelage, in 1882,are meagre. Mehemet Ali introduced theprinting-press in 1821, and founded a school formathematics. Some of the works of the bestEuropean writers were translated into Arabic;the vice-regal library was founded in Cairo in1870. Few great scholars and writers have asyet appeared; and it is questionable whether theattempt to develop the common speech into aliterary language will be more successful. Theendeavor to substitute the Roman script for theArabic (furthered notably by Professor W. Fiske)will certainly not aid the regeneration. Thefollowing modern poets deserve mention: Hasan al-Attar(1766-1838); Abd Allah Pasha al-Fikri(1834-90); Aisha Ismat Hanun, daughter ofIsmail Pasha; and Mohammed Uthman Jalal(b.l829), the translator of Racine and Molière.To these may be added the historians Abd Allahal-Sharkawi (1737-1812), and Abd al-Rahmanal-Jabarti (d.l826), both historians of the Frenchoccupation; Ali Pasna Mubarak (1823-93), thetopographist of Cairo and Alexandria; and thegreat jurist Ibrahim al-Bajuri (1783-1861), rectorof the al-Azhar University. In Syria thedearth of literary effort was still greater. Thebeginnings of a new life are due to European andAmerican efforts. The American Presbyterianmissionaries and the French Jesuits (since 1869)have started a new life in Beirut by means ofthe printing-press and modern schools. A realinterest in the old literature has been awakened,many of the masterpieces being reëdited in acritical spirit. In this connection may be mentionedthe philologist and poet Nasif al-Yaziji(1800-71), who wrote the critical observationsin De Sacy's edition of Hariri (Epistola Critica,Leipzig, 1848); Butrus al-Bistani (1819-1883),author of a dictionary and a general encyclopædia; Ahmad Faris al-Shidyak (d.l884), thegrammarian; Khalil Sarkis (1877), the historian ofJerusalem; and Louis Cheikho, the learned editorof the old Arabic poets. In the old home of thefaith, Mecca, literary activity still continues toour own day, but upon the old theological anddogmatic lines. Worthy of mention are AhmadDablan (c.1880), theologian and historian, theauthor of more than twenty works, and Mohammedibn Omar al-Nawawi (c.1885), by origin aMalay, the author of eighteen works upon differentsubjects. In India European influence inliterature is confined to the publications of theBiblica Indica; and to a few writers such asSiddik Hasan, husband of the Sultanee of Bhopa.The same condition prevails in the Maghrib(Northwest Africa). French culture has had noperceptible influence upon Arabic literature inAlgiers; Morocco is as dead to Europeaninfluences as if it were in the heart of Arabia. Theproductions of the lithographic press at Fez areall confined to the older Islamic theological,legal, and historical literature.

Bibliography. (1) General works: Brockelmann,Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (Weimar,1898-1902), and his more popular work(with translations) published under the sametitle (Leipzig, 1901), in the collection, DieLitteraturen des Ostens in Einzeldarstellungen, vol.vi.; Chauvin, Bibliographie Arabe (Liège, 1892,sqq.); Hammer-Purgstall, Litteraturgeschichteder Araber (7 vols., Vienna, 1850-56;antiquated); Arbuthnot, Arabic Authors (London,1890); Von Kremer, Culturgeschichte desOrients (Vienna, 1877); Goldziher,Mohammedanische Studien (Halle, 1889-90); Zenker,Bibliotheca Orientalis (Leipzig, 1846; for printedbooks); Hartmann, Arabic Press of Egypt (London,1898); Hajji Khalfa, Lexicon bibliograficum(ed. Flügel, Leipzig-London, 1835-58); Ahlwardt,Verzeichniss der arabischen Handschriften derköniglichen Bibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin, 1887sqq.). (2) Poetry: Nöldeke, Beiträge zur Kenntnissder Poesie der alten Araber (Hanover, 1864);Ahlwardt, Ueber Poesie und Poetik der Araber(Gotha, 1856); Schack, Poesie und Kunst derAraber in Spanien and Sizilien (Berlin, 1865);Basset, La poesie arabe anteislamique (Paris,1880); Jacob, Studien in arabischen Dichtern(i.-iii., Berlin, 1893-95); Hartmann, Dasarabische Strophengedicht (Weimar, 1896-97);Carlyle, Specimens of Arabic Poetry (London, 1840);Clouston, Arabic Poetry (London, 1880); Lyall,Ancient Arabic Poetry (London, 1885). (3)History: Wüstenfeld, Die Geschichtsschreiber derAraber (Göttingen, 1882). (4) Geography:Wüstenfeld, Die Litteratur der Erdbeschreibungbei den Arabern (Magdeburg, 1842). (5) Philology:Flügel, Die grammatischen Schulen derAraber (Leipzig, 1862). (6) Philosophy: DeBoer, Geschichte der Philosophie in Islam (Stuttgart,1901); Munk, Mélanges de philosophiejuive et arabe (Paris, 1850); Dugat, Histoire desphilosophes et des théologiens musulmans (Paris,1879); Dieterici, Die Philosophie der Araber imX. Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1876-78). (7) Science:Wüstenfeld, Geschichte der arabischen Aerzte(Göttingen, 1840); Leclerc, Histoire de la médecinearabe (Paris, 1876); Sédillot, Materiauxpour servir a l'histoire comparée des sciencesmathématiques chez les Grecs et les Orientaux(Paris, 1845-49); Steinschneider, Die arabischenUebersetzungen aus dem Griechischen (Leipzig,1889-93); Wiedemann, Ueber die Naturwissenschaftenbei den Arabern (Hamburg, 1890);Suter, Die Mathematiker und Astronomen derAraber (Leipzig, 1900).