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. Arabic literature (: الأدب العربي /: al-Adab al-‘Arabī) is the writing, both and, produced by writers in the. The Arabic word used for literature is ', which is derived from a meaning of, and which implies politeness, culture and enrichment. Arabic literature emerged in the 5th century with only fragments of the written language appearing before then. The, widely regarded by people as the finest piece of literature in the, would have the greatest lasting effect on and its literature.
Arabic literature flourished during the, but has remained vibrant to the present day, with poets and prose-writers across the Arab world, as well as rest of the world, achieving increasing success. The Qur'an is the most important and authentic example of Arabic literature and definitely the most influential. The had a significant influence on the Arab language. The language used in it is called, and while modern Arabic is very similar, the classical has social prestige. Not only is the Qur'an the first work of any significant length written in the language it also has a far more complicated structure than the earlier literary works with its 114 (chapters) which contain 6,236 (verses).
It contains, direct addresses from God, instructions and even comments on itself on how it will be received and understood. It is also, paradoxically, admired for its layers of metaphor as well as its clarity, a feature it mentions itself in sura 16:103. The word means 'recite', and in early times the text was transmitted orally. The first attempt at an authentic written version was during the reign of the third 'Rightly Guided Caliph', (576-656). Although it contains elements of both prose and poetry, and therefore is closest to or, the Qur'an is regarded as entirely apart from these classifications. The text is believed to be and is seen by as being eternal or 'uncreated'. This leads to the doctrine of or inimitability of the Qur'an which implies that nobody can copy the work's style.
Say, Bring you then ten chapters like unto it, and call whomsoever you can, other than God, if you speak the truth! — 11:13 This doctrine of i'jaz possibly had a slight limiting effect on Arabic literature; proscribing exactly what could be written.
Whilst Islam allows Muslims to write, read and recite poetry, the Qur'an states in the 26th sura ( or The Poets) that poetry which is blasphemous, obscene, praiseworthy of sinful acts or attempts to challenge the Qu'ran's content and form is forbidden for Muslims. And as to the poets, those who go astray follow them Do you not see that they wander about bewildered in every valley? And that they say that which they do not do Except those who believe and do good works and remember Allah much and defend themselves after they are oppressed; and they who act unjustly shall know to what final place of turning they shall turn back.
— 26:224-227 This may have exerted dominance over the pre-Islamic poets of the 6th century whose popularity may have vied with the Qur'an amongst the people. There were a marked lack of significant poets until the 8th century. One notable exception was who wrote poems in praise of and was known as the 'prophet's poet'. Just as the has held an important place in the literature of other languages, The Qur'an is important to Arabic. It is the source of many ideas, allusions and quotes and its moral message informs many works. Aside from the Qur'an the or tradition of what Muhammed is supposed to have said and done are important literature.
The entire body of these acts and words are called or way and the ones regarded as sahih or genuine of them are collected into hadith. Some of the most significant collections of hadith include those by and. The other important genre of work in Qur'anic study is the or Arab writings relating to religion also includes many and devotional pieces as well as the sayings of which were collected in the 10th century as or The Peak of Eloquence.
Islamic scholarship The research into the life and times of Muhammad, and determining the genuine parts of the sunnah, was an important early reason for scholarship in or about the Arabic language. It was also the reason for the collecting of pre-Islamic poetry; as some of these poets were close to the prophet— actually meeting Muhammad and converting to Islam—and their writings illuminated the times when these event occurred. Muhammad also inspired the first Arabic, known as al-sirah al-nabawiyyah; the earliest was by, but wrote the best known. Whilst covering the life of the prophet they also told of the battles and events of early Islam and have numerous digressions on older biblical traditions. Some of the earliest work studying the Arabic language was started in the name of Islam. Tradition has it that the caliph, after reading a copy of Qur'an with errors in it, asked to write a work codifying.
Would later write Kitab al-Ayn, the first dictionary of Arabic, along with works on and, and his pupil would produce the most respected work of Arabic grammar known simply as al-Kitab or The Book. Other caliphs exerted their influence on Arabic with making it the official language for administration of the new empire, and setting up the Bayt al-Hikma or in for research and translations. And were two other important seats of learning in the early Arab world, between which there was a strong rivalry. The institutions set up mainly to investigate more fully the Islamic religion were invaluable in studying many other subjects. Caliph was instrumental in enriching the literature by instructing scholars to translate works into Arabic. The first was probably 's correspondence with translated by Salm Abu al-'Ala'.
From the east, and in a very different literary genre, the scholar translated the animal of the. These translations would keep alive scholarship and learning, particularly that of, during the in Europe and the works would often be first re-introduced to Europe from the Arabic versions. Classical Arabic literature Poetry. A large proportion of Arabic literature before the 20th century is in the form of poetry, and even prose from this period is either filled with snippets of poetry or is in the form of or rhymed prose. The themes of the poetry range from high-flown hymns of praise to bitter personal attacks and from religious and mystical ideas to poems on women and wine. An important feature of the poetry which would be applied to all of the literature was the idea that it must be pleasing to the ear.
The poetry and much of the prose was written with the design that it would be spoken aloud and great care was taken to make all writing as mellifluous as possible. Non-fiction literature Compilations and manuals In the late 9th century, a bookseller, compiled a crucial work in the study of Arabic literature.
Kitab al-Fihrist is a catalogue of all books available for sale in Baghdad and it gives an overview of the state of the literature at that time. One of the most common forms of literature during the period was the compilation. These were collections of facts, ideas, instructive stories and poems on a single topic and covers subjects as diverse as house and garden, women, gate-crashers, blind people, envy, animals and misers.
These last three compilations were written by the acknowledged master of the form. These collections were important for any nadim, a companion to a ruler or noble whose role was often involved regaling the ruler with stories and information to entertain or advise. A type of work closely allied to the collection was the manual in which writers like offered instruction in subjects like etiquette, how to rule, how to be a bureaucrat and even how to write.
Also wrote one of the earliest histories of the Arabs, drawing together biblical stories, Arabic and more historical events. The subject of sex was frequently investigated in Arabic literature. The or love poem had a long history being at times tender and chaste and at other times rather explicit. In the tradition the love poem would take on a wider, mystical and religious importance. Sex manuals were also written such as, or The Dove's Neckring by and Nuzhat al-albab fi-ma la yujad fi kitab or Delight of Hearts Concerning What will Never Be Found in a Book. Countering such works are one like Rawdat al-muhibbin wa-nuzhat al-mushtaqin or Meadow of Lovers and Diversion of the Infatuated by who advises on how to separate love and lust and avoid sin. Biography, history, and geography Aside from the early of Muhammad, the first major biographer to weigh character rather than just producing a hymn of praise was with his or Book of the Genealogies of the Noble, a collection of biographies.
Another important biographical dictionary was begun by and expanded by al-Safadi and one of the first significant was which told of and his experiences in fighting in the. This time period saw the emergence of the genre of tabaqat (biographical dictionaries or biographical compendia)., an official in the wrote one of the first and the form remained a popular one in Arabic literature with books by, al-Istakhri, and most famously the travels of. These give a view of the many cultures of the wider world and also offer perspectives on the non-Muslim peoples on the edges of the empire. They also indicated just how great a trading power the Muslim peoples had become. These were often sprawling accounts that included details of both and. Some writers concentrated solely on history like and, whilst others focused on a small portion of history such as, with a history of, and, writing a history of. The historian regarded as the greatest of all Arabic historians though is whose history focuses on society and is a founding text in and.
Diaries In the, Arabic were first being written from before the 10th century, though the medieval diary which most resembles the modern diary was that of Ibn Banna in the 11th century. His diary was the earliest to be arranged in order of date ( ta'rikh in Arabic), very much like modern diaries.
Literary theory and criticism in Arabic literature often focused on religious texts, and the several long religious traditions of and textual have had a profound influence on the study of secular texts. This was particularly the case for the literary traditions of. Literary criticism was also employed in other forms of medieval and literature from the 9th century, notably by in his al-Bayan wa-'l-tabyin and al-Hayawan, and by in his Kitab al-Badi. Fiction literature. The Arabic version of. In the, there was a great distinction between al-fus'ha (quality language) and al-ammiyyah (language of the common people).
Not many writers would write works in this al-ammiyyah or common language and it was felt that literature had to be improving, educational and with purpose rather than just entertainment. This did not stop the common role of the hakawati or story-teller who would retell the entertaining parts of more educational works or one of the many Arabic or, which were often not written down in many cases. Nevertheless, some of the earliest, including the first, were written by Arabic authors. Epic literature. Main article: During the 19th century, a revival took place in Arabic literature, along with much of Arabic culture, and is referred to in Arabic as ' ', which means 'the Renaissance'. This resurgence of writing in Arabic was confined mainly to, and until the 20th century when it spread to other countries in the region.
This Renaissance was not only felt within the Arab world but also beyond, with a great interest in the translating of Arabic works into European languages. Although the use of the Arabic language was revived, particularly in poetry, many of the of the previous literature which served to make it so ornate and complicated were dropped. Just as in the 8th century, when a movement to translate and other literature had helped vitalise Arabic literature, another translation movement would offer new ideas and material for Arabic. An early popular success was, which spurred a host of on Arabic subjects. Two important translators were and.
Throughout the 20th century, Arabic writers in both poetry and prose have reflected the changing political and social climate of the Arab world in their work. Anti-colonial themes were prominent early in the 20th century, with writers continuing to explore the region's relationship with the West until the present day. Internal political upheaval has also been a challenge, with some writers suffering censorship. There are many contemporary Arabic writers, such as Mahmoud saeed (Iraq) who wrote Bin Barka Ally, and I Am The One Who Saw (Saddam City). Other contemporary writers include and, who were imprisoned by the state for their anti-government work.
At the same time, others who had written works supporting or praising governments were promoted to positions of authority within cultural bodies. Non-fiction writers and academics have also produced political polemics and criticisms aiming to re-shape Arabic politics. Some of the best known are 's, which was an important work of, and the works of who campaigns for. Mention no longer the driver on his night journey and the wide striding camels, and give up talk of morning dew and ruins. I no longer have any taste for love songs on dwellings which already went down in seas of too many odes. So, too, the, whose fire, fanned by the sighs of those enamored of it, cries out to the poets: 'Alas for my burning!'
If a steamer leaves with my friends on sea or land, why should I direct my complaints to the camels? —Excerpt from 's Mashhad al-ahwal (1870), translated. Beginning in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as part of what is now called 'the Arabic renaissance' or ' ', poets like, and began to explore the possibility of developing the classical poetic forms. Some of these neoclassical poets were acquainted with Western literature but mostly continued to write in classical forms, while others, denouncing blind imitation of classical poetry and its recurring themes, sought inspiration from French or English. The next generation of poets, the so-called romantic poets, had begun to a far greater extent to absorb the impact of developments in Western poetry, and felt constrained by neo-classical traditions which the previous generation had tried to uphold.
The poets were emigrants who mostly wrote in the Americas, but were similarly beginning to experiment further with the possibilities of Arabic poetry. This experimentation continued in the Middle East throughout the first half of the 20th century. After, there was a largely unsuccessful movement by several poets to write poems in ( shi'r hurr). Iraqi poets and (1923-2007), are considered to be the originators of free verse in Arabic poetry. Most of these experiments were abandoned in favour of, of which the first examples in modern Arabic literature are to be found in the writings of, and of which two of the most influential proponents were Nazik al-Malaika and.
The development of also influenced poetry in Arabic. More recently, poets such as have pushed the boundaries of stylistic experimentation even further. Poetry retains a very important status in the Arab world. Was regarded as the Palestinian national poet, and his funeral was attended by thousands of mourners.
Syrian poet addressed less political themes, but was regarded as a cultural icon, and his poems provide the lyrics for many popular songs. Novels Two distinct trends can be found in the nahda period of revival. The first was a neo-classical movement which sought to rediscover the literary traditions of the past, and was influenced by traditional literary genres—such as the —and works like. In contrast, a modernist movement began by translating Western modernist works—primarily novels—into Arabic. In the 19th century, individual authors in, and created original works by imitating classical narrative genres: with Leg upon Leg (1855), Khalil Khoury with Yes. So I am not a Frank (1859), with The Forest of Truth (1865), Salim al-Bustani with At a Loss in the Levantine Gardens (1870), and Muhammad al-Muwaylihi with Isa ibn Hisham's Tale (1907).
This trend was furthered by (author of many historical novels), and (author of ). Meanwhile, female writer 's first novel Ḥusn al-'Awāqib aw Ghādah al-Zāhirah ( The Happy Ending, 1899) was also influential. According to the authors of the Encyclopedia of the Novel: Almost each of the above works have been claimed as the first Arabic novel, which goes to suggest that the Arabic novel emerged from several rehearsals and multiple beginnings rather than from one single origin. Given that the very Arabic word ' riwaya', which is now used exclusively in reference to the 'novel', has traditionally conjured up a tangle of narrative genres., it might not be unfair to contend that the Arabic novel owes its early formation not only to the appropriation of the novel genre from Europe.
but also, and more importantly, to the revival and transformation of traditional narrative genres in the wake of 's 1798 expedition into Egypt and the Arab world's firsthand encounter with industrialized imperial Europe. A common theme in the modern Arabic novel is the study of family life with obvious resonances of the wider family of the Arabic world.
Many of the novels have been unable to avoid the politics and conflicts of the region with war often acting as background to intimate family dramas. The works of depict life in, and his, describing the struggles of a modern Cairene family across three generations, won him a in 1988. He was the first Arabic writer to win the prize.
Plays The musical plays of Maroun Naccache from the mid-1800s are considered the birth of not only, but also modern Arab theatre. Modern Arabic drama began to be written in the 19th century chiefly in Egypt and mainly influenced and in imitation of French works. It was not until the 20th century that it began to develop a distinctly Arab flavour and be seen elsewhere. The most important Arab playwright was whose first play was a re-telling of the Qur'anic story of the and the second an epilogue for the Thousand and One Nights.
Other important dramatists of the region include Yusuf al-Ani from and from. Women in Arabic literature Part of on. In the words of Clarissa Burt, Despite the historical and social conditions that contributed to an almost total eclipse of women's poetic expression in the literary record as maintained in Arabic culture from the pre-Islamic era through the nineteenth century, with a few significant exceptions, women poets writing in Arabic have made tremendous strides since the dawn of the twentieth century in presenting their poetic offerings in mainstream cultural forums, and contributing to a plethora of new and modern poetic currents in literary cultural throughout the Arab world. Whilst not playing a major attested part in Arabic literature for much of its history, women have had a continuing role. Women's literature in Arabic has been relatively little researched, and features relatively little in most Arabic-language education systems, meaning that its prominence and importance is probably generally underrated. The medieval period. See also: In the estimation of Tahera Qutbuddin, the citation of women's poetry in the general medieval anthologies is sparse.
The earliest anthologists either ignored women poets or made disparaging remarks about them. In his introduction to the Nuzhat al-Julasa, al-Suyuti refers to a large (at least six-volume) anthology-now lost-of 'ancient' women's poetry. It would seem from this that women poets may have formed a more dynamic part of the poetic landscape, at least in the earliest classical period, than is generally believed. (The main modern anthology of medieval Arabic women's writing in English translation is that of Abdullah al-Udhari.) Pre-Islamic women's literature seems to have been limited to the genre of marathiya ('elegy'). The earliest poetesses were and of the 7th century. Their concentration on the ritha' or elegy suggests that this was a form deemed acceptable for women to work with.
However, the love lyric was also an important genre of women's poetry. The and periods saw professional singing slave girls ( qiyan, sing. Quayna) who sang love songs and accompanied these with music; alongside panegyric and competitive verse-capping, qiyan also sang love-poetry ( ghazal). In his Risalat al-Qiyan ( Epistle of the Singing-Girls), al-Jahiz (d. 255/868×69) reckoned that an accomplished singer might have a repertoire of 4,000 songs.
Pre-eminent 'Abbasid singing-girls included: (paramour of, r. 786-809); (concubine of, r. 813-17); and (d.
871; concubine of, r. Meanwhile, Harun al-Rashid's half-sister (777-825) was also known for her poetic skills, as was the mystic and poet of Basra (d. Women also had an important role in pre-modern periods as patrons of the arts.
Writings from medieval moorish Spain attest to several important female writers, pre-eminently (1001–1091), an Umawi princess of al-Andulus, who wrote poetry and was the lover of fellow poet; the Granadan poet (d. 1190/91); and (d.
These and other women writers suggest a hidden world of literature by women. Despite their lack of prominence among the literary elite, women still played an important part as characters in Arabic literature., for example, is an with a female warrior, Fatima Dhat al-Himma, as protagonist, and is famous for cunningly telling stories in the to save her life. The early modern period The Mamluk period saw the flourishing of the Sufi master and poet (d. 1517), who was probably the Arabic-speaking world's most prolific female author before the twentieth century.
Living in what is now Egypt and Syria, she came from the family, noted for its judges and scholars, and belonged to the 'Urmawi branch of the order. 'A'isha composed at least twelve books in prose and verse, which included over three hundred long mystical and religious poems. The nineteenth century to the Second World War. See also: The earliest prominent female Arabic writer of the modern period is (1820–52), from what is now Iran. She wrote fine Arabic and Persian poetry.
Were pioneered in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, initially primarily by Christian Arabic-speaking women, who tended to have more freedom and access to education than their Muslim counterparts in the Ottoman Empire at the time. (1848−1919) started what is believed to have been the first salon including women, in. In 1912, (modern Palestine/Lebanon/Egypt, 1886-1941) started one in, and in 1922 (1888−1965) did the same in.
Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, these supported the emergence of women's writing (both literary and journalistic) and women's presses. Alongside Maryana Marrash, May Ziade, and Mary 'Ajami, pioneering figures in women's writing in Arabic are (modern Lebanon/Egypt, 1846–1914), who arguably wrote the first novel in Arabic and was the first woman to write a play in that language; (modern Turkey/Egypt, 1840–1902); (under the pseudonym Bahithat al-Badiyya, Egypt 1886-1918); (modern Palestine/Lebanon, 1897-1988); (modern Palestine/Lebanon, 1897–1986); and (Iraq, 1908–1953, under the pseudonym Umm Nizar). The post-war period Since the Second World War, Arabic women's poetry has become markedly more prominent.
(Iraq/Egypt, 1923-2007), daughter of, was, alongside, the initiator of the Free Verse Movement in Arabic poetry. Other major post-war poetic voices have been (Palestine, 1917-2003); (Iraq, b.
1920); (Egypt, 1920-2001); (Palestine, 1926-); (Iraq, b. 1927); (Syria 1935-85), noted for her discussion of her own impending death from cancer; (Tunis, 1938-); (Syria, 1942-), noted not only for poetry but also for short stories and novels; (Kuwait, 1942-); and (Bahrain, 1946-), noted as Bahrain's first female free-verse poet. Unlocked from the constraints of the traditional ode, several of these and other women have had long careers of poetry writing, entering into areas of expression of women's experience that had not been presented in print before. In many ways, this poetic work has gone hand in hand with the growth of critical discourse about women's role, status, and experience, and women's desires to be fully participating members of public society. With few exceptions, critical reception in the Arab world of these and other women poets has been lukewarm at best, for the most part, often filled with criticism of their adherence or lack thereof to poetic principles that have been held as prescriptive in mahy schools of Arabic literary criticiam.
More recent Arabic literature has seen a greater number of female writers' works published:, Ulfat Idlibi, Layla Ba'albakki, Zuhrabi Mattummal, and are just some of the novelists and prose writers. There has also been a number of significant female academics, such as, and who, amongst other subjects, wrote of the place of women in Muslim society. Women writers in the Arabic world have unavoidably courted controversy.
Layla Ba'albakki, for instance, was charged with insulting public decency with her collection of short stories entitled A Spaceship of Tenderness to the Moon. The twenty-first century Contemporary Arabic-language women's literature has been strongly influenced by the diaspora of Arabic-speakers, who have produced writing not only in Arabic but also in other languages, prominently English, French, and German. The Internet is also important: It is among the younger generation of poets that the Internet has become a platform for mounting collections and sharing poetry. Some of these poets have their own websites, while others are included on ever growing web anthologies being posted by young Arab computer geeks dedicated to the construction of web archives for Arabic poetry and poetic history. Similarly, critical treatment of these women's poetry, while now well established in on-line resources and web-based sites for major paper publications throughout the arab world, has yet to produce clearly defined critical means of articulating emerging values for poetry, for measuring the critical worth of some of these new productions, and for encouraging the production of Arab women's poetry which will have weight, depth, and acclaim comparable to the work of some of the major Arab male poets of our day. Literary criticism Early on in the Arabic literary world, there has been a culture of academic criticism. The poetry festivals of the pre-Islamic period often pitched two poets against each other in a war of verse in which one would be deemed winner by the audience.
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Literary criticism also grew into theology, and thus gained a more official status with Islamic study of the Qur'an. Although nothing which might be termed 'literary criticism', in the modern sense, was applied to a work held to be i'jaz or inimitable and divinely inspired, analysis was permitted. This study allowed for better understanding of the message and facilitated interpretation for practical use, all of which help the development of a critical method important for later work on other literature. A clear distinction regularly drawn between works in literary language and popular works has meant that only part of the literature in Arabic was usually considered worthy of study and criticism. Some of the first studies of the poetry are Qawa'id al-shi'r or The Rules of Poetry by Tha'lab and Naqd al-shi'r Poetic Criticism. Other works tended to continue the tradition of contrasting two poets in order to determine which one best follows the rule of classical poetic structure. Plagiarism also became a significant idea exercising the critics' concerns.
The works of were particularly studied with this concern. He was considered by many the greatest of all Arab poets but his own arrogant self-regard for his abilities did not endear him to other writers and they looked for a source for his verse. Just as there were collections of facts written about many different subjects, numerous collections detailing every possible used in literature emerged as well as how to write guides. Modern criticism at first compared the new works unfavourably with the classical ideals of the past but these standards were soon rejected as too artificial. The adoption of the forms of European dictated the introduction of corresponding critical standards., himself keen on European thought, would even dare to challenge the Qur'an with modern critical analysis in which he pointed out the ideas and stories borrowed from pre-Islamic poetry.
Outside views of Arabic literature Literature in Arabic has been influential outside the Islamic world. One of the first important translations of Arabic literature was 's translation of the in the twelfth century but it would not be until the early eighteenth century that much of Arabic's diverse literature would be recognised, largely due to such as and his books such as Arabic Authors: A Manual of Arabian History and Literature. 's translation of the was the first major work in Arabic which found great success outside the Muslim world. Other significant translators were and, along with many working.
The Arabic works and many more in other eastern languages fuelled a fascination in within Europe. Works of dubious 'foreign' morals were particularly popular but even these were censored for content, such as homosexual references, which were not permitted in. Most of the works chosen for translation helped confirm the stereotypes of the audiences with many more still untranslated. Few modern Arabic works have been translated into other languages.
However, towards the end of the twentieth century, there was an increase of translations of Arabic books into other languages, and Arabic authors began to receive acclaim. Egyptian writer has most if not all of his works translated after he won the 1988. Several other writers, including and have been taken quite seriously by Western scholars, and both 's and 's attracted significant Western media attention in the first decade of the twenty-first century. See also. References.