An Anthology of Arabic Literature From the Classical to the Modern

by Khalidi, Tarif

• ISBN13: 9781474410786
• ISBN10: 1474410782
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-04-01
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Author Biography

Tarif Khalidi is Shaykh Zayid bin Sultan Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Acknowledgments

Pre-Modern Texts

I. Poetry

Mock-heroic

1. The Poet and the Wolf
Al-Buhturi (d.897)

2. A love and wine song
Tamim ibn al-Mu`izz al-Fatimi (10th cent)

3. Elegy for a drinking companion
`Abdullah ibn al-Mu`tazz (d.908)

4. Bedouin chivalry
A bedouin and his guest
Al-Hutay'ah (d.ca.661)

5. Frivolous love
A girl called Hind
`Umar ibn Abi Rabi`a (d.711)

6. Melancholy
A rain cloud
Abu al-`Ala' al-Ma`arri ( d. 1057)

7. Heretical verse
Belief and Unbelief
Abu al-`Ala' al-Ma`arri

8. Elegy for a heroic brother
A poetess mourns her brother
al-Fari`ah (d. ca. 800)

9. Elegy
Elegy for the celebrated Wazir, Nizam al-Mulk (d.1092)
Anonymous

10. Elegy
Elegy for a friend
Abu'l `Ala' al-Ma`arri ( d. 1057)

11. Humor
Grey Hairs
Abu `Ali al-Hasan ibn `Abdullah (d.1001)

12. Poets and their daughters
A poet to his daughter (1)
Anonymous

13. A dying poet to his daughter (2)
Abu Firas al-Hamdani, (d.968)

14. Elegy for the fall of al-Andalus (Muslim Spain)
Abu'l Baqa' al-Rundi (d.1285)

15. Elegy for the wazir Ibn Baqiyya,
Abu'l Hasan al-Anbari (d. 10th cent.)

16. Elegy: humorous
Elegy for a tom-cat
Ibn al-`Allaf (d.930)

17. Elegy: humorous
Elegy for an extracted molar tooth
Al-Babi (d.?)

18. Exile
A poet dying in exile
Ibn Zurayq al-Baghdadi (d. 1029).

19. Imagery
A woman bathing
Abu Nuwas (d.814)

20. Imagery
Poetic fragments on nature and natural object by diverse poets:
The crescent moon
The new moon in daytime
The full moon behind clouds
The moon shining upon water
The moon amidst stars
The stars
The Pleiades
Gemini
Mars
Vega
Vega, Altair and Pisces
Ursa Major
Pitch-black night
Dawn
The rainbow
Midday heat
Extreme cold
A day both bright and cloudy
Shadows cast by tree leaves
The rose and the daffodil
Red Anemone
Wallflower
The Judas tree

21. Love
Poetic fragments on the joys and agonies of love by diverse poets

22. Love: seduction
A poet defends his seduction of a young and innocent girl
Bashshar ibn Burd (d.783)

II. Prose

1. On authors and authorship
Jahiz, (d.868)

2. Advice to public speakers (1)
Jahiz
Advice to public speakers (2)
Jahiz

3. The power of suggestion
Jahiz

4. An animal fable
The lion, the wolf, the raven, the jackal and the camel
Ibn al-Muqaffa` (d.756)

5. An animal fable
The flea and the mosquito
Baha' al-Din al-`Amili (d. 1621)

6. Snappy Answers

7. Heretics (1)
On Ibn al-Shalmaghani, his execution and a brief mention of his heretical views
Abu'l Fida (d.1331)
Heretics (2)
The death of Abu Talib al-Makki, the famous mystic
Abu'l Fida
Heretics (3)
Rival Qur'ans
Abu'l Husayn al-Haruni al-Zaydi (d.1030)

8. Last will and testament
Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni (d.1085)

9. Psychology
Psychology of Old Age
Fakhr al-din al-Razi (d.1209)

10. Psychology
Education of the young
Ghazali (d.1111)

11. Psychology
Firasa (physiognomy)
Fakhr al-din al-Razi (d.1209)

12. Foreign Lands (1)
England
Ibn Sa`id al-Maghribi (d.1286)

13. Foreign Lands (2)
The Land of the Franks
Zakariyya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini (d.1283)

14. Foreign Lands (3)
Ireland
Qazwini

15. Foreign Lands (4)
A medieval Lilliput
Qazwini

16. Foreign lands (5)
The Emperor Frederick II (d. 1250) tricks his rivals
Ibn Wasil (d.1298)

17. Foreign lands (6)
Propaganda during the Third Crusade, 1190
Abu Shama (d. 1268)

18. Foreign lands (7)
A Byzantine emperor's finery
Al-Qadi al-Rashid ibn al-Zubayr (d. late 11th cent.)

19. Foreign lands (8)
Diplomacy: Embassy of Queen Bertha daughter of Lothar
Al-Qadi al-Rashid ibn al-Zubayr

20. Anecdote (1)
A lesson in generosity
Ibn Khallikan (d.1282)

21. Anecdote (2)
A brilliant judge
Ibn `Asakir (d. 1175)

22. Anecdote (3)
Poetic justice: revenge
Ghars al-Ni`mah al-Sabi (d.1087)

23. Anecdote (4)
A clown at a Caliph's court
Al-Sharishi (d.1222)

24. Anecdote (5)
A classic children's story: Tanburi's shoe
Anonymous

25. Anecdote (6)
Three real-life stories on the theme of "Ease following hardship"
Ahmad ibn Yusuf Ibn al-Daya (d. ca. 942)

26. Anecdote (7)
Pre-Islamic Arabian lore
Ibn Habib (d.859)

27. Argument (1)
Theology as defined by a philosopher
Farabi (d.950)

28. Argument (2)
On marvels and oddities of nature (excerpts)
Mas`udi (d.956)

29. Argument (3)
Can a woman be a prophet?
Ibn Hazm (d.1064)

30. Argument (4)
Paradise is a bore
Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. ca.1010)

31. Argument (5)
What is laughter?
Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi

32. Argument (6)
A division of existents
Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi

33. Argument (7)
An humorous exchange on the subject of miserliness
Ibn Qutayba (d.889)

34. Argument (8)
An argument over date wine
Al-Zajjaji (d.951)

35. Argument (9)
The symptoms of love
Ibn Hazm (d.1064)

36. Sexuality
Sexual manners
Ghazali (d.1111)

37. Reflections on history (1)
Civilizations and religious beliefs
Jahiz

38. Reflections on history (2)
Were the ancients taller and longer-lived than us?
Mas`udi (d.956)

39. Reflections on history (3)
Dismissing a vizier
Ibn al-Athir (d.1232)

40. Reflections on history (4)
Biographers and biography
Al-Subki (d.1369)

41. Reflections on history (5)
Dynastic transitions
Ibn al-Athir (d. 1232)

42. Reflections on history (6)
The Mongol Invasions
Ibn al-Athir

43. Reflections on history (7)
The Caliph `Uthman and the First Civil War in Islamic history
Ibn Khaldun (d.1404)

44. Reflections on history (8)
Arab history comes round full circle
Ibn Khaldun (d.1404)

45. Reflections on history (9)
Causes of the decline of states
Turtushi (d. 1126)

46. Reflections on history (10)
Military feudalism in Andalusia
Turtushi

47. Reflections on history (11)
Religions and policies of ancient nations
Turtushi

48. Reflections on history (12)
Are the conquests of Alexander the Great credible as reported?
Yaqut (d.1229)

49. History: direct witness (1)
The death of Saladin, 1193
Abu Shama (d. 1268)

50. History: direct witness (2)
Ibn Khaldun and Tamerlane: The great world historian meets the great world conqueror, 1401
Ibn Khaldun (d.1406)

51. Society
Arts and crafts in cities (excerpts)
Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa ("Epistles of the Pure Brethren") (ca.10-11th cent.)

52. Sufism (Islamic mysticism) (1)
Sufi sayings and stories
Abu `Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d.1021)

53. Sufism (2)
Licit and illicit as colors: a Sufi view
Abu Talib al-Makki (d. 996)

54. Sufism (3)
(1) Sufi solitude (Ghazali)
(2) How Satan enters the human heart (Ghazali)

55. Proverbs and aphorisms
Proverbs popular among the common people of Baghdad in the tenth century
Al-Abi (d.1030)

56. Literary judgments (1)
The celebrated poet al-Farazdaq (d.728) to a man who showed him his inferior verse
Abu Zayd al-Qurashi (d. early 10th cent)

56. Literary judgments (2)
The famous critic al-Asma`i (d. 828) on poetry
Al-Marzubani (d.994)

57. Literary judgments (3)
On verse and prose
Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. ca.1010)

58. Literary judgments (4)
The introduction to a famous literary anthology
Ibn Qutayba (d.889)

59. Literary judgments (5)
A celebrated poet on his verse
Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Suli (d. 946)

60. Literary judgments (6)
When can a simile be considered truly remarkable ?
`Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani (d.1078)

61. Reflections on the state (1)
The democratic city-state
Farabi (d. 950)

62. Reflections on the state (2)
Inaugural address by the Umayyad caliph Yazid III, a "democratic" caliph
Ibn Hamdun

63. Polemic (1)
Christian Arabic Polemics against Islam
`Abd al-Masih al-Kindi, (ca. beginning of 10th cent.)

64. Polemic (2)
Debates with Jews and Christians
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 1350)

65. Jesus
Passages on Jesus in the Qur'an Commentary (Tafsir) of Tabari (d. 923)
His birth
Jesus speaks in his cradle
The livelihood of Jesus
The Crucifixion of Jesus
The death and ascension of Jesus

66. Wisdom Literature (1)
A famous scholar describes how he spends his days
Ibn `Abd al-Barr (d.1070)

67. Wisdom Literature (2)
1. Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad
2. Sayings of `Ali ibn Abi Talib
3. Sundry wisdom sayings

Modern Texts

I .Poetry

Political protest (1)
3 popular political songs
Ahmad Fu'ad Najm

Political protest (2)
Two poems
Muhammad al-Maghut (1934-2006)

Heretics
A poet's heretical credo
Ma`ruf al-Rusafi (d. 1945)

Jesus
Christ after the Crucifixion
Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (d. 1964)

II. Prose

(1) Popular Historiography
A Damascene barber records the life around him
Al-Budayri al-Hallaq (d. after 1762)

(2) Short Stories
A child's secret
Fu'ad al-Tikirli

(3) Three short stories
Zakariyya Tamir (b. 1931)

(4) Feminism
Early modern feminism
May Ziadeh (d.1941)

(5) Feminism
Two autobiographical accounts
`Anbara Salam al-Khalidi (d.1986)

(6) Personal Experience
An Egyptian Muslim cleric defrocks (ca. 1927)
Ahmad Amin

(7) Personal experience
An encounter with George Bernard Shaw (ca.1910)
Salama Musa (d. 1958)

(8) Personal Experience
Scenes from the First World War (Palestine)
Khalil al-Sakakini (1878-1953)

(9) Personal Experience
The Versailles Peace Conference: An Arab perspective
Rustum Haidar (d.1940)

Two encounters with Anatole France
Rustum Haidar.

Scenes from the First World War (Lebanon)
`Anbara Salam al-Khalidi,
`Ajjaj Nuwayhid,
Yusuf al-Hakim.

(10) Humor
The Fat Person
Sa`id Taqyiddin (d.1960)

(11) Jesus
Christ: a modern Muslim view
`Abbas Mahmud al-`Aqqad, (d. 1964)

(12) Heretics
Fanaticism
Ma`ruf al-Rusafi

(13) Foreign lands
England in the 1840's
A village in Cambridgeshire
English social classes
Oxford and Cambridge
Praiseworthy English customs
English marriage customs
English children's upbringing
English Table-manners
English and French prostitutes
Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq (d.1887)

(14) Political Writings
Editorials
Who owns the "weapon" of democracy?
Hatred of America
Joseph Samaha (d.2010)

(15) Political Writings
Modern Syria's literary and national renaissance
Antun Saadeh (1904-1949)

(16) Political Writings
A Marxist analysis of the term "Civilization"
Mahdi `Amil (1936-87)

(17) Muslim Law
A modern Muslim jurist on punishments in Muslim sacred law
`Abdullah al-`Alayli

(18) Aphorisms for our times
Ibrahim al-Kuni (b.1948)

Sources
Index