Arabic Literature

I

Introduction

Arabic Literature, the literature of Arabic-speaking peoples, and one of the chief vehicles of Islamic civilization. It originated among the Arabs in Arabia prior to the advent of Islam, but was eventually produced and appreciated from Spain to China.

Although classical Arabic literature was dominated by religious and scholarly considerations, its intrinsic literary and artistic value is great. The poems are forceful, dynamic, realistic, and vivid, in tune with the poets' harsh environment; and the richness of the Arabic language imparts variety and colour to obligatory, almost stereotyped, motifs. Arabic prose too is vivid in style. To the ancient Arab, language was the chief medium of art, and both poetry and prose were meant to be heard. To this day, poetry and oratory can rouse passion and enthusiasm in an Arab crowd.

II

Medieval Period

The most outstanding example of Arabic literature is the Koran, which Muslims consider to have been revealed by God to his Prophet, Muhammad, in the Arabian Desert in the 7th century CE, and which they revere the world over. It is the Islamic counterpart of the Jewish Torah or the Christian Gospels. Its literary style, regarded as inimitable by Muslims, is derived from that of the pre-Islamic Arab soothsayers whose utterances were in the form of brief phrases having rhyme and rhythm but no metre. In its earliest suras, or chapters, the Koran expresses religious concepts with a beauty and passion that can be fully appreciated only in the original Arabic text.

The Koran, although the greatest, is not the earliest example of Arabic literary creativity and eloquence. Hundreds of odes and poems composed about a century before the Prophet's time still exist, some available in European translation. This poetry deals with the life of the Bedouin people, their loves, travels through the desert, fights, rivalries, ambitions, and hatreds. The poets praise their tribes, the sheiks, and often themselves. They bitterly taunt their enemies, provoking them to fight back with the sword or with equally cutting satire. The most distinguished poets were al-A‘shâ, Amr ibn-Kulthum, and Imru Al-Qays. The last two had their finest odes included among the seven prize poems called the Muallaqat (“Suspended”, the poems allegedly having been suspended on the walls of the Kaaba at Mecca). Among other famous collections of pre-Islamic poetry are the Hamâssa (Fortitude) of Abu-Tammâm; the Mufaddaliyât, named after its compiler, al-Mufaddal; and the Kitâb al-Aghâni (The Book of Songs) by Abû al-Faraj al-Asfahânî.

In the courtly atmosphere of Mecca after Muhammad's death, Umar ibn Abî Rabî‘a composed love poems that were disapproved of by the pious, while in the bedouin environment of Al Ḩijāz a new tradition of platonic love poetry was established by the Udhrî poets of the likes of Majnûn Layla and Jamîl Butayna. Poetry continued to flourish under the Umayyad dynasty (661-750) but tended to become artificial, perpetuating forms that represented a vanishing type of life. The outstanding poets of the period were al-Farazdaq and Jarîr, whose long poetic feud with each other was famous. The Abbasid dynasty saw the golden age of Arabic poetry with outstanding creativity covering a large variety of themes and breaking all forms of social taboos. While Abu Nawas was known for his khamriyât (wine poetry) and Ghulâmiyât (poetry about young boys), al-Mutanabbî was renowned for his unmatched eulogies for his patron Sayf al-Dawla, and Abu al-Alâ al-Ma‘arrî dealt with philosophical and political issues. During the same period new poetical genres saw their birth and development in Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain), with well-known poets of the likes of Ibn Zaydûn.

Arabic prose, like poetry, flourished from early times. The oldest surviving works deal with pre-Islamic Ayyâm al-Arab, stories commemorating tribal warfare. They too were written down long after the Prophet's death. Following the spread of Islam, research into the history of the Prophet and of the Islamic conquests dominated Arab and Muslim literature. The Arab historian Ibn-Ishâq wrote a biography of the Prophet. Another Arabian commentator, al-Tabari, produced the Annals, an account of the world from the Creation to 914 CE and the most comprehensive history of early Islam. The search for norms in the conduct of religious, personal, and legal affairs inaugurated the literature of Hadith (Traditions) and Fiqh (Canon Law). Commentaries on these matters and voluminous biographical dictionaries on the authorities from which laws and customs were derived form the major part of medieval Arabic literature.

In such centres of Islamic life as Basra, Al Kufah, and Baghdad, as well as in the non-Arab lands of Iran and Spain, academies were founded for the study of philology, theology, law, and philosophy. Islamic philosophical thought had been stimulated by the study of the ancient Greek philosophers, whose works had been translated by Arab and Jewish scholars into their respective languages. Neoplatonic philosophy too found its way into Arabic thought, most impressively in the writings of al-Farabi. One of the most outstanding works, The Ideal City, deals with a theory of statecraft presented in Neoplatonic terms. In contrast to this work, which idealizes the state as an emanation from the All-One (God) with the Prophet as its ideal leader, other works on statecraft, such as Principles of Government by al-Mawardi, deal with practical political and legal problems of the Muslim state. Conflicting ideas on the essence of God and on free will and the eternal nature of the Koran stimulated philosophical discussion and created dissenting schools of thought. In the 12th and 13th centuries Islamic Sufism, or mysticism, found literary expression in the poetry of Ibn al-Farîd and Ibn Al-Arabi and in the writings of Ikhwan al-Safâ (the Brethren of Purity). Some of the greatest medieval philosophers wrote in Arabic; their work was studied in the West and greatly influenced the development of Scholasticism. The most outstanding among these Arab philosophers were Averroës (Ibn Rushd), Avicenna (Ibn Sîna), and al-Ghazali.

Side by side with the works of the learned, a folk literature developed. It consisted of the narratives recited by storytellers in the bazaars of the old Near East and formed an oral tradition still vital in that part of the world. Heroes of antiquity and the famous 8th-century caliph Harun ar-Rashid became the centre of romantic and imaginative tales in the Romance of Antar and the well-known Arabian Nights. These romances were entertainment for the masses, and so they spurned classical style and language and were considered unworthy of notice by the learned. More to the taste of the scholar and the well-born were the celebrated Maqamat (Assemblies) of the poet al-Hamadhânî and the Maqamat of the writer al-Hariri, which were meant to instruct as well as to amuse. Every line of al-Hariri's work was judged by the grammarian al-Zamakhsharî to deserve “being written in gold”.

After the brilliant intellectual life of the Middle Ages a long period of stagnation followed. For some six centuries scholarly activity was almost exclusively devoted to commentaries on the works of the earlier masters; to digests of their historical, theological, and legal studies; and to anthologies of earlier books. Although not without value for the modern historian and scholar, these works accept tradition without reservation or critical analysis.

III

Modern Period

It is generally accepted among scholars of Arabic literature that the expedition of Napoleon to Egypt in 1798 marked the beginnings of the renaissance in the Arab world. Napoleon took two printing presses and a crew of scholars with him to Egypt. During their relatively short stay in the region the French gave the Egyptians their first experience of the printing press, which after the departure of the French was developed by Muhammad Ali Pasha, governor of Egypt for the Ottoman Sultan, when he created the Boulaq press, largely known as the moving engine for the revival of modern Arabic literature.

Another important factor that contributed to this revival was Muhammad Ali’s policy of sending students to Europe to acquire knowledge. Such students came into direct contact with Western literature and civilization, which influenced them greatly. Rifâ‘a al-Tahtâwi was sent to France (1826-1831) as the imam (chaplain) of a large educational mission. In his book Takhlîs al-Ibrîz fî Talkhîs Parîs he recorded with great amazement all that he saw and learned in Paris. He acquired the French language and read a great number of French literary works. When he returned to Egypt he not only launched a school of translation and supervised the translations of major books by his students, but also translated several works into Arabic. Al-Tahtâwi’s contribution to Arabic literature did not have an immediate effect but bore fruit later on under the rule of Ismail Pasha (1863-1879).

It is worth noting, however, that the literary renaissance was not confined to Egypt. Syria and Lebanon also played a major role, reviving traditional literary genres such as classical poetry and the maqâma, the latter being imitated by Nâsîf al-Yâzijî (1800-1871); moreover, Arabic drama was pioneered by Mârûn al-Naqqâsh (1817-1855), and modern Arabic dictionaries and an encyclopedia were produced by Butrus al-Bustânî (1819-1883).

While the 19th century may rightly be considered a period of renaissance during which Arabs revived their classical genres and came into contact with Western literature and civilization, mainly through the medium of translation, the 20th century witnessed the real birth of modern Arabic literature.

At the hands of the neo-classical poets, particularly Mahmûd Sâmî al-Bârûdî (1838-1904), poetry regained its classical distinction, with Ahmad Shawqî (1868-1932), Hâfiz Ibrahîm (1871-1932), and Khalîl Mutrân (1872-1949) all covering a wide variety of modern themes while adhering to traditional forms.

The next generation of Arab poets, namely Nâzik al-Malâ’ika, Badr Shâkir al-Sayyâb, Abd al-Rahmân al-Sharqâwî, Abû Shâdî, and the Mahjar poets (emigrant Arab poets in the United States), experimented with new literary trends such as Romanticism, Realism, and Existentialism, as well as new forms such as free verse and the prose poem. Although such changes are mainly due to Western influences, they also came as a response to the demands of the social and political movements in the Arab world. It was also as a response to such demands that new prose genres were developed, namely the short story and the novel. These latter genres quickly overtook the literary scene and even surpassed poetry in their popularity in the contemporary Arab world.

The award of the Nobel Prize to Naguib Mahfouz (1911- ) in 1988 was not simply an acknowledgement of a single author’s achievement, but also the confirmation that the Arabic novel had attained international recognition. Another Arab novelist of international reputation is Hanan al-Shaykh (1945- ), author of several novels that mainly deal with Arab women’s issues. A good example is Hikâyat Zahra (1986; The Story of Zahra, 1986), which gives an insight into the everyday life and culture of a young woman growing up in the recently war-stricken country of Lebanon. In her prize-winning novel Dhâkirat al-Jassad (1985; Memory in the Flesh, 1985), Ahlam Mustghanemi (1953- ) explores Algeria’s struggle against France and the fate of revolutionary ideas in post-independence society. Tahar Wattar (1936- ) writes about similar issues, especially in his novel Al-Zilzâl (1974; Earthquake, 2000). ‘Abd al-Rahman Munif (1933-2003) is one of the most prominent Arab novelists to have used modernist narrative techniques. In his quintet Mudun al-Milh (Cities of Salt, 1984-1989), he chronicles the transformation of a traditional desert society following the discovery of oil.

The short story is also a well-developed and very popular genre in Arabic literature. Famous writers include Yusuf Idris (1927-1991), who brought the Arabic short story to its peak, and Zakaria Tamer (1929- ), whose writing style is unique in the way he uses allegory to reveal the chaos and lack of freedom inherent in the Arab world. Examples of his works include his collection Al-Numûr fî al-Yawm al-‘Âshir (1978; Tigers on the Tenth Day). Muhammad Zefzaf (1945-2001) established himself as a critical writer who deplored the shortcomings of post-independence Morocco with the publication of his first collection Hiwâr fî Layl Muta’akhir (1970; Conversation late one Night) and through several subsequent publications. Ghassan Kanafani (1936-1972) voiced the Palestinians’ ordeal of uprootedness and exile. An example of his work is the posthumously published collection, Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa & Other Stories (2000).

It is also worth noting that a wide range of diasporic Arabic literature exists today as an expression of the Arab authors living in the diaspora. Such literature is written both in Arabic and various European languages. These authors include Assia Djebar (1936- ), who writes in French; Tayeb Salih (1929- ), who writes in Arabic; and Ahdaf Soueif (1950- ), who writes in English. Examples of their work are: Djebar’s L’Amour la Fantasia (1985; Fantasia: an Algerian Cavalcade, 1985), Salih’s Mawsim al-Hijra ila al-Shamâl (1969; Season of Migration to the North, 1969), and Soueif’s Map of Love (1999).