A Wealth of Information

 Arabic Authors

A MANUAL OF ARABIAN HISTORY AND LITERATURE.

BY F.F. ARBUTHNOT, M.R.A.S.,

Originally Published in 1890.

PREFACE.

The following pages contain nothing new and nothing original, but they do contain a good deal of information gathered from various sources, and brought together under one cover. The book itself may be useful, not, perhaps, to the Professor or to the Orientalist, but to the general reader, and to the student commencing the study of Arabic. To the latter it will give some idea of the vast field of Arabian literature that lies before him, and prepare him, perhaps, for working out a really interesting work upon the subject. Such still remains to be written in the English language, and it is to be hoped that it will be  done some day thoroughly and well.

It is gratifying to think that the study of Oriental languages and literature is progressing in Europe generally, if not in England particularly. The last Oriental Congress, held at Stockholm and Christiania the beginning of September, 1889, brought together a goodly number of Oriental scholars. There were twenty-eight nationalities represented altogether, and the many papers prepared and read, or taken as read preparatory to their being printed, showed that matters connected with Oriental studies in all their branches excite considerable interest.

England, too, has been lately making some efforts which will be, it is sincerely hoped, crowned with success. The lectures on modern Oriental languages lately established by the Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India, in union with University College and King's College, London, is full of promise of bringing forth good fruit hereafter. So much is to be learnt from Oriental literature in various ways that it is to be hoped the day may yet come when the study of one or more Oriental languages will be taken up as a pastime to fill the leisure hours of a future generation thirsting after knowledge.

For assistance in the preparation of this present volume my thanks are due to the many authors whose works have been freely used and quoted, and also to Mr. E. Rehatsek, of Bombay, whose knowledge of the Arabic language and of Arabic literature is well known to all Oriental scholars.

F.F. ARBUTHNOT.
18, Park Lane, W.

CONTENTS



CHAPTER I.
HISTORICAL.

Arabia: its boundaries, divisions of districts, revenues, area,
population, and history.--Tribe of Koraish.--The Kaabah at
Mecca.--Muhammad.--His immediate successors: Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman,
Ali.--The Omaiyides.--Fate of Hasan and Hussain, sons of Ali--Sunnis
and Shiahs.--Overthrow of the Omaiyides by the Abbasides.--The
Omaiyides in Spain; their conquests and government.--The Moors, and
their final expulsion.--To what extent Europe is indebted to the
Spanish Arabs.--Their literature and architecture.--The Abbaside Khalifs
at Baghdad.--Persia, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Arabia become detached
from their government in the course of time.--Fall of Baghdad itself
in A.D. 1258.--Dealings of the Turks with Arabia.--The Wahhabi reform
movement.--Expeditions of the Turks and Egyptians to suppress
it.--Various defeats and successes.--Present form of government in
Arabia.--Its future prospects.--List of the Omaiyide Khalifs, preceded
by Muhammad and his four immediate successors.--List of the Abbaside
Khalifs.--List of the Arab rulers in Spain.


CHAPTER II.
LITERARY.

About the Arabic and Chinese languages.--The permanent character of
the former attributed to the Koran.--Division of Arab literature into
three periods: I. The time before Muhammad.--The sage Lokman; the
description of three Lokmans; Arab poetry before the Koran; the seven
suspended poems, known as the Mua'llakat, at Mecca; notions of the
Arabs about poetry; their Kasidas; description of the Kasidas of
Amriolkais, Antara, Labid, Tarafa, Amru, Harath, and Zoheir; the poets
Nabiga, Al-Kama, and Al-Aasha. II. The period from the time of
Muhammad to the fall of the Abbasides.--Muhammad considered as a poet;
the poets who were hostile to him; his panegyrist Kab bin Zoheir;
account of him and his 'Poem of the Mantle,' and the results;
Al-Busiri's 'Poem of the Mantle;' names of poets favourable and hostile
to Muhammad; the seven jurisconsults; the four imams; the six fathers
of tradition; the early traditionists; the companions; the alchemists;
the astronomers; the grammarians; the geographers and travellers; the
historians; the tabulators and biographers; the writers about natural
history; the philologists; the philosophers; the physicians; the
poets; the collectors and editors of poems; the essayist Al-Hariri;
many translators; special notice of Ibn Al-Mukaffa; support given to
learning and literature by certain of the Omaiyide, Abbaside, and
Spanish Arab Khalifs; description of Baghdad; reign of
Harun-ar-Rashid; the Barmekides; the Khalif Razi-billah; Hakim II. at
Cordova; his education; his accession to the throne; his collection of
books; his library, and its catalogue; places of learning in the East at
this time. III. Third period, from the fall of Baghdad to the present
time.--Certain historians; Ibn Malik, the grammarian; Ibn Batuta, the
traveller; Abul Feda, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Kesir, Ibn Hajar, Ibn
Arabshah--all historians; Firuzabadi, Taki-uddin of Fez, Al-Makrisi,
Sayuti, Ibn Kamal Pasha, Abu Sa'ud the mufti, Ibrahim of Aleppo,
Birgeli, Abul Khair; celebrated caligraphers, past and present, Haji
Khalfa, Muhammad al Amin of Damascus, Makkari. Decline of Arabic
literature: its present form. About the printing-presses of Arabic
works at various places.


CHAPTER III.
ABOUT MUHAMMAD.

A complete summary of the details of his life, from his birth to his
death.--Remarks upon him as a reformer, preacher, and apostle.--The
Hanyfs.--Muhammad's early idea of establishing one religion for the
Jews, Christians, and Arabs.--His long struggle with the Koraish.--His
failure at Mecca.--His success at Madinah.--Adapts his views to the
manners and customs of the Arabs only.--The reason of his many
marriages.--His love of women.--About the Koran.--Not collected and
arranged until after his death.--Comparison of the Koran with the Old
and New Testaments.--Superiority of our Bible.--Description of it by
'Il Secolo.'--Rev. Mr. Badger's description of the Koran.--Written in
the purest Arabic, and defies competition.--Muhammad and Moses, Jesus
and Buddha.--Remarks about Buddhism and Christianity.--Moses and
Muhammad the founders of two nationalities.--Abraham the father of the
Jewish, Christian, and Muhammadan religions.--Rénan's description of
the gods of the Jews.--Joseph.--The Twelve Tribes.--Appearance of
Moses as a liberator and organizer.--The reasons of his wanderings in
the desert.--What the Jews owed to Moses, and the Arabs to
Muhammad.--The latter as a military leader.--Resemblance of the warlike
expeditions of the Jews and of the Arabs.--Similar proceedings in the
Soudan at the present time.--Account of the dogmas and precepts of
Islam as embodied in the Koran.--Other points connected with the
institutions of Islam.--Faith and prayer always insisted
upon.--Democratic character of the Muhammadan religion, excellent in
theory, but doubtful in practice.--Muhammad's last address at Mina,
telling the Muslims that they were one brotherhood.--His final remarks.


CHAPTER IV.
TALES AND STORIES.

The Kalilah wa Dimnah.--'Early Ideas.'--'Persian Portraits,'--Origin
of the 'Arabian Nights.'--The Hazar Afsaneh, or Thousand Stories. Date
of the 'Nights.'--Its fables and apologues the oldest part of the
work.--Then certain stories--The latest tales.--Galland's
edition.--His biography.--His successors, sixteen in number, ending with
Payne and Burton.--The complete translations of these two last-named, in
thirteen and sixteen volumes respectively.--Brief analysis of Payne's
first nine, and of Burton's first ten volumes.--Short summary of
twelve stories; viz.: The tale of Aziz and Azizah; the tale of Kamar
Al-Zaman and the Lady Budur; Ala Aldin Abu Al-Shamat; Ali the Persian
and the Kurd sharper; the man of Al-Yaman and his six slave-girls; Abu
Al-Husn and his slave-girl Tawaddud; the rogueries of Dalilah the
Crafty and her daughter Zeynab the Trickstress; the adventures of
Quicksilver Ali of Cairo; Hasan of Busra and the king's daughter of
the Jinn; Ali Nur Al-din and Miriam the girdle-girl; Kamar Al-Zaman
and the jeweller's wife; Ma'aruf the cobbler and his wife
Fatimah.--Remarks on Payne's three extra volumes, entitled 'Tales from
the Arabic,' and on Burton's two first supplemental volumes.--Allusion
to Burton's third supplemental and to Payne's thirteenth
volume.--Burton's fourth, fifth, and sixth supplemental volumes.
--Summing-up of the number of stories contained in the above two
editions; from what manuscripts they were translated, and some final
remarks.--The Kathá Sarit Ságara, a sort of Hindoo 'Arabian Nights'.
--Comparison of the two works.--Brief description of the Kathá and its
contents.--Gunádhya and Somadeva.--Final remarks on the stories found
in the Kathá.--Antar, a Bedouin romance.--Its partial translation.--Its
supposed author.--Brief description of the work, with some remarks upon
it.--Both the 'Arabian Nights' and Antar rather long.--The press in
England to-day.--Numerous writers of novels and story-books.--These
take the place of the 'Nights,' and satisfy the public, always in
search of something new, even if not true; something original, even if
not trustworthy.--Final remarks.


CHAPTER V.
ANECDOTES AND ANA.

In Persian literature the Gulistan, Negaristan, and Beharistan contain
many anecdotes.--In Arabic literature there are works of the same
kind.--'The Naphut-ul-Yaman,' or Breath of Yaman.--Six stories
translated from it.--The Merzuban namah, with newly translated
extracts from it.--Remarks on this work.--The Al-Mustatraf, or the
Gleaner or the Collector.--Two stories from it.--Two anecdotes taken
from the Sehr-ul-oyoon, or Magic of the Eyes.--A philosophic
discourse, translated from the Siraj-ul-Muluk, or Lamp of Kings.--The
Ilam en Nas, or Warnings for Men.--Eighteen stories from Ibn
Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary.--Seven anecdotes from various
sources.--Verses from the Arabic about the places where certain Arabs
wished to be buried.--Translation of the verses upon Alfred de
Musset's tomb in Paris.