Features
41-429: Types Types Features Clothing Genres Art music Folk Prose Islamic Poetry Genres Forms Arabic prosody National literatures of Arab States Concepts Texts Fictional Arab people South Arabian deities The Hamasah ( Arabic : حماسة ; lit. ' Valour ' ) is a genre of Arabic poetry that "recounts chivalrous exploits in
82-610: A non-fiction form of Islamic advice literature , and various fictional literary genres . The definition of Islamic literature is a matter of debate, with some definitions categorizing anything written in a majority-Muslim nation as "Islamic" so long as the work can be appropriated into an Islamic framework, even if the work is not authored by a Muslim. By this definition, categories like Indonesian literature , Somali literature , Pakistani literature , and Persian literature would all qualify as Islamic literature. A second definition focuses on all works authored by Muslims, regardless of
123-640: A manuscript of The Tale of Sindbad the Sailor in Constantinople during the 1690s and, in 1701, he published his translation of it into French. Its success encouraged him to embark on a translation of a fourteenth- or fifteenth-century Syrian manuscript (now known as the Galland Manuscript ) of The Thousand and One Nights . The first two volumes of this work, under the title Mille et Une Nuits , appeared in 1704. The twelfth and final volume
164-577: A number of tales are known in Europe as "Arabian Nights", despite existing in no Arabic manuscript. This compilation has been influential in the West since it was first translated by Antoine Galland in the 18th century. Many imitations were written, especially in France. In the 12th century, Ibn Tufail wrote the novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan , or Philosophus Autodidactus ( The Self-Taught Philosopher ), as
205-466: A response to al-Ghazali 's The Incoherence of the Philosophers . The novel, which features a protagonist who has been spontaneously generated on an island, demonstrates the harmony of religion and philosophy and the virtues of an inquiring soul. In the same century, Ibn al-Nafis wrote the novel Theologus Autodidactus ( The Self-Taught Theologian ) in response to Ibn Tufail’s work; the novel
246-669: A third voyage, being commissioned by the French East India Company to collect for the cabinet of Colbert . On the expiration of this commission, he was instructed by the government to continue his research, and had the title of antiquary to the king ( Louis XIV ) conferred upon him. During his prolonged residences abroad, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Arabic , Turkish , and Persian languages and literatures, which, on his final return to France, enabled him to render valuable assistance to Melchisédech Thévenot ,
287-663: A tolerant, intellectual island where I can deal with Dostoyevsky and Sartre, both great influences for me". The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is a literary prize managed in association with the Booker Prize Foundation in London and supported by the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi . The prize is for prose fiction by Arabic authors. Each year, the winner of the prize receives US$ 50,000 and
328-485: A translation from an Arabic manuscript, De l'origine et du progrès du café . The former of these works appeared in an English translation in 1795. His Contes et fables indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokrnan was published posthumously in 1724. Among his numerous manuscripts are a translation of the Qur'an and a Histoire générale des empereurs Turcs . His journal was published by Charles Schefer in 1881. Galland had come across
369-429: A vowel followed by a single-rhyming letter. The most common form of Persian poetry comes in the ghazal, a love-themed short poem made of seven to twelve verses and composed in the monorhyme scheme. Urdu poetry is known for its richness, multiple genres, traditions of live public performances through Mushairas , Qawwali and Ghazal singing in modern times. Ferdowsi 's Shahnameh , the national epic poem of Iran ,
410-411: A wave of imitations and the widespread 18th century fashion for oriental tales. As Jorge Luis Borges wrote: Another fact is undeniable. The most famous and eloquent encomiums of The Thousand and One Nights – by Coleridge , Thomas de Quincey , Stendhal , Tennyson , Edgar Allan Poe , Newman – are from readers of Galland's translation. Two hundred years and ten better translations have passed, but
451-792: Is a defense of the rationality of prophetic revelation. The protagonists of both these narratives were feral children (Hayy in Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and Kamil in Theologus Autodidactus ) who were autodidactic (self-taught) and living in seclusion on a desert island . A Latin translation of Philosophus Autodidactus first appeared in 1671, prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger, followed by an English translation by Simon Ockley in 1708, as well as German and Dutch translations. Robert Boyle 's own philosophical novel set on an island, The Aspiring Naturalist , may have been inspired by
SECTION 10
#1732772595237492-558: Is a mythical and heroic retelling of Persian history . Amir Arsalan was also a popular mythical Persian story. Beginning in the 15th century Bengali poetry , originating depicts the themes of internal conflict with the nafs , Islamic cosmology , historical battles, love and existential ideas concerning one’s relationship with society. The historical works of Shah Muhammad Sagir , Alaol , Abdul Hakim , Syed Sultan and Daulat Qazi mixed Bengali folk poetry with Perso-Arabian stories and themes, and are considered an important part of
533-527: The Arabic language and Arabic literature ; science ; and medicine . Three of the prizes are widely considered as the most prestigious awards in the Muslim world. Antoine Galland Antoine Galland ( French: [ɑ̃twan ɡalɑ̃] ; 4 April 1646 – 17 February 1715) was a French orientalist and archaeologist , most famous as the first European translator of One Thousand and One Nights , which he called Les mille et une nuits . His version of
574-686: The Muslim culture of Bengal. Ginans are devotional hymns or poems recited by Shia Ismaili Muslims . Dante Alighieri 's Divine Comedy , considered the greatest epic of Italian literature , derived many features of and episodes about the hereafter directly or indirectly from Arabic works on Islamic eschatology : the Hadith and the Kitab al-Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before as Liber scalae Machometi , "The Book of Muhammad's Ladder") concerning Muhammad 's ascension to Heaven, and
615-714: The Tanzimat period of the 19th century. Cultural Muslim poetry is influenced by both Islamic metaphors and local poetic forms of various regions including the Arabic tradition of Qasida actually beginning since ancient pre-Islamic times. Some Sufi traditions are known for their devotional poetry . Arab poetry influenced the rest of Muslim poetry world over. Likewise Persian poetry too shared its influences beyond borders of modern-day Iran particularly in south Asian languages like Urdu Bengali etc.. Genres present in classical Persian poetry vary and are determined by rhyme, which consists of
656-520: The category of Islamic law dealing with etiquette , or a gesture of greeting . According to Issa J. Boullata, Adab material had been growing in volume in Arabia before Islam and had been transmitted orally for the most part. With the advent of Islam, its growth continued and it became increasingly diversified. It was gradually collected and written down in books, ayrab literature other material adapted from Persian, Sanskrit, Greek, and other tongues as
697-596: The 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize. In 1989, in an interview following the fatwa against him for alleged blaspheme in his novel The Satanic Verses , Rushdie said that he was in a sense a lapsed Muslim, though "shaped by Muslim culture more than any other", and a student of Islam. Oman author Jokha Alharthi (b.1978) was the first Arabic-language writer to win the Man Booker International Prize in 2019 with her novel Celestial Bodies . The book focuses on three Omani sisters and
738-470: The Arab world and beyond, is responsible for appointing six new judges each year, and for the overall management of the prize. The King Faisal Prize ( Arabic : جائزة الملك فيصل ) is an annual award sponsored by King Faisal Foundation presented to "dedicated men and women whose contributions make a positive difference". The foundation awards prizes in five categories: Service to Islam ; Islamic studies ;
779-561: The Arabic language spread with the expansion of Islam's political dominion in the world. It included stories and saying from the Bible, the Qur’ān, and the Ḥadīth. Eventually, the heritage of adab became so large that philologists and other scholars had to make selections, therefore, each according to his interests and his plans to meet the needs of particular readers, such as students seeking learning and cultural refinement, or persons associated with
820-510: The Islamic state such as viziers, courtiers, chancellors, judges, and government secretaries seeking useful knowledge and success in polished quarters. Key early adab anthologies were the al-Mufaḍḍaliyyāt of Al-Mufaḍḍal al-Ḍabbī (d. c. 780 CE); Abū Tammām 's Dīwān al-Ḥamāsa (d. 846 CE); ʿUyūn al-Akhbār , compiled by Ibn Qutayba (d. 889 CE); and Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih 's al-ʿIqd al-Farīd (d. 940 CE). Some scholar's studies attribute
861-466: The Quran and hadith. An alternate definition states that Islamic literature is any literature about Muslims and their pious deeds. Some academics have moved beyond evaluations of differences between Islamic and non-Islamic literature to studies such as comparisons of the novelization of various contemporary Islamic literatures and points of confluence with political themes, such as nationalism . Over
SECTION 20
#1732772595237902-706: The best known works of fiction from the Islamic world is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ), a compilation of many earlier folk tales set in a frame story of being told serially by the Persian Queen Scheherazade . The compilation took form in the 10th century and reached its final form by the 14th century; the number and type of tales have varied from one manuscript to another. Many other Arabian fantasy tales were often called "Arabian Nights" when translated into English , regardless of whether they appeared in any version of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights or not, and
943-414: The centuries, there have been numerous bibliographies and biographical dictionaries attempting to list authors of Islamic literature, including India -born scholar Maulana Mahmud Hasan Khan of Rajasthan , who passed away in 1946 and whose 60-volume M'ojam-ul-Musannifin (Dictionary of Authors) in Arabic provides the biographical sketches of some 40,000 writers from all over the Islamic world. Among
984-468: The context of military glories and victories". The first work in this genre is Kitab al-Hamasah of Abu Tammam . List of popular Hamasah works: Lost works: Islamic literature Islamic literature is literature written by Muslim people, influenced by an Islamic cultural perspective, or literature that portrays Islam . It can be written in any language and portray any country or region. It includes many literary forms including adabs ,
1025-591: The country's history of slavery. The 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature was given to the Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006), "who, through works rich in nuance—now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous—has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind". He was the first Muslim author to receive such a prize. With regard to religion Mahfouz describes himself as, "a pious moslem believer". The 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature
1066-402: The keeper of the royal library, and to Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville . When d'Herbelot died in 1695, Galland continued his Bibliothèque orientale ("Oriental Library"), a huge compendium of information about Islamic culture, and principally a translation of the great Arabic encyclopedia Kaşf az-Zunūn by the celebrated Ottoman scholar Kâtip Çelebi . It was finally published in 1697 and
1107-478: The religion while not believing in a personal connection to God. When asked if he considered himself a Muslim, Pamuk replied: ": "I consider myself a person who comes from a Muslim culture. In any case, I would not say that I'm an atheist. So I'm a Muslim who associates historical and cultural identification with this religion. I do not believe in a personal connection to God; that's where it gets transcendental. I identify with my culture, but I am happy to be living on
1148-410: The religious content or lack thereof within those works. Proponents of the second definition suggest that the Islamic identity of Muslim authors cannot be divorced from the evaluation of their works, even if they did not intend to infuse their works with religious meaning. Still other definitions emphasize works with a focus on Islamic values, or those that focus on events, people, and places mentioned in
1189-522: The role of Islamisation of Muslim individuals and communities, social, cultural and political behavior by legitimization through various genres like Muslim historiographies , Islamic advice literature and other Islamic literature. The British Indian novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie 's (b.1947) second novel, Midnight's Children won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two separate occasions, marking
1230-438: The six shortlisted authors receive US$ 10,000 each. The aim of the award is to recognise and reward excellence in contemporary Arabic fiction writing and to encourage wider readership of good-quality Arabic literature in the region and internationally. The prize is also designed to encourage the translation and promotion of Arabic language literature into other major world languages. An independent board of trustees, drawn from across
1271-475: The so-called "orphan tales", which pre-date Galland's translation. Galland had in turn heard these tales from the Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab . Galland also adapted his translation to the taste of the time. The immediate success the tales enjoyed was partly due to the vogue for fairy stories (French: contes de fées ), which had been started in France in the 1690s by his friend Charles Perrault . Galland
Hamasah - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-478: The spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi . One term for Islamic literature is al-adab al-islami , or adab . Although today adab denotes literature generally, in earlier times its meaning included all that a well-informed person had to know in order to pass in society as a cultured and refined individual. This meaning started with the basic idea that adab was the socially accepted ethical and moral quality of an urbane and courteous person'; thus adab can also denote
1353-622: The tales appeared in twelve volumes between 1704 and 1717 and exerted a significant influence on subsequent European literature and attitudes to the Islamic world . Jorge Luis Borges has suggested that Romanticism began when his translation was first read. Galland was born at Rollot in Picardy (now in the department of Somme ). After completing school at Noyon , he studied Greek and Latin in Paris, where he also acquired some Arabic. In 1670 he
1394-533: The time of its appearance and is still the standard French translation. In 1709 he was appointed to the chair of Arabic in the Collège de France . He continued to discharge the duties of this post until his death in 1715. Besides a number of archaeological works, especially in the department of numismatics , Galland published in 1694 a compilation from the Arabic, Persian , and Turkish , entitled Paroles remarquables, bons mots et maximes des orientaux , and in 1699
1435-582: The work. Beginning in the 19th century, fictional novels and short stories became popular within the literary circles of the Ottoman Empire . An early example, the romance novel Taaşuk-u Tal'at ve Fitnat (تعشق طلعت و فطنت; "Tal'at and Fitnat in Love"), was published in 1872 by Şemsettin Sami . Other important novels of the period included Muhayyelât by Ali Aziz Efendi , which consists of three parts and
1476-495: Was a major contribution to European knowledge about the Middle East, influencing writers such as William Beckford (in his oriental tale Vathek ). After the deaths of Thévenot and d'Herbelot, Galland lived for some time at Caen under the roof of Nicolas Foucault, the intendant of Caen, himself no mean archaeologist. There he began, in 1704, the publication of Les mille et Une Nuits , which excited immense interest during
1517-558: Was also eager to conform to the literary canons of the era. He cut many of the erotic passages as well as all of the poetry. This caused Sir Richard Burton to refer to "Galland's delightful abbreviation and adaptation" which "in no wise represent(s) the eastern original." His translation was greeted with immense enthusiasm and had soon been translated into many other European languages: English (a " Grub Street " version appeared in 1706), German (1712), Italian (1722), Dutch (1732), Russian (1763), and Polish (1768). They produced
1558-620: Was attached to the French embassy at Istanbul because of his excellent knowledge of Greek and, in 1673, he travelled in Syria and the Levant , where he copied a great number of inscriptions, sketched and—in some cases—removed historical monuments. After a brief visit to France, where his collection of ancient coins attracted some attention, Galland returned to the Levant in 1677. In 1679 he undertook
1599-527: Was awarded to the Turkish author Orhan Pamuk "(b. 1952) famous for his novels My Name Is Red and Snow , "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures". Pamuk was the first Turk to receive the Nobel Prize, He describes himself as a Cultural Muslim who associates the historical and cultural identification with
1640-524: Was published posthumously in 1717. He translated the first part of his work solely from the Syrian manuscript. In 1709 he was introduced to a Maronite Christian from Aleppo , Hanna Diab , who recounted fourteen more stories to Galland from memory. He chose to include seven of these tales in his version of the Nights . Mystery surrounds the origins of some of the most famous tales. For instance, there are no Arabic manuscripts of Aladdin and Ali Baba ,
1681-436: Was written in a laconical style contrasting with its content, where djinns and fairies surge from within contexts drawn from ordinary real life situations. Inspired by a much older story written both in Arabic and Assyrian , the author also displays in his work his deep knowledge of sufism , hurufism and Bektashi traditions. Muhayyelât is considered to be an early precursor of the new Turkish literature to emerge in