A Short History of Classical Arabic Literature

Books Abroad ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 487
Author(s):  
Arthur Wormhoudt ◽  
Ignace Goldziher ◽  
Joseph Desomogyi
Keyword(s):  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Short History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Classical Arabic

Arabic Literature Goes Digital

2019 ◽  
pp. 28-47
Author(s):  
Teresa Pepe
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Short History ◽  
Online Publishing ◽  
Internet Media ◽  
History Of ◽  
Publishing Houses

This chapter provides the historical context in which Egyptian blogs appeared. Drawing on ethnographic research on the Internet and in the Egyptian literary sphere, it shows that the introduction of Internet tools in the Arab world was soon accompanied by the emergence of numerous platforms for distributing and discussing Arabic literature, such as forums, literary websites, online publishing houses, the Internet Arab Writers Union, and so on. This atmosphere was conducive to the adoption of blogs as a platform for literary experimentation in Egypt. The chapter then focuses on blogging in the Arab world and in particular in Egypt, providing a short history of its development. It also addresses how Internet media have affected Arabic literature as a tool for publishing and distribution, as in the case of book-blogs.

Collaborative Composition of Classical Arabic Poetry

Arabica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 163-206
Author(s):  
Erez Naaman
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Poetic Form ◽  
Arabic Poetry ◽  
History Of ◽  
Composition Process ◽  
Classical Arabic

Abstract Evidence of collaborative composition of poetry goes back to the earliest documented phases in the history of Arabic literature. Already during pre-Islamic times, poets like Imruʾ al-Qays used to challenge others to complete their impromptu verse and create poetry collaboratively with them. This practice—commonly called iǧāza or tamlīṭ and essentially different from the better known poetic dueling of the naqāʾiḍ (flytings)—has shown remarkable stability and adherence to its form and dynamics in the pre-modern Arabophone world. In this article, I will discuss evidence of collaborative poetry from pre-Islamic times to the early seventh/thirteenth century, in order to present a picture of the typical situations in which it was practiced, its functions, its composition process, and formal aspects. Although usually not producing poetic masterpieces, this practice has the merit of revealing much about the processes of composing classical Arabic poetry in general. In this respect, its study and critical assessment are highly important, given the fact that medieval Arabic literary criticism does not always reflect praxis or focus on the actual practicalities of composing poetry. This practice and the contextualized way in which it was preserved allow us to see vividly the inextricable link between poetic form and the conditions in which poetry was created. It likewise sheds light on the intricate ways in which poets resisted, influenced, and manipulated others by poetic means. Based on the obvious fact that collaborative composition is imbued with the spirit of play, I offer at the end of the article criticism of Johan Huizinga’s famous play concept and his (much less famous) views of early Arabic culture and poetry in light of the evidence I studied.

A Short History of Modern Arabic Literature

1994 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Issa Peters ◽  
M. M. Badawi
Keyword(s):  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Short History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Arabic

Modern Egyptian renaissance man

1994 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Ostle
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Classical Poetry ◽  
History Of ◽  
Great Tradition ◽  
Renaissance Man ◽  
Modern Arabic ◽  
Classical Arabic

The rise of political consciousness in the Arab Provinces of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century has long been referred to as an era of rebirth or resurrection (nahḍa), and from its earliest stages this period saw a dual process of aspirations to political emancipation and creative waves of cultural regeneration. Thus George Antonius was moved to attribute the beginnings of the Arab national movement to the foundation of a modest literary society in Beirut in 1847; the two figures who dominated the intellectual life of Syria in the mid nineteenth century—Nāṣīf al-Yāzijī and Buṭrus al-Bustānī—were ded icated to the resurrection of the lost world of classical Arabic literature, to the virtual re-creation of Arabic as one of the languages of the modern world, and to preaching the virtues of education based on inter-confessional tolerance and patriotic ideals. The most distinguished area of the early history of modern Arabic literature is neo-classical poetry, whose revival of the achievements of the golden age of the ‘Abbāsids provided the foundation on which the first tentative steps towards the renewal of the great tradition were to be based. Indeed the technical excellence of the neo-classical mode was such that it dominated poetry in Egypt at least until the late 1920s, and for even longer in Iraq and the rest of the Levant.

Biblical Elements in Koran 89, 6-8 and Its Exegeses: A New Interpretation of “Iram of the Pillars”

Arabica ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 651-700
Author(s):  
Paul Neuenkirchen
Keyword(s):  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Classical Arabic ◽  
Critical Overview

Abstract The meaning of the expression “Iram of the pillars” which is found in Kor 89, 7 has been the subject of many debates among ancient Muslim exegetes. The ambiguous signification of this passage has led to a large number of different interpretations and has (seemingly) led to many myths, whether in classical Arabic literature (religious and profane alike) or in modern Western writings. The aim of this paper is to give a critical overview and analysis of the various exegeses for this Koranic verse, to study the developments and history of the ‘Iram myth’ and finally, in light of these elements as well as through a Biblical/Midrashic comparative approach, to suggest our own theory of what was certainly the primitive and forgotten meaning of “Iram of the pillars”.

scholarly journals مكانة المرأة وإسهاماتها في الأدب العربي القديم / The position and contribution of women in Classical Arabic Literature

1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
نصرالدين إبراهيم أحمد (Nasr El-din Ibrahim Ahmed Hussein)
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
Literature And Society ◽  
Cultural Exposure ◽  
Islamic Empire ◽  
History Of ◽  
Classical Arabic

ملخص البحث:   يتناول البحث مسيرة المرأة، ومكانتها ودورها عبر العصور القديمة، بدءاً من العصر الجاهلي، ومروراً بالعصر الإسلامي والأموي، وانتهاء بالعصر العباسي؛ حيث أدّت المرأة دوراً مرموقاً ومشهوداً لها منذ فجر بزوغ تاريخ الأمة العربيّة، وهذا الدور سطّرته صفحات التاريخ البيضاء شعراً ونثراً؛ فالمرأة وقفت جنباً إلى جنب الرجل مشاركة إياه بكل فعالية في بناء الحضارة العربيّة العريقة، وقد شهد لها الكثير من الباحثين والمؤلفين والكتّاب بتفوقها في هذا المجال الحيوي، ويكون من الإجحاف، ونكران الجميل أن نتناساها ونطوي صفحاتها طي السجل. برزت المرأة  في العصر الجاهلي في أشعار الشعراء؛ حيث وُضعت في مكانة لائقة بها، وكان دورها واضحاً في الجانب الاجتماعي في إصلاح المجتمع، وأدّت دوراً بارزاً بوصفها أديبة وشاعرة، وناقدة، و"الخنساء" مثالاً، كذلك "أم جندب" وحكومتها بين زوجها امرئ القيس وعلقمة الفحل، وأخريات كان لهن شأن عظيم. وإذا انتقلنا إلى العصر الإسلامي، سنجد أن الإسلام مهّد للمرأة بأن تتبوأ مكانة عالية ورفيعة، وكانت زوجات الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم، والصحابيات خير مثال للاستشهاد بهن، وبدورهن في إصلاح المجتمع والذود عن الدولة الإسلاميّة في ذلك الوقت. وجاء العصر الأموي ولقيت المرأة مكانة مرموقة، انعكست فيها نشاطاتها الأدبيّة والفنّية؛ أما العصر العباسي أو ما يسمى بالعصر الذهبي، فقد كان عصر الانفتاح الثقافي للمرأة؛ حيث شاركت المرأة في جوانب شتى ومتعددة في خدمة الأدب والمجتمع، والحضارة العباسيّة العريقة. إن مكانة المرأة في تلك المجتمعات، وفي تلك العصور القديمة من تاريخ الأدب العربي كانت مشرّفة ومنيرة وبهية، وجديرة أن تعاد صياغتها بشكل يليق بها وبمكانتها لتحتل مكانة الصدارة في تاريخ الأمة العربيّة. الكلمات المفتاحية: الدور المعرفي- الشعر- الخطابة- الوصايا- النقد. Abstract: The study highlights the role of women in different eras beginning from the pre-Islamic period until the golden age of the Abbasids. It is observed that women did play a significant role since the early Arab history. It is a well-documented achievement both in poems and prose. They were active beside men in crafting the direction of the Arab civilization. Evidence was abundant as found in the works of many scholars and researchers. Any attempt to brush aside their efforts would not do justice to these achievements. In the pre-Islamic period there were al-Khansa’ and Ummu Jundub who was famous of her judgment between her husband Umru al-Qais and the famous ‘Alqamah. Others beside them were also contributing significantly. In the Islamic period, the religion had paved the way for them to contribute greatly. The wives of the Prophet Pbuh and his companions were examples to the reforming roles that they played in the society and the Islamic Empire. In the Umayyad period, they continued to be active in activities related to literature and arts. As for the Abbasid era, due to the cultural exposure of that period, women continued to contribute to the progress of literature and society. In conclusion, women were evidently active and progressive in the history of Arabic literature. They contribution is worthy of being highlighted and accorded a significant status in the history of the Arabs.   Keywords: The role of knowledge – poems – sermons – critic.   Abstrak: Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menonjolkan peranan wanita pada era-era berlainan mulai dari zaman Jahiliah sehingga zaman keemasan Abbasiah. Sememangnya wanita dapat dilihat memainkan peranan penting sejak permulaan sejrah kesusasteraan Arab. Ia satu pencapaian yang didokumenkan dengan baik untuk kedua-dua genre iaitu sajak dan prosa. Mereka aktif bergandingan dengan lelaki dalam rah tuju tamadun Arab. Buktinya amat banyak seperti yang ditemui dalam kajian-kajian beberapa sarjana dan penyelidik. Sebarang percubaan menidakkan usaha-usaha mereka tidak akan berlaku adil terhadap pencapaian-pencapaian mereka ini. Di zaman  erdapat tokoh-tokoh ulung sepertial-Khansa' dan Ummu Jundub yang terkenal sewaktu memberikan kritik beliau antara syair suaminya Umru al-Qais dan penyair tersohor 'Alqamah. Wanita-wanita lain di samping mereka turut menyumbang secara aktif. Di zaman Islam, kewajaran perjuangan agama telah membuka jalan untuk mereka  engan lebih menonjol. Isteri Nabi SAW dan para sahabat dalam kalangan wanita menyumbang dalam memainkan peranan-peranan membangunkan masyarakat dan juga Empayar Islam. Di zaman Umawiah, mereka meneruskan peranan tersebut dengan aktif dalam kegiatan berkaitan dengan kesusasteraan dan kesenian. Di zaman Abbasiah pula, disebabkan keterbukaan budaya di zaman itu, kaum wanita meneruskan sumbang mereka kepada pembangynan kesusasteraan dan kemasyarakatan. Kesimpulannya, wanita nyata bergerak aktif dan progresif dalam sejarah perkembangan kesusasteraan Arab. Sesungguhnya sumbangan ini wajar mendapat perhatian demi untuk memberikan satu pengiktirafan terhadap peranan yang dimainkan mereka dalam sejarah perkembangan kesusasteraan Arab.  Kata kunci: peranan dalam memajukan kesusasteraan - sajak - ucapan –nasihat - pengkritik.  

Heliotropic Exit

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasser Elhariry
Keyword(s):  
French Language ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Critical Inquiry ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Speaking In Tongues ◽  
History Of ◽  
Classical Arabic ◽  
Language Question ◽  
Visual Sign

Ryoko Sekiguchi’s Héliotropes is deeply informed by Giorgio Agamben and Daniel Heller-Roazen’s work on the ‘end of the poem’ and on ‘speaking in tongues,’ and so Sekiguchi perfectly unites classical Arabic literature, modernist poetics, and contemporary philosophical and critical inquiry into prosody. As the youngest of the five authors studied in Pacifist Invasions, she draws on recent innovations in critical poetic theory, and the complex linguistic, prosodic and thematic arrangements of the muwashshaḥa and the history of its scholarship. Her poetry provides a spectacular, particularly poignant exemplar for where we may begin with the language question, now that we have ended. Her solution to the inescapable problems facing French poetics represents an extreme departure: to exit altogether the Francophone literary idiom, and back toward its beginning as prise de conscience or ‘awakening,’ mediated by a Franco-Arabic tradition of unprecedented poetic innovation. Her Franco-Arabic composition deforms and unfurls a language undone. As with Saussure and Stétié’s aporetic notion of a ‘pacifist invasion’ of language, with Sekiguchi this linguistic transformation takes less the form of Francophonie’s initial surrealism- tinged linguistic destruction than a rediscovery and resurrection within and through a French language surface of classical Arabic literature and mystical Islam and Sufism. In this light, the poetics of the muwashshaḥa marks an exceptional site of transference between languages in passage, a liminal moment of transit where languages are placed at one another’s thresholds, freely interwoven into one another, becoming other languages, becoming something other than language as such, that is, characterized by a basic correspondence between visual sign and uttered sense.

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