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ARABIC AUTHORS.


A MANUAL
OF
ARABIAN HISTORY AND LITERATURE.



BY

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


AUTHOR OF

"EARLY IDEAS" AND "PERSIAN PORTRAITS."




LONDON:
WILLIAM HEINEMANN.
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.

In addition to the above, a movement is also being made to attempt to
revive the old Oriental Translation Fund. It was originally started in
A.D. 1828, and did good work for fifty years, publishing translations
(see Appendix) from fifteen different Oriental languages, and then
collapsing from apathy, neglect, and want of funds. Unless well
supported, both by donations and annual subscriptions, it is useless to
attempt a fresh start. To succeed thoroughly it must be regarded as a
national institution, and sufficiently well-off to be able to afford to
bring out Texts and Indexes of

[Transcriber's note: Missing page in the source document.]

-cially An-Nadim's 'Fihrist,' a most valuable book of reference, ought
to be done into English without further delay. Private individuals can
hardly undertake the business, but a well-organized and permanent
Oriental Translation Fund, assisted by the English and Indian
Governments, could and would render extraordinary services in the
publication of texts, translations, and indexes of Oriental literature
generally.

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.--Renan'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 Katha Sarit Sagara, a sort of Hindoo 'Arabian Nights'.
--Comparison of the two works.--Brief description of the Katha and its
contents.--Gunadhya and Somadeva.--Final remarks on the stories found
in the Katha.--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.

Appendix.

Index.




CHAPTER I.

HISTORICAL.

The Arabia of to-day is bounded on the west by the Red Sea and Gulf of
Suez; on the south by the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea; on the
east by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf; and on the north by a
portion of Syria. This last boundary would, however, be more clearly
defined by drawing a line from Suez straight across to the western
head of the Persian Gulf.

By the Greeks and Romans this country was divided into Arabia Petraea,
Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Felix, or the Stony, the Desert, and the
Happy. The Arabs themselves call it 'The Land of the Arabs,' while
modern geographers give the Sinaitic peninsula as the first geographic
district; the Hijaz, including the Haram, or sacred territory of
Mecca, as the second; and Yaman, with the Tehamah, as the third. To
these may be added the provinces of Hadramant and Mahrah, and of Oman
and Hasa, to the south and east respectively, with Nejd, or Central
Arabia, as the central plateau, and some large deserts scattered in
different parts of the peninsula.

Of the revenues of Arabia it is almost impossible to form anything
like a correct estimate. The area of the country covers about
1,200,000 square miles, and the population is said to be from five to
six millions, of whom one-fifth consist of Ahl Bedoo, or dwellers in
the open land, otherwise known as Bedouins; and four-fifths of
settled Arabs, called Ahl Hadr, or dwellers in fixed localities.

The history of Arabia may be divided into three periods:

1st. The prehistoric period, full of tales of heroes, and giants, and
wonderful cities.

2nd. The period which preceded the era of Muhammad.

3rd. That which followed it.

The first period is mythical to a certain extent; at all events,
nothing can be stated positively about it. The second period is
distinguished as one of local monarchies and federal governments in a
rough and rude form; while the third commences with theocratic
centralization, dissolving finally into general anarchy.

Of the many tribes in Arabia, the most celebrated is the family of the
Koraish, still regarded as the noblest of the Arabs, partly because,
at the beginning of the fifth century A.D., their chiefs had rendered
themselves the masters and acknowledged guardians of the sacred Kaabah
at Mecca, and partly because of their connection with the Prophet. The
Kaabah, La Maison Carree, or square temple, a shrine of unknown
antiquity, was situated within the precincts of the town of Mecca, and
to it, long before Muhammad's time, the Arabs had brought yearly
offerings, and made devout pilgrimages. The tribe of Koraish, having
once obtained the keys of the consecrated building, had held them
against all comers till Muhammad's conquest of Mecca in A.D. 630, when
he handed over the key to Othman bin Talha, the former custodian, to
be kept by him and his posterity as an hereditary and perpetual
office, and he further confirmed his uncle Abbas in the office of
giving drink to the pilgrims.

Before entering into a somewhat lengthy description of Arabian
literature, it is necessary to give a short and rapid sketch of
Arabian history, beginning from the time of Muhammad, as his Koran was
the foundation of the literary edifice. All Arab authors have looked
upon that work as the height of eloquent diction, and have regarded it
as the model standard to be followed in all their productions.
Leaving, then, the two first periods of Arabian history, viz., the
prehistoric, and the pre-Muhammadan, without any particular notice,
the third period will be sketched as briefly as possible, and will be
found excessively interesting, containing as it does the rise,
grandeur, and decline of the Arabs as a nation.

Muhammad, on his death in June, A.D. 632, left the entire Arab
peninsula, with two or three exceptions, under one sceptre and one
creed. He was succeeded by Abu Bakr (the father of Ayesha, the
favourite wife of the prophet), known as the Companion of the Cave,
with the title of Khalifah, or successor. His reign only lasted two
years, but during that period the various insurrections that broke out
in Arabia in consequence of the death of the Prophet were promptly put
down, after severe fighting, in various parts of the peninsula, and
the whole country was subjugated. Foreign expeditions beyond the
borders were also planned and started.

Abu Bakr, dying in August, A.D. 634, was succeeded by Umar, or Omar,
the conqueror of Syria, Persia, and Egypt by means of his generals
Khalid bin Walid (the best, perhaps, that Islam produced), Abu Obaida,
Mothanna, Sad bin Malik, Amr bin al-Aasi, and others. Omar himself was
an early convert of A.D. 615, and a sudden conversion like our Paul;
but one made his converts by fanaticism and the sword, the other by
preaching and the pen. After a glorious and victorious reign of ten
years Omar was assassinated by a Persian slave in November, A.D. 644,
and was followed as Khalif by Othman, son of Affan, of the noble
family of Abd-esh-Shems, who also assumed the title 'Amir al-Momenin,
or Commander of the Faithful, which had been first adopted by his
predecessor Omar. Othman ruled for twelve years, when he was murdered
in A.D. 656, some say at the instigation of Ali, nephew of Muhammad,
and husband of his only daughter Fatima. Anyhow, Ali succeeded Othman
as Khalif, but was defeated by Moawia, Governor of Syria, and
assassinated in A.D. 660.

Moawia bin Abu Sofyan then established the Benou Umayya dynasty,
called by Europeans the Omaiyides, or Ommiades, from the name of
Umayya, the father of the race. This dynasty reigned for nearly ninety
years, and numbered fourteen successive princes, with their capital at
Damascus.

During the reign of Yazid I., the second prince (A.D. 679-683),
Hussain, the younger son of Ali the Khalif, came to an untimely end.
His elder brother, Hasan, a man of quiet disposition, had been
previously murdered by one of his wives, at the instigation, it is
said, of Yazid before he came to the throne. This happened in A.D.
669. Later on Hussain, with his followers, rose in rebellion, and was
killed on the plain of Kerbela, A.D. 680. The descendants, however, of
this faction continued the disturbances which eventually brought about
the great Muhammadan schism, and the splitting up of the religion into
two sects, known to this day as the Sunnis and Shias. The adherents of
the legitimate Khalifate, and of the orthodox doctrine, assumed the
name of Sunnites, or Traditionists. These acknowledge the first four
Khalifs (the rightly minded, or rightly directed, as they are called)
to have been legitimate successors of Muhammad, while the sectaries of
Ali are known as the Shiites, or Separatists. These last regard Ali as
the first rightful Imam, for they prefer this title (found in Sura
ii., verse 118, of the Koran) to that of Khalif. The Turks and Arabs
are Sunnis: the Persians, and most of the Muhammadans of India, Shias.

This division into two sects, who hate each other cordially, has done
more to weaken the power of the Muhammadan religion as a power than
anything else. The Shias to this day execrate the memory of Yazid as
the murderer of their hero Hussain, whom they have ever regarded as a
martyr, and given full vent to their feelings on the subject in their
'Passion Play,' translated by Sir Lewis Pelly, and described by Mr.
Benjamin in his 'Persia and the Persians.'

Other insurrections against the reigning Omaiyide Khalifs were also
put down, portions of Asia, Africa and Spain conquered, and even
France invaded, so that at the close of the Benou Umayya dynastry,
about A.D. 750, their empire consisted of many and large territories
in Europe, Africa and Asia. Their colour was white, as opposed to the
black of the Abbasides, and the green of the Fatimites, as descendants
of Muhammad.

But the Benou Umayya dynasty succumbed, A.D. 749, under the blows of
Ibrahim (great-grandson of Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet), and of
his younger brother, Abul Abbas, better known in history as As-Saffah,
or the Blood-shedder. A decisive battle was fought on the banks of the
river Zab, near Arbela, and Marwan II. (A.D. 744-750), the last of the
Omaiyide Khalifs, was defeated, and fled first to Damascus, and then
to Egypt, where he was eventually killed by his pursuers, A.D. 750.

The history of the reign of the Abbasides now begins, and under them
the power and glory of Islam reached their highest point. But it is
first necessary to allude to the conquest of Spain by the Omaiyides, a
branch of which family still retained for a long time in the West the
power which they had totally lost in the East.

The most important achievement of the reign of Walid I. (A.D.
705-715), the sixth prince of the Omaiyide dynasty, was the conquest
of Spain by his generals Tarik and Musa. The Arabs (known in Europe
under the name of Saracens) first established themselves in Cordova
about A.D. 711, and the two generals above named continued their
victorious progress throughout the country in 712 and 713, until
nearly nine-tenths of the peninsula was held by the Muhammadans.

Some years later France even was invaded by the Arabs, and the banners
of the Muslims were erected on the coasts of the Gulf of Lyons, on the
walls of Narbonne, of Nimes, of Carcassonne, and of Beziers. The Arabs
afterwards advanced as far as the plains of Tours, where their
victorious progress was checked by Charles Martel, who gained a great
victory over them near that town in October, A.D. 732, and completely
defeated them, so that they were obliged to retire again to Spain.
There successive viceroys and emirs ruled as the representatives of
the Khalifs at Damascus until the fall of the Omaiyide dynasty in the
East, A.D. 750.

But even after that Spain remained for many years under Arab
domination. Anarchy almost prevailed from A.D. 750 to 755, but in that
year the Arabs of Spain, weary of disorder, elected as their ruler
Abd-ar-Rahman, grandson of the Khalif Hashim, tenth prince of the
Omaiyide dynasty. At the time of his election, Abd-ar-Rahman was a
wanderer in the desert, pursued by his enemies, when a deputation from
Andalusia sought him out and offered him the Khalifate of Spain. It
was gladly accepted. He landed there in September, A.D. 755, was
universally welcomed, and founded at Cordova the Western Omaiyide
Khalifate, which lasted up to A.D. 1031, under sixteen rulers, with
certain interruptions during the reign of the last seven of them. On
the extinction of the Khalifate, Spain was broken up into various
petty kingdoms under kings and kinglets belonging to different Arab
tribes and families. This continued from A.D. 1032 to 1092, when the
Almoravides established themselves from A.D. 1092 to 1147, and were
followed by the Almohades, who reigned up to A.D. 1232.

After this Cordova, Seville, and other places were taken by Ferdinand
III. of Leon and Castile, between A.D. 1236 and 1248. On the fall of
Cordova the Muhammadan power declined with great rapidity; and, though
the celebrated kingdom of Granada was established by the Moors in A.D.
1232, it was their last refuge from the rising power of the
Christians. Some twenty-one princes reigned there till A.D. 1492, when
Granada itself was taken, and this last Muhammadan dynasty was driven
out of Spain by Ferdinand of Arragon and Isabella of Castile. Thus
ended the empire of the Arabs and the Moors in Spain, which had lasted
nearly eight hundred years.

The Spanish Arabs were extremely fond of learning. Indeed, it is due
to them to a very great extent that literature and science were kept
afloat in Europe during the ages that followed the invasion of the
Barbarians, as the Huns, Vandals, Goths, and Visigoths were generally
called. That interval known as the 'Dark Ages' was kept alight by the
Arabs alone. Abd-ar-Rahman II. established a library at Cordova during
his reign, A.D. 822-852. Hakim II., the successor of Abd-ar-Rahman
III., loved the sciences, founded the University of Cordova, and
collected a library of great magnitude (A.D. 961-976).

The revival of learning in Europe is chiefly attributed to the
writings of Arabian doctors and philosophers, and to the schools which
they founded in several parts of Spain and Italy. These seats of
learning were frequented even in the twelfth century of our era by
students from various parts of Europe, who disseminated the knowledge
thus acquired when they returned to their own countries. At that time
many Arabic works were translated into Latin, which thus facilitated
the progress of science. In the three last chapters of the second book
of the 'History of the Muhammadan Dynasties in Spain,' translated by
Pascual de Gayangos, the state of science and literature is detailed
in the words of Makkari, the original Arab author of that work, and in
it many once celebrated authors are mentioned, of whom not only their
productions, but even their very names, have since perished. The
distinguished writers whose works have come down to us will be more
particularly alluded to in the next chapter. Europe is also indebted
to the Arabs for the elements of many useful sciences, particularly
that of chemistry. Paper was first made in Europe by them, and their
carpets and manufactures in steel and leather were long unrivalled,
while in the Arabian schools of Cordova mathematics, astronomy,
philosophy, botany and medicine were taught with great success.

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