Books in the Library of Arabic Literature series

Poems and tales of a literary forefather of the United Arab EmiratesLove, Death, Fame features the poetry of al-M¿yid¿ ibn ¿¿hir, who has been embraced as the earliest poet in what would later become the United Arab Emirates. Although little is known about his life, he is the subject of a sizeable body of folk legend and is thought to have lived in the seventeenth century, in the area now called the Emirates. The tales included in Love, Death, Fame portray him as a witty, resourceful, scruffy poet, at times combative and at times kindhearted.His poetry primarily features verses of wisdom and romance, with scenes of clouds and rain, desert migrations, seafaring, and pearl diving. Like Arabian Romantic and Arabian Satire, this collection is a prime example of Nabä¿ poetry, combining vernacular language of the Arabian Peninsula with archaic vocabulary and images dating to Arabic poetry¿s very origins. Distinguished by Ibn ¿¿hir¿s unique voice, Love, Death, Fame offers a glimpse of what life was like four centuries ago in the region that is now the UAE.A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Collecting 635 meticulous recipes, Scents and Flavors invites us to savor an inventive cuisine that elevates simple ingredients by combining the sundry aromas of herbs, spices, fruits, and flower essences. This popular 13th-century Syrian cookbook is an ode to what its anonymous author calls the "greater part of the pleasure of this life," namely the consumption of food and drink, as well as the fragrances that garnish the meals and the diners who enjoy them. Organized like a meal, it opens with appetizers and juices and proceeds through main courses, side dishes, and desserts, including such confections as candies based on the higher densities of sugar syrup--an innovation unique to the medieval Arab world. Apricot beverages, stuffed eggplant, pistachio chicken, coriander stew, melon crepes, and almond pudding are seasoned with nutmeg, rose, cloves, saffron, and the occasional rare ingredient like ambergris to delight and surprise the banqueter. Bookended by chapters on preparatory perfumes, incenses, medicinal oils, antiperspirant powders, and after-meal hand soaps, this comprehensive culinary journey is a feast for all the senses. With the exception of four extant Babylonian and Roman specimens, cookbooks did not appear on the world literary scene until Arabic speakers began compiling their recipe collections in the tenth century, peaking in popularity in the thirteenth century. Scents and Flavors quickly became a bestseller during this golden age of cookbooks, and remains today a delectable read for epicures and cultural historians alike.

Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. 414/1023) was a prominent litterateur and philosopher inBaghdad.Abu 'Ali Miskawayh (ca. 320/932-421/1030) was a philosopher and historian born in Rayy.

Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. 414/1023) was a prominent litterateur and philosopher inBaghdad.Abu 'Ali Miskawayh (ca. 320/932-421/1030) was a philosopher and historian born in Rayy.

Al-Muhassin ibn 'Ali al-Tanukhi (327¿84/939¿94) lived in Basra and Baghdad. As a judge and man of letters belonging to a family with many connections, he was well placed to record the literary trends of his day. Deliverance Follows Adversity is one of two anthologies he compiled.

A merchant''s account of his travels through an independent African state Muhammad ibn ''Umar al-Tunisi (d. 1274/1857) belonged to a family of Tunisian merchants trading with Egypt and what is now Sudan. Al-Tunisi was raised in Cairo and a graduate of al-Azhar. In 1803, at the age of fourteen, al-Tunisi set off for the Sultanate of Darfur, where his father had decamped ten years earlier. He followed the Forty Days Road, was reunited with his father, and eventually took over the management of the considerable estates granted to his father by the sultan of Darfur. In Darfur is al-Tunisi''s remarkable account of his ten-year sojourn in this independent state. In Volume One, al-Tunisi relates the history of his much-traveled family, his journey from Egypt to Darfur, and the reign of the noted sultan ''Abd al-Rahman al-Rashid. In Darfur combines literature, history, ethnography, linguistics, and travel adventure, and most unusually for its time, includes fifty-two illustrations, all drawn by the author. In Darfur is a rare example of an Arab description of Africa on the eve of Western colonization and vividly evokes a world in which travel was untrammeled by bureaucracy, borders were fluid, and startling coincidences appear almost mundane.

A merchant''s account of his travels through an independent African state Muhammad ibn ''Umar al-Tunisi (d. 1274/1857) belonged to a family of Tunisian merchants trading with Egypt and what is now Sudan. Al-Tunisi was raised in Cairo and a graduate of al-Azhar. In 1803, at the age of fourteen, al-Tunisi set off for the Sultanate of Darfur, where his father had decamped ten years earlier. He followed the Forty Days Road, was reunited with his father, and eventually took over the management of the considerable estates granted to his father by the sultan of Darfur. In Darfur is al-Tunisi''s remarkable account of his ten-year sojourn in this independent state. In Volume Two al-Tunisi describes the geography of the region, the customs of Darfur''s petty kings, court life and the clothing of its rulers, marriage customs, eunuchs, illnesses, food, hunting, animals, currencies, plants, magic, divination, and dances. In Darfur combines literature, history, ethnography, linguistics, and travel adventure, and most unusually for its time, includes fifty-two illustrations, all drawn by the author. In Darfur is a rare example of an Arab description of Africa on the eve of Western colonization and vividly evokes a world in which travel was untrammeled by bureaucracy, borders were fluid, and startling coincidences appear almost mundane.

Features an almost entirely different set of stories, however, each one more thrilling, amusing, and disturbing than the last. This book includes tales of epic warriors, buried treasures, disappearing brides, cannibal demon women, fatal shipwrecks, and clever ruses, where human strength and more.

The earliest surviving instance of sustained first-person travel narrative in ArabicMission to the Volga is a pioneering text of peerless historical and literary value. In its pages, we move north on a diplomatic mission from Baghdad to the upper reaches of the Volga River in what is now central Russia. In this colorful documentary from the tenth century, the enigmatic Ibn Fadlan relates his experiences as part of an embassy sent by Caliph al-Muqtadir to deliver political and religious instruction to the recently-converted King of the Bulghars. During eleven months of grueling travel, Ibn Fadlan records the marvels he witnesses on his journey, including an aurora borealis and the white nights of the North. Crucially, he offers a description of the Viking Rus, including their customs, clothing, body painting, and a striking account of a ship funeral. Together, these anecdotes illuminate a vibrant world of diversity during the heyday of the Abbasid Empire, narrated with as much curiosity and zeal as they were perceived by its observant beholder.An English-only edition.

The Life of Ibn ¿anbal is a translation of the biography of Ibn Hanbal by the Baghdad preacher, scholar, and storyteller Ibn al-Jawz¿ (d. 597/1200), newly abridged for a paperback readership by translator Michael Cooperson. A¿mad ibn ¿anbal (d. 241/855), renowned for his profound knowledge of hadiths¿the reports of the Prophet¿s sayings and deeds¿is a major figure in the history of Islam. He was famous for living according to his own strict interpretation of the Prophetic model and for denying himself the most basic comforts, even though his family was prominent and his city, Baghdad, was then one of the wealthiest in the world. Ibn ¿anbal¿s piety and austerity made him a folk hero, especially after he resisted the attempts of two caliphs to force him to accept rationalist doctrine. His subsequent imprisonment and flogging is one of the most dramatic episodes of medieval Islamic history, and his principled resistance influenced the course of Islamic law, the rise of Sunnism, and the legislative authority of the caliphate. Set against the background of fierce debates over the role of reason and the basis of legitimate government, The Life of Ibn ¿anbal tells the formidable life tale of one of the most influential Muslims in history. An English-only edition.

Written in mid-17th centuryEgypt, Risible Rhymesis in part a short, comic disquisition on “rural” verse, mocking thepretensions and absurdities of uneducated poets from Egypt’s countryside.The interestin the countryside as a cultural, social, economic, and religious locus inits own right that is hinted at in this work may be unique in pre-twentieth-centuryArabic literature. As such, the work provides a companion piece to its slightlyyounger contemporary, Yusuf al-Shirbini’s Brains Confounded by the Ode of AbuShaduf Expounded, which also takes examples of mock-rural poems andsubjects them to grammatical analysis. The overlap between the two texts mayindicate that they both emanate from a common corpus of pseudo-rural verse thatcirculated in Ottoman Egypt.Risible Rhymes also examines various kinds of puzzlepoems—another popular genre of the day—and presents a debate between scholarsover a line of verse by the tenth-century poet al-Mutanabbi. Taken as a whole, RisibleRhymes offers intriguing insight into the critical concerns of mid-OttomanEgypt, showcasing the intense preoccupation with wordplay, grammar, andstylistics that dominated discussions of poetry in al-Sanhuri’s day andshedding light on the literature of this understudied era.

Known as "one of the most complex and unusual texts in Arabic literature" (Banipal Magazine), The Epistle of Forgiveness is the lengthy reply by the prolific Syrian poet and prose writer, Abu l-'Ala' al-Ma'arri (d. 449/1057), to a letter by an obscure grammarian, Ibn al-Qari. With biting irony, The Epistle of Forgiveness mocks Ibn al-Qari's hypocrisy and sycophancy by imagining he has died and arrived with some difficulty in Heaven, where he meets famous poets and philologists from the past. In al-Ma'arri's imaginative telling, Ibn al-Qari also glimpses Hell and converses with the Devil and various heretics.Al-Ma'arri-a maverick, a vegan, and often branded a heretic himself-seems to mock popular ideas about the Hereafter. Among other things, he introduces us to hypocrites, poets, princes, rebels, mystics, and apostates, with asides on piety, superstition, wine-drinking, old age, and other topics. This remarkable book is the first complete translation of this masterpiece into any language, all the more impressive because of Al-Ma'arri's highly ornate and difficult style, his use of rhymed prose, and his numerous obscure words and expressions. Replete with erudite commentary, amusing anecdotes, and sardonic wit, The Epistle of Forgiveness is an imaginative tour-de-force by one of the most pre-eminent figures in classical Arabic literature. An English-only edition.

With What ¿¿s¿ ibn Hish¿m Told Us, the Library of Arabic Literature brings readers an acknowledged masterpiece of early twentieth-century Arabic prose. Penned by the Egyptian journalist Müammad al-Muwayli¿¿, this exceptional title was first introduced in serialized form in his family¿s pioneering newspaper Mi¿b¿¿ al-Sharq (Light of the East), on which this edition is based, and later published in book form in 1907. Widely hailed for its erudition and its mordant wit, What ¿¿s¿ ibn Hish¿m Told Us was embraced by Egypt¿s burgeoning reading public and soon became required reading for generations of Egyptian school students.Bridging classical genres and the emerging tradition of modern Arabic fiction, What ¿¿s¿ ibn Hish¿m Told Us is divided into two parts, the second of which was only added to the text with the fourth edition of 1927. Sarcastic in tone and critical in outlook, the book relates the excursions of its narrator ¿¿s¿ ibn Hish¿m and his companion, the Pasha, through a rapidly Westernized Cairo at the height of British occupation, providing vivid commentary of a society negotiating¿however imperfectly¿the clash of imported cultural values and traditional norms of conduct, law, and education. The ¿Second Journey¿ takes the narrator to Paris to visit the Exposition Universelle of 1900, where al-Muwayli¿¿ casts the same relentlessly critical eye on European society, modernity, and the role of Western imperialism as it ripples across the globe.Paving the way for the modern Arabic novel, What ¿¿s¿ ibn Hish¿m Told Us is invaluable both for its sociological insight into colonial Egypt and its pioneering role in Arabic literary history.A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Recounts the life, from birth to middle age, of 'the Fariyaq,' alter ego of Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, a pivotal figure in the intellectual and literary history of the modern Arab world. This book celebrates the genius and beauty of the classical Arabic language.

Like its more famous sibling, the Thousand and One Nights, this collection opens with the frame story of Shahrazad, the gifted vizier's daughter who recounts imaginative tales night after night in an effort to distract the murderous king from taking her life. It is distinctly rooted in Arabic literary culture and the Islamic tradition.

Presents classical Arabic poems and literary prose, from pre-Islamic times until the 18th century, with short introductions to guide non-specialist students and informative endnotes and bibliography for advanced scholars. This book contains anecdotes, a fairy-tale, a bawdy story, and samples of literary criticism.

Authoritative and reliable editions of the Arabic and modern, lucid English translations introducing treasures of the Arabic literary heritage

This is the very first English translation of the work and reproduces the original edition, published under the author's supervision in 1855

The first complete translation in any language, retaining the many digressions, difficult passages, and convoluted grammatical discussions of the original

Includes a survey of the importance of Arabic as the language of revelation, principles of textual interpretation to be applied to the Qur'an and prophetic traditions, techniques for harmonizing apparently contradictory precedents, legal epistemology, rules of inference, and discussions of when legal interpretation is required.

Authoritative and reliable editions of the Arabic and modern, lucid English translations introducing treasures of the Arabic literary heritage

Authoritative and reliable editions of the Arabic and modern, lucid English translations introducing treasures of the Arabic literary heritage

The life, birth, and early years of 'the Fariyaq'¿the alter ego of the Arab intellectual Ahmad Faris al-ShidyaqLeg over Leg recounts the life, from birth to middle age, of ¿the Fariyaq,¿ alter ego of Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, a pivotal figure in the intellectual and literary history of the modern Arab world. The always edifying and often hilarious adventures of the Fariyaq, as he moves from his native Lebanon to Egypt, Malta, Tunis, England, and France, provide the author with grist for wide-ranging discussions of the intellectual and social issues of his time, including the ignorance and corruption of the Lebanese religious and secular establishments, freedom of conscience, women¿s rights, sexual relationships between men and women, the manners and customs of Europeans and Middle Easterners, and the differences between contemporary European and Arabic literatures, all the while celebrating the genius and beauty of the classical Arabic language.Volumes Three and Four see the peripatetic Fariyaq fall in love and convert to Catholicism for twenty-four hours in order to marry. Although the narrative revolves around a series of debates over the nature of male-female relationships, opportunities also arise for disquisitions on the physical and moral significance of such diverse topics as the buttocks, the unreliability of virginity tests, and the human capacity for self-delusion. Lengthy stays in England and France allow for animadversions on the table manners and sexual aberrations of their citizens, but the discussion, whether it involve dance-halls, pleasure gardens, or poetry, almost always ends up returning to gender relations.Akin to Sterne and Rabelais in his satirical outlook and technical inventiveness, al-Shidyaq produced in Leg over Leg a work that is unique and unclassifiable. It was initially widely condemned for its attacks on authority, its religious skepticism, and its ¿obscenity,¿ and later editions were often abridged. This is the first complete English translation of this groundbreaking work.