Transcript Mike

Background
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Islamic Literature Cornell
1
• During the Dark Ages, the Muslims collected and translated
many of the ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts
into Arabic.
• Most of the western world is not familiar with original Islamic
literature because it was written in languages that are often
hard to tranlate and because the alphabet was in Semetic script.
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Poetry
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Islamic Literature Cornell
1
• Islamic poetry “for centuries used traditional, rigid and
distinctive forms in a highly stylized way.”
• “Classic Arabic poetry was built on the priciple of
monorhyme, and the single rhyme was employed throughout a
poem, whether it was long or short.”
• “Within the rhyming pattern, there were 16 basic meters in
five groupings, but the poet was not allowed to change the
meter in the course of a poem.”
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Poetry
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Islamic Literature Cornell
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Five types of Islamic Poetry – the qasida, the ghazel, the qitah, the masnavi and the
roba’i
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The qasida consists of a elaborately structured ode from 20 to 100 verses. It’s usually a
love poem. After the coming of Islam, it was used as an instrument to praise go.
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The ghazel is a love poem from 5-12 verses that can be religious or secular.
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The qitah is used for less serious matters and its main function was for satire, jokes,
word games and codes.
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The masnavi originated in Persia. The term means the “doubled one” or rhyming
couplet. It allows the poet to tell a long story by stringing together thousands of versus.
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The roba’i is in the form of the quatrain (4 line verse) where the first, second and fourth
lines rhyme
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Prose
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Islamic Literature Cornell
2
• The maqamah is rhymed prose
• It told basic entertaining stores in a complicated style.
• It could be very hard to understand because the author often
tried to prove his wit, learning and eloquence.
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Background
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Islamic Literature Cornell
4
• The Hadith was the record of the all of the sayings and deed
of Muhammad. These sayings and deeds were thought to be
inspired.
• By the 9th century, the Hadith was finalized with no new
traditions added.
• It is still revered today as a major source of religious law and
moral conduct, second only to the Koran,
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Poetry
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Islamic Literature Cornell
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The Umayyad Caliphate – used poetry to support political factions.
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Al-Akhatal and Firas (al-Farazaq) supported different political regimes and wrote
harsh satires of each other
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Their poetry gave historians an understanding of the social and political climate of
Islam in the 8th century.
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Lasted for 90 years
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Poetry
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Islamic Literature Cornell
5-6
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The Abbasid Caliphate lasted for more than 5 centuries and was considered the
golden age of Islamic began.
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Brought cultural currents of the Ancient Near East came together.
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The poet Abu Nuwas wrote bawdy drinking poems and said “accumulate as many
sins as you can.”
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Common theme was choosing to die if you couldn’t be with the one you loved.
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A blind Syrian poet al-Ma’rri showed strong contempt for hypocrisy, injustice and
superstition. One of his poems was thought to be a parody of the Koran.
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Poetry
Islamic Literature Cornell
7
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• Spain and North Africa were the western lands of the Muslim
empire but it had some of the greatest literature.
• Famous mystics and philosophers
• Others wrote about their travels and geography and their
works are helpful for scholars today.
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Background
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Early Islam
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“Islamic Literature began with the Bedouin Poets who developed
the Arabic language into a supple and expressive literary
instrument.”
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Background
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Early Islam
108
• Poets became popular in courts
• Poets could earn gold and praise if it is good
• Cultural diffusion with new ear; Greek, Indian and Persian
influenced poets to widen poet’s range.
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Background
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Islam, the Qu’ran and the Arabic Literature
5
• Poetry vs. Prose.
• Poetry was more popular because it could be memorized and
more easily preserved.
• Poetry is the main form of artistic expression during the PreIslamic era
• Prose was used mainly for genealogies and legends dealing
with inter-tribal wars.
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Poetry
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Islam, the Qu’ran and the Arabic Literature
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• THE ROLE OF THE POET
• Yearly fairs were poets would come and recite their poetry. Poets
tried to get fame and recognition.
• Poetry readings were the main form of entertainment at these fairs.
• Poets were artists, entertainers, journalists, historians and
spokesman for their tribes, all in one.
• Able to influence public opinion and enjoyed prominent Status
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Qur’an
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Islam, the Qu’ran and the Arabic Literature
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• The “Qur'an, it has been constantly maintained, embodies
linguistic and literary beauty which exceeds anything of
human origin. This is borne out by the fact that no-one has
ever been able to compose anything remotely resembling it in
its linguistic, literary or conceptual elegance.”
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Qur’an
Islam, the Qu’ran and the Arabic Literature
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• Qur’an made Arab people aware of the richness and beauty of
their language.
• The revelation of the Qur’an was the most important event in
the history of the Arabic language.
• Efforts were made to develop and refine the Arabic alphabet
when scholars were trying to preserve the Qur’an
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Qur’an
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Islam, the Qu’ran and the Arabic Literature
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• The Qur’an is made up of verses that vary in length depending
on their theme and the occasion.
• In the 7th Century, the Qur’an expanded the scope of Arabic.
• It encouraged new fields of study such as philology, Islamic
Law and Philosophy.
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Qur’an
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Islam, the Qu’ran and the Arabic Literature
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“It does not deal with any such things as ruins, camels, or long
journeys in the desert; no does it describe longing for the
beloved, love, or eulogy ,topics most familiar to pre-Islamic
Arabs. But rather it talks to the Arabs about such things as the
oneness of God, His limitless power, His knowledge, which is
unattainable, His will, which is unstoppable, and His creation
of heaven and earth.”
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Qur’an
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Islam, the Qu’ran and the Arabic Literature
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NOVEL THINGS ABOU THE QUR’AN
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Narrative stories of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and Jesus
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Presents dialogues as well as claims and counterclaims.
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Included theme, plot, well-developed characters and denouement.
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Used words of non-Arabic origin including Persian, Sanskrit, and Syriac
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Contributed to structure and style of Arabic language including grammar.
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Used imagery and metaphor, adding beauty to plain speech.
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Considered to be both poetry and prose due to rhythmic patterns.
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