Arabic epic literature

Arabic epic literature encompasses epic poetry and epic fantasy in Arabic literature. Virtually all societies have developed folk tales encompassing tales of heroes. Although many of these are legends, many are based on real events and historical figures.

Epic poetry

Taghribat Bani Hilal is an Arabic epic recounting the Banu Hilal's journey from Egypt to Tunisia and conquest of the latter. It was declared one of mankind's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO in 2003.

Fantasy epic literature

The "One Thousand and One Nights" ("Arabian Nights") is easily the best known of all Arabic literature and which still effects many of the ideas non-Arabs have about Arabic culture. Although regarded as primarily Arabic it was in fact developed from a Persian work and the stories in turn may have their roots in India. A good example of the lack of popular Arabic prose fiction is that the stories of Aladdin and Ali Baba, usually regarded as part of the "Tales from One Thousand and One Nights", were not actually part of the "Tales". They were first included in French translation of the "Tales" by Antoine Galland who heard them being told by a traditional storyteller and only existed in incomplete Arabic manuscripts before that. The other great character from Arabic literature Sinbad is from the "Tales".

The "Thousand and One Nights" is usually placed in the genre of Arabic epic literature along with several other works. They are usually, like the "Tales", collections of short stories or episodes strung together into a long tale. The extant versions were mostly written down relatively late on, after the 14th century, although many were undoubtedly collected earlier and many of the original stories are probably pre-Islamic. Types of stories in these collections include animal fables, proverbs, stories of "jihad" or propagation of the faith, humorous tales, moral tales, tales about the wily con-man Ali Zaybaq and tales about the prankster Juha.

The epic 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.John Grant and John Clute, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy", "Arabian fantasy", p 51 ISBN 0-312-19869-8] All Arabian fantasy tales were often called "Arabian Nights" when translated into English, regardless of whether they appeared in "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights", in any version, and a number of tales are known in Europe as "Arabian Nights" despite existing in no Arabic manuscript.

This epic has been influential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century, first by Antoine Galland. [L. Sprague de Camp, "Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy", p 10 ISBN 0-87054-076-9] Many imitations were written, especially in France.John Grant and John Clute, "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy", "Arabian fantasy", p 52 ISBN 0-312-19869-8] Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. Part of its popularity may have sprung from the increasing historical and geographical knowledge, so that places of which little was known and so marvels were plausible had to be set further "long ago" or farther "far away"; this is a process that continues, and finally culminate in the fantasy world having little connection, if any, to actual times and places. A number of elements from Arabian mythology and Persian mythology are now common in modern fantasy, such as genies, bahamuts, magic carpets, magic lamps, etc. When L. Frank Baum proposed writing a modern fairy tale that banished stereotypical elements, he included the genie as well as the dwarf and the fairy as stereotypes to go. [James Thurber, "The Wizard of Chitenango", p 64 "Fantasists on Fantasy" edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski, ISBN 0-380-86553-X]

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 beforeI. Heullant-Donat and M.-A. Polo de Beaulieu, "Histoire d'une traduction," in "Le Livre de l'échelle de Mahomet", Latin edition and French translation by Gisèle Besson and Michèle Brossard-Dandré, Collection "Lettres Gothiques", Le Livre de Poche, 1991, p. 22 with note 37.] as "Liber Scale Machometi", "The Book of Muhammad's Ladder") concerning Muhammad's ascension to Heaven, and the spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi.

cience fiction

"Al-Risalah al-Kamiliyyah fil Siera al-Nabawiyyah" ("The Treatise of Kamil on the Prophet's Biography"), known in English as "Theologus Autodidactus", written by the Arabian polymath Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288), is the earliest known science fiction novel. While also being an early desert island story and coming of age story, the novel deals with various science fiction elements such as spontaneous generation, futurology, apocalyptic themes, the end of the world and doomsday, resurrection and the afterlife. Rather than giving supernatural or mythological explanations for these events, Ibn al-Nafis attempted to explain these plot elements using his own extensive scientific knowledge in anatomy, biology, physiology, astronomy, cosmology and geology. His main purpose behind this science fiction work was to explain Islamic religious teachings in terms of science and philosophy. For example, it was through this novel that Ibn al-Nafis introduces his scientific theory of metabolism,Dr. Abu Shadi Al-Roubi (1982), "Ibn al-Nafis as a philosopher", "Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis", Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait (cf. [http://www.islamset.com/isc/nafis/drroubi.html Ibnul-Nafees As a Philosopher] , "Encyclopedia of Islamic World" [http://web.archive.org/web/20080206072116/http://www.islamset.com/isc/nafis/drroubi.html] )] and he makes references to his own scientific discovery of the pulmonary circulation in order to explain bodily resurrection. [*Citation |last=Fancy |first=Nahyan A. G. |year=2006 |title=Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafīs (d. 1288) |journal=Electronic Theses and Dissertations |publisher=University of Notre Dame |url=http://etd.nd.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-11292006-152615 |pages=232-3 ] The novel was later translated into English as "Theologus Autodidactus" in the early 20th century.

A number of stories within the "One Thousand and One Nights" ("Arabian Nights") also feature science fiction elements. One example is "The Adventures of Bulukiya", where the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, journey to the Garden of Eden and to Jahannam, and travel across the cosmos to different worlds much larger than his own world, anticipating elements of galactic science fiction;citation|title=The Arabian Nights: A Companion|first=Robert|last=Irwin|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|year=2003|isbn=1860649831|page=209] along the way, he encounters societies of jinns, [citation|title=The Arabian Nights: A Companion|first=Robert|last=Irwin|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|year=2003|isbn=1860649831|page=204] mermaids, talking serpents, talking trees, and other forms of life. In another "Arabian Nights" tale, the protagonist Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater submarine society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land, in that the underwater society follows a form of primitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. Other "Arabian Nights" tales deal with lost ancient technologies, advanced ancient civilizations that went astray, and catastrophes which overwhelmed them. [citation|title=The Arabian Nights: A Companion|first=Robert|last=Irwin|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|year=2003|isbn=1860649831|page=211-2] "The City of Brass" features a group of travellers on an archaeological expedition [citation|title=An Allegory from the Arabian Nights: The City of Brass|first=Andras|last=Hamori|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=34|issue=1|year=1971|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=9-19 [9] ] across the Sahara to find an ancient lost city and attempt to recover a brass vessel that Solomon once used to trap a jinn, [citation|title=Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights|first=David|last=Pinault|publisher=Brill Publishers|year=1992|isbn=9004095306|pages=148-9 & 217-9] and, along the way, encounter a mummified queen, petrified inhabitants, [citation|title=The Arabian Nights: A Companion|first=Robert|last=Irwin|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|year=2003|isbn=1860649831|page=213] life-like humanoid robots and automata, seductive marionettes dancing without strings, [citation|title=An Allegory from the Arabian Nights: The City of Brass|first=Andras|last=Hamori|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=34|issue=1|year=1971|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=9-19 [12-3] ] and a brass horseman robot who directs the party towards the ancient city. "The Ebony Horse" features a robot in the form of a flying mechanical horse controlled using keys that could fly into outer space and towards the Sun, [citation|title=One Thousand and One Arabian Nights|last=Geraldine McCaughrean|first=Rosamund Fowler|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|isbn=0192750135|pages=247-51] while the "Third Qalandar's Tale" also features a robot in the form of an uncanny boatman.citation|title=Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights|first=David|last=Pinault|publisher=Brill Publishers|year=1992|isbn=9004095306|pages=10-1] "The City of Brass" and "The Ebony Horse" can be considered early examples of proto-science fiction. [ [http://www.islamscifi.com/?Academic_Literature Academic Literature] , Islam and Science Fiction]

Other examples of early Arabic proto-science fiction include Al-Farabi's "Opinions of the residents of a splendid city" about a utopian society, Al-Qazwini's futuristic tale of "Awaj bin Anfaq" about a man who travelled to Earth from a distant planet, and elements such as the flying carpet. [Achmed A. W. Khammas, [http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/23/23713/1.html Science Fiction in Arabic Literature] ]

List

Here is a list of famous epic or romance literature in the Arabic language:

*Sirat Antara Ibn Shaddad سيرة عنترة بن شداد
*al-Sirah al-Hussainyya. Chronicles the biography of Husayn, grandson of Muhammad, and his death.
*"Futuh al-Sham" ("Conquests of Syria") ascribed to al-Waqidi (disputed)
*"One Thousand and One Nights" ("Arabian Nights")
*Sirat al-Zahir Baibars سيرة الظاهر بيبرس
*Sirat Abu Zeid al-Hilali أبو زيد الهلالي
*Sirat Adham el-Sharqawi
*Sirat Dhat al-Himma, Arabic queen tale سيرة ذات الهمة
*Sirat Bani Hilal تغريبة بني هلال
*Qissat Zir Salim قصة الزير سالم
*Sirat Sayf Ibn Dhi Yazan سيرة سيف بن ذي يزن
*Qays wa Laila (Qays & Laila) romantic epic.
* Layla and Majnun in Arabic Majnun layla (مجنون ليلى)
* Sirat al-amirah Dhat al-Himmah سيرة الأميرة ذات الهمة
* Qissat Bayad wa Riyad قصة بياض و رياض, Arab-Andalusian love story about Bayad, a merchant's son and a foreigner from Damascus, for Riyad, a well educated slave girl in the court of an unnamed Hajib (vizier or minister) and his daughter.
*Hayy ibn Yaqdhan حي بن يقظان by Ibn Tufail (Abubacer)
*Tarikhul Hind wal Sind تاريخ الهند والسند
*"Theologus Autodidactus" by Ibn al-Nafis

ee also

*Arabic literature

References

External links

* [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0B47EBF1-DC22-429B-A13B-5C8E714CA860 Al Jazeera article: Epic tales of Arab bravery]