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In volume 1 | book 1, The National Literature of the Arabs | Section 2, Muḥammad and His Time previous chapter | German edition Arab paganism, with its primitive worship of power and raw animism, had left deeper spirits dissatisfied for a long time, especially those who had become acquainted with “higher” forms of religion such as Judaism and Christianity. …

In volume 1 | book 2, Islamic Literature in the Arabic Language | Section 2, The Post-Classical Period of Islamic Literature from ca. 400/1000 until ca. 656/1258 previous chapter | German edition The decline in Arabic literature that followed original works no longer being written led to the appearance of a whole succession of polymaths and polygraphs, who pretended to singlehandedly sum up the totality of knowledge of their time in encyclopaedias or to process it in monographs. Some of these authors |⁶⁵⁸ we have already come across, |⁴⁹⁹ namely those who excelled to …

|⁴⁰In volume 1 | book 1, The National Literature of the Arabs | Section 3, The Period of the Umayyads previous chapter | German edition The first days of Umayyad rule, with their seemingly endless state of war, left no room for poetry to develop. However, when the heavy storms that had shaken the state founded by ʿUmar to its very core had finally died down, the life of the Arabs entered calmer waters. With his talents as a ruler and strong-arm tactics, ʿAbd al-Malik succeeded in unifying the tottering Islamic empire once again and overcoming the dissenting powers that would seal the fate of the ʿAbb…

In volume 2 | book 3, The Decline of Islamic Literature | Section 3, From the Napoleonic Expedition to Egypt in 1798 until the Present Day previous chapter | German edition In the nineteenth century, Islam in India was constantly forced into competition with Christianity and local religions while cont…

|⁴³In volume 1 | book 1, The National Literature of the Arabs | Section 2, Muḥammad and His Time previous chapter | German edition 1. The manuscript Ref. 33 (Leipz. 505) contains, in addition to the two dīwāns just mentioned, another, supposedly by Abū Ṭālib, the uncle of Muḥammad, and the poems contained within it deal with relations between the Prophet and the Quraysh. Although some of the songs, whose tone is in accordance with the real situation in which Abū Ṭālib found himself, may actually be authentic, most of them were inve…

|⁵⁰³In volume 2 | book 3, The Decline of Islamic Literature | Section 3, From the Napoleonic Expedition to Egypt in 1798 until the Present Day previous chapter | German edition 6. Abū Sulaymān Muḥam…

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In volume 2 | book 3, The Decline of Islamic Literature | Section 2, From the Conquest of Egypt by Sultan Selīm I in 1517 to the Napoleonic Expedition to Egypt in 1798 previous chapter | German edition As part of a general increase in Islamic culture, Mongol rule in India also advanced Arabic literature, even though it took a backseat to literature in Persian as it was mainly limited to theology. It was only on the west coast, in Gujarat and Malabar, which were in regular contact with South Arabia and the Hijaz, that it gained increased importance. 1 Philology 3. Aḥmad b. Abi ’l-Ghayth b. Mughl…

In volume 2 | book 3, The Decline of Islamic Literature | Section 2, From the Conquest of Egypt by Sultan Selīm I in 1517 to the Napoleonic Expedition to Egypt in 1798 previous chapter | German edition While the eastern lands of the Muslim world, though culturally stagnant, lived in relative peace under the Ottomans, North Africa gradually sank into barbarism. From the end…

In volume 1 | book 2, Islamic Literature in the Arabic Language | Section 1, The Classical Period from ca. 750 until ca. 1000 previous chapter | German edition 1. The need to compose compact overviews of all or at least the greater part of the sciences, which became more and more pressing as independent |²⁸³ production declined, only manifested itself towards the end of this period. The oldest work of this kind was dedicated by Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Yūsuf al-Khwārizmī1 to Abu ʼl-Ḥasan ʿUbaydallāh b. Aḥmad al-ʿUtbī, the vizier of the Sāmānid ruler Nūḥ II (365–87/975–997). Kitāb maf…

In volume 2 | book 3, The Decline of Islamic Literature | Section 3, From the Napoleonic Expedition to Egypt in 1798 until the Present Day previous chapter | German edition See Supplement next chapter Carl Brockelmann

In volume 2 | book 3, The Decline of Islamic Literature | Section 3, From the Napoleonic Expedition to Egypt in 1798 until the Present Day previous chapter | German edition See Supplement next chapter Carl Brockelmann

|⁹²In volume 1 | book 2, Islamic Literature in the Arabic Language | Section 1, The Classical Period from ca. 750 until ca. 1000 previous chapter | German edition As it had become quasi-sanctified by the Qurʾān, the profane use of rhymed prose, or sajʿ (see Suppl. I, 22), disappeared almost entirely in the first two centuries of Islam. It was only in the middle of the third century that it emerged again in the khuṭba, which in those days was left more and more in the hands of professional preachers, who developed it artistically. From there, sajʿ also penetrated into literature in the form …

In volume 1 | book 1, The National Literature of the Arabs | Section 3, The Period of the Umayyads previous chapter | German edition 1. Ziyād b. Salmā (according to some sources, Salīm or Sulaymān) al-Aʿjam, a client of the ʿAbd al-Qays from the tribe ʿĀmir b. al-Ḥārith, see Suppl. I, 92. Agh. XIV, 1102/9, 298/105, panegyric on ʿUmar b. ʿUbaydallāh, Ḥamāsa IV, 148, Marthiya on Muhallab b. Abī Ṣufra, d. 82/701, which was regarded as the best of its time, Berl. 7519,5. 1a. Yazīd b. Ziyād b. Rabīʿa b. Mufarrij al-Ḥimyarī, see Suppl., loc. cit. …

|²⁶⁵In volume 1 | book 2, Islamic Literature in the Arabic Language | Section 1, The Classical Period from ca. 750 until ca. 1000 previous chapter | German edition Ibn Abū Uṣaybiʿa (d. 668/1270, p. 325/6), Kitāb ʿuyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ, ed. A. Müller, Königsberg 1884 (hereafter Uṣ.). F. Wüstenfeld, Geschichte der arabischen Ärzte und Naturforscher, Göttingen 1840 (quoted by number). L. Leclerc, …

In volume 1 | book 1, The National Literature of the Arabs | Section 2, Muḥammad and His Time previous chapter | German edition |³⁴In the earliest period of his religious activity, the Prophet emptied his soul in true ecstasy; in passionately emotional, and, for the most part, short and incoherent phrases in sajʿ, i.e. the rhyming prose of the kāhin. Later, when he transformed himself more and more from an ecstatic into a preacher, reciting his admonitions in long phrases that were often adorned with stories from the Old Testament and the Haggada, he cont…

In volume 1 | book 1, The National Literature of the Arabs | Section 3, The Period of the Umayyads previous chapter | German edition Up to this time, the tribe of Quraysh in Mecca had played hardly any role in poetry. However, in the first century of the Hijra there arose in their midst a poet whose skill was already—and deservedly—recognised by his contemporaries, |⁴⁶ and which the modern Arab world has learned to appreciate once again after a long period of relative neglect. ʿUmar b. Abī Rabīʿa came from the famous house of Makhzūm. His father ʿAbdallāh, who was one of the ric…

In volume 1 | book 1, The National Literature of the Arabs | Section 2, Muḥammad and His Time previous chapter | German edition had inherited his talent as a poet from his father (see p. 15). He flourished during the time Islam conquered the whole of Arabia in its unstoppable, victorious march. Both his tribe, Muzayna, and his brother Bujayr adopted the new faith, and as such the poet made fun of this in mocking verse. When Muḥammad learned of this he pronounced the death sentence on him. In order not to fall victim to a random fanatic, Kaʿb now had to obtain the Prophet’s pardon at any price. |³³|³⁹ Th…

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In volume 2 | book 3, The Decline of Islamic Literature | Section 3, From the Napoleonic Expedition to Egypt in 1798 until the Present Day previous chapter | German edition With the waning of Ottoman power over Egypt from the end of the 18th century onward, the Mamlūks, who had never been completely subdued, regained their previous strength. But 300 years of dependence had done nothing to improve the political understanding of the Beys. As such, they only used |⁶²¹ their power in order to mercilessly extort the people, which not only affected the local population, but the m…