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(1857-1914), écrivain ourdou du mouvement de ʿAlīgārh de tout premier plan, né dans une famille aisée à Bindūl, dans le district d’Aʿẓamgārh [ q.v.] des Provinces Unies. Tôt dans sa vie, il se préoccupa du droit ḥanafite puis acquit des compétences dans le domaine des langues et des littératures arabe, persane et ourdoue. Ses centres d’intérêt furent l’histoire islamique, la biographie et la critique littéraire en persan et en général, et il composa des poèmes en persan aussi bien qu’en ourdou; mais, bien qu’il ait tenté de se comparer à un autre polygraphe de ʿAlīgaŕh, Alṭāf Ḥusayn Ḥālī [ q.…

(Ḏj̲āysī/Ḏj̲aysī). Ṣufī et poète indien (900-49?/ 1493-1542?) né à Ḏj̲āyas (Ḏj̲ays) dans l’Awadh [ q.v.] et mort dans la localité voisine d’Amēt̲h̲ī. Il fit ses études sur place, fut un disciple du s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ čis̲h̲tī Muḥyī l-dīn et eut des maîtres tant hindous que musulmans. Il manifesta une certaine tolérance religieuse que l’on attribue à l’influence de Kabīr. Il composa des poèmes en awad̲h̲ī qui est une forme du hindī oriental, et notamment deux pièces religieuses assez brèves dont l’une, Āk̲h̲irī kalām porte sur le Jour du Jugement. Mais il est surtout célèbre grâce à son Padumāvatī…

(a.), anthologie, morceaux choisis. I. — En arabe. Selon la tradition médiévale, la plus vieille anthologie de poèmes arabes est le petit recueil de célèbres ḳaṣīdas préislamiques, connues sous les noms des «sept longs poèmes», al-Muʿallaḳāt [ q.v.], al-Sumūṭ, etc. Elle est probablement la plus ancienne à avoir été conçue. Au début de la période ʿabbāside, ont été compilées les célèbres Mufaḍḍaliyyāt [ q.v.]. L’anthologie d’al-Aṣma’î, les Asmaʿiyyāt, qui contient 92 ḳaṣīdas dues à 71 poètes (dont 44 préislamiques) a retenu relativement peu l’attention des écrivains…

(1880-1936), auteur indien de fiction en ourdou/hindī, très connu pour ses nouvelles, qui lui valurent une large audience comme pionnier du genre. De son vivant, et déjà un siècle auparavant, l’anglais mis à part, la langue officielle du Gouvernement Britannique de l’Inde était souvent appelée l’hindūstānī. Elle était habituellement rédigée dans l’écriture de style persan par et pour les Musulmans, et en dēvanāgarī par et pour les Hindous. Le premier type, lorsqu’il était employé comme langue littéraire, était également appelé l’ourdou («la langue du camp militaire», urdû [voir Ord…

«le Fou de Laylā», ou Mad̲j̲nūn Banī ʿĀmir, nom donné au héros d’un roman d’amour dont le noyau primitif pourrait remonter à la seconde moitié du Ier/VIIe siècle. I. — Littérature arabe. Ce personnage imaginaire (même aux yeux de certains critiques arabes; voir Ag̲h̲ānī, éd. de Beyrouth, II, 6, II) a été doté par les ruwāt d’un ism et d’une généalogie complète: Ḳays b. al-Mulawwaḥ b. Muzāḥim b. Ḳays b. ʿUdas b. Rabīʿa b. Ḏj̲aʿda b. Kaʿb b. Rabīʿa b. ʿĀmir b. Ṣaʿṣaʿa, mais il se trouve que, si cette filiation peut être admise à partir de Ḳays b. ʿUdas,…

, Sayyid Muḥammad Mīr (1133-1213/1720-98), poète urdu, né à Dihli. Son père descendait d’un saint gud̲j̲arātī, mais la famille était originaire de Buk̲h̲ārā. Le poète avait la solide éducation et la formation propre aux classes aristocratiques. C’était un excellent archer et un habile cavalier, adepte des arts martiaux en général, et d’une remarquable force physique. C’était un calligraphe expert, habile dans tous les styles d’écriture ornementaux. Après une jeunesse tumultueuse, il se fit derviche. En tant qu’auteur, si un certain nombre d’auteurs de tad̲h̲kiras parlent de lu…

(a., pl. amt̲h̲āl), proverbe, dicton populaire dérivé — de même que l’aram. mat̲h̲lā, l’hébreu mās̲h̲āl et l’éthiopien mesl, mesālē — de la racine du sémitique commun signifiant «similitude, égalité, ressemblance, équivalence» (cf. accad. mas̲h̲ālum «égalité», mis̲h̲lum «moitié»). «Créer un proverbe» se dit: fa-arsala(t)hā, ou d̲j̲aʿala(t)hu mat̲h̲alan, faḍaraba(t) bihi l-mat̲h̲ala et «devenir proverbial»: ḍuriba bihilbihā l-mat̲h̲alu, mat̲h̲alun yuḍrabu, fa-d̲h̲ahaba(t) ou d̲j̲arā/ d̲j̲arat mat̲h̲alan ou simplement fa-ṣāra mat̲h̲alan. I. En Arabe. I. Définition II…

Taṣadduḳ Ḥusayn (Nawwāb Mīrzā), poète ourdou (?-1871). Il était originaire d’une famille de médecins, et son oncle paternel Mīrzā ʿAlī Ḵh̲ān était un éminent médecin officiel de la cour des Nawwābs d’Oudh (Awadh) à Lucknow. S̲h̲awḳ fut lui-même bien formé, non seulement en médecine, mais aussi dans les arts et dans les sciences. Il devait son talent poétique à son maître Ātis̲h̲ [ q.v.]. Ses mat̲h̲nawīs lui valurent une grande réputation de son vivant, notamment à Lucknow, et même des critiques difficiles comme Alṭāf Ḥusayn Ḥālī reconnaissaient ses mérites (voir sa Muḳaddima-yi s̲h̲iʿ…

( D̲j̲āysī/D̲j̲aysī ) (?900/1493 to?949/1542), Indian Ṣūfīand poet, was born at D̲j̲āyas (D̲j̲ays) in Awadh [ q.v.] and died at nearby Amēthī. Educated locally, he became a disciple of the Čis̲h̲tī S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Muḥyī ’l-Dīn. He had Hindu as well as Muslim teachers, and showed a religious tolerance which some ascribe to the influence of Kabīr. He wrote poetry in Awadhī, a form of Eastern Hindī, including two fairly short religious poems, one of which, Āk̲h̲irī kalām , is on the Day of Judgement. But he is famed chiefly for his Padumāvat , a narrative and descriptive…

(Mawlwi/Deputy) (1836-1912), Urdu prose writer, is often described as “the first real novelist” in the language. But this description presupposes that by “novels” we mean fiction dealing with contemporary social themes, more or less following Western models (for fiction prior to Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad, and that on other themes, see Ḳiṣṣa 5. In Urdu. The same article provides information on five of Nad̲h̲īr Aḥmad’s novels). He was born in a village of Bid̲j̲nawr district, not far from Dihlī, of an impoverished and improvident father, who also tried to prevent him fro…

(1879-1935), the ¶ best-known Urdu dramatist. His actual name was Āg̲h̲ā Muḥammad S̲h̲ah and Ḥas̲h̲ar his tak̲h̲alluṣ , while his nisba alludes to the country of origin of his father. The latter came from Kas̲h̲mīr, and settled in Benares as a merchant. Here Āg̲h̲ā Ḥas̲h̲ar was born and educated, until in 1897 he ran away from home and made for Bombay. He feared his father’s wrath for his misuse of money entrusted to him; and his appetite for die new Urdu drama form, which was flourishing in B…

, Mirzā Muḥammad Rafīʿ (1125-1195/1713-1781), a highly esteemed Urdu poet, was born in Dihlī. His father came from a military family of Kābul, and he settled in Dihlī, where he became a wealthy merchant. The future poet was a spendthrift in his youth, and after his father’s death he soon disposed of his inheritance by riotous living. After a spell of soldiering, he turned to a poetical career, adopting the tak̲h̲alluṣ of Sawdā (Ar. “melancholy, madness”), an apt name in an age when poets concentrated on g̲h̲azal . Perhaps it was also a pun on Persian sawda (“trade”), …

(a.), “scene”, increasingly employed as “theatre” (in the same sense as “Bühne” in German); frequently synonymous with tiyātrō (from the Italian). 1. In the Arab East. Primarily an artistic and literary phenomenon of the last two centuries, the Arab theatre has its roots in local performances of passion plays [see taʿziya ], marionette and shadow plays [see ḳaragöz ], mimicry and other popular farces, and was affected by the then contemporary (rather than the classical) foreign theatre as well. Although some popular open-air plays…

, mīr bābar ʿalī (1217-91/1802-74), Urdu poet, was born in Fayḍābād (Fyzabad) [ q.v.] into a family which had produced five generations of poets. Some of these, including his father K̲h̲āliḳ, wrote the characteristically Indian type of mart̲h̲iya which thrived at public recitals in Lucknow, capital of the S̲h̲īʿī Nawābs of Oudh. This type, which may have originated in the Deccan, was devoted to the martyrdom of al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī at Karbalāʾ (61/680). Anīs moved to Lucknow as a young man, and devoted his life to writing poetry, especially marāt̲h̲ī . He became th…

, Sayyid Muḥammad Mīr (1133-1213/1720-98), Urdu poet, was born in Dihli. His father was descended from a Gud̲j̲arātī saint, but the family originally hailed from Buk̲h̲ārā. The poet had the broad education and training typical of the noble classes. He was an excellent archer and horseman, and generally skilled in the martial arts and noted for his physical strength. He was an expert calligrapher, and excelled in all the seven different types of ornamental writing. After a licentious youth, he became a dervish. As a writer, whilst a number of tad̲h̲kira authors r…

(1880-1936), Indian writer of fiction in Urdu/Hindi, best known for his short stories, ¶ which gained him wide recognition as a pioneer of the genre. During his lifetime, and a hundred years previously, apart from English the official language of the British Government of India was often called Hindūstānī. It was usually written in Persian-style script by and for Muslims, and in Dēvanāgarī script by and for Hindus. The former type, when used as a literary language, was also referred to as Urdū (“the language of the army camp, urdū [see ordo ]) and the latter type as Hindī (formerly Hin…

(Mōmin), Ḥakīm Muḥammad K̲h̲ān (1215-68/1800-51), Urdu poet, was born into a noble Kās̲h̲mīrī family noted for its distinguished physicians. As such, his father Ḥākim G̲h̲ulām Nabī was persona grata at the Mug̲h̲al court. The family had been granted a d̲j̲āgīr [ q.v.] which was subsequently appropriated by the East India Company in exchange for a substantial pension. In due course, the poet had a share of it, and he never needed to work for a living. This background of financial independence and social status should be borne in mind in judging Muʾmin as both a man and a poet. After sowing his…

, Muḥammad Nuṣrat , Deccani Urdu poet of the 11th/17th century, whose work marks a stage in the history of Urdu language and literature. Born in the Carnatic as a relative of the ruling family there, he at first lived as a dervish but then moved to Bīd̲j̲āpūr [ q.v.], wherehe became an official and the poet-laureate of the ʿĀdil-S̲h̲āhī ʿAlī II b. Muḥammad (1066-83/1656-72 [see ʿādil-s̲h̲āhs ]. He wrote many poems, including ḳaṣīda s and g̲h̲azal s, but more especially a number mat̲h̲nawī s of substantial length. The most important of these was his ʿAlī-nāma , a eulog…

(1125-1223/1713-1810), leading Urdu g̲h̲azalpoet. He was born in Akbarābād (Āgra), the son of a Ṣūfī darwīsh who impressed on him the importance of divine love and the unreliability of this world, ideas which he was later to stress in his poetry. Biographical details are difficult to date, but he must have been about 15 years old when, following his father’s early death, he went to Dihlī to seek a livelihood. There he found a patron who, however, soon died, and he returned to Akbarābād. L…

(a., pl. amt̲h̲āl ) proverb, popular saying, derives—similarly to Aram, mat̲h̲lā , Hebr. mās̲h̲āl and Ethiop. mesl , mesālē —from the common Semitic root for “sameness, equality, likeness, equivalent” (cf. Akkad. mas̲h̲ālum “equality”, mis̲h̲lum “half”). In Arabic, to create a proverb is fa-arsala( t) hā , or d̲j̲aʿala ( t) hu mat̲h̲al an, fa-ḍaraba ( t) bihi ’l-mat̲h̲al a; to become proverbial is ḍuriba bihi ’l-mat̲h̲alu , mat̲h̲al un yuḍrabu fa-d̲h̲ahaba ( t), or d̲j̲arā / d̲j̲arat mat̲h̲al an, or, simply, fa-ṣāra mat̲h̲al an. 1. In Arabic i. Definition ii. Arabic proverbs (1) Earlie…