ARABIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, Regarding the oldest literary culture of the Arabians, we possess but slight information. That their poetry at least must have had a very early development, may be inferred from the natural disposition of the inhabitants, who were characterized for their high spirit, courage, love of adventure, and delight in the glory of war. As far back as Solomon's time, the queen of Sheba (proba bly Arabia Felix) was noted for her sententious sayings. The nomadic tribes, living under the patriarchal rule of their sheiks, possessed everything that was favorable to the growth of a simple and natural poetry. They had quick and vivid feelings, and a rich, glowing fancy, which, operating upon the perils, the hardships, and strange confederate life they led in those barren sand-deserts, and amongst naked rocks, could hardly fail to call forth a wild and vigorous minstrelsy. Before the time of Mohammed, the Ara bians had celebrated poets who sang the feuds of tribes, and the praises of heroes and fair women. During the great fairs at Mecca and Okadh, poetic contests were held before the people as at the Grecian games: and the poems to which the prize was awarded were rewritten in golden characters, and suspended in the Kaaba at Mecca, the venerable national temple which the Mohammedans affirm to have been built by Abraham, or Ishmael. They are termed the Moablakat—i.e., "the suspended "—from the honor conferred on them, and are remarkable for their pathos, soaring conceptions, richness of imagery and phraseology, free and unconstrained spirit, and the glow of their love and hate. Among the famous poets of this early period are Nabegha, Asha, Shan fara—whose works were translated and published by De Sacy in his bhrestomathie Arabe —and, lastly, Kaab-ben-Zohair, who lived to celebrate the praises of the prophet Mohammed.
But the most brilliant period of Arabic culture is that which Mohammed himself inaugurated in the Koran. His new doctrines of faith and life, collected under this title by the first calif, Abubekr, were revised and published by Othman, the third calif. The naturally adventurous spirit of the Arabs found a suitable excitement in the half-religious, half-military system of Mohammed, and, after his death, their fanaticism prepared them for their subsequent career. Like an overwhelming torrent, they passed over the
neighboring states, and in the short space of SO years from the death of their prophet, had extended their dominion from Egypt to India, and from Lisbon to Samareand. During this time nothing can be said of their culture and refinement. A fanatical desire of conquest prevailed. Gradually, however, by their intercourse with civilized nations, the Arabian conquerors were themselves subjected to the humanizing influence of letters, and, after 749 A.D., or during the reign of the Abassides, literature, arts, and sciences appeared, and were generously fostered under the splendid sway, first of Almansor (754-775), and afterwards of the celebrated Harun-al-Baschid (786-808). Learned men were now invited from many countries, and remunerated for their labors with princely munificence; the works of the best Greek, Syriac, and old Persian writers were trans lated into Arabic, and spread abroad in numerous copies. The calif Al-Mamun, who reigned from 813 to 833, offered to the Greek emperor five tons of gold and a perpetual treaty of peace, on condition that the philosopher Leo should be allowed for a time to give instruction to the former. There arc few instances of such a price offered for lessons in philosophy. Under the sway of the same Al-Mamun, excellent schools were founded in Bagdad, Basra, Bokhara, and Kufa ; while large libraries were collected at Alexandria, Bagdad, and Cairo. In Spain, the high school of Cordova, rivaled the literary fame 'of Bagdad, and, generally, in the 10th c., the Arabs appeared everywhere as the preservers and distributers of knowledge. Pupils from France, and other European countries, then began to repair to Spain in great numbers, to study mathematics and medicine under the Arabs. There were 14 academies, with many preparatory and upper schools in Spain, and 5 very considerable public libraries; that of the calif Hakem containing, as is said, more than 600,000 volumes. This state of culture, when compared with that prevalent before Mohammed, shows a rapidity of progress in knowledge almost as remarkable as the career of Arabian conquest.