ARABIC. LITERATURE. While it is only the last century before Mohammed which has left a few traces of early Arabic literature, from the era of the prophet of Islam it grew with marvelous rapidity to become one of the most widely cultivated in successive ages. An outgrowth of the wandering Bedouin of the desert, it was to include nearly all the branches of human knowledge and research. Theology, medicine, philosophy, philology, history, mathe matics, geography, astronomy and poetry, in particular, were extensively represented, even if the modern world has had, as yet, only an introduction to these treasures, which were less cultivated after the 14th century. The begin nings sprang from the desert, when the Bedouin with his camel, long his only steed, his nearby herbage and frequent encampments, became rhymster and balladist in a fashion. His sub jects were limited — the face of some dear one, the abandoned camp and its lost treasures, the strife over camel or caravan — nothing very monumental or superhuman as might be traced in the early literary effort of the Indo-Euro pean. The primitive Arabic poems in quaint measures are satires and sharp epigrams, pass ing from tribe to tribe of a common origin, and composed by the Sha-ir, sage and diviner as well. Of such productions nothing remains. Popular songs orally transmitted in memory of victory over the Romans were soon forgotten, for nothing was written in those times.
It is not surprising that the most ancient of the Arabic poems date only from the 6th century of our era when Nabatean travelers brought the Estrangelo alphabet from Syria and applied it to the Arabic. The poets of the desert traced their rhymes and metre to the soothsayer's formula and chant; the measure was to be changed as new conditions of life arose with music and the dance, and the bustl ing town supplanted the wilderness.
Out of the pre-Islamic period the earliest poems comprise the seven mu-allagat or ally the 'Isuspended°— a term of later origin to indicate the high honor in which they were held, like some glittering pendant; they were also called a °necklace of pearls.° The word is also held to signify °excellent.° The seven poets whose names were thus strung together are Tarafa, Zuhair, Labid, Amr, Antara and Al-Harith. In the opinion of some the two last are Nabigha and A'sha. They created the gasida, with its definite rules and forms. It treated of the abandoned camp, and those who had forsaken it. Some love theme is interwoven and then the hard desert journey is mentioned, with the faithful steed's desperate plight. The last lines dwell on the glory of the ruler before whom the poem is recited and from whom a gift is expected. Of these the name of Antara survives in the Romance of Antar —a true desert poet, as contrasted with the courtier poet Nabigha or with Imru-ul Quais of royal lineage and regarded by Mo hammed as best of all.
Other pre-Islamic poems preserved are the Diwans (anthologies arranged according to the alphabetical order of the rhyme) of the six poets brought together by the grammarian AI Asmal, preserved in revised form by a learned Spanish Arab of the 11th century, and pub lished by Ahlwardt. In the same class is Al Mufaddal's collection of poems, Mufaddaliyyst in one volume in the 11th century, of whose publication Thorbecke has made a beginning; and also the Jamharat Ash'ari al Arab, quoted in the 11th century by Ibn Rashiq and printed at Bulaq. Better known is the Hamasa or
anthology of war-like exploits, by Abu Tam mam, translated into German by Riickert. Ley den has a manuscript copy of a work of the same name and kind and dating from the same century, the ninth, compiled by Al Buhturi. Wright has issued a fragment of Sukkari's stories of brigands. But the most valuable source to early poems and poets is the Kitab al Aghani (Book of Songs) by Abull-Farai, published at Bulaq in 20 volumes, with an addi tional volume by M. Briinnow from manu scripts discovered in European libraries. Suk kan has also collected poems of the Hudhai lites, who dwell southeast of Mecca, which have been studied and translated in part by Kose garten, Ahicht and Wellhausen. In addition to their anthologies many warriors sang their own deeds in love and war, like Ta'abbata-Sharran and his companion Shanfara, Urwa ibn al Ward, Dhul-Asba, Al-Hadira, Abid, Hatim, Umayya, whose subjects were religious, and who died in 630. Of a religious turn and famous in his day was Al-Asha. Al-Khansa was renowned for her elegies, a necessary part of funerals, and whose composition was con fided to women. There were a number of Jewish poets in that early period, whose colonies dated from the Roman conquest of Palestine; local legend asserts an earlier origin. Their language had been Arab, but they had retained their religion and were propagandists in a way as Arab tribes associated themselves with them. The greatest was Samuel ibn Adiya, and next to him in fame was possibly Al Rabi, whose sons were bitter enemies of Mohammed. Christianity had made proselytes in Arabia, with churches and monasteries in Syria, with the constant caravans of north ern Arabs, while Mesopotamia was wholly Christian. Adi ibn Zaid was the most famous of the Christian poets, coming from Hira, with its mixed elements of Arameans and Arabs. Of the prose of these early centuries, there are no traces extant, as nothing was written or deemed worthy of such honor. The literary art which attained later such magnificent develop ment was limited to stories and recitals of martial deeds, to proverbs and legends. With the Koran began a new period of Arabic thought. Whatever elements, whether Jewish, Christian or a blend of the two, like the Essenes, were at the basis of Islam, the Koran founded the classic literature of the Arabs. Revealed in bits and fragments, with its style differing according to the periods of the prophet s life at which he was inspired written throughout in rhymed prose, and finally edited under Caliph Uthman, with its chapters or suras, excepting the first, arranged artificially according to their length, the work became corner stone and temple, foundation and edifice, authority and inspiration to worshipper and worker. All copies of the Koran now existing are copies of Uthman's edition—other texts were done away with by that Caliph, except the authoritative text of Abu Bekr, which was soon afterward destroyed by the governor of Medina. Unanimity and unity had been pre served. In the largest measure Arabic litera ture is the Koran, studied, interpreted in prose or verse, eulogized, made the point of departure for thought in a thousand fields, all closely connected with the history of the Arab people at home and in their conquered realms.