Besides these advances in the solid branches of knowledge the genius of the Arabs continually flowered into poetry. From Bagdad to Cordova the Mohammedan world was full of sweet sing ers. Collections of the works of older poets (Dit•uns) were made, of single writers, of the poems of individual tribes, or arranged according to the subject matter of the poems. ('mar ibn Rabiah (1328), the Arabian Minnesinger; Abu Nuwas. the Heine of the court of Ha run al-Rashid; the royal poets Abel al-Rahman (788) and Al-31u tamid (1095) of Spain; Muslim ibn al-Walid 1757) ; Abd Allah Dm al-Mutazz (1502) ; Abu Fires (9(i8) ; al-Tughrai (1120) ; and the pane gyrist of Mohammed, al-Busiri (1279), are a few of the brightest stars. Though much of this poetry was scholastic in form, al-Alutanabbi (9(35) is considered one of the greatest medan poets and his Piled n . with its 289 poems, was always widely read. A new species of poetry was invented, the .11 obi int . a sort of rhymed prose in a finished and most ornamental style and ex hibiting merely the literary prowess of the writer. Of such a kind were the writings of Ahmad al Hamadhani (1007) and Abu Mohammed al Hariri of Basra. (1121). Side by side with this scholastic poetry there grew- up a large mass of popular verse. which refused to be bound by the canonical metres and which developed the strophe, otherwise unknown to Arabic literature. A par ticular form of this was the lieawl dal! , or girdle poem. A popular. and at times fantastic popular prose literature also made its appear ance. in which the Eastern craving for the won derful and gorgeous was richly gratified. This was largely influenced by non-Arabic literatures, as in the Fables of Bidpoi, translated in 750 by Abd Allah ihn al-MukatIa from the Persian, in The Seven Wise' 31asters, and in the Arabian ights (q.v.). Pure Bedouin romances are the stories of Sail ibn dpi lazan, of the Bann noui, of al and especially the „tutu/ Rolmtacc, which gives the most faithful picture of desert life, and which was not without influence upon the romance and chivalry of mekccvai Europe.
All this culture of the early centuries of Mo hammedanism presents a strong contrast to the decline which is evident from the ascendancy of the Turks in the sixteenth century to our own day. Scholastic discussions on dligmatics and jurisprudence, and tedious grammatical disquisi tions became the order of the day. The expedition of Napoleon to Egypt presaged the introduc tion of Western culture to the East, and a slow intellectual resurrection has commenced. The printing presses of hula k, Fez, Constantinople, Beirut and of several Indian cities are extremely productive, and edition after edition is quickly exhausted. Newspapers in Arabic are now pub lished all over the East, and even in Western cities, e.g. Paris and New York. Writers have also begun to attempt, with more or less success, to imitate European forms of thought and senti ment. Of these may be mentioned Michael Sal hagh of Syria (La Cotombc IicssagCrc, Arabic and French, Paris, 1805) ; the Sheik Rifaa of Cairo (The Broken Lyre, Paris, 1827) ; .1/anners and
Customs of the Europeans (Cairo, 1834) ; Thirds in France (Cairo, 1825). But despite all this. the results obtained in Egypt during the period from 1798 down to the English tutelage, in 1852, are meagre. Mehemet Ali introduced the print ing-press in 1821, and founded a school for mathematics. Some of the works of the hest, European writers were translated into Arabic: the vice-regal library was founded in Cairo in 1870. Few great scholars and writers have as yet appeared; and it is questionable whether the attempt to develop the common speech into a literary language will be more successful. The endeavor to substitute the Boman script for the Arabic ( furthered notably by Professor W. Fiske) will certainly not aid the regeneration. The fol lowing modern poets deserve mention: Basalt al Attar (1700-1838) ; Abd Allah Pasha al-Fikri (1834-90) Aisha ]stoat Hamm. daughter of Ismail Pasha; and Mohammed Uthman Jalal (L1829). the translator of Racine and Moliere. To these may be added the historians Abd Allah al-Sharkawi 11737-1812), and Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti(d.1826), both historians of the French occupation; Ali Pasha Mubarak (1823-93). the topographist of Cairo and Alexandria; and the great jurist Ibrahim al-Bajuri (1783-1801), rec tor of the al-Azhar University. In Syria the dearth of literary effort was still greater. The beginnings of a new life are due to European and American efforts. The American Presbyterian missionaries and the French Jesuits (since 1809) have started a new life in Beirut by means of the printing-press and modern sehools. A real interest in the old literature has been awakened, many of the masterpieces being reedited in a critical spirit. In this connection may be men tioned the philologist and poet Nasif (1800-71), who wrote the critical ohse•vations its De Sacy's edition of Hariri (Epistola r•itica, Leipzig, 18481; Bntrus al-Bistani (1819-1583), author of a dictionary and a general encyclorne Ilia; Ahmad Faris al-Shidyak (1.1884), the gram marian; Khalil Sarkis (1877), the historian of Jerusalem; and Louis Cheikho. the learned editor of the old Arabic poets. In the old home of the faith. Mecca, literary activity still continues to our own day, but upon the old theological and dogmatie lines. Worthy of mention are Alunad DohIan (e.1550), theologian and historian, the author of more than twenty works, and Moham med ibn ()mar al-Nawawi (c.I885), by origin a Malay, the author of eighteen works upon differ ent subjects. In India European influence in literature is confined to the publications of the Biblira Indica ; and to a few writers such as Siddik Hasan, husband of the Sultanee of Bhopa. The sauce condition prevails in the Maghril) (Northwest Africa ). French culture has had 110 perceptible influence upon .Arabic literature in Algiers; Morocco is as dead to European in tluences as if it were in the heart of Arabia. The productions of the' lithographic press at Fez are all confined to the older Islamic theological, legal, and historical literature.