Arabian

Literature
ARABIAN FAST FACT

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Capital: Riyadh
Language: Arab
Religion: Islam
Cultures and Traditions

● Pork is considered unclean and is prohibited. Lunch is

traditionally the main meal.
● Clothing:
○ Women: Traditional Arab dress features full length body
cover.
○ Men: Traditional white flowing robes
The Qu’ran
● Arabic term ‘qara’ which means “to read” or “to recite”
= “the thing to be recited / read”
● Quran or Koran
● Sacred scripture of Islam.
● According to conventional Islamic belief, the Qurʾān
was revealed by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet
Muhammad in the West Arabian towns Mecca and
Medina
● Consists of 114 chapters (suras)
● Commitment to one God - Allah
 5 Pillars of Islam
1. Shahada (Declaration of faith)
The belief that "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God" is central to Islam.
2. Salah (Prayer)
Muslims pray facing Mecca five times a day: at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and after dark.
Muslims can pray individually at any location or together in a mosque, where a leader in prayer (Imam)
guides the congregation.
3. Zakat (Alms)
Muslims donate a fixed portion of their income to community members in need.
4. Sawm (Fasting)
During the daylight hours of Ramadan, all healthy adult Muslims are required to abstain from food and
drink. Through this temporary deprivation, they renew their awareness of and gratitude for everything God
has provided in their lives. During Ramadan they share the hunger and thirst of the needy as a reminder of
the religious duty to help those less fortunate.
5. Hajj (Pilgrimage)
Every Muslim whose health and finances permit must make at least one visit to the holy city of Mecca, in
present-day Saudi Arabia. Mecca is the Holy City of Islam and is the birthplace of Prophet Muhammed.
PERIODS

1. Umayyad Period
2. Abbasid Empire
3. Modern Period
Umayyad Period

● Arabic literature was limited to treaties and

commentaries about the Koran, and stories about
Muhammad and his companions.
● Umayyad Poets Chiefs (Al-Akhtal and Al Farazdaq)
favored writing poems about hunting, love lyrics
(Ghazal) and wine.

A Ghazal is a type of poem that is constructed with

couplets, repeated words, and rhyming words.
 Ghazal no. 9 by Mohammed Iqbal

Fabric of earth and wind and wave Who is the load that Time and Space
Who is the secret, you or I, Bear or their shoulder? Who the prize

Brought into light? or who the dark Run for with fiery feat by swift
World of what hides yet, you or I? Daybreak and sunset, you or I?

Here in this night of grief and pain; You are pinch of dust and blind,
Trouble and toil, that men call life, You are a pinch of dust that feels,

Who is the dawn, or who dawn's prayer Through the dry lead, Existence, who
Cried from the minaret, you or I? Flows like a streamlet, you or I?
Abbasid Empire

● “Adab” - which means ‘literature’

● Saj - means ‘rhymed prose’
● Greatest masters of adab were Al Jahiz and Al Hariri.
● The Thousand and One Nights also known as
Arabian Nights
1001 Nights
The Thousand and One Night

● Also known as Arabian Nights

● Is constructed as a ‘frame story’

● King Shahrayar
● King Shahzaman

● A lady held captive by a genie

● Lady Sharahzad
Arabian Nights stories include:

1. The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor.

2. The Three Apples.
3. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
4. Abu Hasan and the Fart.
5. Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.
6. The Fisherman and the Jinnie
Modern Period

● Nahdah
“Reawakening” movement of Arabian Literature
After the Abbasid Empire, Arabian Literature declined,
however, during the Modern Period, it was revived
into intellectual movement known as the Nahdah.
Arabic Poetry
All verses are divided into two:
1. OCCASIONAL POEMS
(2-20 lines about war, revenge, and praise)
a. Elegies (poem for lamentation/sorrow)
b. Ode or Quasida (poem for praise and celebration)
A celebratory poem of praise expressing honor to the
person.
2. COLLECTIONS OR ANTHOLOGIES
Collection of poems, novels, essays about valor, battles,
patience vengeance and so on..
THE PROPHET by Gibran

Gibran Kahlil Gibran is best known for his poetic parables and
aphorisms, contains in such works as The Prophet (1923) and Sand
and Foam (1926).

Gibran considered The Prophet his greatest achievement. He said: “I

think I’ve never been without The Prophet since I first conceived the
book back i Mount Lebanon. It seems to have been a part of me… I kept
the manuscript four years before I delivered it over to my publisher
because I wanted to be sure, I want to be very sure, that every word of it
was the very best I had to offer.”
An aphorism is a brief saying or phrase that expresses an opinion or makes a
statement of wisdom without the flowery language of a proverb.