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World Literature
Persian Literature
 Persian Literature
• Spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-
Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within
historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as
regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has
historically been the national language.
 Described as one of the great literatures of mankind,[Persian
literature has its roots in surviving works of Middle Persian
 and Old Persian, the latter of which date back as far as 522
BCE. the Persians became the scribes and bureaucrats of the
Islamic empire and, increasingly, also its writers and poets.
 Persians wrote both in Persian and Arabic; Persian
predominated in later literary circles.  Persian literature has
been considered by such thinkers as Goethe one of the four
main bodies of world literature.
 Literary periods
• Pre-Islamic Persian literature
• Very few literary works of Achaemenid (First Persian
Empire) Persia have survived, due partly to the destruction
of the library at Persepolis.  Most of what remains consists
of the royal inscriptions of Achaemenid kings,
particularly Darius I (522–486 BC) and his son Xerxes.
 Medieval and pre-modern periods
 New Persian soon became a literary language again of
the Central Asian lands. The rebirth of the language in its
new form is often accredited to  Persia poets Ferdowsi, 
Unsuri, Taleb Amoli and their generation, as they used pre-
Islamic nationalism as a conduit to revive the language and
customs of ancient Persia.
 Persian Poetry
• Panegyrics Style
• Is a formal public speech, or (in later use) written verse,
delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly
studied and discriminating eulogy.  It is derived from the Greek
meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly" 
• Khorasani style
•  is characterized by its supercilious diction, dignified tone, and
relatively literate language. It was used by followers mostly
that were associated with Greater Khorasan (a historical
region northeast of Persia)
 Persian Poetry
• Araqi (Iraqi) style
• Is known by its emotional lyric qualities, rich meters, and the
relative simplicity of its language. Though emotional romantic
poetry was not something new. It also marks the ascendancy
of lyric poetry with the consequent development of the ghazal
(Rhyming couplets and a refrain) into a major verse form, as
well as the rise of mystical and Sufi poetry (lyrics for music
played in worship).
 Persian Poetry
• Modern Persiab Poetry
• Nima Yushij is considered the father of modern Persian poetry,
introducing many techniques and forms to differentiate the
modern from the old. Nevertheless, the credit for popularizing
this new literary form within a country and culture solidly
based on a thousand years of classical poetry goes to his few
disciples.
 Arabic
Literature
 Arabic Literature
• Arabic literature (Arabic: ‫لاــعـربـي‬‫اـألدـب‬ / ALA-LC: al-Adab
al-‘Arabī) is the writing, both prose and poetry, produced by
writers in theArabic language. The Arabic word used for
literature is "adab", which is derived from a meaning
of etiquette, and which implies politeness, culture and
enrichment.
 Arabic literature emerged in the 5th century with only
fragments of the written language appearing before then.
 Arabic literature flourished during the Islamic Golden Age,
but has remained vibrant to the present day, with poets and
prose-writers across the Arab world achieving increasing
success.
  Was
Muhammad a leader from Mecca who
unified Arabia into a single religious polity
under Islam. He is believed
by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be
a messenger and prophet of God, and by
most Muslims as the last prophet sent by
God for mankind. Muhammad is generally
considered to be the founder of Islam,
although this is a view not shared by
Muslims.
  Muslims consider him to be the restorer of
an uncorrupted original monotheistic faith
of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus an
d other prophets.

Symbol for Muhammad

  Is
Quran the central religious text of Islam,
which Muslims consider the verbatim
word of God (Allah).[1] It is regarded widely
as the finest piece of literature in
the Arabic language.
 The Quran is composed of verses (Ayat)
that make up 114 chapters (suras) of
unequal length which are classified either
‫ ) لاــمكيــــ‬or Medinan(‫) لاــمديـنية‬
as Meccan (‫ة‬
depending upon the place and time of
their claimed revelation.
 contains injunctions, narratives, homilies, 
parables, direct addresses from God,
instructions and even comments on itself
on how it will be received and understood.
Front cover of the book Quran It is also, paradoxically, admired for its
layers of metaphor as well as its clarity, a
feature it mentions itself in sura 16:103.
 Facts
• One Thousand and One Nights (Arabic: ‫لــــة وـلـيلة‬
‫ كــتاب أــلف يل‬ Kitāb
alf laylah wa-laylah) is a collection of West and South Asian
stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic
Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights,

 The work was collected over many centuries by various authors,

translators and scholars across West, Central, South Asia and
North Africa. The tales trace their roots back to ancient and
medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian fol
klore and literature.
 The tales vary widely: they include historical tales, love stories,
tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques and various forms of 
erotica. Numerous stories depict Jinns,Ghouls, Apes, sorcerers,
magicians, and legendary places, which are often intermingled
with real people and geography, not always rationally
 Lessons to be learned
•Giving advice, warning, and solutions.

•Praising God, royalties and those in power.

•Pleading for mercy and forgiveness.

•Lamenting wrong decisions or bad luck.

•Providing riddles, laying questions, challenges.

 Synopsis
• The main frame story concerns a Persian king and his new bride. He is
shocked to discover that his brother's wife is unfaithful; discovering his
own wife's infidelity has been even more flagrant, he has her executed:
but in his bitterness and grief decides that all women are the same.
• The king, Shahryar, begins to marry a succession of virgins only to
execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to
dishonor him. Eventually the vizier, whose duty it is to provide them,
cannot find any more virgins. Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter,
offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees.
• On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a
tale, but does not end it. The king is thus forced to postpone her
execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as
she finishes the tale, she begins (and only begins) a new one, and the
king, eager to hear the conclusion, postpones her execution once
again. So it goes on for 1,001 nights.
 Famous Characters
• Prince Ahmed 
• Is the youngest of three sons of a Sultan of the Indies. He is noted for
having a magic tent which would expand so as to shelter an army, and
contract so that it could go into one's pocket.
• Alladin
• A young boy who was sent to a quest to retrieve a magical lamp where
inside rests a genie that they say can grant the bearer its wishes
• Sinbad the Sailor
• Is perhaps one of the most famous characters from the Nights. He is
from Basra, but in his old age he lives in Baghdad. He recounts the
tales of his seven voyages to Sinbad the Porter.
• Alibaba
• A son of a merchant that knows the magic word which will open an
entrance to a cave full of treasures
• Aladdin is an impoverished young ne'er-do-well in a Chinese town, who
is recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb, who passes himself off as
the brother of Aladdin's late father Qaseem, convincing Aladdin and his
mother of his goodwill by apparently making arrangements to set up
the lad as a wealthy merchant. The sorcerer's real motive is to persuade
young Aladdin to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-
trapped magic cave of wonder.
• After the sorcerer attempts to double-cross him, Aladdin finds himself
trapped in the cave. Fortunately, Aladdin retains a magic ring lent to
him by the sorcerer. When he rubs his hands in despair, he
inadvertently rubs the ring, and a jinni, or "genie", appears, who takes
him home to his mother. 
• Aladdin is still carrying the lamp, and when his mother tries to clean it,
a second, far more powerful genie appears, who is bound to do the
bidding of the person holding the lamp. With the aid of the genie of the
lamp, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries
Princess Badroulbadour, the Emperor's daughter. The genie builds
Aladdin a wonderful palace – far more magnificent than that of the
Emperor himself.
• The sorcerer returns and is able to get his hands on the lamp by tricking
Aladdin's wife, who is unaware of the lamp's importance, by offering to
exchange "new lamps for old". He orders the genie of the lamp to take
the palace to his home in the Maghreb. Fortunately, Aladdin retains the
magic ring and is able to summon the lesser genie. Although the genie
of the ring cannot directly undo any of the magic of the genie of the
lamp, he is able to transport Aladdin to Maghreb, and help him recover
his wife and the lamp and defeat the sorcerer.
• The sorcerer's more powerful and evil brother tries to destroy Aladdin
for killing his brother by disguising himself as an old woman known for
her healing powers. Badroulbadour falls for his disguise, and
commands the "woman" to stay in her palace in case of any illnesses.
Aladdin is warned of this danger by the genie of the lamp and slays the
imposter. Everyone lives happily ever after, Aladdin eventually
succeeding to his father-in-law's throne.