Chapter VII: Poetry, Literature, and Science in the ‘abbásid Period (2)

"Amends are richly due from sire to son:
What if thy children rule o'er cities great?
That eminence estranges them the more
From thee, and causes them to wax in hate,
Beholding one who cast them into Life's
Dark labyrinth whence no wit can extricate."[589]

There are many passages to the same effect, showing that Abu ’l-‘Alá regarded procreation as a sin and universal annihilation as the best hope for humanity. He acted in accordance with his opinions, for he never married, and he is said to have desired that the following verse should be inscribed on his grave:--

"This wrong was by my father done
To me, but ne'er by me to one."[590]

Hating the present life and weary of its burdens, yet seeing no happier prospect than that of return to non-existence, Abu ’l-‘Alá can scarcely have disguised from himself what he might shrink openly to avow--that he was at heart, not indeed an atheist, but wholly incredulous of any Divine revelation. Religion, as he conceives it, is a product of the human mind, in which men believe through force of habit and education, never stopping to consider whether it is true.

"Sometimes you may find a man skilful in his trade, perfect in
sagacity and in the use of arguments, but when he comes to religion
he is found obstinate, so does he follow the old groove. Piety is
implanted in human nature; it is deemed a sure refuge. To the
growing child that which falls from his elders' lips is a lesson
that abides with him all his life. Monks in their cloisters and
devotees in the mosques accept their creed just as a story is handed
down from him who tells it, without distinguishing between a true
interpreter and a false. If one of these had found his kin among the
Magians, he would have declared himself a Magian, or among the
Ṣábians, he would have become nearly or quite like _them_."[591]

Religion, then, is "a fable invented by the ancients," worthless except to those unscrupulous persons who prey upon human folly and superstition. Islam is neither better nor worse than any other creed:--

"Ḥanífs are stumbling,[592] Christians all astray,
Jews wildered, Magians far on error's way.
We mortals are composed of two great schools--
Enlightened knaves or else religious fools."[593]

Not only does the poet emphatically reject the proud claim of Islam to possess a monopoly of truth, but he attacks most of its dogmas in detail. As to the Koran, Abu ’l-‘Alá could not altogether refrain from doubting if it was really the Word of God, but he thought so well of the style that he accepted the challenge flung down by Muḥammad and produced a rival work (_al-Fuṣúl wa-’l-Gháyát_), which appears to have been a somewhat frivolous parody of the sacred volume, though in the author's judgment its inferiority was simply due to the fact that it was not yet polished by the tongues of four centuries of readers. Another work which must have sorely offended orthodox Muḥammadans is the _Risálatu ’l-Ghufrán_ (Epistle of Forgiveness).[594] Here the Paradise of the Faithful becomes a glorified salon tenanted by various heathen poets who have been forgiven--hence the title--and received among the Blest. This idea is carried out with much ingenuity and in a spirit of audacious burlesque that reminds us of Lucian. The poets are presented in a series of imaginary conversations with a certain Shaykh ‘Alí b. Manṣúr, to whom the work is addressed, reciting and explaining their verses, quarrelling with one another, and generally behaving as literary Bohemians. The second part contains a number of anecdotes relating to the _zindíqs_ or freethinkers of Islam interspersed with quotations from their poetry and reflections on the nature of their belief, which Abu ’l-‘Alá condemns while expressing a pious hope that they are not so black as they paint themselves. At this time it may have suited him--he was over sixty--to assume the attitude of charitable orthodoxy. Like so many wise men of the East, he practised dissimulation as a fine art--

"I lift my voice to utter lies absurd,
But when I speak the truth, my hushed tones scarce are heard."[595]

In the _Luzúmiyyát_, however, he often unmasks. Thus he describes as idolatrous relics the two Pillars of the Ka‘ba and the Black Stone, venerated by every Moslem, and calls the Pilgrimage itself 'a heathen's journey' (_riḥlatu jáhiliyyin_). The following sentiments do him honour, but they would have been rank heresy at Mecca:--

"Praise God and pray,
Walk seventy times, not seven, the Temple round--
And impious remain!
Devout is he alone who, when he may
Feast his desires, is found
With courage to abstain."[596]

It is needless to give further instances of the poet's contempt for the Muḥammadan articles of faith. Considering that he assailed persons as well as principles, and lashed with bitter invective the powerful class of the _‘Ulamá_, the clerical and legal representatives of Islam, we may wonder that the accusation of heresy brought against him was never pushed home and had no serious consequences. The question was warmly argued on both sides, and though Abu ’l-‘Alá was pronounced by the majority to be a freethinker and materialist, he did not lack defenders who quoted chapter and verse to prove that he was nothing of the kind. It must be remembered that his works contain no philosophical system; that his opinions have to be gathered from the ideas which he scatters incoherently, and for the most part in guarded language, through a long succession of rhymes; and that this task, already arduous enough, is complicated by the not infrequent occurrence of sentiments which are blamelessly orthodox and entirely contradictory to the rest. A brilliant writer, familiar with Eastern ways of thinking, has observed that in general the conscience of an Asiatic is composed of the following ingredients: (1) an almost bare religious designation; (2) a more or less lively belief in certain doctrines of the creed which he professes; (3) a resolute opposition to many of its doctrines, even if they should be the most essential; (4) a fund of ideas relating to completely alien theories, which occupies more or less room; (5) a constant tendency to get rid of these ideas and theories and to replace the old by new.[597] Such phenomena will account for a great deal of logical inconsistency, but we should beware of invoking them too confidently in this case. Abu ’l-‘Alá with his keen intellect and unfanatical temperament was not the man to let himself be mystified. Still lamer is the explanation offered by some Muḥammadan critics, that his thoughts were decided by the necessities of the difficult metre in which he wrote. It is conceivable that he may sometimes have doubted his own doubts and given Islam the benefit, but Von Kremer's conclusion is probably near the truth, namely, that where the poet speaks as a good Moslem, his phrases if they are not purely conventional are introduced of set purpose to foil his pious antagonists or to throw them off the scent. Although he was not without religion in the larger sense of the word, unprejudiced students of the later poems must recognise that from the orthodox standpoint he was justly branded as an infidel. The following translations will serve to illustrate the negative side of his philosophy:--

"Falsehood hath so corrupted all the world
That wrangling sects each other's gospel chide;
But were not hate Man's natural element,
Churches and mosques had risen side by side."[598]

"What is Religion? A maid kept close that no eye may view her;
The price of her wedding-gifts and dowry baffles the wooer.
Of all the goodly doctrine that I from the pulpit heard
My heart has never accepted so much as a single word!"[599]

"The pillars of this earth are four,
Which lend to human life a base;
God shaped two vessels, Time and Space,
The world and all its folk to store.

"That which Time holds, in ignorance
It holds--why vent on it our spite?
Man is no cave-bound eremite,
But still an eager spy on Chance.

"He trembles to be laid asleep,
Tho' worn and old and weary grown.
We laugh and weep by Fate alone,
Time moves us not to laugh or weep;

"Yet we accuse it innocent,
Which, could it speak, might us accuse,
Our best and worst, at will to choose,
United in a sinful bent."[600]

"'The stars' conjunction comes, divinely sent,
And lo, the veil o'er every creed is rent.
No realm is founded that escapes decay,
The firmest structure soon dissolves away.[601]
With sadness deep a thoughtful mind must scan
Religion made to serve the pelf of Man.
Fear thine own children: sparks at random flung
Consume the very tinder whence they sprung.
Evil are all men; I distinguish not
That part or this: the race entire I blot.
Trust none, however near akin, tho' he
A perfect sense of honour show to thee,
Thy self is the worst foe to be withstood:
Be on thy guard in hours of solitude."

* * * * *

"Desire a venerable shaykh to cite
Reason for his doctrine, he is gravelled quite.
What! shall I ripen ere a leaf is seen?
The tree bears only when 'tis clad in green."[602]

"How have I provoked your enmity?
Christ or Muḥammad, 'tis one to me.
No rays of dawn our path illume,
We are sunk together in ceaseless gloom.
Can blind perceptions lead aright,
Or blear eyes ever have clear sight?
Well may a body racked with pain
Envy mouldering bones in vain;
Yet comes a day when the weary sword
Reposes, to its sheath restored.
Ah, who to me a frame will give
As clod or stone insensitive?--
For when spirit is joined to flesh, the pair
Anguish of mortal sickness share.
O Wind, be still, if wind thy name,
O Flame, die out, if thou art flame!"[603]

Pessimist and sceptic as he was, Abu ’l-‘Alá denies more than he affirms, but although he rejected the dogmas of positive religion, he did not fall into utter unbelief; for he found within himself a moral law to which he could not refuse obedience.

"Take Reason for thy guide and do what she
Approves, the best of counsellors in sooth.
Accept no law the Pentateuch lays down:
Not there is what thou seekest--the plain truth."[604]

He insists repeatedly that virtue is its own reward.

"Oh, purge the good thou dost from hope of recompense
Or profit, as if thou wert one that sells his wares."[605]

His creed is that of a philosopher and ascetic. Slay no living creature, he says; better spare a flea than give alms. Yet he prefers active piety, active humanity, to fasting and prayer. "The gist of his moral teaching is to inculcate as the highest and holiest duty a conscientious fulfilment of one's obligations with equal warmth and affection towards all living beings."[606]

Abu ’l-‘Alá died in 1057 A.D., at the age of eighty-four. About ten years before this time, the Persian poet and traveller, Náṣir-i Khusraw, passed through Ma‘arra on his way to Egypt. He describes Abu ’l-‘Alá as the chief man in the town, very rich, revered by the inhabitants, and surrounded by more than two hundred students who came from all parts to attend his lectures on literature and poetry.[607] We may set this trustworthy notice against the doleful account which Abu ’l-‘Alá gives of himself in his letters and other works. If not among the greatest Muḥammadan poets, he is undoubtedly one of the most original and attractive. After Mutanabbí, even after Abu ’l-‘Atáhiya, he must appear strangely modern to the European reader. It is astonishing to reflect that a spirit so unconventional, so free from dogmatic prejudice, so rational in spite of his pessimism and deeply religious notwithstanding his attacks on revealed religion, should have ended his life in a Syrian country-town some years before the battle of Senlac. Although he did not meddle with politics and held aloof from every sect, he could truly say of himself, "I am the son of my time" (_ghadawtu ’bna waqtí_).[608] His poems leave no aspect of the age untouched, and present a vivid picture of degeneracy and corruption, in which tyrannous rulers, venal judges, hypocritical and unscrupulous theologians, swindling astrologers, roving swarms of dervishes and godless Carmathians occupy a prominent place.[609]

Although the reader may think that too much space has been already devoted to poetry, I will venture by way of concluding the subject to mention very briefly a few well-known names which cannot be altogether omitted from a work of this kind.

[Sidenote: Abú Tammám and Buḥturí.]

Abú Tammám (Ḥabíb b. Aws) and Buḥturí, both of whom flourished in the ninth century, were distinguished court poets of the same type as Mutanabbí, but their reputation rests more securely on the anthologies which they compiled under the title of _Ḥamása_ (see p. 129 seq.).

[Sidenote: Ibnu ’l-Mu‘tazz (861-908 A.D.).]

Abu ’l-‘Abbás ‘Abdulláh, the son of the Caliph al-Mu‘tazz, was a versatile poet and man of letters, who showed his originality by the works which he produced in two novel styles of composition. It has often been remarked that the Arabs have no great epos like the Iliad or the Persian _Sháhnáma_, but only prose narratives which, though sometimes epical in tone, are better described as historical romances. Ibnu ’l-Mu‘tazz could not supply the deficiency. He wrote, however, in praise of his cousin, the Caliph Mu‘taḍid, a metrical epic in miniature, commencing with a graphic delineation of the wretched state to which the Empire had been reduced by the rapacity and tyranny of the Turkish mercenaries. He composed also, besides an anthology of Bacchanalian pieces, the first important work on Poetics (_Kitábu ’l-Badí‘_). A sad destiny was in store for this accomplished prince. On the death of the Caliph Muktarí he was called to the throne, but a few hours after his accession he was overpowered by the partisans of Muqtadir, who strangled him as soon as they discovered his hiding-place. Picturing the scene, one thinks almost inevitably of Nero's dying words, _Qualis artifex pereo!_

[Sidenote: ‘Umar Ibnu ’l-Fáriḍ (1181-1235 A.D.).]

The mystical poetry of the Arabs is far inferior, as a whole, to that of the Persians. Fervour and passion it has in the highest degree, but it lacks range and substance, not to speak of imaginative and speculative power. ‘Umar Ibnu ’l-Fáriḍ, though he is undoubtedly the poet of Arabian mysticism, cannot sustain a comparison with his great Persian contemporary, Jalálu’l-Dín Rúmí († 1273 A.D.); he surpasses him only in the intense glow and exquisite beauty of his diction. It will be convenient to reserve a further account of Ibnu ’l-Fáriḍ for the next chapter, where we shall discuss the development of Ṣúfiism during this period.

Finally two writers claim attention who owe their reputation to single poems--a by no means rare phenomenon in the history of Arabic literature. One of these universally celebrated odes is the _Lámiyyatu ’l-‘Ajam_ (the ode rhyming in _l_ of the non-Arabs) composed in the year 1111 A.D. by Ṭughrá’í; the other is the _Burda_ (Mantle Ode) of Búṣírí, which I take the liberty of mentioning in this chapter, although its author died some forty years after the Mongol Invasion.

[Sidenote: Ṭughrá’í († _circa_ 1120 A.D.).]

Ḥasan b. ‘Alí al-Ṭughrá’í was of Persian descent and a native of Iṣfahán.[610] He held the offices of _kátib_ (secretary) and _munshí_ or _ṭughrá’í_ (chancellor) under the great Seljúq Sultans, Maliksháh and Muḥammad, and afterwards became Vizier to the Seljúqid prince Ghiyáthu ’l-Dín Mas‘úd[611] in Mosul. He derived the title by which he is generally known from the royal signature (_ṭughrá_) which it was his duty to indite on all State papers over the initial _Bismilláh_. The _Lámiyyatu ’l-‘Ajam_ is so called with reference to Shanfará's renowned poem, the _Lámiyyatu ’l-‘Arab_ (see p. 79 seq.), which rhymes in the same letter; otherwise the two odes have only this in common,[612] that whereas Shanfará depicts the hardships of an outlaw's life in the desert, Ṭughrá’í, writing in Baghdád, laments the evil times on which he has fallen, and complains that younger rivals, base and servile men, are preferred to him, while he is left friendless and neglected in his old age.

[Sidenote: Búṣírí († _circa_ 1296 A.D.).]

The _Qaṣídatu ’l-Burda_ (Mantle Ode) of al-Búṣírí[613] is a hymn in praise of the Prophet. Its author was born in Egypt in 1212 A.D. We know scarcely anything concerning his life, which, as he himself declares, was passed in writing poetry and in paying court to the great[614]; but his biographers tell us that he supported himself by copying manuscripts, and that he was a disciple of the eminent Ṣúfí, Abu ’l-‘Abbás Aḥmad al-Marsí. It is said that he composed the _Burda_ while suffering from a stroke which paralysed one half of his body. After praying God to heal him, he began to recite the poem. Presently he fell asleep and dreamed that he saw the Prophet, who touched his palsied side and threw his mantle (_burda_) over him.[615] "Then," said al-Búṣírí, "I awoke and found myself able to rise." However this may be, the Mantle Ode is held in extraordinary veneration by Muḥammadans. Its verses are often learned by heart and inscribed in golden letters on the walls of public buildings; and not only is the whole poem regarded as a charm against evil, but some peculiar magical power is supposed to reside in each verse separately. Although its poetical merit is no more than respectable, the _Burda_ may be read with pleasure on account of its smooth and elegant style, and with interest as setting forth in brief compass the mediæval legend of the Prophet--a legend full of prodigies and miracles in which the historical figure of Muḥammad is glorified almost beyond recognition.

[Sidenote: Rhymed prose.]

Rhymed prose (_saj‘_) long retained the religious associations which it possessed in Pre-islamic times and which were consecrated, for all Moslems, by its use in the Koran. About the middle of the ninth century it began to appear in the public sermons (_khuṭab_, sing. _khuṭba_) of the Caliphs and their viceroys, and it was still further developed by professional preachers, like Ibn Nubáta († 984 A.D.), and by official secretaries, like Ibráhím b. Hilál al-Ṣábí († 994 A.D.). Henceforth rhyme becomes a distinctive and almost indispensable feature of rhetorical prose.

[Sidenote: Badí‘u ’l-Zamán al-Hamadhání († 1007 A.D.).]

The credit of inventing, or at any rate of making popular, a new and remarkable form of composition in this style belongs to al-Hamadhání († 1007 A.D.), on whom posterity conferred the title _Badí‘u ’l-Zamán_, _i.e._, 'the Wonder of the Age.' Born in Hamadhán (Ecbatana), he left his native town as a young man and travelled through the greater part of Persia, living by his wits and astonishing all whom he met by his talent for improvisation. His _Maqámát_ may be called a romance or literary Bohemianism. In the _maqáma_ we find some approach to the dramatic style, which has never been cultivated by the Semites.[616] Hamadhání imagined as his hero a witty, unscrupulous vagabond journeying from place to place and supporting himself by the presents which his impromptu displays of rhetoric, poetry, and learning seldom failed to draw from an admiring audience. The second character is the _ráwí_ or narrator, "who should be continually meeting with the other, should relate his adventures, and repeat his excellent compositions."[617] The _Maqámát_ of Hamadhání became the model for this kind of writing, and the types which he created survive unaltered in the more elaborate work of his successors. Each _maqáma_ forms an independent whole, so that the complete series may be regarded as a novel consisting of detached episodes in the hero's life, a medley of prose and verse in which the story is nothing, the style everything.

[Sidenote: Ḥarírí (1054-1122 A.D.).]

Less original than Badí‘u ’l-Zamán, but far beyond him in variety of learning and copiousness of language, Abú Muḥammad al-Qásim al-Ḥarírí of Baṣra produced in his _Maqámát_ a masterpiece which for eight centuries "has been esteemed as, next to the Koran, the chief treasure of the Arabic tongue." In the Preface to his work he says that the composition of _maqámát_ was suggested to him by "one whose suggestion is a command and whom it is a pleasure to obey." This was the distinguished Persian statesman, Anúshirwán b. Khálid,[618] who afterwards served as Vizier under the Caliph Mustarshid Billáh (1118-1135 A.D.) and Sultán Mas‘úd, the Seljúq (1133-1152 A.D.); but at the time when he made Ḥarírí's acquaintance he was living in retirement at Baṣra and devoting himself to literary studies. Ḥarírí begged to be excused on the score that his abilities were unequal to the task, "for the lame steed cannot run like the strong courser."[619] Finally, however, he yielded to the request of Anúshirwán, and, to quote his own words--

"I composed, in spite of hindrances that I suffered
From dullness of capacity and dimness of intellect,
And dryness of imagination and distressing anxieties,
Fifty Maqámát, which contain serious language and lightsome,
And combine refinement with dignity of style,
And brilliancies with jewels of eloquence,
And beauties of literature with its rarities,
Beside verses of the Koran wherewith I adorned them,
And choice metaphors, and Arab proverbs that I interspersed,
And literary elegancies and grammatical riddles,
And decisions based on the (double) meaning of words,
And original discourses and highly-wrought orations,
And affecting exhortations as well as entertaining jests:
The whole of which I have indited as by the tongue of Abú Zayd
of Sarúj,
The part of narrator being assigned to Harith son of Hammám
of Baṣra."[620]

Ḥarírí then proceeds to argue that his _Maqámát_ are not mere frivolous stories such as strict Moslems are bound to reprobate in accordance with a well-known passage of the Koran referring to Naḍr b. Ḥárith, who mortally offended the Prophet by amusing the Quraysh with the old Persian legends of Rustam and Isfandiyár (Koran, xxxi, 5-6): "_There is one that buyeth idle tales that he may seduce men from the way of God, without knowledge, and make it a laughing-stock: these shall suffer a shameful punishment. And when Our signs are read to him, he turneth his back in disdain as though he heard them not, as though there were in his ears a deafness: give him joy of a grievous punishment!_" Ḥarírí insists that the _Assemblies_ have a moral purpose. The ignorant and malicious, he says, will probably condemn his work, but intelligent readers will perceive, if they lay prejudice aside, that it is as useful and instructive as the fables of beasts, &c.,[621] to which no one has ever objected. That his fears of hostile criticism were not altogether groundless is shown by the following remarks of the author of the popular history entitled _al-Fakhrí_ († _circa_ 1300 A.D.). This writer, after claiming that his own book is more useful than the _Ḥamása_ of Abú Tammám, continues:--

[Sidenote: _Maqámát_ criticised as immoral.]

"And, again, it is more profitable than the _Maqámát_ on which men
have set their hearts, and which they eagerly commit to memory;
because the reader derives no benefit from _Maqámát_ except
familiarity with elegant composition and knowledge of the rules of
verse and prose. Undoubtedly they contain maxims and ingenious
devices and experiences; but all this has a debasing effect on the
mind, for it is founded on begging and sponging and disgraceful
scheming to acquire a few paltry pence. Therefore, if they do good
in one direction, they do harm in another; and this point has been
noticed by some critics of the _Maqámát_ of Ḥarírí and Badí‘u
’l-Zamán."[622]

[Sidenote: The character of Abú Zayd.]

Before pronouncing on the justice of this censure, we must consider for a moment the character of Abú Zayd, the hero of Ḥarírí's work, whose adventures are related by a certain Ḥárith b. Hammám, under which name the author is supposed to signify himself. According to the general tradition, Ḥarírí was one day seated with a number of savants in the mosque of the Banú Ḥarám at Baṣra, when an old man entered, footsore and travel-stained. On being asked who he was and whence he came, he answered that his name of honour was Abú Zayd and that he came from Sarúj.[623] He described in eloquent and moving terms how his native town had been plundered by the Greeks, who made his daughter a captive and drove him forth to exile and poverty. Ḥarírí was so struck with his wonderful powers of improvisation that on the same evening he began to compose the _Maqáma of the Banú Ḥarám_,[624] where Abú Zayd is introduced in his invariable character: "a crafty old man, full of genius and learning, unscrupulous of the artifices which he uses to effect his purpose, reckless in spending in forbidden indulgences the money he has obtained by his wit or deceit, but with veins of true feeling in him, and ever yielding to unfeigned emotion when he remembers his devastated home and his captive child."[625] If an immoral tendency has been attributed to the _Assemblies_ of Ḥarírí it is because the author does not conceal his admiration for this unprincipled and thoroughly disreputable scamp. Abú Zayd, indeed, is made so fascinating that we can easily pardon his knaveries for the sake of the pearls of wit and wisdom which he scatters in splendid profusion--excellent discourses, edifying sermons, and plaintive lamentations mingled with rollicking ditties and ribald jests. Modern readers are not likely to agree with the historian quoted above, but although they may deem his criticism illiberal, they can hardly deny that it has some justification.

Ḥarírí's rhymed prose might be freely imitated in English, but the difficulty of rendering it in rhyme with tolerable fidelity has caused me to abandon the attempt to produce a version of one of the _Assemblies_ in the original form.[626] I will translate instead three poems which are put into the mouth of Abú Zayd. The first is a tender elegiac strain recalling far-off days of youth and happiness in his native land:--

"Ghassán is my noble kindred, Sarúj is my land of birth,
Where I dwelt in a lofty mansion of sunlike glory and worth,
A Paradise for its sweetness and beauty and pleasant mirth!

And oh, the life that I led there abounding in all delight!
I trailed my robe on its meadows, while Time flew a careless flight,
Elate in the flower of manhood, no pleasure veiled from my sight.

Now, if woe could kill, I had died of the troubles that haunt me here,
Or could past joy ever be ransomed, my heart's blood had not been
dear,
Since death is better than living a brute's life year after year.

Subdued to scorn as a lion whom base hyenas torment.
But Luck is to blame, else no one had failed of his due ascent:
If she were straight, the conditions of men would never be bent."[627]

The scene of the eleventh _Assembly_ is laid in Sáwa, a city lying midway between Hamadhán (Ecbatana) and Rayy (Rhages). "Ḥárith, in a fit of religious zeal, betakes himself to the public burial ground, for the purpose of contemplation. He finds a funeral in progress, and when it is over an old man, with his face muffled in a cloak, takes his stand on a hillock, and pours forth a discourse on the certainty of death and judgment.... He then rises into poetry and declaims a piece which is one of the noblest productions of Arabic literature. In lofty morality, in religious fervour, in beauty of language, in power and grace of metre, this magnificent hymn is unsurpassed."[628]

"Pretending sense in vain, how long, O light of brain, wilt thou heap
sin and bane, and compass error's span?
Thy conscious guilt avow! The white hairs on thy brow admonish thee,
and thou hast ears unstopt, O man!
Death's call dost thou not hear? Rings not his voice full clear? Of
parting hast no fear, to make thee sad and wise?
How long sunk in a sea of sloth and vanity wilt thou play heedlessly,
as though Death spared his prize?
Till when, far wandering from virtue, wilt thou cling to evil ways
that bring together vice in brief?
For thy Lord's anger shame thou hast none, but let maim o'ertake thy
cherished aim, then feel'st thou burning grief.
Thou hail'st with eager joy the coin of yellow die, but if a bier pass
by, feigned is thy sorry face;
Perverse and callous wight! thou scornest counsel right to follow
the false light of treachery and disgrace.
Thy pleasure thou dost crave, to sordid gain a slave, forgetting
the dark grave and what remains of dole;
Were thy true weal descried, thy lust would not misguide nor thou
be terrified by words that should console.
Not tears, blood shall thine eyes pour at the great Assize, when thou
hast no allies, no kinsman thee to save;
Straiter thy tomb shall be than needle's cavity: deep, deep thy plunge
I see as diver's 'neath the wave.
There shall thy limbs be laid, a feast for worms arrayed, till utterly
decayed are wood and bones withal,
Nor may thy soul repel that ordeal horrible, when o'er the Bridge of
Hell she must escape or fall.
Astray shall leaders go, and mighty men be low, and sages shall cry,
'Woe like this was never yet.'
Then haste, my thoughtless friend, what thou hast marred to mend,
for life draws near its end, and still thou art in the net.
Trust not in fortune, nay, though she be soft and gay; for she will
spit one day her venom, if thou dote;
Abate thy haughty pride! lo, Death is at thy side, fastening, whate'er
betide, his fingers on thy throat.
When prosperous, refrain from arrogant disdain, nor give thy tongue
the rein: a modest tongue is best.
Comfort the child of bale and listen to his tale: repair thine actions
frail, and be for ever blest.
Feather the nest once more of those whose little store has vanished:
ne'er deplore the loss nor miser be;
With meanness bravely cope, and teach thine hand to ope, and spurn
the misanthrope, and make thy bounty free.
Lay up provision fair and leave what brings thee care: for sea
the ship prepare and dread the rising storm.
This, friend, is what I preach expressed in lucid speech. Good luck
to all and each who with my creed conform!"

In the next _Maqáma_--that of Damascus--we find Abú Zayd, gaily attired, amidst casks and vats of wine, carousing and listening to the music of lutes and singing--

"I ride and I ride through the waste far and wide, and I fling away
pride to be gay as the swallow;
Stem the torrent's fierce speed, tame the mettlesome steed, that
wherever I lead Youth and Pleasure may follow.
I bid gravity pack, and I strip bare my back lest liquor I lack when
the goblet is lifted:
Did I never incline to the quaffing of wine, I had ne'er been with
fine wit and eloquence gifted.
Is it wonderful, pray, that an old man should stay in a well-stored
seray by a cask overflowing?
Wine strengthens the knees, physics every disease, and from sorrow
it frees, the oblivion-bestowing!
Oh, the purest of joys is to live sans disguise unconstrained by
the ties of a grave reputation,
And the sweetest of love that the lover can prove is when fear and
hope move him to utter his passion.
Thy love then proclaim, quench the smouldering flame, for 'twill
spark out thy shame and betray thee to laughter:
Heal the wounds of thine heart and assuage thou the smart by the cups
that impart a delight men seek after;
While to hand thee the bowl damsels wait who cajole and enravish
the soul with eyes tenderly glancing,
And singers whose throats pour such high-mounting notes, when
the melody floats, iron rocks would be dancing!
Obey not the fool who forbids thee to pull beauty's rose when in
full bloom thou'rt free to possess it;
Pursue thine end still, tho' it seem past thy skill; let them say
what they will, take thy pleasure and bless it!
Get thee gone from thy sire, if he thwart thy desire; spread thy
nets nor enquire what the nets are receiving;
But be true to a friend, shun the miser and spend, ways of charity
wend, be unwearied in giving.
He that knocks enters straight at the Merciful's gate, so repent
or e'er Fate call thee forth from the living!"

The reader may judge from these extracts whether the _Assemblies_ of Ḥarírí are so deficient in matter as some critics have imagined. But, of course, the celebrity of the work is mainly due to its consummate literary form--a point on which the Arabs have always bestowed singular attention. Ḥarírí himself was a subtle grammarian, living in Baṣra, the home of philological science;[629] and though he wrote to please rather than to instruct, he seems to have resolved that his work should illustrate every beauty and nicety of which the Arabic language is capable. We Europeans can see as little merit or taste in the verbal conceits--equivoques, paronomasias, assonances, alliterations, &c.--with which his pages are thickly studded, as in _tours de force_ of composition which may be read either forwards or backwards, or which consist entirely of pointed or of unpointed letters; but our impatience of such things should not blind us to the fact that they are intimately connected with the genius and traditions of the Arabic tongue,[630] and therefore stand on a very different footing from those euphuistic extravagances which appear, for example, in English literature of the Elizabethan age. By Ḥarírí's countrymen the _Maqámát_ are prized as an almost unique monument of their language, antiquities, and culture. One of the author's contemporaries, the famous Zamakhsharí, has expressed the general verdict in pithy verse--

"I swear by God and His marvels,
By the pilgrims' rite and their shrine:
Ḥarírí's _Assemblies_ are worthy
To be written in gold each line."

[Sidenote: The religious literature of the period.]

Concerning some of the specifically religious sciences, such as Dogmatic Theology and Mysticism, we shall have more to say in the following chapter, while as to the science of Apostolic Tradition (_Ḥadíth_) we must refer the reader to what has been already said. All that can be attempted here is to take a passing notice of the most eminent writers and the most celebrated works of this epoch in the field of religion.

[Sidenote: Málik b. Anas (713-795 A.D.).]

The place of honour belongs to the Imám Málik b. Anas of Medína, whose _Muwaṭṭa’_ is the first great _corpus_ of Muḥammadan Law. He was a partisan of the ‘Alids, and was flogged by command of the Caliph Manṣúr in consequence of his declaration that he did not consider the oath of allegiance to the ‘Abbásid dynasty to have any binding effect.

[Sidenote: Bukhárí and Muslim.]

The two principal authorities for Apostolic Tradition are Bukhárí († 870 A.D.) and Muslim († 875 A.D.), authors of the collections entitled _Ṣaḥíḥ_. Compilations of a narrower range, embracing only those traditions which bear on the _Sunna_ or custom of the Prophet, are the _Sunan_ of Abú Dáwúd al-Sijistání († 889 A.D.), the _Jámi‘_ of Abú ‘Isá Muḥammad al-Tirmidhí († 892 A.D.), the _Sunan_ of al-Nasá’í († 915 A.D.), and the _Sunan_ of Ibn Mája († 896 A.D.). These, together with the _Ṣaḥíḥs_ of Bukhárí and Muslim, form the Six Canonical Books (_al-kutub al-sitta_), which are held in the highest veneration. Amongst the innumerable works of a similar kind produced in this period it will suffice to mention the _Maṣábíḥu ’l-Sunna_ by al-Baghawí († _circa_ 1120 A.D.). A later adaptation called _Mishkátu ’l-Maṣábíḥ_ has been often printed, and is still extremely popular.

[Sidenote: Máwardí († 1058 A.D.).]

[Sidenote: Arabic authorities on Ṣúfiism.]

[Sidenote: Ghazálí († 1111 A.D.).]

Omitting the great manuals of Moslem Jurisprudence, which are without literary interest in the larger sense, we may pause for a moment at the name of al-Máwardí, a Sháfi‘ite lawyer, who wrote a well-known treatise on politics--the _Kitábu ’l-Aḥkám al-Sulṭániyya_, or 'Book of the Principles of Government.' His standpoint is purely theoretical. Thus he lays down that the Caliph should be elected by the body of learned, pious, and orthodox divines, and that the people must leave the administration of the State to the Caliph absolutely, as being its representative. Máwardí lived at Baghdád during the period of Buwayhid ascendancy, a period described by Sir W. Muir in the following words: "The pages of our annalists are now almost entirely occupied with the political events of the day, in the guidance of which the Caliphs had seldom any concern, and which therefore need no mention here."[631] Under the ‘Abbásid dynasty the mystical doctrines of the Ṣúfís were systematised and expounded. Some of the most important Arabic works of reference on Ṣúfiism are the _Qútu ’l-Qulúb_, or 'Food of Hearts,' by Abú Ṭálib al-Makkí († 996 A.D.); the _Kitábu ’l-Ta‘arruf li-Madhhabi ahli ’l-Taṣawwuf_, or 'Book of Enquiry as to the Religion of the Ṣúfís,' by Muḥammad b. Isḥáq al-Kalábádhí († _circa_ 1000 A.D.); the _Ṭabaqátu ’l-Ṣúfiyya_, or 'Classes of the Ṣúfís,' by Abú ‘Abd al-Raḥmán al-Sulamí († 1021 A.D.); the _Ḥilyatu ’l-Awliyá_, or 'Adornment of the Saints,' by Abú Nu‘aym al-Iṣfahání († 1038 A.D.); the _Risálatu ’l-Qushayriyya_, or 'Qushayrite Tract,' by Abu ’l-Qásim al-Qushayrí of Naysábúr († 1074 A.D.); the _Iḥyá’u ‘Ulúm al-Dín_, or 'Revivification of the Religious Sciences,' by Ghazálí († 1111 A.D.); and the _‘Awárifu ’l-Ma‘árif_, or 'Bounties of Knowledge,' by Shihábu ’l-Dín Abú Ḥafṣ ‘Umar al-Suhrawardí († 1234 A.D.)--a list which might easily be extended. In Dogmatic Theology there is none to compare with Abú Ḥámid al-Ghazálí, surnamed 'the Proof of Islam' (_Ḥujjatu ’l-Islám_). He is a figure of such towering importance that some detailed account of his life and opinions must be inserted in a book like this, which professes to illustrate the history of Muḥammadan thought. Here, however, we shall only give an outline of his biography in order to pave the way for discussion of his intellectual achievements and his far-reaching influence.

[Sidenote: Life of Ghazálí according to the _Shadharátu ’l-Dhahab_.]

"In this year (505 A.H. = 1111 A.D.) died the Imám, who was the
Ornament of the Faith and the Proof of Islam, Abú Ḥámid
Muḥammad ... of Ṭús, the Sháfi‘ite. His death took place on the
14th of the Latter Jumádá at Ṭábarán, a village near Ṭús. He
was then fifty-five years of age. Ghazzálí is equivalent to Ghazzál,
like ‘Aṭṭárí (for ‘Aṭṭár) and Khabbází (for Khabbáz), in
the dialect of the people of Khurásán[632]: so it is stated by the
author of the _‘Ibar_.[633] Al-Isnawí says in his
_Ṭabaqát_[634]:--Ghazzálí is an Imám by whose name breasts are
dilated and souls are revived, and in whose literary productions the
ink-horn exults and the paper quivers with joy; and at the hearing
thereof voices are hushed and heads are bowed. He was born at Ṭús
in the year 450 A.H. = 1058-1059 A.D. His father used to spin wool
(_yaghzilu ’l-ṣúf_) and sell it in his shop. On his deathbed he
committed his two sons, Ghazzálí himself and his brother Aḥmad,
to the care of a pious Ṣúfí, who taught them writing and educated
them until the money left him by their father was all spent. 'Then,'
says Ghazzálí, 'we went to the college to learn divinity (_fiqh_) so
that we might gain our livelihood.' After studying there for some
time he journeyed to Abú Naṣr al-Ismá‘ílí in Jurján, then to the
Imámu ’l-Ḥaramayn[635] at Naysábúr, under whom he studied with
such assiduity that he became the best scholastic of his
contemporaries (_ṣára anẓara ahli zamánihi_), and he lectured
_ex cathedrâ_ in his master's lifetime, and wrote books.... And on
the death of his master he set out for the Camp[636] and presented
himself to the Niẓámu ’l-Mulk, whose assembly was the
alighting-place of the learned and the destination of the leading
divines and savants; and there, as was due to his high merit, he
enjoyed the society of the principal doctors, and disputed with his
opponents and rebutted them in spite of their eminence. So the
Niẓámu ’l-Mulk inclined to him and showed him great honour, and
his name flew through the world. Then, in the year '84 (1091 A.D.)
he was called to a professorship in the Niẓámiyya College at
Baghdád, where a splendid reception awaited him. His words reached
far and wide, and his influence soon exceeded that of the Emírs and
Viziers. But at last his lofty spirit recoiled from worldly
vanities. He gave himself up to devotion and dervishhood, and set
out, in the year '88 (1095 A.D.), for the Ḥijáz.[637] On his
return from the Pilgrimage he journeyed to Damascus and made his
abode there for ten years in the minaret of the Congregational
Mosque, and composed several works, of which the _Iḥyá_ is said
to be one. Then, after visiting Jerusalem and Alexandria, he
returned to his home at Ṭús, intent on writing and worship and
constant recitation of the Koran and dissemination of knowledge and
avoidance of intercourse with men. The Vizier Fakhru ’l-Mulk,[638]
son of the Niẓámu ’l-Mulk, came to see him, and urged him by
every means in his power to accept a professorship in the
Niẓámiyya College at Naysábúr.[639] Ghazzálí consented, but after
teaching for a time, resigned the appointment and returned to end
his days in his native town."

[Sidenote: His principal works.]

Besides his _magnum opus_, the already-mentioned _Iḥyá_, in which he expounds theology and the ethics of religion from the standpoint of the moderate Ṣúfí school, Ghazálí wrote a great number of important works, such as the _Munqidh mina ’l-Ḑalál_, or 'Deliverer from Error,' a sort of 'Apologia pro Vitâ Suâ'; the _Kímiyá’u ’l-Sa‘ádat_, or 'Alchemy of Happiness,' which was originally written in Persian; and the _Taháfutu ’l-Falásifa_, or 'Collapse of the Philosophers,' a polemical treatise designed to refute and destroy the doctrines of Moslem philosophy. This work called forth a rejoinder from the celebrated Ibn Rushd (Averroes), who died at Morocco in 1198-1199 A.D.

[Sidenote: Shahrastání's 'Book of Religions and Sects.']

Here we may notice two valuable works on the history of religion, both of which are generally known as _Kitábu ’l-Milal wa-’l-Niḥal_,[640] that is to say, 'The Book of Religions and Sects,' by Ibn Ḥazm of Cordova († 1064 A.D.) and Abu ’l-Fatḥ al-Shahrastání († 1153 A.D.). Ibn Ḥazm we shall meet with again in the chapter which deals specially with the history and literature of the Spanish Moslems. Shahrastání, as he is named after his birthplace, belonged to the opposite extremity of the Muḥammadan Empire, being a native of Khurásán, the huge Eastern province bounded by the Oxus. Cureton, who edited the Arabic text of the _Kitábu ’l-Milal wa-’l-Niḥal_ (London, 1842-1846), gives the following outline of its contents:--

After five introductory chapters, the author proceeds to arrange his
book into two great divisions; the one comprising the Religious, the
other the Philosophical Sects. The former of these contains an
account of the various Sects of the followers of Muḥammad, and
likewise of those to whom a true revelation had been made (the _Ahlu
’l-Kitáb_, or 'People of the Scripture'), that is, Jews and
Christians; and of those who had a doubtful or pretended revelation
(_man lahú shubhatu ’l-Kitáb_), such as the Magi and the Manichæans.
The second division comprises an account of the philosophical
opinions of the Sabæans (Ṣábians), which are mainly set forth in
a very interesting dialogue between a Sabæan and an orthodox
Muḥammadan; of the tenets of various Greek Philosophers and some
of the Fathers of the Christian Church; and also of the
Muḥammadan doctors, more particularly of the system of Ibn Síná
or Avicenna, which the author explains at considerable length. The
work terminates with an account of the tenets of the Arabs before
the commencement of Islamism, and of the religion of the people of
India.

[Sidenote: Grammar and philology.]

[Sidenote: The invention of Arabic grammar.]

[Sidenote: The philogists of Baṣra.]

The science of grammar took its rise in the cities of Baṣra and Kúfa, which were founded not long after Muḥammad's death, and which remained the chief centres of Arabian life and thought outside the peninsula until they were eclipsed by the great ‘Abbásid capital. In both towns the population consisted of Bedouin Arabs, belonging to different tribes and speaking many different dialects, while there were also thousands of artisans and clients who spoke Persian as their mother-tongue, so that the classical idiom was peculiarly exposed to corrupting influences. If the pride and delight of the Arabs in their noble language led them to regard the maintenance of its purity as a national duty, they were equally bound by their religious convictions to take decisive measures for ensuring the correct pronunciation and interpretation of that "miracle of Divine eloquence," the Arabic Koran. To this latter motive the invention of grammar is traditionally ascribed. The inventor is related to have been Abu ’l-Aswad al-Du’ilí, who died at Baṣra during the Umayyad period. "Abu ’l-Aswad, having been asked where he had acquired the science of grammar, answered that he had learned the rudiments of it from ‘Alí b. Abí Ṭálib. It is said that he never made known any of the principles which he had received from ‘Alí till Ziyád[641] sent to him the order to compose something which might serve as a guide to the public and enable them to understand the Book of God. He at first asked to be excused, but on hearing a man recite the following passage out of the Koran, _anna ’lláha baríun mina ’l-mushrikína wa-rasúluhu_,[642] which last word the reader pronounced _rasúlihi_, he exclaimed, 'I never thought that things would have come to this.' He then returned to Ziyád and said, 'I will do what you ordered.'"[643] The Baṣra school of grammarians which Abu ’l-Aswad is said to have founded is older than the rival school of Kúfa and surpassed it in fame. Its most prominent representatives were Abú ‘Amr b. al-‘Alá († 770 A.D.), a diligent and profound student of the Koran, who on one occasion burned all his collections of old poetry, &c., and abandoned himself to devotion; Khalíl b. Aḥmad, inventor of the Arabic system of metres and author of the first Arabic lexicon (the _Kitábu ’l-‘Ayn_), which, however, he did not live to complete; the Persian Síbawayhi, whose Grammar, entitled 'The Book of Síbawayhi,' is universally celebrated; the great Humanists al-Aṣma‘í and Abú ‘Ubayda who flourished under Hárún al-Rashid; al-Mubarrad, about a century later, whose best-known work, the _Kámil_, has been edited by Professor William Wright; his contemporary al-Sukkarí, a renowned collector and critic of old Arabian poetry; and Ibn Durayd († 934 A.D.), a distinguished philologist, genealogist, and poet, who received a pension from the Caliph Muqtadir in recognition of his services on behalf of science, and whose principal works, in addition to the famous ode known as the _Maqṣúra_, are a voluminous lexicon (_al-Jamhara fi ’l-Lugha_) and a treatise on the genealogies of the Arab tribes (_Kitábu ’l-Ishtiqáq_).

[Sidenote: The philogists of Kúfa.]

Against these names the school of Kúfa can set al-Kisá’í, a Persian savant who was entrusted by Hárún al-Rashíd with the education of his sons Amín and Ma’mún; al-Farrá († 822 A.D.), a pupil and compatriot of al-Kisá’í; al-Mufaḍḍal al-Ḑabbí, a favourite of the Caliph Mahdí, for whom he compiled an excellent anthology of Pre-islamic poems (_al-Mufaḍḍaliyyát_), which has already been noticed[644]; Ibnu ’l-Sikkít, whose outspoken partiality for the House of ‘Alí b. Abí Ṭálib caused him to be brutally trampled to death by the Turkish guards of the tyrant Mutawakkil (858 A.D.); and Tha‘lab, head of the Kúfa school in his time († 904 A.D.), of whose rivalry with al-Mubarrad many stories are told. A contemporary, Abú Bakr b. Abi ’l-Azhar, said in one of his poems:--

"Turn to Mubarrad or to Tha‘lab, thou
That seek'st with learning to improve thy mind!
Be not a fool, like mangy camel shunned:
All human knowledge thou with them wilt find.
The science of the whole world, East and West,
In these two single doctors is combined."[645]

Reference has been made in a former chapter to some of the earliest Humanists, _e.g._, Ḥammád al-Ráwiya († 776 A.D.) and his slightly younger contemporary, Khalaf al-Aḥmar, to their inestimable labours in rescuing the old poetry from oblivion, and to the unscrupulous methods which they sometimes employed.[646] Among their successors, who flourished in the Golden Age of Islam, under the first ‘Abbásids, the place of honour belongs to Abú ‘Ubayda († about 825 A.D.) and al-Asma‘í († about 830 A.D.).

[Sidenote: Abú ‘Ubayda.]

[Sidenote: Aṣma‘í.]

Abú ‘Ubayda Ma‘mar b. al-Muthanná was of Jewish-Persian race, and maintained in his writings the cause of the Shu‘úbites against the Arab national party, for which reason he is erroneously described as a Khárijite.[647] The rare expressions of the Arabic language, the history of the Arabs and their conflicts were his predominant study--"neither in heathen nor Muḥammadan times," he once boasted, "have two horses met in battle but that I possess information about them and their riders"[648]; yet, with all his learning, he was not always able to recite a verse without mangling it; even in reading the Koran, with the book before his eyes, he made mistakes.[649] Our knowledge of Arabian antiquity is drawn, to a large extent, from the traditions collected by him which are preserved in the _Kitábu ’l-Aghání_ and elsewhere. He left nearly two hundred works, of which a long but incomplete catalogue occurs in the _Fihrist_ (pp. 53-54). Abú ‘Ubayda was summoned by the Caliph Hárún al-Rashíd to Baghdád, where he became acquainted with Aṣma‘í. There was a standing feud between them, due in part to difference of character[650] and in part to personal jealousies. ‘Abdu ’l-Malik b. Qurayb al-Aṣma‘í was, like his rival, a native of Baṣra. Although he may have been excelled by others of his contemporaries in certain branches of learning, none exhibited in such fine perfection the varied literary culture which at that time was so highly prized and so richly rewarded. Whereas Abú ‘Ubayda was dreaded for his sharp tongue and sarcastic humour, Aṣma‘í had all the accomplishments and graces of a courtier. Abú Nuwás, the first great poet of the ‘Abbásid period, said that Aṣma‘í was a nightingale to charm those who heard him with his melodies. In court circles, where the talk often turned on philological matters, he was a favourite guest, and the Caliph would send for him to decide any abstruse question connected with literature which no one present was able to answer. Of his numerous writings on linguistic and antiquarian themes several have come down to us, _e.g._, 'The Book of Camels' (_Kitábu ’l-Ibil_), 'The Book of Horses' (_Kitábu ’l-Khayl_), and 'The Book of the Making of Man' (_Kitábu Khalqi ’l-Insán_), a treatise which shows that the Arabs of the desert had acquired a considerable knowledge of human anatomy. His work as editor, commentator, and critic of Arabian poetry forms (it has been said) the basis of nearly all that has since been written on the subject.

[Sidenote: Ibnu ’l-Muqaffa‘ († _circa_ 760 A.D.).]

[Sidenote: Ibn Qutayba († 899 A.D.).]

[Sidenote: Jáḥiẓ († 869 A.D.).]

[Sidenote: Ibn ‘Abdi Rabbihi († 940 A.D.).]

[Sidenote: Abu ’l-Faraj al-Iṣfahání († 967 A.D.).]

[Sidenote: Tha‘álibí († 1037 A.D.).]