Both Scientists and Artists of the Arabic Language

Again, I've mentioned in earlier posts how study of the Arabic language was important for the religious sciences (as historiography was) but I want to now consider how a religious scientific imperative led on to a kind of "secular" science and indeed in this case to the development of the art of the Arabic language.

The artistic use of Arabic for poetry did develop into a religious form but secular poetry and prose creative writing also continued. A number of works were produced in the form of fables and the classic popular serial story (complete with story arcs) was the so-called "Arabian Nights" (or, in Arabic, A Thousand Nights and a Night - alf layla wa layla). Political and other treatises were also written and I will especially consider them in posts on the political ideas and ideals of Islam.

I might as well now telegraph that I will shortly spend quite a few posts on Islamic political ideas of this period and then extending into the modern period partly because they are in a sense the one thread that in some sense has survived strongly in the Arab and Islamic world in the face of and in dialogue with modernity while other sciences (if we can consider politics a science) may have taken to mere imitation and adaptation of the Western science that, as I have suggested, came to be superior to Eastern science for reasons that aren't completely clear to me. I think part of the reason that science faltered (relatively) in the East was that traditional religious forces that saw it as a threat gained the upper hand in the society for political reasons (that I may be able to discuss in my political discussion) in a way that they ultimately didn't in the West (or at least haven't yet). I'd like to think that scientists of the East and West are now beginning to reach the stage of mutual and shared advancement, however. We shall see if the mainstream ideas of modernising Islam will be able to advance a mutual knowledge project or whether other forces (in either the East or West) will restrict it.

The sciences of the Arab language included grammar, philology, lexicography, prosody, rhetoric and literary criticism. The first reason for the blossoming of these sciences was, of course, the need, as far as Muslims were concerned, to fully understand the sources of Islam (including the Qur’an and the Hadith). Arabic also needed to become a different language quite suddenly as it quite suddenly became the language of both an Empire and learning and the changes required considerable scientific thought. The Arabs and others could also be said to have understandably taken a renewed interest in Arab culture (and therefore its language) once it appeared to have inspired so powerful a religious and political force.

With regard to Arabic grammar, its rules were established by 800 CE. The two formative grammarians were al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad (d. 791) and Sibawayh (d. 799). Three of the main early schools of grammar roughly in order of appearance were the Basra, Kufa and Baghdad Schools (all in southern or central Iraq). Grammar thus then was able to become the basis for the learning of both "secular" logic and "religious" jurisprudence. Ibn Malik (d. 1274) finally set the rules to verse in 1,000 verses and the attempt to do this type of thing was made by others also, verse presumably being the easiest thing to memorise in a time before printed books in either the Arab world or the West became common.

Early word lists were produced along with works about pre-Islamic life in Arabia which gave them a useful context. This led to further collations and finally phonological (e.g. a work by al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad, the first Arabic dictionary) and then alphabetical dictionaries from the 10^th Century (e.g. the works of Ibn Durayd (d. 933) and al-Zamakhshari (d. 1144)). Thesauruses and works on alleged common grammatical errors were also written in the early part of the Islamic Era.

The classic discoverer/founder/systematiser of Arabic poetic metre forms (so the founder of Arabic prosody) was also al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad, who found there were 16 metre types.

The poetry of Muslim Arabs was influenced by the traditional pre-Islamic poetry, which I discussed in a very early post. Oratory was also practiced especially on political and ethical themes in the new Islamic culture.

There is a development of the style of literature between the Umayyad (661 to 750) and 'Abbasid (post 750) periods. Poetry especially continued to reflect tribal allegiances and political and religious differences in the Umayyad period. Examples include the writings of the Khawarij and works by al-Akhtal (d. 710), al Farazdaq (d. 730) and Jarir (d. 730). Love poetry continued to be written then and the influence of Medina and the so-called “Hijazi School” on poetry was still strong. ‘Umar Ibn Abi Rabi’a (d. 711) of the Hijazi School and Jamil Buthayna (d. 701) of the ‘Udhri School contributed to this form of poetry. Southern Iraq and Arabia more generally also contributed Rajaz and other forms of poetry in this period.

Three ‘schools’ of poetry are distinct in the ‘Abbasid period, namely the modernist, the neo-classical and the school of philosophical poetry. The modernists included Bashshar (d. 783), Abu Nuwas (d. c. 810), Abu al-‘Atahiya (d. 825), ‘Abbas Ibn al-Ahnaf (750 – 809), Abu Tammam (d. 845) and Ibn al-Rumi (9^th Century). Al-Mutanabbi (d. 965) was a stand-out among the neo-Classical poets and al-Ma’arri (d. 1057) stands out in the writing of philosophical poetry. While this was occurring, developments were also occurring in the Muwashshah poetry of Muslim Spain under the continuation of the Umayyad dynasty there.

Works of prose of special note include Kalila wa Dimna by Ibn al-Muqaffa’ (d. 757), Kitab al-Bukhala’ and Kitab al-Hayawan by al-Jahiz (d. 869), Kitab al-Aghani by al-Isfahani (d. 967) and al-Maqamat by al-Hamadhani (d. 1009). The mystical literature included notable works by Rabi’a (717 – 801), al-Hallaj (d. 922), Ibn al-Farid (d. 1235) and Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240). Finally, the 1001 Nights provides a good example of Arabic popular literature with a moral message that borrowed from and adapted stories first told in other local cultures (such as Persian and Indian cultures). Many of these kinds of work contributed to the development of the political ideas that I'll be getting into shortly.