36. A Cultural History Of Reading: The Pre And Early Islamic Period

Timeline

248 B.C.E.–224 C.E. Parthian Empire

224 C.E.–651 C.E. Sassanid Empire

570 Birth of the Prophet Muhammad

610 The Prophet Muhammad receives his first revelation

622 The Hijrah (migration) from Mecca to Medina

624 Battle of Badr

625 Battle of Uhud

627 Battle of the Trench

628 Treaty of Hudaybiyyah; Battle of Khaybar

630 Conquest of Mecca

632 Death of the Prophet Muhammad

632–61 The rule of the four rightly guided caliphs

661–750 Umayyad Empire controls the Middle East, Maghreb, and al-Andalus

680 Imam Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet, is martyred at Karbala

700 Campaigns against the Berbers in North Africa

711 Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula

725 The Muslims occupy Nimes in France

732 The Battle of Tours in France

737 The Muslims meet a reverse at Avignon in France

750–945 ‘Abbasid Empire

751 The Battle of Talas results in Chinese paper-making technology passing to the Muslims

762 The Bayt al-Hikmah, or House of Wisdom, founded in Baghdad, Iraq

763 Defeat of the ‘Abbasids in al-Andalus

792 Muslim invasion of southern France

859 The University of al-Qarawiyyin is founded in Fez, Morocco

969 The Fatimids conquer Egypt

975 The University of al-Azhar is founded in Cairo, Egypt

1004 The Dar al-Hikmah, or House of Wisdom, is founded in Cairo, Egypt

1038–1194 Seljuk Empire

1082 The Almoravids conquer Algeria

1095 The first crusade

1099 The crusaders capture Jerusalem

1144 The second crusade

1147 The Almohads overthrow the Almoravids in the Maghreb

1187 Salah al-Din wrests Jerusalem from the Christians, the third crusade

1200s Mongol invasions of the Middle East devastate the Arab-Islamic Empire

1212 Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa; the Almohads are defeated by the Christians in al-Andalus

1245 The Muslims reconquer Jerusalem.

1453–1923 Ottoman Empire controls most of the Middle East, except Persia

1492 Fall of Granada in al-Andalus

1501 Safavid Empire

1571 The Turkish fleet is destroyed in the Battle of Lepanto

Popularized by the British around 1900, the term “Middle East” refers to a historical and political region of Africa and Eurasia with no clear definition. From a colonial European perspective, the Middle East encompasses the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Sudan, the Levant, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Arabic speakers, however, prefer to speak in terms of the mashriq, the khalij, and the maghrib. The mashriq, or East, includes the Arab countries bounded between the Mediterranean Sea and Iran, including Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait; the maghrib, or West, includes Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania, as well as the Iberian Peninsula during its period of Islamic domination.

Although Egypt is geographically part of the maghrib, it has more cultural affinity with the greater mashriq with which it is usually associated. The Arabian Peninsula, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, is known as the khalij. The Arabian Peninsula in general, and the hijaz in particular, is considered the center of the Arabic world as it gave birth to the Islamic faith. From an Arab perspective, Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan do not form a part of the mashriq, although Persia, at least during its period of Arab occupation, could be covered by the term. Because this section deals with Africa and the Middle East, the region under study would be best defined by the classical term al-‘alam al-‘arabi, or the “Arabic world,” which covers all the traditional Arabic speaking countries.

From a period of illiteracy known as al-Jahiliyyah or the Days of Ignorance, when Arab cultural production was essentially limited to poetry, the Arab-Islamic world rose to represent the apex of culture and civilization and the champion of all sciences. The catalyst for this revolutionary transformation was the Qur’an, which commanded all believers to read. As a result of the advent of Islam, the preaching of the Prophet, and the establishment of all levels of educational institutions, what had previously been an essentially illiterate society became the focal point of cultural radiation throughout the world. The spread of Islamic civilization was further facilitated when Muslims learned the Chinese secret of paper-making. In the year 751, the ‘Abbasid caliphate confronted the Chinese Tang Dynasty for the control of the Syr Darya, a river that runs through Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

After the defeat of the Chinese army at the Battle of Talas, knowledgeable Chinese prisoners of war were ordered to produce paper in Samarkand. By the year 794, paper mills were operating along the rivers around Baghdad, and paper was being shipped to all the major cities of the Islamic world. By the late ninth century, one hundred book and paper shops were said to be operating in the Waddah suburb of Baghdad alone. From Iraq, paper-making technology passed to Syria, where high-quality paper was made, and thence to Egypt, North Africa, and al-Andalus.

The transmission of paper-making technology contributed greatly to the rise of Islamic civilization, promoting writing, publishing, and reading. Muslims calligraphers and scribes no longer had to rely on parchment or papyrus from Egypt. With the construction of paper mills in Baghdad, book production blossomed into a vital industry. Translators, scholars, and tradesmen soon spread throughout the Near East and the Mediterranean. Acquiring, duplicating, and locating books become a new sector of the economy, and caliphs, viziers, and deputies of various provinces competed with each other in building their book collections in an attempt to attract the brightest scholars and finest literary talents.

The cultural production of the Muslim world was staggering with the libraries of al-Andalus alone churning out as many as sixty thousand works per year. In comparison, modern Spain publishes an average of 46,330 books per year. The Great Library of Cordoba, established by al-Hakam II (d. 852), contained four hundred thousand volumes, and employed some five hundred librarians, scribes, physicians, historians, geographers, and copyists. New materials were acquired without difficulty as titles moved freely from Byzantium to Baghdad and from Cairo to Cordoba by way of Venetian and Arab shipping routes. The head librarian at Cordoba employed a female Fatimid deputy named Labna, who acted as the library’s specialized acquisition expert in Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad. By the year 1000 C.E, the libraries in al-Andalus contained close to a million manuscripts. This number stands in sharp contrast to the cultural production coming from Christendom, where the two largest libraries, Avignon and Sorbonne, contained a mere two thousand volumes as late as 1150, a reflection of the literacy rate in the western world. By 1275, however, Mudéjar merchants had established the first paper mills in Christian Spain and Italy, and by 1325, the University of Paris alone employed some ten thousand copyists.

As a reaction to what it perceived as internal and external threats, Muslim rulers attempted to consolidate their power by imposing official orthodoxies and limiting freedoms of thought and expression. As a response to centuries of Christian crusades, Muslims became increasingly radicalized, giving rise to dogmatic literalist movements like those of the Almoravids in al-Andalus. From a period of tolerance and pluralism in which Jews, Christians, and Muslims coexisted in harmony, the Islamic world moved to a period of intolerance and antagonism. Divided, and increasingly conquered by the forces of Christendom, the Muslims lost Cordoba to the Christians in 1236, Seville in 1248, and Granada in 1492. Eventually, many Muslim territories would be irretrievably lost and many others would be colonized for centuries. As Muslims suffered losses in land and literacy, western civilization commenced its ascent, eventually becoming the most powerful culture on the planet.

Reading Trends and Practices in the Pre-Islamic Period

During the pre-Islamic period, the Arabian Peninsula was a crossroads of cultures with the Sassanid Empire to the east, the Byzantine Empire to the north, and Abyssinia to the southwest. Although the Arabs were surrounded by sophisticated cultures with long literary traditions, the pre-Islamic period in Arabia was characterized by a rich oral culture in which eloquence reigned supreme. According to tradition, poetry had such a high status for pre-Islamic Arabs that the most famous pieces were posted in the Ka‘abah in Mecca. Known as the Mu‘allaqat, or “Suspended Ones,” these seven odes or qasa’id were the works of Imru’ al-Qays (d. 545 C.E.), Tarafah ibn al-‘Abd, Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulmah (sixth c.), Labid (sixth c.), ‘Amr ibn Kulthum, ‘Antarah ibn Shaddad al-‘Absi (sixth c.), and al-Harith ibn Hillizah (sixth c.).

The odes enjoy a unique position in Arabic literature as the finest representatives of early Arabic poetry. Besides the composers of the seven poems, there were many other great poets whose works were well-known in the pre-Islamic Arabic world. The poets Nabighah al-Dhubyani (sixth c.), ‘Abid ibn al-Abras (sixth c.), and ‘Alqamah ibn ‘Abadah (sixth c.) were also very popular, so much so that they were sometimes numbered among the seven. Others poets, such as al-A‘sha Maymun (sixth c.), Thabit ibn Jabir Ta’abbata Sharran (d. c. 540), al-Shanfara (sixth c.), and ‘Urwah ibn al-Ward (sixth c.), were known as su‘luk or vagabond poets as they would wander the land in search of work reciting poetry.

Pre-Islamic poets acted as historians, soothsayers, and propagandists, and were similar to the minstrels, bards, and troubadours of medieval Europe. Their poetry, or shi‘r, contained the collective memories of their tribes, and explored many aspects of Bedouin life, from the anatomy of animals to issues of honor and pride; from themes of solitude, love, and lust, to the troubles of tribal feuds. Moreover, much like the pre-Columbian Aztecs, and the early hip-hop movement in the United States, Arab poets would engage in lyrical battles known as zajal, which were filled with both praise of oneself and one’s ancestry, and mockery of one’s opponent. The city of ‘Ukaz, a market town just outside of Mecca, would host a regular poetry festival in which poets from across Arabia would exhibit their talent. Alongside the sha‘ir, or poet was his apprentice, known as the rawi or reciter. The function of the rawi was to memorize the poems and recite them, a process that ensured the preservation of the poems for posterity. These chains of transmission often continued unbroken for centuries, with one poet training a reciter to promote his poetry as well as contribute to the poetic tradition. Although poetry was recited, it was very rarely “read” as the pre-Islamic Arabs were virtually all illiterate.

Despite the fact that they did not actively employ an alphabet, the Arabs were not devoid of culture and their poets produced poems according to strict metrical rules. The few who could read and write may have been familiar with Thamudic, Lihyanic, Safaitic, Nabatean, Syriac, Greek, or Latin scripts. The first recorded text in the Arabic alphabet was written in 512 C.E. and consists of a trilingual dedication in Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. It is only one of five pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions known for certain. The South Arabian script was used until around 600 C.E., at which time the entire Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam giving the Arabic language and alphabet prominence. The few surviving pre-Islamic inscriptions in the Arabic alphabet, and inscriptions in the Nabatean alphabet that show the start of Arabic-like features, include a pagan prayer and religious, business, and military matters.

They include an epitaph and curse against grave-violators, words of praise to a pagan god by a man who got rich, and a couple of Christian dedicatories. They also include a long epitaph for the famous Arab poet and warrior Imru’ al-Qays, describing his feats in battle; the record of a military expedition by Ibrahım ibn Mughirah on behalf of al-Harith ibn Jabalah, king of the Ghassanids, who were vassals of the Byzantines; as well as various names of people. Without an actively employed Arabic alphabet, the Arabs passed down their poetry and legends by means of oral tradition. It was only after the advent of Islam that the Arabs diligently documented their rich literary heritage, putting into print the poems and epics that had been passed down for centuries. The anthology of al-Mufaddal, for example, attempted to collect all that was remembered from pre-Islamic poetry as well as some material that was produced in the eighth century. The epic poem in praise of ‘Antarah ibn Shaddad and the stories of Sinbad as well as other pre-Islamic legends were all recorded during the early Islamic period. Widely read and recited, the Sırat ‘Antarah is believed to have influenced both Spanish and French epic poetry, namely the Cantar de mío Cid and the Chanson de Roland.

Reading Trends and Practices in the Early Islamic Period

The Qur’an and its Commentaries

Although the Arabic alphabet was used occasionally for religious and business documents, it was only with the advent of Islam, and the pressing need to preserve the Qur’an and the Hadith, that Arab culture moved from an oral tradition to a written one. The command had come from the Qur’an itself with the imperative “Read!” (96:1) being the first word revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. The Qur’an, which was documented during the lifetime of the Prophet, was the first book written in the Arabic language. Considered by Muslims as the actual word of God, the importance of reading the Qur’an is emphasized in many traditions, with promises of rich rewards for those who recite it. In order to recite it, of course, people - including the Prophet himself - would be required to learn how to read. According to the Qur’an, the Prophet was ummi (7:157–158), a term interpreted by most Sunni scholars as meaning “illiterate.”

Although in its modern usage ummi includes the definition of illiterate, it also means “an inhabitant of Mecca, known as Umm al-Qura, the Mother of all Cities,” “Gentile,” in the sense of not belonging to the people of the Book, the Jews and the Christians, and “unlettered,” in the sense of not having received a formal education. According to the Prophet’s family, Muhammad could read and write in seventy languages. They always insisted that the title of “ummi Prophet” referred to that fact that he was from Mecca. According to many Orientalists, such as Maxine Rodinson, W. Montgomery Watt, and Albert Guillaume, the Prophet was indeed literate before Islam, a skill required of any businessman during the period. In some Shi‘ite sources, the Prophet is said to have been literate prior to the receiving of the revelation, although others argue that he became literate upon receiving the revelation. Although the literacy of the Prophet prior to the Qur’anic revelation is subject to speculation, the fact that Muhammad wrote and signed letters during his lifetime is sufficient proof that he practiced what he preached.

Appreciating the importance of literacy, the Prophet embarked on a campaign to alphabetize the Arabic world. The core of Muhammad’s literacy campaign was the Qur’an, which continues to act as the primary text for alphabetization in the Muslim world to the present day. The Prophet’s many sayings promoting education include: “Knowledge is worship”; “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave”; “The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim, male or female”; and “Acquire knowledge and share it with the people.” He also said: “Seek knowledge, even in China” stressing the lengths to which one should go in the search of science. The Prophet encouraged his literate companions to teach his illiterate companions how to read. Due to a lack of teachers, he even enlisted prisoners of war as teachers. So long as prisoners taught two Muslims how to read, they would be set free. Although the Prophet only ruled in Medina for ten years, he created legions of literate and learned Muslims who would rise to the most sublime of scholarly ranks.

From the time of the Prophet to the present, the minimum level of literacy expected by Muslims has been the ability to read the Qur’an. Instruction traditionally took place in grammar schools (kuttab), the mosque (masjid), the public school (madrasah), or, for the privileged few, the palace school. The pedagogical approach that was employed consisted of whole reading and memorization. For most students, the ability to read the Qur’an was the extent of their education. For others, the Qur’an was simply a starting point leading to every other science imaginable. While the elite continued their private education at the palace, the best and brightest students from regular society moved from the madrasah into prestigious religious seminaries and Islamic universities throughout the Muslim world. These included the Mosque of ‘Amr ibn al-‘As in Cairo, founded in 642; the University of Zaytuna in Tunis, founded in 732; the Bayt al-Hikmah in Baghdad, founded in 813 C.E.; and al-Qarawiyyin University in Fez, founded in 859 C.E. A multitude of universities were founded in al-Andalus in the eighth century, seventeen of them in the city of Córdoba alone. Other institutions of higher learning included al-Azhar and Dar al-Hikmah in Cairo, founded in 988 and 1004, respectively, the Hawzah ‘Ilmiyyah, founded in Najaf in the mid-tenth century, as well as the Nizamiyyah University and the Mustansiriyyah University, founded in Baghdad in 1065–1067 and 1234. Medical education was obtained through private tutors, private medical colleges, and public hospitals, whereas most trades were learned by apprenticeship. Besides grammar schools, mosques, palace schools, public schools, and universities, higher education could also be obtained by attending bookshop schools and literary salons, where teaching was done by means of lecture, discussion, and debate. Although the level of literacy may have varied throughout the Islamic world, it was exceedingly high in its cultural centers. In al-Andalus, to cite a single example, one would have been hardpressed to find a boy or girl over the age of twelve who could not read or write.

The Qur’an, as the heart and soul of Islam, was the book that was most often read, and which rapidly spread throughout the Muslim world during the caliphate of ‘Uthman when it was first mass produced and distributed. Because Muslims pray five times a day, and each prayer requires the reading of short chapters from the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam is the most read book in the world. Besides its reading during ritual prayers, the Qur’an was read on a daily basis as an act of devotion. If there was a book in every home, that book was the Qur’an. Because the Qur’an is not merely read, but chanted, many works were produced regarding the rules of recitation. As a manifestation of love for the text, large quantities of the Qur’an were published in dozens of different scripts, including the hijazi, makki-, mashq, ‘uthmani, ma’il, kufi, thuluth, ta’liq, nasta’liq, dıwani-, bihari-, andalusi, maghribi, and sini- styles. Copies of the Qur’an were calligraphed by hand on the finest paper and with the best of binding. The holy book of Islam was not only read, but revered, and all the best homes guarded an ornamental copy as a precious heirloom.

As the source of so many sciences, from theology to philosophy, and from law to linguistics, the Qur’an was not only read but interpreted, resulting in hundreds of Qur’anic commentaries known as tafasir. In the early Islamic period, some of the most popular commentaries included Ja-mi’ al-bayan fi tafsir al-Qur’an by Abu Ja‘far Muhammad al-Tabari-, the Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, and the Tafsir al- Jalalayn by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti. Among Shi‘ites, the most popular commentaries included Majma‘ al-bayan fi tafsir al-Qur’an by al-Fadl ibn al-Hasan Tabarsi, Tafsir al-‘Ayyashi by Muhammad ibn Mas‘ud al-Samarqandi, and Tafsir tibyan by Shaykh al-Tusi. Many attempts were also made to critically compile the Qur’an in order of revelation. The writing of Qur’anic commentaries was limited to the learned, including both legal and spiritual authorities. Although these tafasir were read primarily by religious scholars and students, many of them became popular among the laity. Interpreted by scholars from all schools of thought, the Qur’an was at the center of a constant dichotomy. On the one hand were the jurists who advocated the literal and legalistic interpretation of the text. On the other hand were the mystics who advocated the spiritual sense of the text. Throughout Islamic history, Qur’anic interpretation has swayed from the esoteric to the exoteric like the systole and diastole of the human heart.

The Sirah, the Hadith, its Commentaries, and the Science of Men

Besides the Qur’an, educated readers from the early period of Islam were particularly interested in learning more about the Prophet, hence the proliferation of books on his life and sayings, including Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, The Life of the Messenger of Allah. Although many ancient Islamic books were lost and many were destroyed by the Mongols after the Battle of Baghdad in 1258 and the European crusades against Islam, including the fall of Granada in 1492, the foundational books of prophetic tradition have survived the test of time, which is sufficient proof of their popularity. For the Sunni, these include Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Sunan Abu Dawud, Sunan Ibn Majah, Sunan an-Nasa‘i, Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and the Muwatta’ of Imam Malik, among others. For the Shi‘ah, these include Usul al-Kafi by al-Kulayni, Man la yahduruhu al-faqih by Shaykh al-Saduq, as well as Tahdhib al-Ahkam and al-Istibsar by Shaykh al-Tusi, among others. Due to their encyclopedic size and expense, collections of prophetic sayings, their extensive commentaries, and works on narrators known as the science of men (‘ilm al-rijal) were not within the reach of regular readers.

Islamic Mysticism Texts

The early Islamic period produced many Muslim mystics whose works were widely read. The imams from the household of the Prophet, who are mentioned in the initiatory chains of many Sufi orders, cultivated an Islam that balanced both its legal and spiritual aspects. One of the most popular of these works was the Misbah al-Shari‘ah wa miftah al-haqiqah / The Lantern of the Path by Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq, the Sixth Shi‘ite imam. Other influential mystics included Abu-Hamid al-Ghazzali, and the Andalusian Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240 C.E.), famous for his Fusus al-hikam (Gems of Wisdom) and al-Futuhat al-Makkiyyah (Meccan Openings). Although they were relished by Sufi Muslims, many of these works were contentious and controversial, and were received with hostility by the self-proclaimed proponents of Sunni orthodoxy.

Biographical Texts

Besides books on the Prophet, early Muslims demonstrated in deep interest in the lives of pre-Islamic prophets, Muhammad’s companions, the caliphs, and the imams of Islam. Books on biblical prophets, such as the Qisas al-anbiyya’ by Ibn Kathir (d. 1373), were widely read by all Muslims. The Shi‘ites, eager to learn more about their imams, consulted the Kitab al-irshad or Book of Guidance into the Lives of the Twelve Imams. Unlike many traditional compilations of prophetic traditions, which focused mostly on compiling whatever sayings were circulating, many Muslim biographers were selective and attempted to separate historical fact from legend and folklore.

History Texts

Early Muslim readers were interested in both Islamic and world history. The most important history books produced during the early Islamic period include the Tarikh (History) by Abi Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 923 C.E.). Considered the “Herodotus of the Arabs,” Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn al-Mas‘udi (d. 956) authored an influential world history titled Muruj al-dhahab wa ma‘adin al-jawahir (The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems). A multitude of books were read by Muslims regarding the Battle of Siffin, the Battle of the Camel, and the Battle of Karbala, demonstrating a sense of distress over the Sunni/Shi‘ah split among the early Muslims. From a single community, the Muslims had split into a multitude of schools, enriching Islam hermeneutically, but greatly debilitating it politically. Shahristani’s (d. 1153) al-Milal wa al-nihal was particularly popular, as it provided a non-polemical historical study of various religious communities and philosophies with reasons for their formation.

Philosophy Texts

The early Islamic period was characterized by its intellectual curiosity and openness to outside ideas and influences. Founded in Baghdad during the reign of the caliph al-Mansur (754–775 C.E.), the Dar al-Hikmah, or House of Wisdom, engaged in the translation and preservation of Persian, Syriac, and eventually Greek works. Within a period of roughly one hundred years (1150–1250 C.E.), all of Aristotle’s writings were translated and reintroduced into the West. Translated, interpreted, and appropriated, classical Greek writings were reintroduced into Europe by the Muslims, contributing to the Renaissance. Besides the Ikhwan al-Safa’, or Brethren of Purity, the greatest philosophers of the early Islamic age were Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (d. 873 C.E.); Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Tarkhan al-Farabi (Alpharabius / Abunaser, d. 950–951 C.E.); Ibn Rushd (1198 C.E.); Ibn Sina (Avicenna, d. 1037 C.E.), and Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406 C.E.), whose masterpieces continue to marvel to this day. The Ikhwan al-Safa’, or Brethren of Purity - a tenth-century organization of Arab philosophers in Basra, Iraq, the seat of the ‘Abbasid caliphate at the time - were particularly influential.

Devotional Texts

Religiously minded readers from the early Islamic period were also interested in devotional literature, including prayer manuals and compilations of religious sermons and speeches. Nahj al-balaghah (The Peak of Eloquence) was particularly popular among Shi‘ites, but also among Sunnis. Compiled by Sayyid al-Razi from earlier sources, the book includes famous speeches, sermons, and sayings of ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib, the first imam of the Shi‘ites, and the fourth caliph of the Sunnis. The cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, Imam ‘Ali’s Nahj al-balaghah has been used to teach the Arabic language, eloquence, and rhetoric since the time it was published. Considered one of the oldest Islamic prayer manuals, Imam ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin’s Sahifah al-sajjadiyyah, translated by William Chittick as The Psalms of Islam, has always been popular among Shi‘ite Muslims. The most popular prayer manuals in the Sunni world are the works of Sufi authors. They include the Munajat (Intimate Invocations) of Khawajah ‘Abd Allah Ansari (d. 1088), the saint of Herat, and the Dala’il al-khayrat or Waymarks of Benefits by Muhammad al-Jazuli (d. 1465), the Moroccan Shadhili Shaykh.

Theological Texts

Not unlike the analysis of any of the world’s great religions, the interpretation of Islam leads to divergences of opinion in matters of belief. As various creeds were codified, Muslims divided themselves into various theological schools. Some of the Sunni attempts to systematize the fundamentals of faith include al-‘Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah by Imam Abu Ja‘far al-Tahawı (d. 933 C.E.) and the Ibanah by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‘ari (d. 936 C.E.). The two most famous works on the Shi‘ite beliefs include I‘tiqadatu al-Imamiyyah or The Beliefs of the Imamiyyah by Shaykh al-Saduq Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn Babawayh al-Qummi (d. 991 C.E.) and its correction made by his student, Shaykh al-Mufıd Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu‘man (d. 1022 C.E.), which is known as Tashih al-i’tiqad or To Rectify the Beliefs. Other important works on Shi‘ite theology include Tajrid al-i‘tiqad by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and its commentary by ‘Allamah al-Hilli, known as al-Bab al-hadi ‘ashar. Despite some minor differences in belief, all Muslims agreed upon the fundamental aspects of their faith: the oneness of God, the prophethood, and the day of judgment.

Texts on Islamic Jurisprudence

Although all Muslims agree on fundamental aspects of faith, they are divided into various madhahib, or schools of law. During the early Islamic period, Sunni Muslims followed the Hanafı, Shafi‘i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools of law. They also followed schools of law that are no longer extant, including the Zahiri school from al-Andalus; the Jariri school founded by Tabari; and the schools of al-Awza‘i, Hasan al-Basri, Abu ‘Uyaynah, Ibn Abi Dhu’ayb, Sufyan al-Thawri, Ibn Abi Dawud, and Layth ibn Sa‘d, among others. The Twelver Shi‘ites, however, had a single school of law, known as Ja‘fari, in honor of Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq (d. 765 C.E.), the sixth Shi‘ite imam, who taught jurisprudence to Imam Malik (d. 796 C.E.) and Imam Abu Hanifah (d. 767).

In order to ensure the correct performance of their religious obligations, most Muslims referred to a treatise on Islamic jurisprudence. Among Sunnis and Sufis, books such as Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din (The Revival of the Islamic Sciences) by Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali (d. 1111 C.E.), Zad al-ma‘ad or Provisions for the Hereafter by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (d. 1350 C.E.), and ‘Umdat al-salik wa ‘uddat al-nasik (The Reliance of the Traveller and Tools of the Worshipper) by Ibn al-Naqib (d.1367 C.E.) were part of a basic Islamic education. For Shi‘ites during the early Islamic period, the fundamental books of fiqh or jurisprudence included the Muqni‘ah of Shaykh Mufıd (d. 1022 C.E.), as well as al-Nihayah, al-Mabsut and al-Khilaf by Shaykh Tusi (d. 1067 C.E.). The basics books of the Shi‘ites also included Shara’i‘ al-Islam by al-Muhaqqiq al-Hilli (d. 1277 C.E.), al-Rawdah al-bahiyyah, known also as Sharh al-lum‘ah, by Shaykh Zayn al-Din ibn ‘Ali Shahid al-Thani (d. 966 C.E.), as well as many others. The Shi‘ites, unlike the Sunnis, are only allowed to follow the rulings of living jurists. From the occultation of the twelfth imam in 941 C.E. to the present, Shi‘ites have followed a succession of scholars in matters of jurisprudence.

Creative Texts

Poetry

Although the pre-Islamic period was particularly prolific in its production of poetry, the genre suffered a decline during the early days of Islam, a time in which religious literature was all the rage. Although it is unclear whether pre-Islamic poetry was repressed for religious reasons, Arabic poetry definitely declined, humbled in the face of the Qur’anic eloquence or due to a lack of audience. Deeply rooted in pre-Islamic paganism, Arabic poetry represented a feudalistic worldview that had been uprooted. With its references to wine, women, and gambling, the Arabic poetry from the Days of Ignorance (al-Jahiliyyah) was antithetical to Islam. It was for this reason that the Qur’an said: “As for poets, the erring follow them” (26:224). Muhammad, of course, was not opposed to poetry per se, as he had his own personal poet, Hassaan ibn Thabit (d. c. 674), who composed poems in praise of the Prophet. The last of the bedouin bards is generally considered to be Ghaylan ibn ‘Uqbah (c. 696–c. 735), nicknamed Dhu al-Rimmah, who continued to cultivate the themes and styles of the pre-Islamic poets. After the austerity of the first four caliphs, the excesses of the Umayyad and ‘Abbasid empires created an atmosphere conducive to court poetry, with its emphasis on the ghazal, or love poem, the master of which was Abu Nuwas (d. c. 813–815 C.E.), who cultivated a poetry that praised wine (khamriyyat) and pederasty (mudhakkarat). While Abu Nuwas produced pretty but polemical poems that pushed the limits of what was acceptable under Islam, and poets such as ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Isma‘il Waddah al-Yaman (d. c. 708 C.E.) and Salih ibn ‘Abd al-Quddus al-Basri (d. 783 C.E.) were executed on grounds of heresy, others produced more religiously themed poetry.

The courtly culture of the Umayyad and ‘Abbasid empires also contributed to the popularization of songs. Some of the famous singers included Ibrahim al-Mawsili, his son Ishaq al-Mawsili, and Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi. Although songs are generally viewed as an aural experience, they were so popular among a sector of society than they were actually published and read. Abu al-Faraj al-Isbahani’s Kitab al-aghani, or Book of Songs (1216–1220 C.E.), was a particularly popular collection of songs by famous singers, musicians, and poets. Although much of the material was objectionable from an Islamic point of view, people have always been eager to be entertained. Besides profane poetry, the early Islamic period produced a wealth of pious poetry, typically penned by Sufi Muslims. Although their poetry deals with love and wine, and has been misinterpreted by most Orientalists as hedonistic, the Sufis emphasized allegorical language. They addressed issues of the flesh in an attempt to achieve transcendence with “intoxication” representing the mystic union between man and God. Rabi‘ah al-‘Adawiyyah, Abu Yazid al-Bistami (d. 874), and Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 922) were some of the most significant Sufi poets. Misunderstood by many, Hallaj was eventually crucified for heresy.

As a result of the rise of Persian and Turkish literature, Arabic poetry declined after the thirteenth century, although it flowered a little longer in al-Andalus where the classical muwashshah with its colloquial kharjah or final strophic “envoi” were particularly popular. One of the most famous poets of al-Andalus was Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Quzman (d. 1160 C.E.), whose rhymed colloquial Arabic verse, the zajal, is sprinkled with Romance words and resembles the later vernacular troubadour poetry of France. The Andalusian poetic tradition, which bridged the Arabic world and the western world, abruptly found its end with the expulsion of the Arabs in 1492. Under

the orders of Cisneros, the Archbishop of Granada, the corpus suffered large-scale destruction by fire in 1499 or 1500. Despite its public prohibition, Arabic literature was consulted in private by the conversos de moros and conversos de judíos, the Cryptic Muslims and Jews who had been forcibly converted to Catholicism, as well as Christian persons of culture. As a result, this suppressed Arabic-Islamic substratum continued to exert a subtle influence on Spanish literature, as can be seen in the works of Sebastiano de Córdoba; San Juan de la Cruz; Santa Teresa de Ávila; and Juan Ruíz, Arcipreste de Hita.

Prose

The birth of Arabic prose, as a literary form, is attributed to the Persian secretarial class who served under the ‘Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad. Popular works of the early Islamic period include Kalilah wa Dimnah by Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ (d. 757 C.E.), a series of didactic fables in which two jackals offer moral and practical advice, as well as Kitab al-hayawan, or The Book of Animals by al-Jahiz (d. 869 C.E.), an anthology of animal anecdotes. These works were exceedingly popular and appealed to a wide public readership. Kalilah wa Dimnah was translated into Spanish between 1251 and 1261 on the orders of Alfonso, one of the sons of King Fernando III, who would become known as King Alfonso X, the Wise. According to many critics, Kalilah wa Dimnah and the Kitab al-hayawan influenced European works such as Ramón Llull’s Llibre de les bèsties, the Roman de Renard, the Fables of La Fontaine, and other bestuarios. The maqamat or “assemblies,” a genre invented by al-Hamadhani (d. 1008 C.E.), are composed of fifty-two episodic stories about an unscrupulous rogue that poke fun at all levels of society. The genre was taken to new extremes by al-Haririr (d. 1122 C.E.). With his prowess for wordplay and his seemingly inexhaustible vocabulary, his maqamat are considered one of the greatest treasures of Arabic literature. These stories were highly popular among all levels of society and may have contributed to the creation of the picaresque genre in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain, including such works as Lazarillo de Tormes and El buscón, among many others.

The Thousand and One Arabian Nights, known in Arabic as Alf laylah wa laylah, is a collection of stories compiled over thousands of years by various authors, translators, and scholars. These collections of tales can be traced back to ancient Arabia, Persia, India, and China. The oldest remnant of the work comes from a few handwritten pages from Syria dating to the early 800s. The book is also mentioned in Ibn al-Nadim’s Fihrist, which dates from the 900s. Clearly a popular work among the ruling elite, it was certainly equally popular among the common class. Although it is unlikely that lay people had personal copies, the tales were probably recited by professional story-tellers who traveled from town to town. These legends, and fables from China, India, Persia, and Arabia, were so widely read that they spread from the Islamic world into Europe, becoming part and parcel of the western literary tradition. Medieval Spanish works such as Don Juan Manuel’s El Conde Lucanor and La Fontaine’s Fables are filled with fictional material from the Muslim world.

One of the most influential writers from al-Andalus was Abu- Muhammad ‘Ali, known as Ibn Hazm of Cordoba (d. 1064 C.E.), the author of Tawq al-hamamah or The Dove’s Necklace. This was a popular work on the art of love that is considered a precursor to the Libro de buen amor, the Book of Good Love by Juan Ruíz, Arcipreste de Hita (fl. 1343). Although its Arabic original is no longer extant, the Spanish Sendebar, or Libro de los engaños, was translated from a popular Arabic book in 1253 on orders of Prince Fadrique, the brother of King Alfonso X. A misogynistic work dealing with the wicked ways of women, it was a phenomenal success in Europe. In many regards, it served as a precursor for works that protagonize “players” such as Don Juan. The rise of popular literature as a credible genre was fostered by a rising level of literacy in the Muslim world, made possible by the paper mills in Baghdad, which dramatically decreased the cost of textual material. Prior to the introduction of paper, works were published on papyrus, which is fragile, or parchment, which is expensive. With locally produced paper, Arab publishers could produce a high quality and durable product that was cost-efficient.

Texts in the Arts and Sciences

Scholars during the early Islamic period produced a monumental volume of works in all areas of science. As the Islamic empire expanded out of Arabia, and the Arabs encountered new languages, cultures, and religions, they were eager to learn more about the ways of the world. They produced books on foreign languages and alphabets; world religions, including Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity; as well as studies of their scriptures. Readers had an abundance of books at their disposal, including works on zoology, ornithology, entomology, herpetology, botany, oceanography, metallurgy, physiology, agriculture, political science, sexology, psychology, architecture, apiculture, geometry, mathematics, algebra, astrology, medicine, pediatrics, gerontology, sociology, economy, mythology, weaponry, navigation, aviation, perfumery, chemistry, geology, and many more too lengthy to mention.

Some of the great scholars of the period included Muhammad ibn Musa al- Khawarizmi (d. 850 C.E.), a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer, as well as Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi (d. 925 C.E.), the physician and philosopher who was possibly the first Persian doctor to write a home medical manual directed at the general public. Another celebrated scholar was Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (d. 1048 C.E.), the Persian genius whose experiments and discoveries were as significant and diverse as those of Leonardo da Vinci or Galileo, as well as the Andalusian Arab Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-‘Abbas al-Zahrawi (d. 1013 C.E.). Considered the father of modern surgery, al-Zahrawi authored al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume collection of medical practices. The works of Muslim scholars and scientists were widely read and distributed throughout the Muslim world, stimulating technological advances in all areas in a prodigious process of cultural acceleration.

Language and Linguistics Texts

As a language that had emerged from obscurity to become the official language of culture, science, and civilization from al-Andalus to India, Arabic needed to be thoroughly studied and duly documented. The first Arabic dictionary ever compiled was the Kitab al-‘ayn, or Book of Sources, by al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (d. 791 C.E.). His student, the Persian Sibawayh (d. 793 C.E.), was the first to produce an exhaustive grammatical system, which has been the point of reference for all subsequent studies to this day. Known simply as the al-Kitab, or The Book, it falls just shy of one thousand pages, and is considered the Qur’an of Arabic grammar. Another work of invaluable importance was Lisan al-‘arab by Jamal al-Din Muhammad ibn Mukarram ibn Manzur (d. 1311 C.E.), the author of the most comprehensive dictionary of classical Arabic. Many dictionaries were written for specific fields. One of the most famous books in the field of botany was the Kitab al-nabat or Book of Plants by Abu Hanifah Ahmad ibn Dawud al-Dinawari (d. 896 C.E.).

Treatises

The treatise, or Risalah, was immensely popular as it was inexpensive and easily accessible to the average reader. Considered short and sweet, these treatises, or rasa’il, explored every topic imaginable from religious matters, anecdotes, proverbs, moral stories, and popular recipes, to prostitution and its pleasures, alcoholic beverages, dancing, singing, gambling, instructions on making cat calls, and how to impress women, as well as epistles on thievery and witchcraft. The writers and readers of these rasa’il ranged from scholars to simpletons, from the cultured to the crass, and from the virtuous to the vile. Due to their negligible cost, treatises could be mass-produced, sold for little on the street, in markets, and in bookstores, or distributed freely. Like other publications, they could be sponsored by individuals, religious seminaries, universities, or governments. Unlike books and encyclopedias, which generally required a patron in order to publish them, treatises were much like modern-day websites or blogs, which contain material that is both cultured and uncouth, and both legal and illegal. As a result, the authors of many treatises employed pseudonyms or preferred to publish their works anonymously.

Conclusion

Although the rise of reading and its effects on Arabic-Islamic society serve as a model of inspiration, its decline into illiteracy and ignorance is of equal interest. Although many factors contributed to the downfall of the Arabic-Islamic world, the fundamental causes revolve around reading. For example, during the early Islamic period, Muslim scholars were open-minded and outward-looking, absorbing and adapting ideas from all over the world in what was a living, vibrant intellectual system. Following the Qur’anic call to think and reason, an order repeated regularly in the sacred scripture, early Muslims exercised their rights to freedom of thought and expression, and Islamic civilization flourished. However, with the closing of the doors of ijtihad, or independent interpretation, in the tenth century, as well as the imposition of official orthodoxies, Islam moved from an open system to a closed one. Early interpretations of Islam were canonized and Islamic law, or Shari‘ah became stagnant. Rather than looking forward, Muslims started to look backwards, becoming a people of tradition, rather than a people of progress. Muslim educational institutions moved from education to indoctrination, rejecting novel ideas as threats to established systems and wisdom. With Islamic thought frozen in time, Muslims became increasingly unable to manage modernity and tackle new technology.

If the Muslim mastery of paper-making technology helped Islamic civilization rise to preeminence, its failure to embrace the printing press played a major role in its decline. Invented by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, the printing press was introduced

to the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Sultan Bayazid II (1481–1512), only to be virtually banned for use by Muslims in 1485. By 1510, more than one thousand printing presses in the western world had produced approximately thirty five thousand titles, with tens of millions of copies. Using paper and pen to painstakingly reproduce books copy by copy, Muslim scribes simply could not compete with the European printing press. It was not until 1727 that Muslims started to use the printing press. By then, Muslims were three centuries behind the time; their level of literacy had plummeted, and their scholarly production had stagnated. Although the Persian, Mogul, and Ottoman Empires still controlled vast expanses of land, they no longer dominated the world of discoveries. From leaders in literacy, the Muslims had become followers. Soon, they would be subjected to western colonialism and the cultural cataclysm it would bring in its wake.

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