‘Belles-Lettres,’ Religious Literature and Philosophy
In this brief sketch it is impossible to do more than just
mention a few outstanding works on Arabic literature (sacred and secular).
Abu-Al-Aswad-Al-Du’ali who flourished at Basrah and died there probably in 688
or 689 AD, aged 85, is generally considerd to be the discoverer of Arabic
grammar (Ibni Khallikan, Vol I, Pg 663). Khalil Ibni Ahmad (born in ‘Oman 717
AD, died in Basrah in 791 or 792 AD), is generally regarded as the founder of
Arabic prosody. He certainly systematized its grammar and wrote an unfinished
lexicon called “Kitab al-’Ayn”. His Persian pupil, Sibawayh (d: 793 AD) composed
the first basic textbook on Arabic grammar called “Al-Kitab”. Later, Jamal Uddin
Abu ‘Amr ‘Uthman Ibni ‘Umar Ibn Al-Hajib (1175-1249 AD) wrote in addition to his
“Al-Kafyah” and “Al-Shawyah” (concise works on Arabic grammar), “Kitab Al-Maqsad
Al-Jalil Fi ‘Ilm Al-Khalil”, on the subject of prosody.
More famous than either of the above two names is that of
Abu-Al-Qasim Muhammad Ibni ‘Umar Al-Zamakhshari (1075-1144 AD) called Jar-Allah
for having lived in Mecca for a long time. His grammar “Kitab-ul-Mufassal” and
lexicon “Kitab Muqaddimat-ul-Adab” (Arabic-Persian) are still considered
standard works. Mention may also be made of Abdul-Rahman Al-Anbari’s history of
Arabic Literature and philology entitled “Kitab Al-Nuzhat Al-Alibba’ Fi Tabaqaat
Al-Udaba”. He was a lecturer at the famous Nizamiyah of Baghdad. So was Shaykh
Abul-Farj Ibni Al-Jawzi, an encyclopaedic writer on many branches of learning,
including “Al-Muntazam”. Poetry kept up its hold on the Arab mind in all
countries and climes. Many poets preferred the Jahiliyah style but Persian
influence somewhat modified this tendency. It is no exaggeration to say that
almost every educated Arab (both in the East and the West) indulged in
versification. Among poets of later times may be mentioned Al-Mutanabbi (915-65
AD), laureate at the court of Sayf-Al-Dawlah Hamadani, whose ornate and flowery
style made him one of the most popular and widely quoted Arab poets of all
times. Among notable prose-writers (whose list will require a lifetime to
prepare) a few prominent ones have already been mentioned before (e.g. the
authors of “Al-Aghani” and “Al-Fihrist” etc.) while discussing works on history,
biography and geography. For excellence of style (though somewhat affected)
Badi’-uz-Zaman Al-Hamadhani (969-1008 AD) and, after him Al-Hariri (1054-1122
AD), author of the famous “Maqamaat”, are generally considered unrivalled. No
account of Arabic literature will be considered satisfactory without a reference
to the tales of “Alf Laylah wa Laylah” that centre round the court of
Harun-ur-Rashid at Baghdad and of the Mamluk Sultans at Cairo. They are supposed
to have been told by different authors at different times and to be based on
works of Persian origin.
To attempt a discussion of religious literature published
in Arabic will take us far away from our prescribed course even if we considered
ourselves competent for the task. Even a cursory acquaintance with the standard
works on Hadith and Fiqh and a knowledge of the great pains taken to collect and
verify the former and systematize the latter will show how solidly and
judiciously the Muslim Shari’at is built. It is really marvellous how the early
Muslim scholars of Tradition (the Muhaddithin) and theological jurists performed
their self-imposed duties unmoved by opposition and undaunted by authority. No
wonder that Muhammad Ibni Ismail Al-Bukhari (810-70 AD), Muslim Ibni-Al-Hajjaj
(d: 875 AD), Abu-Da’ud (d: 888 AD), Al-Tirmidhi (d: 892 AD), Ibni-Majah (d: 886
AD) and Al-Nasa’i, the authors of the six canonical works on Hadith, are still
held in great veneration; and that about 30 million Muslims are technical
adherents of the school of Malik Ibni Anas (715-95 AD); 188 million adherents of
Al-Nu’man Ibni Thabit Abu-Hanifah (d: 767 AD); 73 million of Muhammad Ibni Idris
Al-Shafi’i (d: 820 AD) and 3 million of Ahmad Ibni Hanbal (d: 855 AD).
There were a number of Muslim Philosophers both in the
East and in the West. They did not feel the necessity of propounding new
hypotheses of forming novel schools of thought. All the great philosophers of
Islam were sincere Muslims. Whenever they thought there was some apparent lack
of harmony between the teachings of the revealed religion and discoveries of
science, they tried to reconcile the two as both were regarded as correct. This
process came to be known as scholasticism in the best sense of the word.
Foremost among such Eastern Muslim philosophers were Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibni
Sina’ and Al-Ghazzali. We shall mention a few facts about the lives and works of
each of them.
Abu-Yusuf Ya’qub Ibni lshaq Al-Kindi was of pure Arab
extraction, born at Kufa in the middle of the ninth century and flourished at
Baghdad. He was an all-round scientist in addition to being a great philosopher
of the school of Aristotle. In Neo-Platonic spirit he aimed at reconciling
Aristotelian views with Platonic ideas. His best and most popular work was his
“Optics” which in its latin translation was used as textbook in the West for a
number of years until replaced by Ibn Al-Haytham’s more complete work later. He
was author of over 250 works on different subjects; philosophy, alchemy,
astrology, theory of music, etc., some of which are extant only in their Latin
versions, others being completely lost---the common lot unfortunately of most
Arabic works published before the Tartar invasions. Al-Kindi gives full
significance to rhythm (Arabic: Iqa’) as an important constituent of Arabic
music, showing thereby that mensural music was known to the Arabs centuries
before the Christian peoples of Europe.
Muhammad Ibni Muhammad Ibni Tarkhan Abu Nasr Al-Farabi
(Latin: Alpharabius) was a Turk born in Transoxiana in 870 AD, and flourished at
the court of Sayf-Al-Dawlah Al-Hamadani. He died at Baghdad in 950 AD. Besides
being a first-rate philosopher, he was an expert in both the theory and practice
of Music. His commentaries on Aristotle, Plato and other Greek philosophers
reveal his belief in the reconcilability of Aristotelianism with Platonism
through the medium of Sufism. Among his books are “Risalah Fususul Hikam”,
“Risalah Fi Ara’ Ahlal Madinah Al-Fadilah” and “Siyasah Al-Madaniyah”, the last
two being based on the ideas of Plato’s “Republic” and Aristotle’s “Politics”.
His work on music, “Kitab Al-Musiqial Kabir” presents him in the light of a
great practical authority on this subject. He played exquisite music on the lute
(Arabic: al’ud) and could move the entire court of Sayf-Al-Dawlah to roaring
laughter or to tears according to the character of the tunes he played.
Ibni-Sina’s work as a physician has already been dealt
with in connection with the development of Arab medicine. His philosophy is
embodied (along with other matter) in his encyclopaedic treatise “Kitab Al-Shifa”
(Sanatio). It may be taken to represent Aristotelian traditions modified by
Neo-Platonic ideas and at the same time kept in control by Muslim theology. He
died at a comparative early age (57 years) but left a permanent impression on
all the intellectual disciplines of the Middle Ages: physics, mathematics,
metaphysics, ethics, economics, politics, logic, psychology and music. He was
keen on experimental work also, to which his investigations on specific gravity
and the design of a simple device similar to that of the modern Vernier (for
increase in accuracy of length measurement) bear ample testimony.
Such abstract physical subjects as the nature of motion,
of contact, force, vacuum, infinity, light and heat, were also tackled by him,
and his powerful intellect, inspite of the paucity of correct data available in
those days of early science, could lead him to sound conclusions, as for
instance the finite velocity of light and the impossibility of chemical
transmutations. He was probably the most comprehensive and clear-headed
scientist of Islam and certainly one of the most famous of all nationalities,
places and times.
Abu-Hamid Al-Ghazzali, born in 1058 AD at Tus where he
died in 1111 AD, was one of the noblest men of all times and the greatest
theologian of Islam. He fixed the ultimate form of the Ash’ariya system founded
by Abul-Hasan ‘Ali Al-Ash’ari (d: 935-6 AD) of Baghdad (viz., tacit belief in
religious dogmas outside the reach of worldly comprehension). Al-Ghazzali’s
mental struggles to reconcile the tenets of Islam with the teachings of
prevailing philosophy and science are recorded in his own words. He was at one
time a professor at the Nizamiyah at Baghdad, then turned a sceptic for a while,
wandering about for twelve years in search of truth and mental peace, and
finally found solace in Sufism. His masterpiece, “Ihya’ Al-’Ulumiddin” and other
similar works were widely read by Muslims, Jews and Christians and contributed
to the spread of scholasticism in Asia and Europe, as may be judged by their
influence on Thomas Aquinas and even Blaise Pascal. Some European critics
attribute to his (and Al-Ash’ari’s) teachings the decline noticed in the
prosecution of scientific studies among Muslims from the twelfth century omwards.
But this seems to be too weeping a remark. There were many more potent factors
that brought about this decline and Al-Ghazzali was himself a great advocate of
seeking truth in matters both spiritual and temporal.
Early Arab Notions of Chemistry, Biology and Allied
Sciences
Chemistry is generally supposed to be an accidental
product of alchemy, but it would be a fairer appreciation of human intellect to
say that early misconceptions of chemical phenomena by adventurous man tempted
him, after his acquaintance with the glamour of gold and precious stones, to
dabble in alchemy, just as his early attempts to understand the movements of the
heavenly bodies misguided him to believe in astrology. Centuries of bitter
experience and disappointments directed him into the right tracks, and the
results of prolonged observations and experiments ultimately led him to build up
the modern sciences of astronomy and chemistry. Before the advent of the Arabs
on the intellectual scene, man knew the main properties of the metals he
employed and the preparation of their simpler compounds, as well as the
manufacture of glass. The Arabs acquired all this knowledge with their
characteristic quickness and added considerably to it. They developed the
processes of crystallization and precipitation, distillation and sublimation and
were thereby able to obtain a number of substances (old and new) in a state of
comparative purity, like mercury, ammonia, alum, soda, borax, nitre, basic lead
carbonate, arsenic and antimony, etc. The bulk of this knowledge came to be
associated with the name of Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan Al-Tusi Al-Sufi, who
flourished mostly in Kufah nearabout 776 AD. Some of his books (translated by
Berthelot) bear fanciful names, e.g., “Book of the Kingdom”, “Book of the
Balances”, “Book of Eastern Mercury”, etc. He put forward a Sulphur-Mercury
theory of the six metals known in his day to explain their different properties
depending, as it was alleged, on the difference in proportion of their two
constituents. Nevertheless he deals with many useful practical applications of
chemistry like refinement of metals, preparation of steel, dyeing of cloth and
leather, varnishes to water-proof cloth and protect iron, use of manganese
dioxide to colour glass and of iron-pyrites for writing in gold and distillation
of vinegar to concentrate acetic acid.
In the absence of complete publication of Jabir’s works
much confusion prevails in discriminating between the writings of Jabir and
Geber’s Latin Treatises of the twelfth and later centuries. If the Jabir-Geber
mystery is solved many other important discoveries in chemistry like the
preparation of mineral acids (sulphuric, nitric, hydrochloric and aqua-regia)
may ultimately be placed to Jabir’s credit. It is quite possible that Geber is
only a Latin form of Jabir. It may be noted that Jabir Ibni Aflah, a Spanish
Arab astronomer (d: 1145 AD) is also called Geber in mediaeval works on
astronomy.
In the ninth century ‘Utarid Ibni Muhammad Al-Hasib (or
Katib) compiled a work “Manafi-’Al-Ahjar” dealing with the properties of certain
minerals. A much better compilation entitled “Azhar-Al-Afkar Fi Jawahir-Al-Ahjar”
by Shahab-Al-Din Al-Tifashi (who died in Cairo in 1253 AD) discuss the
properties (medicinal and ‘magical’), purity, price, place of origin, etc, of 24
precious stones.
Biology in its modern sense had to wait till the invention
of microscopes of high power, but rudimentary notions concerning the habitat,
behaviour, and classification of animals and plants were eagerly acquired and
recorded by the Arabs even from the Umayyad days. Their interest in the breeding
of horses and camels was responsible for some early works of this kind.
‘Abdul-Malik Ibni Al-Quraib Al-Asma’i, a very pious Arab of Basrah (739-83 AD)
besides being a good student of Arabic poetry wrote “Kitabul-Ibil”, “Kitabul-Khail”,
“Kitul-Wuhush”, “Kitabus-Sha’ “ and “Kitab Khalqul-Insan”, the last mentioned
work revealing a considerable knowledge of human anatomy.
Al-Nazzam (d: 845 AD), a leader of the Mu’tazilite school,
that believed in the creation of the Qur’ān, propounded a theory of evolution,
according to which Adam and all his descendants though created by God at one and
the same time were in a state of Kumun and appeared in succession at their
appointed times in accordance with a preordained plan. His pupil, ‘Uthman ‘Amr
Ibni Bahr Al-Jahiz (d: 868-9 AD) of Basrah wrote a book on animals called “Kitab
Al-Hayawan”, but its treatment savoured more of theology and folklore than
strict biology. Nevertheless it refers to the struggle of animals for existence
and their adaptation to environment. Al-Jawalaqi who flourished in the first
half of the twelfth century and ‘Abdul-Mu’min who flourished in the second half
of the thirteenth century in Egypt, also wrote books on horses. The greatest
‘Zoologist’ among the Arabs was Al-Damiri (1405 AD) of Egypt whose book on
animal life, “Hayat-Al-Hayawan” has been translated into English by A.S.G.
Jayakar (London 1906, 1908).
More scientific work was done by the Arabs in Botany. Use
of plants and their products in medicine primarily induced them to attend to
this subject. Muwaffaq-Uddin Shams-Al-Riyasa Ibni-Jami’ (d: 1193 AD), an
Egyptian Jew, and physician to Salah Uddin, wrote on lemons and rhubarb and
their uses. In dealing with Spanish Islam we shall refer to the herborization of
Muslim Scientists of Spain. Among Eastern Muslims we may mention Ibni Al-Suri-Al-Dimashqi’s
deliberate search for plant in the country surrounding Damascus and the
mountains of Lebanon, where he studied them at different stages of their growth,
in the first half of the thirteenth century.
Much valuable information may be gleaned from the writings
of Al-Biruni and Ibni-Sina on physical geography and rudiments of geology. Al-Biruni’s
correct explanation of rise of water in springs and his suggestion concerning
the origin of the Indus Valley have already been referred to. He was also the
first to observe a fixed number of petals in flowers, 3,4,5,6 or 18, never 7 or
9. Al-Dinawari also wrote a book on plants. Ibni-Sina’s views on the formation
of mountains are interesting. His treatise on minerals was the main source of
knowledge on this subject for generations.
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