Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/660

 624 ARABIC LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE with much grace and skill in most artfully rhymed prose, interwoven with short poems. It has been admirably imitated, rather than translated, in German by Ruckert (Stuttgart, 1837). The romance entitled " Adventures of Antar," of which about a third part has been translated by Hamilton (4 vols. 8vo, London, 1820), is a charmingly drawn picture of Arab life before the rise of Mohammedanism. The famous collection of tales known as the " Thou- sand and One Nights," or the "Arabian Nights," is of unknown date and authorship. It was first made known in Europe about the end of the 17th century by Antoine Galland, who was employed by Colbert to collect MSS. in the East. The copy of the Arabic MS. brought by Galland from Syria contained a marginal note dated 1584, and from internal evidence the middle of the 15th century has been fixed upon as the probable period of the composition of the work. Some of the tales were evidently borrowed by the writer from older authors, and Von Hammer identifies at least the plot and some of the stories of the in Persian, called Hezar Afsaneh (Arab. Elf Khurafeh, "The Thousand Fanciful Stories"). An excellent translation, with elaborate critical and illustrative notes, was made in England by Lane. Theology and law among the Arabs, as j in the East generally, were very closely connect- ed, both resting on the common foundation of the Koran. Hut the Koran being contradictory on some points, silent on many others, and alto- gether without order or system, recourse was had first to the oral traditions of the sayings and doings of Mohammed ; next to the decisions of the imams or legitimate successors of the prophet, and the early caliphs ; and where these failed, to analogical reasoning. Of the commentaries on the Koran, the most esteemed is that of Beidhawi (published by Fleischer, Leipsic, 1844-'8); and of the collections of tradi- tions, that of Bokhari (Krehl, Leyden, 1862-"8). Sharastani gives a view of the many religious and philosophical sects into which Islam was divided (Arabic by Cureton, London, 1842-'6; German by Haarbrucker, Halle, 1850-'51). The great schism is that which divides theSun- nis, the orthodox party, who recognize the au- thority of the traditions and decisions above mentioned, from the Shiahs, the followers of Ali, who reject many of them. The latter sect prevails chiefly in Persia. There are four lead- ing schools among the Sunnis, all regarded as orthodox, and called after their founders the Hanefite, Malekite, Shafiite, and Hanbalite. j They agree in their general principles, but differ in various details, and ail date from near the commencement of the Abbasside dynasty. The Hanefite code prevails in India and Turkey ; the Malekite in Africa, except Egypt. In Egypt the generally received authority is the Shafiite code, but the courts are Hanefite, the cadi being sent from Constantinople. The fourth or Hanbalite school has little influence. The most cele- brated digest of the Hanefite code is the ffidaya, translated into English by Hamilton (Calcutta, 1791); another, the Multaka al- Abkar, translated into French, is contained in D'Ohsson's Empire Ottoman (Paris, 1787- 1820). The collections of decisions are also weighty authorities. One of them, the Futawa Alemjir, made by order of the emperor Au- rungzebe, was printed in Calcutta (6 vols. 4t<>. 1828-'35), and a portion of it relating to the law of sale has been translated into English by Baillie (London, 1860). The chief authority on the law of inheritance, the Sirajiya, was translated by Sir William Jones (Calcutta, 1792). A compendium of the Malekite code by Khalil ibn Ishak has been translated into French by Perron (Paris, 1848-'52); another of the Shafiite code, by Abu Shoja, has been published by Keyzer (Arabic and French, Leyden, 1859.) Of historical works the num- ber is very large (Hadji Khalfa enumerates 1,300), and the materials for the history of the countries and periods embraced in the Moham- medan dominion are very full and valuable, but outside of this meagre. In style they are for the most part mere chronicles, seldom rising to a comprehensive survey or attempting to trace the deeper historical connections of events. It is a common habit of the writers to quote largely from their authorities, and this makes amends in part for the absence of anything like historical criticism. The follow- ing are some of the more important works that have been published, beginning with general histories : Abulfeda, Hittoria Mmlemica (Ara- bic and Latin by Reiske, 6 vols. 4to, Copt-n- hagen, 1789-'94), and Hintoria Antemuslemica (Arabic and Latin by Fleischer, Leipsic, 1831); Masudi, "Historical Encyclopaedia" (Arabic and French by Barbier de Meynard, vols. i.-vi., Paris, 18(il-'71; English by Sprenger, London, 1841, vol. i. only); Tabari, "Annals" (Arabic and Latin by Kosegarten, Greifswald, 1831-'53) ; Ibn al-Athiri, "Chronicle" (Tornberg, Upsala and Lund, 1851 etaeq.); Ibn Koteiba, "Manual of History" (Wustenfeld, G6ttingen, 1850); Ibn Ettiktaka (Ahlwardt, Gotha, 1860); and Hamza of Ispahan (in Arabic and Latin by Rasmussen, Copenhagen. 1817). Histories of the early conquests: Al-Beladori (De Goeje, Leyden, 1863-7), and Al-Wakidi, "Moham- med's Campaigns" (Calcutta, 1856), "Con- quest of Syria" (Lees, Calcutta, 1854), " Con- quest of Mesopotamia " (Arabic by Mordtmann, German by Niebuhr, Hamburg, 1847). His- tories of particular countries : Al-Makkari, on the history and literature of the Spanish Aralis (Arabic by Dozy and others, Leyden, 1855-'61 ; English, with omission of the parts relating to literary history, by De Gayangos, Lon- don, 1841-'3); Ibn Adhari, Africa and pain (Dozy, Leyden, 1848-'51); Ibn Abi Zer, An- nales Regum Mauretanice (Arabic and Latin by Tornberg, Upsala, 1843-'6; French by Beaumier, Paris, 1860) ; Makrizi, " History of the Mameluke Sultans " (French by Quatrenu-rc,
 * ' Arabian Nights " with an earlier collection