LITMIR.BIZ

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of Arabic works at various places.

      CHAPTER III.

      ABOUT MUHAMMAD.

      A complete summary of the details of his life, from his birth to his death.—Remarks upon him as a reformer, preacher, and apostle.—The Hanyfs.—Muhammad's early idea of establishing one religion for the Jews, Christians, and Arabs.—His long struggle with the Koraish.—His failure at Mecca.—His success at Madinah.—Adapts his views to the manners and customs of the Arabs only.—The reason of his many marriages.—His love of women.—About the Koran.—Not collected and arranged until after his death.—Comparison of the Koran with the Old and New Testaments.—Superiority of our Bible.—Description of it by 'Il Secolo.'—Rev. Mr. Badger's description of the Koran.—Written in the purest Arabic, and defies competition.—Muhammad and Moses, Jesus and Buddha.—Remarks about Buddhism and Christianity.—Moses and Muhammad the founders of two nationalities.—Abraham the father of the Jewish, Christian, and Muhammadan religions.—Rénan's description of the gods of the Jews.—Joseph.—The Twelve Tribes.—Appearance of Moses as a liberator and organizer.—The reasons of his wanderings in the desert.—What the Jews owed to Moses, and the Arabs to Muhammad.—The latter as a military leader.—Resemblance of the warlike expeditions of the Jews and of the Arabs.—Similar proceedings in the Soudan at the present time.—Account of the dogmas and precepts of Islam as embodied in the Koran.—Other points connected with the institutions of Islam.—Faith and prayer always insisted upon.—Democratic character of the Muhammadan religion, excellent in theory, but doubtful in practice.—Muhammad's last address at Mina, telling the Muslims that they were one brotherhood.—His final remarks.

      CHAPTER IV.

      TALES AND STORIES.

      The Kalilah wa Dimnah.—'Early Ideas.'—'Persian Portraits,'—Origin of the 'Arabian Nights.'—The Hazar Afsaneh, or Thousand Stories. Date of the 'Nights.'—Its fables and apologues the oldest part of the work.—Then certain stories—The latest tales.—Galland's edition.—His biography.—His successors, sixteen in number, ending with Payne and Burton.—The complete translations of these two last-named, in thirteen and sixteen volumes respectively.—Brief analysis of Payne's first nine, and of Burton's first ten volumes.—Short summary of twelve stories; viz.: The tale of Aziz and Azizah; the tale of Kamar Al-Zaman and the Lady Budur; Ala Aldin Abu Al-Shamat; Ali the Persian and the Kurd sharper; the man of Al-Yaman and his six slave-girls; Abu Al-Husn and his slave-girl Tawaddud; the rogueries of Dalilah the Crafty and her daughter Zeynab the Trickstress; the adventures of Quicksilver Ali of Cairo; Hasan of Busra and the king's daughter of the Jinn; Ali Nur Al-din and Miriam the girdle-girl; Kamar Al-Zaman and the jeweller's wife; Ma'aruf the cobbler and his wife Fatimah.—Remarks on Payne's three extra volumes, entitled 'Tales from the Arabic,' and on Burton's two first supplemental volumes.—Allusion to Burton's third supplemental and to Payne's thirteenth volume.—Burton's fourth, fifth, and sixth supplemental volumes. —Summing-up of the number of stories contained in the above two editions; from what manuscripts they were translated, and some final remarks.—The Kathá Sarit Ságara, a sort of Hindoo 'Arabian Nights'. —Comparison of the two works.—Brief description of the Kathá and its contents.—Gunádhya and Somadeva.—Final remarks on the stories found in the Kathá.—Antar, a Bedouin romance.—Its partial translation.—Its supposed author.—Brief description of the work, with some remarks upon it.—Both the 'Arabian Nights' and Antar rather long.—The press in England to-day.—Numerous writers of novels and story-books.—These take the place of the 'Nights,' and satisfy the public, always in search of something new, even if not true; something original, even if not trustworthy.—Final remarks.

      CHAPTER V.

      ANECDOTES AND ANA.

      In Persian literature the Gulistan, Negaristan, and Beharistan contain many anecdotes.—In Arabic literature there are works of the same kind.—'The Naphut-ul-Yaman,' or Breath of Yaman.—Six stories translated from it.—The Merzuban namah, with newly translated extracts from it.—Remarks on this work.—The Al-Mustatraf, or the Gleaner or the Collector.—Two stories from it.—Two anecdotes taken from the Sehr-ul-oyoon, or Magic of the Eyes.—A philosophic discourse, translated from the Siraj-ul-Muluk, or Lamp of Kings.—The Ilam en Nas, or Warnings for Men.—Eighteen stories from Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary.—Seven anecdotes from various sources.—Verses from the Arabic about the places where certain Arabs wished to be buried.—Translation of the verses upon Alfred de Musset's tomb in Paris.

      Appendix.

      Index.

CHAPTER I.

       Table of Contents

      HISTORICAL.

      The Arabia of to-day is bounded on the west by the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez; on the south by the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea; on the east by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf; and on the north by a portion of Syria. This last boundary would, however, be more clearly defined by drawing a line from Suez straight across to the western head of the Persian Gulf.

      By the Greeks and Romans this country was divided into Arabia Petræa, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Felix, or the Stony, the Desert, and the Happy. The Arabs themselves call it 'The Land of the Arabs,' while modern geographers give the Sinaitic peninsula as the first geographic district; the Hijaz, including the Haram, or sacred territory of Mecca, as the second; and Yaman, with the Tehamah, as the third. To these may be added the provinces of Hadramant and Mahrah, and of Oman and Hasa, to the south and east respectively, with Nejd, or Central Arabia, as the central plateau, and some large deserts scattered in different parts of the peninsula.

      Of the revenues of Arabia it is almost impossible to form anything like a correct estimate. The area of the country covers about 1,200,000 square miles, and the population is said to be from five to six millions, of whom one-fifth consist of Ahl Bedoo, or dwellers in the open land, otherwise known as Bedouins; and four-fifths of settled Arabs, called Ahl Hadr, or dwellers in fixed localities.

      The history of Arabia may be divided into three periods:

      1st. The prehistoric period, full of tales of heroes, and giants, and wonderful cities.

      2nd. The period which preceded the era of Muhammad.

      3rd. That which followed it.

      The first period is mythical to a certain extent; at all events, nothing can be stated positively about it. The second period is distinguished as one of local monarchies and federal governments in a rough and rude form; while the third commences with theocratic centralization, dissolving finally into general anarchy.

      Of the many tribes in Arabia, the most celebrated is the family of the Koraish, still regarded as the noblest of the Arabs, partly because, at the beginning of the fifth century A.D., their chiefs had rendered themselves the masters and acknowledged guardians of the sacred Kaabah at Mecca, and partly because of their connection with the Prophet. The Kaabah, La Maison Carrée, or square temple, a shrine of unknown antiquity, was situated within the precincts of the town of Mecca, and to it, long before Muhammad's time, the Arabs had brought yearly offerings, and made devout pilgrimages. The tribe of Koraish, having once obtained the keys of the consecrated building, had held them against all comers till Muhammad's conquest of Mecca in A.D. 630, when he handed over the key to Othman bin Talha, the former custodian, to be kept by him and his posterity as an hereditary and perpetual office, and he further confirmed his uncle Abbas in the office of giving drink to the pilgrims.

      Before entering into a somewhat lengthy description of Arabian literature, it is necessary to give a short and rapid sketch of Arabian history, beginning from the time of Muhammad, as his Koran was the foundation of the literary edifice. All Arab authors have looked upon that work as the height of eloquent diction, and have regarded it as the model standard to be followed in all their productions. Leaving,

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