What do you think?
Rate this book
The Literary Heritage of the Arabs
The breadth of Arabic literature produced by Arab writers from pre-Islamic times to the contemporary period reveals a world of thought and feeling largely unseen and unheard in the English-speaking world. In this wide-ranging and unique anthology, works by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim authors show the genius of Arab civilization through the prism of literature. Through odes (or Mu’allaqat ); selections from the Qur’an; samples of Hadith and the poetry of rivalry, love, adventure, and mystic transcendence; and prose conveying scientific innovation, philosophical inquiry, theological disputation, and historical analysis, this extraordinary collection provides an authoritative overview of Arabic literature.
- GenresPoetry
488 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
1 person is currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Suheil Bushrui
77 books10 followersSuheil Bushrui is the foremost translator and interpreter of Anglo-Irish literature in the Arab world, and has published critical studies in Arabic and English on W. B. Yeats, John Millington Synge, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. He was the first Arab national to be appointed to the Chair of English and Anglo-Irish Literature at the American University of Beirut, and has also served as Chairman of the International Association for the Study of Anglo-Irish Literature (ISAIL). He is currently the Baha'i Chair for World Peace in the Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM) at the University of Maryland.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 16, 2020
"Each of us full of love as a cloud of rain"
-- Jamil, from “Oh, that youth’s flower anew might lift its head”
"When she smiles, she lays bare a shining row of side-teeth that seems to have been bathed once and twice in (fragrant) wine."
-- Ka’b Bin Zuhair, from “SU’ÁD IS GONE”
"O hideous night ! – a night in which the stars are prevented from rising, as if they were bound to a solid cliff with strong cables !"
-- Imru’ al-Qais, from “The Mu’allaqat”
"I gently drew her towards me by her curled locks, and she softly inclined to my embrace; – her waist was gracefully slender, but sweetly swelled the part encircled with ornaments of gold."
-- Imru’ al-Qais, from “The Mu’allaqat”
"Beloved pain,
we deified you in the drowsiness of dawn
bowed our heads at your silvery altar
burned the seeds of sesame and flax
offered sacrifices
sang verses to Babylonian tunes.
We built for you a temple with strange walls
And anointed the ground with oil, pure wine,
And burning tears."
-- Nazik al-Mala’ika, from “Five Hymns To Pain”
"O my request and hope,
My home, my very breath,
My faith …
My worldly fate …
Though You are hidden
To my eyes,
My heart perceives You
In the distance …"
-- al-Hallaj, from “Three Qasidas”
"I come near You,
My fear excites me.
Desire steadies me
In my inmost heart …
What can I do with One
With Whom I am this much in love ?"
-- al-Hallaj, from “Three Qasidas”
-- Jamil, from “Oh, that youth’s flower anew might lift its head”
"When she smiles, she lays bare a shining row of side-teeth that seems to have been bathed once and twice in (fragrant) wine."
-- Ka’b Bin Zuhair, from “SU’ÁD IS GONE”
"O hideous night ! – a night in which the stars are prevented from rising, as if they were bound to a solid cliff with strong cables !"
-- Imru’ al-Qais, from “The Mu’allaqat”
"I gently drew her towards me by her curled locks, and she softly inclined to my embrace; – her waist was gracefully slender, but sweetly swelled the part encircled with ornaments of gold."
-- Imru’ al-Qais, from “The Mu’allaqat”
"Beloved pain,
we deified you in the drowsiness of dawn
bowed our heads at your silvery altar
burned the seeds of sesame and flax
offered sacrifices
sang verses to Babylonian tunes.
We built for you a temple with strange walls
And anointed the ground with oil, pure wine,
And burning tears."
-- Nazik al-Mala’ika, from “Five Hymns To Pain”
"O my request and hope,
My home, my very breath,
My faith …
My worldly fate …
Though You are hidden
To my eyes,
My heart perceives You
In the distance …"
-- al-Hallaj, from “Three Qasidas”
"I come near You,
My fear excites me.
Desire steadies me
In my inmost heart …
What can I do with One
With Whom I am this much in love ?"
-- al-Hallaj, from “Three Qasidas”
October 17, 2023
The diversity of the selection is good, but the translations aren’t very good and there are mistakes that even I could point out (authors placed in the wrong time periods, etc.)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews