Encyclopedia of Islam

Arabic language and literature

  

53  J

---

K  54  

Arabic language and literature

---

zation. Arabic even found its way into European 

languages, especially Spanish, which has as many 

as 4,000 words of Arabic origin (for example, 

algodón, arroz, azul, azúcar, alcalde, fulano, etc.). 

A number of Arabic nouns have also entered Eng-

lish, such as the words cotton, rice, sugar, admiral, 

magazine, sherbet, and even 

coffee

.

There are two basic types of Arabic: formal lit-

erary Arabic and everyday spoken (or colloquial) 

Arabic. The first is subdivided into Classical (or 

Medieval) and Modern Standard Arabic. It can 

be comprehended by anyone who has learned 

to read and write it, no matter what his or her 

spoken Arabic dialect is, and it is used in books, 

newspapers and magazines, government docu-

ments, 

sermons

, and official speeches. Colloquial 

Arabic is subdivided into a number of regional 

dialects that can differ significantly from each 

other. For example, people who speak Egyptian or 

Iraqi Arabic can understand each other, but they 

cannot understand the Moroccan Arabic of North 

Africa. Egyptian colloquial, furthermore, is widely 

understood throughout the Arab world because of 

the leading role Egypt plays in the production of 

movies and the broadcast programming for radio 

and television. Through the centuries, literary and 

colloquial Arabic have mutually influenced each 

other, which is one reason for the language’s on-

going vitality.

Arabic literature encompasses a vast range of 

prose and poetry that deals with both religious 

and worldly subjects. The body of religious lit-

erature in Arabic is massive; beginning with 

the Quran itself, it includes Quran commentar-

ies, 

hadith

 collections, religious biographies and 

prophets’ tales, texts on religious law, theological 

treatises, Sufi writings, and religious poetry. Many 

such works were composed in the Middle Ages, 

but they have had a lasting impact on Arabic 

writing, and they are widely available today in 

print, on compact disks (CDs), and even on the 

internet. Secular poetry is another major branch 

of the Arabic literary tradition, especially a type 

of poem called the qasida (a multi-themed ode), 

considered to be the most ancient and prestigious 

form of poetic expression. Classical Arabic poetry 

addressed themes of love, praise, ridicule, death, 

and remembrance. It also celebrated wine, hunt-

ing, nature, and famous places. Many nonreligious 

prose works were composed during the Middle 

Ages as well. They dealt with a variety of top-

ics that were of special interest to rulers and the 

educated elite: history, geography, government, 

philosophy, the sciences, differences between vari-

ous kinds of people, etiquette, proverbs, interest-

ing trivia, and entertaining stories and anecdotes. 

The most famous works of prose literature are the 

a

rabian

 n

ights

 and the animal fables of Kalila wa 

Dimna, both of which contain stories that have 

been transmitted from other cultures. There were 

also popular oral epics about noble Arab warriors 

such as Antar and Abu Zayd al-Hilali.

The Arabic literary heritage was selectively 

translated into Hebrew and Latin and transmit-

ted to Europe during the Middle Ages, which 

enriched intellectual and cultural life there. In 

modern times, Western learning and literature 

have influenced Arab writers, creating a fusion 

of the old with the new. During the 20th century, 

new generations of Arab authors rose to national 

and international fame, none moreso than the 

Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz (b. 1911), 

who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1988. In 

recent decades, an increasing number of women 

have also made contributions to the Arab literary 

renaissance, including Nawal al-Sadawi (b. 1930) 

and Hanan al-Shaykh (b. 1945).

See also 

adab

; 

alphabet

; 

animals

; 

aUtobiogra

-

phy

; 

biography

; 

calligraphy

; 

fiqh

;  p

ersian

  l

an

-

gUage

 

and

  l

iteratUre

;  t

Urkish

  l

angUage

 

and

l

iteratUre

.