Editing Arabs (section)

=== Literature ===
{{main|Arabic literature}}
[[File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art MSS 0902-61b-62a.jpg|thumb|left|Manuscript from the ''Diwan'' of [[Al-Mutanabbi]]]]
The [[Quran]], the main [[Religious text|holy book]] of [[Islam]], had a significant influence on the Arabic language, and marked the beginning of Arabic literature. Muslims believe it was transcribed in the Arabic dialect of the [[Quraysh]], the tribe of [[Muhammad]].<ref name="Glen Van Brummelen-2013">{{Cite journal|first=Glen|last=Van Brummelen|date=2013|title=Seeking the Divine on Earth: The Direction of Prayer in Islam|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/mathhorizons.21.1.15|journal=Math Horizons|volume=21|issue=1|pages=15–17|doi=10.4169/mathhorizons.21.1.15|jstor=10.4169/mathhorizons.21.1.15|s2cid=218543141}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=8 September 2019|title=الوثائقية تفتح ملف "اللغة العربية"|url=https://doc.aljazeera.net/followup/الوثائقية-تفتح-ملف-اللغة-العربية/|access-date=18 June 2020|website=الجزيرة الوثائقية|language=ar}}</ref> As Islam spread, the Quran had the effect of unifying and standardizing Arabic.<ref name="Glen Van Brummelen-2013" />

Not only is the Quran the first work of any significant length written in the language, but it also has a far more complicated structure than the earlier literary works with its 114 ''[[Surah|suwar]]'' (chapters) which contain 6,236 ''[[ayat]]'' (verses). It contains [[injunction]]s, [[narrative]]s, [[homilies]], [[parable]]s, direct addresses from God, instructions and even comments on how the Quran will be received and understood. It is also admired for its layers of metaphor as well as its clarity, a feature which is mentioned in [[An-Nahl]], the 16th surah.

[[Al-Jahiz]] (born 776, in [[Basra]] – December 868/January 869) was an Arab prose writer and author of works of literature, [[Mu'tazili]] theology, and politico-religious polemics. A leading scholar in the Abbasid Caliphate, his canon includes two hundred books on various subjects, including [[Arabic grammar]], [[zoology]], poetry, lexicography, and [[rhetoric]]. Of his writings, only thirty books survive. Al-Jāḥiẓ was also one of the first Arabian writers to suggest a complete overhaul of the language's grammatical system, though this would not be undertaken until his fellow linguist [[Ibn Maḍāʾ]] took up the matter two hundred years later.<ref>[[Shawqi Daif]], Introduction to Ibn Mada's ''Refutation of the Grammarians'', pg. 48. Cairo, 1947.</ref>

There is a small remnant of [[pre-Islamic poetry]], but Arabic literature predominantly emerges in the [[Middle Ages]], during the [[Golden Age of Islam]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabic literature|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Arabic-literature|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> [[Imru' al-Qais]] was a king and poet in the 6th century, he was the last king of [[Kingdom of Kinda|Kindite]]. He is among the finest Arabic poetry to date, as well sometimes considered the father of [[Arabic poetry]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pendergast|first=Tom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OaURAQAAMAAJ|title=Reference Guide to World Literature|date=2003|publisher=St. James Press|isbn=978-1558624900|page=30}}</ref> ''[[Kitab al-Aghani]]'' by [[Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani|Abul-Faraj]] was called by the 14th-century historian [[Ibn Khaldun]] the register of the Arabs.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sawa|first1=George Dimitri|title=Erotica, Love and Humor in Arabia : Spicy Stories from The Book of Songs by al-Isfahani|date=2016|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|isbn=978-1476663654|page=2}}</ref> [[Modern Standard Arabic|Literary Arabic]] is derived from [[Classical Arabic]], based on the language of the Quran as it was analyzed by [[Arabic grammarians]] beginning in the 8th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Literature|url=https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/arablit.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102163724/https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/arablit.htm|archive-date=2 January 2017|website=Library.cornell.edu}}</ref>
[[File:Khalil Gibran - Autorretrato con musa, c. 1911.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Khalil Gibran]] was a writer, poet and visual artist; he is best known as the author of ''[[The Prophet (book)|The Prophet]]'', has since become one of the [[List of best-selling books|best-selling books]] of all time, having been [[Translations of The Prophet|translated into more than 100 languages]]]]
A large portion of Arabic literature before the 20th century is in the form of [[Arabic poetry|poetry]], and even prose from this period is either filled with snippets of poetry or is in the form of ''[[Saj (literature)|saj]]'' or rhymed prose.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabic literature|url=http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/entertainment/arabic-literature.html|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Infoplease.com}}</ref> The ''[[ghazal]]'' or love poem had a long history being at times tender and chaste and at other times rather explicit.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Richards|first=D.S.|title=Arabic literature in the post-classical period|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1139053990|editor-last=Allen|editor-first=Roger|edition=1st|location=Cambridge, UK}}</ref> In the [[Sufi]] tradition the love poem would take on a wider, [[Mysticism|mystical]] and [[Religion|religious]] importance.

[[Arabic epic literature]] was much less common than poetry, and presumably originates in oral tradition, written down from the 14th century or so. [[Maqama]] or [[rhymed prose]] is intermediate between poetry and [[prose]], and also between fiction and non-fiction.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Night and horses and the desert : an anthology of classical Arabic literature|date=2002|publisher=Anchor Books|isbn=978-0385721554|editor-last=Irwin|editor-first=Robert|edition=1st Anchor Books|location=New York}}</ref> [[Maqama]] was an incredibly popular form of Arabic literature, being one of the few forms which continued to be written during the decline of Arabic in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Islamic History in Arabia and Middle East|url=http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/ref5.htm|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Islamicity.com}}</ref>

Arabic literature and [[Arab culture|culture]] declined significantly after the 13th century, to the benefit of [[Ottoman Turkish language|Turkish]] and [[Persian literature|Persian]]. A modern revival took place beginning in the 19th century, alongside [[National awakenings under the Ottoman Empire|resistance against Ottoman rule]]. The literary revival is known as ''[[al-Nahda]]'' in Arabic, and was centered in [[Egypt]] and [[Lebanon]]. Two distinct trends can be found in the ''nahda'' period of revival.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabic Literature|url=http://www.indigenouspeople.net/arabiclit/|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Indigenouspeople.net}}</ref>

The first was a neo-classical movement which sought to rediscover the literary traditions of the past, and was influenced by traditional literary genres—such as the ''[[maqama]]''—and works like ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]''. In contrast, a modernist movement began by translating Western modernist works—primarily novels—into Arabic.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gelder|first=Geert Jan Van|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/21087|title=Classical Arabic Literature|date=2012|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0814745113}}</ref> A tradition of [[modern Arabic poetry]] was established by writers such as [[Francis Marrash]], [[Ahmad Shawqi]] and [[Hafiz Ibrahim]]. Iraqi poet [[Badr Shakir al-Sayyab]] is considered to be the originator of free verse in [[Arabic poetry]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=17 September 2013|title=Arabian literature|url=http://www.slideshare.net/JennyOh17/arabian-literature|website=Slideshare.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Modern Arabic literature|date=1992|publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press|isbn=978-0521331975|editor-last=Badawi|editor-first=M.M.|edition=1. publ.|location=Cambridge [u.a.]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cachia|first=Pierre|url=https://archive.org/details/arabicliterature0000cach|title=Arabic literature : an overview|date=2002|publisher=RoutledgeCurzon|isbn=978-0-7007-1725-5|edition=1. publ.|location=New York|url-access=registration}}</ref>