Voices of Islam (209 page)

Islamic Literatures: Writing in the Shade of the Qur’an
123

and orally transmitted by the Archangel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad from the year 610
CE
until Muhammad’s death in 632
CE
. These revelations, which were in Arabic, Muhammad’s native language, were memorized and written down piecemeal by his followers, and were subsequently collected and collated into a written codex (
mushaf
). This canonizing of the ‘‘text’’ into what was effectively the very first Islamic book is traditionally believed to have taken place in the 650s.
13

The Qur’an is organized into
Sura
s (‘‘chapters’’), more or less from the longest to the shortest—with the notable exception of the opening chapter, which is only seven
ayat
(‘‘verses’’) long.
Sura
s are read or recited from memory in whole or in part; many pious Muslims memorize the whole Qur’an. Through its admonitory narratives of past revelations and its exemplary stories, the Qur’an also functions as a blueprint for a good and righteous life.
14
In addition to its liturgical and didactic functions, the Qur’an is also a source of law: roughly 600 of its approximately 6,200 verses are legislative. One major work on the probative nature of these legal verses was the
Risala
(Treatise) of Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i (d. 820
CE
).
15

The influence of the Qur’an on the scholarship, artistic output, and philosophy of the Islamic world, both Arab and non-Arab, is immeasurable. Its appearance accounts for the development of the Arabic script, a writing system that came to be used by almost all Muslim people. For example, Modern Persian (Farsi)—an Indo-European language—is written in Arabic script, as are the Central Asian languages Uighur and Pushtu, the South Asian language Urdu, and the African language Hausa. In the past, Arabic script was used to write Ottoman Turkish and Malay, whose Arabic script was called
Jawi
(Ar. ‘‘Javanese’’). Arabic script also formed the basis for one of Islamic art and architecture’s most recognizable features, Arabic calligraphy. Some modern artists today use Arabic calligraphy and other media to interpret Islamic literatures. The Algerian artist Rachid Kore¨ıchi, for instance, has installations devoted to the Arabic works of the Andalusian Sufi Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240
CE
) and the Persian works of the Sufi Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (d. 1273
CE
). Ibn ‘Arabi’s works of metaphysical Sufism are widely read, such as his
Fusus al-Hikam
(Bezels of Wisdom).
16
Rumi is the author of the influ- ential
Divan-e Shams-e Tabriz
(The Complete Works of ‘‘Shams of Tabriz’’), a 40,000 verse collection comprising quatrains (
ruba‘iyyat
) and love poems (
ghazal
s), and the
Masnavi Ma‘navi
(Spiritual Couplets), a poetic work of more than 25,000 couplets that is often called the most important work of Islamic literature after the Qur’an. Some mystics have even called Rumi’s
Masnavi
the ‘‘Persian Qur’an,’’ for its simplicity and profundity.
17

Most Muslim scholars argue that by virtue of being God’s word, the Qur’an is the pinnacle of literary perfection. Some concede that it is poetic in form, but they have almost unanimously rejected the idea that it is poetry. Indeed, the Qur’an itself points out that the Prophet Muhammad was not a poet (Qur’an 36:29). This is a polemical statement, however, made in the

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Voices of Art, Beauty, and Science

context of attacks on Muhammad by detractors for being a soothsayer inspired by supernatural forces, or a poet inspired by a supernatural muse. To Muhammad are attributed negative statements about Imru’l-Qays (d. ca. 540
CE
), the great sixth-century Arab poet (who is still considered, incidentally, the greatest of all Arab poets), and whose poem ‘‘Stop, you two, and let us weep’’ is one of the seven Pre-Islamic classics, the
Mu‘allaqat,
or so-called Suspended Odes.
18
Imru’l-Qays was a
bon vivant
whose lifestyle was certainly not in keeping with the Prophet Muhammad’s moderate views. However, Muhammad himself had panegyrists of whom he approved, such as Hassan ibn Thabit (d. ca. 660
CE
) and Ka‘b ibn Zuhayr (fl. seventh century
CE
), whose ‘‘Su‘ad has left’’ poem Muhammad so cherished that he gave Ka‘b his mantle. For this reason, the poem came to be known as
Qasidat al-Burda,
‘‘The Mantle Ode.’’ In the thirteenth century, the Egyptian poet Busiri (d. ca. 1294
CE
) wrote an expanded commentary in verse on Ka‘b’s poem. Though arguably of less literary value than the original, the circumstances of its writing—the paralyzed Busiri composed it after dreaming that the Prophet cured him when he placed his mantle upon him—have made it one of the most popular pieces of literature across the Islamic world. There are commentaries, super-commentaries, and imitations of this work in dozens of languages, and it is even used as a protective amulet.
19

Debates about the nature of the Qur’an occasioned numerous works of theology and philosophy, some in the context of the infamous ninth- century ‘‘inquisition’’ by the Caliph al-Ma’mun (d. 833
CE
), a leader remem- bered not only for his partiality for rationalist Greek philosophy but also for the translation of non-Arabic writings into Arabic, an activity he enthusiasti- cally patronized.
20
Much Greek material, from Galen’s medical treatises to Aristotle’s philosophical ones, was rendered into Arabic by Christian transla- tors, such as the Nestorian physician Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d. ca. 873
CE
).
21
Middle Persian advice literature and wisdom literature were translated by Muslim Persian writers; many of them were state secretaries in the Caliphal administration.
22
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ (d. 759
CE
), for example, translated the Pahlavi work
Khwaday-Namag
(Book of Kings).
23
A verse rendering of this history, the
Shahnameh
(Epic of Kings), was made at the end of the tenth century
CE
by the poet Ferdowsi (d. 1020
CE
) and is one of the masterpieces of Persian literature (eclipsing his other works, including his poem, ‘‘Yusuf and Zulaykha’’).
24
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ also made famous the stories of
Kalila wa Dimna,
a collection of moral fables originally by the Indian writer Bidpai. Through such translations, Arabic literature, and later the literatures of Africa, Asia, and Europe, acquired many stories, some of which, like
Kalila wa Dimna,
emanated from the Sanskrit literary tradition.
25
Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ is also credited, perhaps apocryphally, with trying to imitate the Qur’an. Previously, one contemporary of the Prophet Muhammad had mocked the Prophet by saying that the stories he himself knew from the glorious Persian

Islamic Literatures: Writing in the Shade of the Qur’an
125

past were superior to the ones Muhammad was bringing in the Qur’an. This taunt is said to have occasioned the revelation of
Surat Yusuf
(Qur’an 12, ‘‘Joseph’’), the only Qur’anic chapter that is a discrete and continuous narrative, and the inspiration for numerous works describing the romance between Yusuf (Joseph) and Zulaykha, Potiphar’s wife.
26
The only major rival to this romance in Islamic literature is the story of the star-crossed Arab lovers Layla and Majnun, which was popularized in works such as the Persian poet Nizami’s (d. 1209
CE
)
Leyli va Majnun.
This story was even the inspira- tion for Eric Clapton’s rock song, ‘‘Layla.’’
27
Popular South Asian romances that fall under the ‘‘Islamic’’ rubric include the Urdu
Dastan-e Amir Hamza
(Romance of Prince Hamza), inspired by the exploits of Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle and an early martyr of Islam, and the Panjabi
Heer Ranjha
by Waris Shah (d. 1766
CE
).
28
In Panjabi too is the mystical love poetry of Sultan Bahu, which is still sung today in such devotional musical forms as
qawwali
and
kaafi.
29

The need to understand the language of the Qur’an, accompanied by the need to understand the intent of the Prophet Muhammad’s statements and actions, occasioned wider and deeper study in fields that later came to be known as ‘‘the Islamic sciences.’’ These consisted of lexicography (
lugha
); grammar (
nahw
) and morphology (
tasrif
); metrics (
‘arud
), rhyme (
qawafi
), and prosody (
sun‘at al-shi‘r
); rhetoric (
bayan, balagha
); literary criticism (
naqd
); legal theory and methodology (
usul al-fiqh
) and jurisprudence (
fiqh
); and philological commentary (
sharh, ma‘ani, gharib
). This last genre, in a more expanded form, became the ‘‘science’’ of Qur’anic exegesis (
tafsir al- Qur’an
).
30
Scholars regard the monumental Arabic Qur’an commentary
Jami‘ al-bayan ‘an ta’wil ay al-Qur’an
(The Sum of Clarity Concerning the Interpretation of the Verses of the Qur’an) by the Persian scholar Tabari (d. 923
CE
) as pivotal because it combined all earlier exegetical traditions and became a major source for later commentaries.
31
Also widely consulted today are the Arabic commentaries of Zamakhshari (d. 1144
CE
), Ibn Kathir (d. 1373
CE
), and the handy
Tafsir al-Jalalayn
(Commentary of the two Jalals) by Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli (d. 1459
CE
) and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 1505
CE
).
32
The latter work acquired considerable importance in Southeast Asia where it was translated and expanded upon by the Achenese scholar ‘Abd al-Ra‘uf Singkili (d. 1693
CE
) in his Malay-language
Tarjuman al-mustafi
(The Infl Interpreter).
33
Also signifi nt is
the Mafatih al-ghayb
(Keys to the Unseen) of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1210
CE
), an important theologian often viewed as equal in importance to Ibn Sina (Avicenna, d. 1037
CE
) and al-Ghazali (d. 1111
CE
). Ibn Sina’s
Qanun fi al-tibb
(Canon of Medicine) was in wide use in the Islamic and Christian worlds for centuries, and in his
al-Shifa’
(The Cure), he systematically describes his philosophical views. Ghazali wrote a vigorous refutation of Islamic philosophy titled
Tahafut al-falasifa
(The Incoherence of the Philosophers), directed at Ibn Sina. This was itself refuted in the

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Voices of Art, Beauty, and Science

Tahafut al-tahafut
(The Incoherence of ‘‘The Incoherence’’) by another major philosopher, Ibn Rushd (Averroe¨s) (d. 1198
CE
).
34

Ghazali held the chair in Islamic law at the premier law school of the day, the Madrasa Nizamiyya, founded by Nizam al-Mulk (d. 1092
CE
), the vizier to the Seljuq Turkish rulers. Nizam al-Mulk was an author in his own right, notably of a Persian treatise on kingship, the
Siyasat Nameh
(Book of Government).
35
Like his patron, Ghazali wrote a work in the ‘‘mirror for princes’’ genre, the
Nasihat al-muluk
(Advice to Kings). Nizam al-Mulk, Ghazali, and the Ismaili missionary Hassan-i Sabbah (d. 1124
CE
) are protagonists, together with the Persian mathematician-poet Omar Khayyam (d. 1131
CE
)—whose quatrains have eclipsed his cubic equations—in the French novel
Samarcande
by Amin Maalouf, one of the few writers anywhere writing historical novels about authors of Islamic literature.
36
Ghazali’s slim autobiographical treatise
al-Munqidh min al-dalal
(Deliverance from Error) is widely read, and his magisterial
Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din
(Revival of the Religious Sciences) has been instrumental in bridging the (apparent) rift between Islamic orthodoxy and Sufi
37
Eight centuries later, Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938
CE
), an Indian poet and philosopher, published
The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam,
based on a series of university lectures. He is also the author of the Hindustani national song,
Saare jahan se achcha
(The Finest in the World).

Important recent commentaries on the Qur’an include the Ottoman Ismail Hakkı Bursevi’s (d. 1725
CE
)
Ruh al-bayan
(The Soul of Eloquence), the Moroccan Sufi Ibn ‘Ajiba’s (d. 1809
CE
)
al-Bahr al-Madid
(The Expan- sive Sea), Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s (d. 1898
CE
) Urdu
Kanz-ul-iman
(The Treasure of Faith)—he is also the first Muslim to write a commentary (partial) on the Bible, Fadhlalla Haeri’s English series
Keys to the Qur’an
38
and Amin Ahsan Islahi’s (d. 1997) Urdu
Tadabbur-i Qur’an
(The Organiza- tion of the Qur’an), which advances a theory of the Qur’an’s structure and morphology in its canonical form based on the work of Farahi (d. 1930).
39
Although no full-length commentary on the Qur’an by a woman has yet appeared, three U.S.-based female scholars have recently given the Qur’an systematic attention: the African American convert Amina Wadud, the Pakistani-American Asma Barlas, and the Syrian Nimat Barazangi.
40
The Egyptian scholar ‘Aisha ‘Abd al-Rahman (d. 1974
CE
) published the first partial commentary on the Qur’an by a woman, under her pen name Bint al-Shati’ (‘‘Daughter of the Seashore’’). Bint al-Shati’ also edited the
Risalat al-ghufran
(Epistle on Pardon) by the marvelous medieval Arab poet Ma‘arri (d. 1057
CE
).
41
The
Risalat al-ghufran
recounts the encounter of its protagonist (the work’s addressee) with people in Paradise and Hell, into which Ma‘arri casts the allegedly heretical poet Bashshar ibn Burd (d. 784
CE
), among others. This is ironic, as Ma‘arri was also accused of heresy and was, like Bashshar, blind. Ma‘arri’s
al-Fusul wa al-ghayat
(Paragraphs and Periods), because it is in rhymed prose, has been seen by some as a