Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

A luminous translation of Arabic tales of enchantment and wonderTranslated into English for the very first time, A Hundred and One Nights is a marvelous example of the rich tradition of popular Arabic storytelling. Like the celebrated Thousand and One Nights, this collection opens with the frame story of Scheherazade, the vizier’s gifted daughter who recounts imaginative tales night after night in an effort to distract the murderous king from taking her life. A Hundred and One Nights features an almost entirely different set of stories, however, each one more thrilling, amusing, and disturbing than the last. Here, we encounter tales of epic warriors, buried treasure, disappearing brides, cannibal demon-women, fatal shipwrecks, and clever ruses, where human strength and ingenuity play out against a backdrop of inexorable, inscrutable fate. Distinctly rooted in Arabic literary culture and the Islamic tradition, these tales draw on motifs and story elements that circulated across cultures, including Indian and Chinese antecedents, and features a frame story possibly older than its more famous sibling. This vibrant translation of A Hundred and One Nights promises to transport readers, new and veteran alike, into its fantastical realms of magic and wonder.

LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Middle Eastern.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, wielding an authority second only to the Qur'an.The words of Muhammad (d. 11/632), God's messenger and prophet of Islam, have a special place in the hearts of his followers. Wielding an authority second only to the Qur'an, Muhammad’s hadith are cited by scholars as testimonial texts in a vast array of disciplines—including law, theology, metaphysics, poetry, grammar, history, and medicine—and are "ed by Muslims to one another in their daily lives.Assembling Muhammad’s words has been a major preoccupation for scholars throughout the fourteen centuries since his death, resulting in an abundance of compilations. Among the legally-grounded collections, which aimed to guide the community in its practice of religious law and ritual worship, one which stands out in particular is Light in the Heavens (Kitab al-Shihab) by al-Qadi al-Quda'i, a Shafi'i judge in the Fatimid court in Egypt. The collection’s overall conceptualization is distinctively ethical and pragmatic, and offers humanitarian lessons and practical insights with universal appeal.From North Africa to India, generations have used Light in the Heavens as a teaching text for children as well as adults, and many of its 1200 sayings are familiar to individuals of diverse denominations and ethnicities. For Muslims—who consider Muhammad’s teachings the fount of wisdom and the beacon of guidance in all things, mundane and sublime—these sayings provide a direct window into the inspired vision of one of the most influential humans to have walked the Earth.

Hadith --- Hadith. --- LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Middle Eastern.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

An anthology of Arabic literature, ancient and modern, in both prose and verseIntroducing readers to the extremely rich tradition of Arabic literature, this Anthology covers some of its major themes and concerns across the centuries, from its early beginnings to modern times. The texts chosen are a 'library of personal preferences' of a scholar who has spent half a century or more in the company of Arabic books, marking then translating those passages that seemed to him to capture some of its most memorable moments.Reflecting the great diversity and unpredictability of Arabic literature as the carrier of a major world culture, both pre-modern and modern, the Anthology is divided thematically to highlight modern issues such as love, religion, the human self, human rights, freedom of expression, the environment, violence, secular thought and feminism. The short, easy-to-read texts are accessible to non-specialists, providing an ideal entry point to this extraordinary literature.Key FeaturesA wide thematic and chronological spread including both verse and proseNewly translated texts on a range of subjects such as the occult sciences, heresy, psychological reflections, literary theory, sexual etiquette, man and nature, geographical observations and reflections on world historyIncludes extracts from philosophers, theologians and scientistsMarginal glosses explain key terms, figures and momentsRead the introduction and first few extracts for free (pdf)"

Arabic literature --- LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Middle Eastern. --- Translations into English.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The ninth and tenth centuries witnessed the establishment of a substantial network of maritime trade across the Indian Ocean, providing the real-life background to the Sinbad tales. An exceptional exemplar of Arabic travel writing, Accounts of China and India is a compilation of reports and anecdotes about the lands and peoples of this diverse territory, from the Somali headlands of Africa to the far eastern shores of China and Korea. Traveling eastward, we discover a vivid human landscape—from Chinese society to Hindu religious practices—as well as a colorful range of natural wilderness—from flying fish to Tibetan musk-deer and Sri Lankan gems. The juxtaposed accounts create a kaleidoscope of a world not unlike our own, a world on the road to globalization. In its ports, we find a priceless cargo of information. Here are the first foreign descriptions of tea and porcelain, a panorama of unusual social practices, cannibal islands, and Indian holy men—a marvelous, mundane world, contained in the compass of a novella.

China - Description and travel. --- India --- LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Middle Eastern. --- Description and travel --- China

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Trenchant and witty critiques of life in Cairo under British ruleWhat 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us is a masterpiece of early twentieth-century Arabic prose. Penned by the Egyptian journalist Muhammad al-Muwaylihi, this highly original work was first introduced in serialized form in his family’s pioneering newspaper Misbah al-Sharq (Light of the East) and later published in book form in 1907. Widely hailed for its erudition and mordant wit, What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us was embraced by Egypt’s burgeoning reading public and soon became required reading for generations of school students.Bridging classical genres and modern Arabic fiction, What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us is divided into two parts. Sarcastic in tone and critical in outlook, the first part of the book relates the excursions of its narrator, 'Isa ibn Hisham, and his companion, the Pasha, through a rapidly westernizing Cairo and provides vivid commentary on a society negotiating—however imperfectly—the clash between traditional norms and imported cultural values. The second half takes the narrator to Paris to visit the Exposition Universelle of 1900, where al-Muwaylihi casts a critical eye on European society, modernity, and the role of Western imperialism as it ripples across the globe.Paving the way for the modern Arabic novel, What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us is invaluable both for its insight into colonial Egypt and its pioneering role in Arabic literary history.

Arabic prose literature --- Maqamah. --- LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Middle Eastern. --- Makama --- History and criticism. --- Muwayliḥī, Muḥammad, --- Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥī --- مويلحي، محمد