ELEMENTARY ARABIC a series planned by FREDERIC DU PRE THORNTON. Lecturer in Persian in the University of Cambridge, and some time Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge at the University Press 1909 . PREFACE THIS Reading 7 Book is the second of three which were planned by the late Mr Thornton for his Arabic Series. The first, published in 1907, contains certain extracts from the Koran, a portion pp. 13 64 of Wrights Arabic Reading-Book, a grammatical analysis of the Koranic text, and a glossary the third, which I hope to bring out next year, will comprise the remainder of Wrights work, a glossary, and brief explanatory notes. The present volume is marked by some novel features. 1. The selected passages are taken from texts and many scripts which, so far as I know, have not hitherto been edited by any European scholar. 2. They have been chosen and arranged in chronological order with the purpose of illustrating the literary, social, and religious history of the Arabs. 3. Notes have been added at the foot of each page, partly to explain grammatical and linguistic difficulties, and partly to supply such literary and historical information as is indispensable. I will now state the various sources from which I have derived the nineteen extracts included in this book. I. The manners, customs, and beliefs of the Pre-Islamic Arabs. This passage is taken from the Mustatraf, an extensive anthology compiled by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khatib al- Abshihi, who died about 1450 A. D., and comprises the greater part of the fifty-ninth chapter Bulaq edition, 1268 A. H., vol. ii. pp. 9599. VI PREFACE II. The war of Dahis and al Ghabra. This account of one of the most famous Pre-islamic wars occurs in the iqdal farid by Ibn abdi rabbihi of Cordova, who died in 940 A. D. Cairo edition, 1293A. H., vol. iii. p. 67, 1. 21 to p. 68, 1. 27. III. Arab knights. Also from the iqd vol. i, p. 44, 1. 11 to p. 45, last line. IV. Concerning poetry and poets. This passage consists of extracts from the forty-ninth section of the Muzhir ft uldm al lughaft, a well-known treatise on philology, by Jalal al din al Suytiti, who died in 1505 A. D. Bulaq edition, 1282 A. H., vol. ii. pp. 234245. V. Specimens of Arabian eloquence, wit, and wisdom. These are selected from the Kitdb al baydn wal tabai yun, a very interesting work on rhetoric by amr ibn Bahr al Jahiz, who died in 869 A. D. Cairo edition, 1313 A. H., vol. i. p. 175, 1. 5 to p. 192, 1. 14. VI. Early Moslem asceticism. Extracts from the same work, vol. ii. p. 86, 1. 9 to p. 91, 1. 22. VII. The meaning and derivation of Sufi. Two extracts from the Risdltih, al Qushai riyafi an important treatise on early Muharnmadan mysticism, by Abu 1 Qasim al Qushairi of Nishapur, who died in 1072 A. D. Cairo edition, 1318 A. H., p. 9, 11. 310, and p. 149, 11. 2435. VIII. Stories of Moslem saints. These are taken from the Leiden manuscript of the Hilytih al auliyd Cod. 311 Warn. by Abu Nuaim al Isfahan, who died in 1038 A. D. See the Leiden Catalogue, vol. v. p. 209. The anecdotes of Ibrahim ibn Adham occur in vol. i. f. 182 b and foil., while the story of Dhu 1 Nun al Misri comes in vol. ii. f. 205 a and foil. PREFACE Vll IX. The Shuubiyah and their opponents. Two extracts from the iqd al arid of Tbn abdi rabbihi, vol. ii. p. 85, 1. 19 to p. 86, 1. 21 and p. 90, 1. 11 to p. 91, 1. 17. X. The Mutaziliyah. Two extracts from the KaMttl, a popular anthology com piled byBaha al din al Amili, who died in 1621 A. D. Bulaq edition, 1288 A. H., p. 159, 11. 1421, and p. 219, 1. 18 to p. 220, 1. 7. XI Some Arab orators. This passage occurs in the Zahr al dddb by Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al Husri of Qairawan in North Africa, who died in 1022 or 1061 A. D. His anthology lias been printed on the margins of the iqd al farid Cairo edition, 1293A. H.. The passage in question will be found in vol. iii. p. 200, 1. 19 to p. 204, 1. 8...

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A re-issue in paperback of Nicholson's classic survey of the field of Islamic mysticism. Intended as reading for students of sufism, philosophy and literature, it also provides an introduction to the translations of both R.A. Nicholson and A.J. Arberry.

Selection of the lyrical poetry of Jalaluddin Rumi.

This book offers a classic general introduction to Arabic literary history, aiming to cover, in Nicholson's words, "what the Arabs thought, and to indicate as far as possible the influences which moulded their thought". The pages of almost every Arabic book abound in allusions to their names, events, movements and ideas which puzzle the Western reader. This work answers that need now as much as when it was first published.

This selection of the lyrical verse of the great mystical poet Jalal'uddin Rumi, first published in 1898, provides an introduction to the enigmatic and ambiguous style characteristic of Sufi doctrine. Nicholson gives both original text and translation, together with a lengthy introduction, extensive notes, appendices and indices.

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Originally published in 1922, this book presents translations from about fifty authors of Arabic and Persian works. The selection is chiefly comprised of poetry and prose literature, but extracts are also included from biographers and historians. The extracts, which are mostly short and seldom run for longer than five pages, cover the period from the beginning of the sixth to the end of the fifteenth century AD. Illustrative figures and textual notes are also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Arabic and Persian literature.

Reynold A. Nicholson (1868-1945) was a prominent English Orientalist who wrote extensively on both Islamic literature and Islamic mysticism. Originally published in 1923, this volume is based on a series of three lectures delivered by Nicholson at the School of Oriental Studies during the summer of 1922. The chief purpose of the text is to show that Sufism is not necessarily pantheistic, but often bears the marks of a genuine personal religion inspired by a personal God. This book will be of value to anyone interested in the development of Orientalism and interpretations of Islamic thought.

Edward Granville Browne (1862-1926), was a British Orientalist who produced numerous works of academic value, mainly relating to the areas of Persian history and literature. Originally published in 1932, this volume is based on the list of Browne's writings at the end of his Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion (1918), but differs from it in some respects. It comprises all his own books, editions, and translations; the articles which he contributed to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society; his political pamphlets and his papers read to and published by the Persia Society. This is a well-organised and informative text that will provide a valuable resource for anyone interested Browne, and Persian culture in general.

Mysticism is such a vital element in Islam that without some understanding of its ideas and of the particular forms which they assume it is hard to penetrate below the surface of Muslim religious life. In this book, which was first published in 1921, Professor Nicholson examines the life, work and teaching of three of the most important of the early Sufis - the Persians Abu Sa'id (937-1049) and Al-Jili (1365-1406), and the Cairene Arab Ibnu l-Farid (1182-1235). These great mystics were almost legendary figures; possessors of occult and mysterious powers, whose tombs became holy shrines. They were regarded in effect as saints, but saints canonised by the people while still living, not posthumously by the church. Sufism, as Professor Nicholson suggests, lies at the heart both of the religious philosophy and the popular religion of Islam.

The Arabs during a thousand years or more produced one of the richest and most extensive literatures of the world, embracing fine poetry (of the fierce desert life equally with the sophistication of royal courts), belles lettres (learned essays, satires, de arte amoris), religious, mystical and philosophical writings, and huge compendia of history, biography and geography. For sixty years, the best account in English of this vast output has been, by universal consent, R. A. Nicholson's Literary History of the Arabs; its supremacy will long remain unchallenged. That it is a book full of erudition and high critical judgement goes without saying; its author is also a poet-translator of rare excellence.

Al-Hujwiri came from Ghazna, now in Afghanistan, then the capital of the mighty Ghaznavid Empire. He was a Sufi mystic who travelled widely in the Middle East and Transoxiana. The Kashf al-Muhjub was probably written in Lahore, where he is buried, not long before his death in about 1074. One of the oldest Sufi works in Persian, it is a substantial treatise aiming to set forth a complete system of Sufism. This is achieved partly by the discussion of acts and sayings of the great figures of the past, partly by discussion of features of doctrine and practice and the examination of the different views adopted by different Sufi Schools. It is enlivened by episodes from the author's own experience.