THE SACRED BOOKS AND EARLY LITERATURE OF THE EAST WITH HISTORICAL SURVEYS OF THE CHIEF WRITINGS OF EACH NATION Translations, Bibliographies, etc., by the following Leading Orientalists: IN AMERICA: MORRIS JASTROW, LL.D., Professor of Semitic Languages, University of Penn- sylvania; JAMES H. BREASTED, LL.D., Professor of Egyptology, University of Chicago; CHARLES C. TORREY, D.D., Professor of Semitic Languages, Yale University; A. V. W. JACKSON, LL.D., Professor of Indo-Iranian, Columbia Uni- versity; CHARLES R. LANMAN, LL.D., Professor of Sanskrit. Harvard University; REV. CHARLES F. AIKEN, S.T.D., Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Catholic University; FRIEDRICH HIRTH, LL.D., Professor of Chinese, Columbia Uni- versity; REV. WILLIAM E. GRIFFIS, D.D., former Professor at the Imperial University, Tokio. IN EUROPE: E. A. W. BUDGE, F.S.A., Director of Egyptology in the British Museum; SIR GASTON MASPERO, D.C.L., Member of the Royal Institute of France; REV. A. H. SAYCE, LL.D., Professor of Comparative Philology, Oxford University; W. FLINDERS-PETRIE, LL.D., Professor of Egyptology, University College, London; STEPHEN LANGDON, Ph.D., Professor of Assyriology, Oxford University; SIR ERNEST SATOW, LL.D., G.C.M.G. British Minister to Japan; H. OLDENBERG, LL.D., Professor of Sanskrit, Kiel University; T. W. RHYS-DAVIDS, LL.D., Librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society; ARMINIUS VAMBÉRY, LL.D., Professor of Oriental Languages, University of Budapest. IN ASIA: SIR M. COOMARA SWAMY, Legislative Council of Ceylon; ROMESH CHUNDER DUTT, C.I.E., Author of the History of Civilization in Ancient India; DARAB D. P. SANJANA, Educational Society of Bombay; VISCOUNT KENCHO SUYE- MATSU LL.M., Japanese Minister of the Interior; SHEIK FAIZ-ULLAH-BHAI, Head Master of the Schools of Anjuman-i-Islam; RALPH T. GRIFFITH, President Benares College, India; JIVANJI JAMSHEDJI MODI, Fellow of Bombay Uni- versity, Officier de l'Académie Française. Under the editorship of a staff of specialists directed by PROF. CHARLES F. HORNE, PH.D. PARKE, AUSTIN, AND LIPSCOMB, INC. NEW YORK LONDON This Volume is one of a complete set of the Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, consisting of fourteen volumes. In Volume I of the series will be found a cer- tificate as to the limitation of the edition and the registered number of this set. Copyright, 1917, Parke, Austin, and Lipscomb, Inc. THE SLAVE GIRL OF ABU ZAYD. "Behold I had a slave girl, elegant of shape, Smooth of cheek, patient to labor." AL HARIRI, The Eighth Assembly. THE SACRED BOOKS AND EARLY LITERATURE OF THE EAST ————— VOLUME VI MEDIEVAL ARABIC, MOORISH, AND TURKISH ————— In Translations by E. J. W. GIBB of the Royal Asiatic Society; STANLEY LANE-POOLE, Litt.D., Professor of Arabic, Trinity College, Dublin; ARMINIUS VAM- BERY, LL.D., Professor of Oriental Languages, University of Buda- pest; THOMAS CHENERY, M.A., Former Professor of Arabic at Oxford University; ERNEST RENAN, Former Professor of Hebrew, College of France; CLAUD FIELD, M.A.; and other authorities. With Brief Bibliographies by PROF. CHARLES C TORREY, LL.D., and PROF. EDWARD H. JOHNS, Ph.D. —————— With an Historical Survey and Descriptions by PROF. CHARLES F. HORNE, PH.D. PARKE, AUSTIN, AND LIPSCOMB, INC. NEW YORK LONDON "Let there be light."—GENESIS I, 3. ———— "There never was a false god, nor was there ever really a false religion, unless you call a child a false man."—MAX MÜLLER. CONTENTS OF VOLUME VI ——————— LITERATURES DESCENDED FROM THE ARABIC PAGE INTRODUCTION—How the Teaching of Mohammed Spread into Many Lands and Created Many Literatures ........................................................... 1 MEDIEVAL ARAB LITERATURE I.—THE SUNAN, Or Holy Traditions of Mohammed (A.D. 850-890) 9 II.—EARLY HISTORY AND SCIENCE.................................. 33 Masoudi's "Golden Meadows" (A.D. 956) ........ 37 Legends of the Early Caliphs. Avicenna on "Medicine" (A.D. 1020) .................. 90 The Chief Work of the Arabs' Chief Scientist. Al Biruni's "Existing Monuments" (A.D. 1040) ... 92 The First Effort at Scientific Study of the Past. III.—PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION ...................................... 97 Al Ghazali's "Rescuer from Error" (A.D. 1106) . 102 The Spiritual Autobiography of a Great Teacher. Zamakhshari's "Kashshaf," or "Discoverer of Truth" (A.D. 1140) ...................................... 134 The Boldest Commentary on the Koran. Zamakhshari's "Golden Necklaces" .................. 138 Mohammedan Precepts of Morality. v vi CONTENTS PAGE IV.—ROMANCE ............................................................ 141 The "Assemblies" of Al Hariri (A.D. 1122) .... 145 The Most Renowned Piece of Pure Literature in Arabic. V.—THE POETS OF ARABIA......................................... 203 MOORISH LITERATURE VI.—SCIENCE AND HISTORY......................................... 235 Averroes' "Philosophy" (A.D. 1195) .............. 239 Al Maqqari's "Breath of Perfumes" (A.D. 1628) . 241 VII.—LOVE POETRY OF THE SPANISH MOORS .............. 243 TURKISH LITERATURE VIII.—LEGENDS AND POETRY.......................................... 257 The Queen of Night, an Old Folk-lore Tale . .. 262 The Earliest Turkish Poem (A.D. 1332) .......... 272 Book of Alexander the Great (A.D. 1412) . ..... 273 The Loves of Shirin (A.D. 1426) ...................... 275 The Book of Mohammed (A.D. 1449) ............ 277 Poems by Turkish Sultans ............................... 280 Turkish Poetesses............................................. 290 The Great Turkish Poets .................................. 292 IX.—THE TRAVELS OF SIDI ALI REIS . ..................327 The "Mirror of Countries" (A.D. 1556) ... .......332 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ARABIC LITERATURE........................... 397 ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME VI ——————— FACING PAGE The Slave Girl of Abu Zayd................................... Frontispiece The Death of Abu Mustem............................................... 42 The Song of Abu Al Salam.............................................. 210 The Queen of Night ......................................................... 264 The Ancient Church of St. Sophia .................................. 320 vii SACRED BOOKS AND EARLY LITERATURE OF THE MEDIEVAL ARABS, MOORS, AND TURKS ——— INTRODUCTION HOW THE TEACHING OF MOHAMMED SPREAD INTO MANY LANDS AND CREATED MANY LITERATURES HE wide-spread Arabic empire and religion originated T with Mohammed and was founded on his book, the Koran. That tremendously important work, with the primi- tive Arabic literature of even earlier date, formed the theme of our preceding volume. We have now to trace the Arabic literature and thought which, with the expanding of the Mohammedan empire, spread over a large part of the Eastern world. Geographically that empire reached from its Arabian center eastward through Babylonia and Persia into India, westward through all North Africa into Spain, southward through Egypt into the wilds of Central Africa, and north- ward through Asia Minor to all the Turkish possessions. Through much of this vast region, Arabic became the com- mon speech, and books were written in its tongue. Even in our own day, Arabic continues as the language of a consider- able part of Turkey in Asia, of Egypt, and of all North Africa. We can scarcely, however, regard as a unit all the vary- ing Mohammedan literatures of these many lands. The Persians, for example, retained their own language and wrote in it a literature of Mohammedan religious spirit, so impor- tant that we shall devote to it a later separate volume. Our present task, therefore, will confine itself to tracing through 1 2 THE SACRED BOOKS the Middle Ages the more strictly Arabian development. This includes first, the spread of literature and thought among the Arabs themselves, or among those people who completely adopted the Arabic faith and speech. Second, it includes the literature of the Moors, or semi-Arabic peo- ples, of North Africa and Spain. And third, it leads us to the Turks, the last Mohammedan conquerors, who took up and carried on Arabic tradition, though in a language and spirit more Tartar than Arabian. For the purely Arabic development, that is for the litera- ture and thought that sprang directly from Mohammed's teaching, we turn first to the "Sunan," or traditions about Mohammed. After the prophet's death in A.D. 632, and while his followers were spreading his teachings by force of arms, they talked much of the doings and sayings of their adored master. Then, long after his own writings had been gathered in the official form of the Koran, a similar collec- tion was made of what might be termed his unofficial teach- ing, that is of all his remembered words, the ideas which he had not proclaimed as inspired by God, but had given forth in ordinary conversation between man and man. The details of his life were also treasured. Thus sprang up the "Sunan," from which we may learn as much of Mohammed the man, and of the daily life and thought of his people, as from the Koran we learn of Mohammed the poet and of the poetic spirit of Arabia. For a long time the Arabs developed no other religious lit- erature than this. Of the third leader of their new faith, the Caliph Omar, there is a well-known legend which may be untrue in fact but is intensely true to the fanatic spirit of the Caliph and his followers. It says that when Omar's armies conquered Egypt the scholars of Alexandria entreated him to protect the books of their great library, the largest in the world. Instead, Omar ordered the thousands of manuscripts to be used to feed the fires of the public baths;