Fi Tarikh al-Adab al-Jahili
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- Editions
- Maktabat Dar al-Turath
Fi Tarikh al-Adab al-Jahili (On the History of Pre-Islamic Literature) is an academic study of pre-Islamic Arabic literature and its historical and cultural context by Egyptian scholar Ali al-Jundi .
Background and Purpose
In his introduction, the author states that his prolonged research into pre-Islamic literature—having previously examined pre-Islamic war poetry and edited the diwan of Tarafah ibn al-Abd—revealed that existing literary histories of the period were incomplete . He noted that contemporary surveys tended either to focus narrowly on a selection of notable literary figures as representative archetypes or to digress into peripheral discussions . Al-Jundi intended the work to provide university students and researchers with a comprehensive reference that would spare them the need to consult scattered primary and secondary sources to clarify foundational issues .
Structure and Content
The book is arranged into three major sections (aqsam), concluding with references and genealogical tables :
- Part One: The Pre-Islamic Arabs (al-Jahiliyyun): Examines the environment and life of the pre-Islamic Arabs as factors influencing literary production . It addresses the linguistic and theological definition of the term Jahiliyya, the geography of the Arabian Peninsula, ancient Arab peoples, tribal genealogies and settlements, daily living conditions, political, social, and religious structures, external contacts, and their branches of practical knowledge .
- Part Two: On Pre-Islamic Literature (Hawla al-Adab al-Jahili): Comprises six thematic chapters dealing with general facts about pre-Islamic literature, its language, oral transmission (riwaya), written recording (tadwin), primary source materials, and the contentious problem of pseudepigraphy and literary fabrication (qadiyyat al-intihal) .
- Part Three: Prose and Poetry in the Pre-Islamic Era (al-Nathr wa-l-Shi'r fi al-'Asr al-Jahili): Provides a comprehensive examination of pre-Islamic prose forms followed by a detailed survey of poetry . It includes individual analyses of the seven Mu'allaqat (by Imru' al-Qays, Tarafah ibn al-Abd, Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma, Labid ibn Rabi'ah, Antarah ibn Shaddad, Amr ibn Kulthum, and al-Harith ibn Hilliza), commentaries on their common sentiments and opening conventions, and analyses of traditional poetic genres, including description (wasf), self-praise (fakhr), satire (hija'), eulogy (madh), elegy (ritha'), apology (i'tidhar), love lyric (ghazal), ethical reflections, equitable poems (al-munsifat), and the poetry of the brigand poets (al-sa'alik) .
Publication History
The work has been issued in several editions, including a two-volume second edition published in Beirut in 1966 (Dar al-Nahda al-Arabiyya / Maktabat al-Jami'a al-Arabiyya), a third edition published in Cairo in 1969 by Maktabat al-Anglo al-Misriyya, and subsequent printings by Dar al-Ma'arif .
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