Introduction to Arabic Literature

1. ARABIAN LITERATURE

2. ARABIA
“The Cradle of Islam”

3. Mediterranean Sea
Arabian
Sea
SAUDI ARABIA
YEMEN
KUWAIT
Arabia Peninsula

4. There are two holy cities found in
Saudi Arabia
ARABIA
“The Cradle of Islam”
MECCA MEDINA

5. ARABIAN LITERATURE
Arabian Literature is rich and varied,
mostly made of
Poems, anecdotes, tales or romances,
historical accounts and philosophies.

6. ARABIAN LITERATURE
Arabs possessed a highly develop
poetry transmitted orally from
generation to generation.

7. ARABIAN LITERATURE
Qasidahs or
elaborated odes.
It reflects and praise
the customs and
values of the desert
environment which
they arose.

8. ARABIAN LITERATURE
The written literature, began to be
known with the collection of
KORAN, the sacred book of Islam.

9. ARABIAN LITERATURE
The Three Periods of
Written Arabic Literature

10. ARABIAN LITERATURE
UMAYYAD PERIOD
(A.D. 661 -750)
Arabic prose was limited primarily to
grammatical treatises, commentaries on
the Koran and the compiling of stories
about Mohammed and his companions.

11. ARABIAN LITERATURE
UMAYYAD PERIOD
(A.D. 661 -750)
GHAZALS or love lyric, wine songs and
hunting poems rose during this period.
These describes the conditions and
manners found in places conquered by
Islam.

12. ARABIAN LITERATURE
ABBASID PERIOD
(A.D. 750 - 1258)
Regarded as the “Greatest Period of
Development and Achievement”

13. ARABIAN LITERATURE
ABBASID PERIOD
(A.D. 750 - 1258)
ADAB, an Arabic prose sprinkled with
poetry and utilized rhyme prose known as
“saj”
The style of Koran came to existence.

14. ARABIAN LITERATURE
ABBASID PERIOD
(A.D. 750 - 1258)
Arabian Nights or The Thousand and
One Nights,
Contains inventive type of folk literature,
which based on the recitation of rawis.

15. ARABIAN LITERATURE
MODERN PERIOD
19th Century - Present
Arabic Literature declined during the
Ottoman Turkish domination, however the
Renaissance Period took place, so then Arabs
revived their classical genres and they came
into contact to Western Literature and
Civilization.

16. ARABIAN LITERATURE
MODERN PERIOD
19th Century - Present
The 20th Century witnessed the real birth of
modern Arabic Literature.
Short story and Novel came to being in this
period.