Classical Arabic Stories Read online

  Classical Arabic Stories

  Classical Arabic Stories:

  AN ANTHOLOGY

  Edited and with an introduction

  by Salma Khadra Jayyusi

  COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

  NEW YORK

  Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given by The Pushkin Fund toward the cost of publishing this book.

  Salma Khadra Jayyusi would like to extend her thanks to Dr. Ahmad al-Uthaim for his kind support toward the preparation of this anthology.

  Columbia University Press

  Publishers Since 1893

  New York Chichester, West Sussex

  cup.columbia.edu

  Copyright © 2010 Columbia University Press

  All rights reserved

  E-ISBN 978-0-231-52027-0

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Classical Arabic stories : an anthology / edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Translated from the Arabic.

  ISBN 978-0-231-14922-8 (cloth : acid-free paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-52027-0 (electronic)

  1. Arabic literature—Translations into English. I. Jayyusi, Salma Khadra. II. Title. PJ7694.E1C56 2010

  892.7’08—dc22

  2009049504

  A Columbia University Press E-book.

  CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at [email protected].

  References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

  * * *

  To my father, Subhi al-Khadra, my first mentor and model, who, with keen insight and a deep sense of duty, taught me from childhood how to love and revere a heritage of great value, and how to inhabit two ages simultaneously—our brilliant classical age and our beleaguered modern one—and to serve them both.

  To him this book, that embodies his vision, with love and lasting gratitude.

  * * *

  Contents

  Preface and Acknowledgments

  Introduction

  I. Pre-Islamic Tales

  1. The Sons of Nizar

  2. The Priestess of the Banu Saʿd

  3. Faithfulness and Sense of Honor

  4. Al-Nuʿman’s Outfit

  5. A Lowly Man Gains a Wife

  6. A Charitable Gift

  7. A Cunning Message

  8. A Noble Wife

  9. The Exile of al-Harith ibn Midad

  10. The Story of the Cave Where Shaddad ibn ʿAad Was: How the Adventurers Entered and What Happened to Them There

  11. Luqman

  II. Tales of Rulers and Other Notable Persons

  12. ʿAmara the Faqih and ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan

  13. The Justice of ʿAdud al-Dawla

  14. The Piety of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz

  15. A Further Story of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz

  16. The Chief of Police and Caliph al-Hadi

  17. At Khosrow’s Court

  18. An Arab at Khosrow’s Court

  19. I Take Refuge in Your Justice, Prince of the Faithful

  20. Tricked She Was

  21. Um Asya the Midwife and the Palace of Khumarawayh

  22. Yazid and Habbaba

  23. A Ruse of Muʿawiya

  24. Caliph ʿUmar and the Soldier’s Wife

  25. Al-Akhtal Imprisoned in a Church

  26. A Miserly Governor

  27. All Lies

  28. Two Great Musicians

  29. An Attendant of al-Hallaj Fasts for Fifteen Days

  30. A Vizier Removes a Dessert Stain with Ink

  31. How a Baghdadi Chief of Police Questioned Suspects

  32. God Alone Be Thanked

  33. Al-Hajjaj Orders the Torture of Azadmard

  34. Iyas as Judge

  35. The Wisdom of Judge Iyas

  36. Why a Judge Pardoned a Fraudster

  III. Tales of Danger and Warfare

  37. Maʿn ibn Zaʾida and the Black Man

  38. Al-Mansour’s Pride

  39. With the Byzantines

  40. Muslims at the Court of China

  41. Greed and Treason

  42. Consequences of Oppression

  43. Avoiding a Conflict

  44. The Byzantine Rulers and the Muslim Prisoners

  45. From The Lion and the Diver

  IV. Tales of Religion

  46. The Tale of Kaʿb ibn Malek

  47. The Tale of Jurayj the Worshipper: Showing How Attending to Parents Has Priority Over Prayer

  48. The Tale of the Crevice People, and of the Magician, the Monk, and the Young Man

  49. The Tale of the Leper, the Bald Man, and the Blind Man

  50. Virtue and Divine Reward

  51. A Vision of the Next World

  V. Comic Tales: Tales of Juha

  52. Juha as a Vehicle for Satire

  53. The Comic Wit of Juha

  54. Juha the Fool

  55. The Logic of Juha

  56. Juha the Judge

  Other Comic Tales

  57. Abu ʾl-Qasim’s Slippers

  58. The Party Crashers

  59. Me Too?

  60. A Quick-Witted Prisoner

  61. Al-Hajjaj and al-Muttalib

  62. A Cunning Marriage Broker

  63. Forgery on a Shaky Boat

  64. A Tempting Wager

  VI. Tales of the Strange or Supernatural

  65. The Strangest Story

  66. I Shall Never Eat Elephant Flesh

  67. A Dream Come True

  68. The Body Snatcher

  69. The Old Tailor and His Untimely Call to Prayer

  70. Crime and Punishment

  71. An Unlucky Encounter

  72. The Man and the Lark

  73. Two Surrealist Stories from the Desert

  74. The Story of Tamim al-Dari

  VII. Tales of Love

  75. A Love Story

  76. A Strange Vow

  77. A Merchant and His Wife

  78. A Final Meeting

  79. A Party Crasher’s Reward

  80. Parting and Reunion

  VIII. Excerpts from Seven Major Classical Works

  81. From Ibn Tufail, Hayy ibn Yaqzan

  82. From Al-Jahiz, Al-Bukhalaʾ (Book of Misers)

  83. From Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, Kalila and Dimna

  84. From Rasaʾil Ikhwan al-Safa (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity)

  85. From Al-Maqamat (The Assemblies)

  86. From Abu ʾl-ʿAlaʾ al-Maʿarri, Risalat al-Ghufran

  87. From The Adventures of Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan: An Arab Folk Epic

  Notes on the Translators

  Name Index

  Subject Index

  Preface and Acknowledgments

  This anthology is intended to fill a substantial gap in the study of classical Arabic literary prose. My realization of the great injustice to Arabic culture in modern times, even by Arabs themselves, through the neglect of its rich heritage in creative prose genres motivated my decision to bring about this anthology (as well as a book of essays, now in press [at E. J. Brill], The Classical and Post-Classical Arabic Story: Genres, History and Influences, by some of the best current scholars, Arabs and Arabists).

  Despite their secondary status in the Arab critical tradition, classical narratives in Arabic continued to grow, finding new adventures and exploring as yet untried possibilities in Arabic literary prose. The inventiveness and skillful treatment of style, language, and subject matter should constitute points of interest for all stude
nts of world literature. However, as I discuss in my introduction to this volume (and elsewhere), it has been the attachment to poetry, the most-cherished literary form, which Arabs have sustained throughout their literary history, that has kept at bay the discovery and enjoyment of Arabic creative prose and the cultural enhancement it can afford. This anthology, however, limits itself to the story type, itself demonstrating great variety and creativity.

  I must here thank first and foremost noted Saudi writer ʿAbdallah al-Nasser, former cultural representative of the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education in London, where I first met him, for the decisive part he played in bringing support to this anthology. His help was prompted by his devotion to Arabic culture and its dissemination in the world, a devotion that has culminated in the accomplishment of several works of discourse and translation as part of the projects of PROTA and East-West Nexus. It was he who spoke to the well-known businessman Dr. Ahmad al-ʿUthaim, who graciously donated the subsidy needed for this work, proving once again that the love of literature and the pride Arabs take in their literary heritage are still very much alive. I thank him heartily for his immediate and positive response to this work’s needs, and for the gracious courtesy he showed me when, because of circumstances beyond my control, the work on this anthology was a little delayed. It is only through individuals of this outlook that Arabic business can be a major channel for cultural dissemination beyond the Arab world.

  And many thanks to the colleagues who helped in assembling the work. My gratitude goes to Leila al-Khalidi al-Husseini, a lifetime friend and intellectual, who helped me with the selections for this volume; to my cousin Sawsan Nuweihid Ajlouni for her suggestions of several religious selections; to the novelist Laila al-Atrash for many cogent suggestions in the selection phase of this anthology, to Ghada Jayyusi-Lehn, professor at the American University in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates, for her volunteer help in researching certain important matters for this work’s references, and to Antoine Raffoul for his kind help volunteered in the last preparation of a publisher’s copy of this book.

  Heartfelt thanks go to the translators of these stories, ʿAbd al-Wahid Luʾluʾa, Ibrahim Mumayiz, Bassam Abou Ghazaleh, Fayez Suyyagh, Roger Allen, Matthew Sorenson, Lena Jayyusi, and my brother, Faisal al-Khadra. Much effort and expertise went into creating an accurate and viable first translation. The second translation, the final polishing, was done mainly by Christopher Tingley with his usual care and precision and with the great benefit of his proficiency in English medieval literature. I cannot thank the translators enough for their painstaking, expert work. Jaʿfar al-ʿUqaili was a wonderful assistant who did much for this book and for other East-West Nexus and PROTA books, and I owe him many thanks.

  Salma Khadra Jayyusi

  Editor

  Director of East-West Nexus/PROTA

  Introduction

  Arabic fictional genres have suffered a great injustice throughout their history, mainly through the secondary status they acquired in the rich Arabic critical tradition. Their importance and great variety and originality were overlooked in favor of poetry, the tradition’s oldest and most favored art form. The Arabic critical concept of literature in classical times, represented by a long list of critics and literary historians, concentrated disproportionately on poetry and bestowed much less attention on fiction. Poetry was regarded, and, to an extent, still is, even with the rise of a strong fictional tradition in the twentieth century, as the Arabs’ primary artistic expression. This well-entrenched attitude caused the many prose genres (both fiction and nonfiction) attempted by classical Arabs over the centuries to retreat into the dusty corners of world literature, unknown to most and unexplored fully in their artistic and semantic value even in the eyes of their own Arab inheritors. Moreover, this widely undervalued contribution, which boasted both charm and finesse in many of its forms, received far less attention than poetry not only from literary critics but also from the royalty and nobility of medieval times, most of whom gave bountifully both status and sustenance to the poets of their times.

  Despite this lesser status, prose genres in classical Arabic continued to grow, enjoying great variety and finding cause for constant adventure, reflecting in part their explorations of the unbounded possibilities of Arabic literary prose. To my knowledge, the Arabic fictional prose venture was perhaps unmatched in its scope and aesthetic value among medieval cultures, at least west of India.

  This is not to say that there has been no serious scholarship in modern times engaged in studying the various prose genres medieval and premodern Arab authors left us. In answer to a changed outlook on the study of Arabic literature, discourse on Arabic creative prose by both Arab scholars and Arabists has increased in size and grown in sophistication. In addition, a fair number of Arabic compendiums of creative prose selections have been assembled, particularly by Egyptian scholars. As part of my quest to introduce Arabic culture to non-Arab audiences, I have felt a need to offer the fruits of this recent research on Arabic literary accomplishments in the field of creative prose.1 Focusing on the classical Arabic story,2 I have left the very rich genres of other types of creative prose: oratory, epistles, advice literature, legacies, meditative essays, proverbs, and others, for another effort.

  I began with a study on the history and development of the classical Arabic story, inviting to the venture some of the best specialists, Arabs and Arabists, to participate. They graciously offered the fruits of their specializations in the various fictional and other story-type genres to help me produce as comprehensive a book as possible revealing the wide vista of what Arabic fictional talent has offered throughout its long history, beginning with pre-Islamic times. This resulted in a volume of studies (forthcoming from E. J. Brill) detailing the genres of the old Arabic story, its development, its ramifications, and its influences east and west both in the past and at the present time.3 I felt, too, the pressing need to offer selected examples of the Arabic classical story to non-Arab readers, bringing to light the human condition in its many aspects, taking readers on a trip to an intimate knowledge of the other, those living at a different time and in a different culture, thus showing the universality and the pertinence of human experience across cultures and through time. This purpose could be attained only through offering selections from the literature itself, through translation; hence this anthology.

  A description of the various genres of the classical Arabic story, their history and influences, will be especially useful to the nonspecialist. The selections in this collection range from pre-Islamic and Islamic stories of love and adventure to anecdotes on various experiences to the more complex narratives of the maqamat (assemblies). There is also within these genres variation, from short tales, sometimes very short, as in the khabar genre, to longer accounts, arriving at novel writing in the Andalusian philosopher Ibn Tufail’s famous philosophical novel Hayy ibn Yaqzan. In fact, the study of the development of the old Arabic story is also a study of linguistic and stylistic changes in the history of Arabic literary prose. For we begin with the well-balanced style and sentence construction that we see in early literary prose and move, at the beginning of the empire-building era in the first century to the extremely succinct style befitting the exchange of urgent messages between the center in Hijaz and the ongoing armies spreading east and west. This was still, one must remember, a semi-oral age, and transmitted messages had to be short but cogent and memorable. Orality depended on factors that preserved its message: meter and rhyme in poetry, economy of words in prose. The khabar became a major vehicle of storytelling for which the succinct, condensed style was the most suitable. Later, two major innovations took hold of creative prose: complexity and fluidity of style. Mention must be made here of ʿAbd al-Hamid al-Katib, who, with the spread of literacy, had greater freedom to write in a more elaborate style. The development of this new freedom in linguistic virtuosity is seen in the maqamat, first of al-Hamadhani (356 / 968– 398 / 1008); its rhyming and linguistic wealth finding gr
eater elaboration and complexity by al-Maʿarri, in his Epistle of Forgiveness; by the other writer of the maqamat, al-Hariri; and by numerous other writers in the Arab east and, westward, in Muslim Spain (al-Andalus), Portugal, and Muslim Sicily.

  Poetry, on the other hand, did not follow the same history of development, neither in style, diction, nor vision. Indeed, while the adventure of language and style in prose was heading toward complexity and, later on, in the postclassical centuries, often toward repetitiveness, redundancies, and the use of conceits and embellishments, including sajʿ (rhymed prose), language and style in poetry were growing more in the direction of simplicity and a greater affiliation with the contemporary language, as evident in such Mamluk and Ottoman poets as Ibn Nubata al-Misri, al-Shabb al-Dharif, Ibn Sanaʾ al-Mulk, and al-Bahaʾ Zuhair. The latter made occasional use of contemporary colloquial words that modern revivalists abstained from using. A comparison of the diverging directions of medieval prose and poetry represents, in my view, a rich field of investigation.

  I have arranged the pre-Islamic tales chronologically in a section of their own, while the other stories are grouped thematically. This grouping of the pre-Islamic tales allows interested scholars to look for possible differences with the tales known to have been created during the Islamic period and consider whether they signify any major changes in outlook on the world, where, in pre-Islamic times, a mainly pagan worldview dominated. One must of course keep in mind the later revisions and omissions imposed in Islamic times on some of these texts in cases where they veered too far from a monotheistic outlook on the universe. The pertinent question remains whether the advent of Islam initiated a change in narrative development, causing, as it clearly did in poetry,4 a rupture in the evolution of this art form.

  There has been much debate among historians of Arabic literature about the actuality of fictional narratives before Islam. However, there are no peoples without lore, and pre-Islamic Arabs, both Bedouins and townspeople, certainly had rich experiences to narrate. This is not the place, however, to put this issue to any lengthy argument, and the assumption here is that pre-Islamic tales existed and were transmitted to the later Islamic centuries, perhaps with some modification wrought intentionally (for example, when texts contradicted the monotheistic beliefs of Islam) or unintentionally, as happens always with oral works. Many of the stories in this anthology come from The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar, perhaps the richest source of purportedly pre-Islamic tales. Its stories, legends, and mythological adventures would fit an ancient, multicultural selectivity well known in other cultures and assume a scope far beyond normal possibilities—men living hundreds of years, corpses of dead kings that do not decay, fantastic, superhuman feats, soaring imaginations unchecked by the limitations of established religious belief.