Arabic epic literature

Virtually all societies have developed folk tales encompassing tales of heroes. Although many of these are legends, many are based on real events and historical figures.

Fantasy epic literature

Main article: One Thousand and One Nights

The One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) is easily the best known of all Arabic literature and which still effects many of the ideas non-Arabs have about Arabic culture. Although regarded as primarily Arabic it was in fact developed from a Persian work and the stories in turn may have their roots in India. A good example of the lack of popular Arabic prose fiction is that the stories of Aladdin and Ali Baba, usually regarded as part of the Tales from One Thousand and One Nights, were not actually part of the Tales. They were first included in French translation of the Tales by Antoine Galland who heard them being told by a traditional storyteller and only existed in incomplete Arabic manuscripts before that. The other great character from Arabic literature Sinbad is from the Tales.

The Thousand and One Nights is usually placed in the genre of Arabic epic literature along with several other works. They are usually, like the Tales, collections of short stories or episodes strung together into a long tale. The extant versions were mostly written down relatively late on, after the 14th century, although many were undoubtedly collected earlier and many of the original stories are probably pre-Islamic. Types of stories in these collections include animal fables, proverbs, stories of jihad or propagation of the faith, humorous tales, moral tales, tales about the wily con-man Ali Zaybaq and tales about the prankster Juha.

Science fiction

Main article: Ibn al-Nafis - Theologus Autodidactus

Al-Risalah al-Kamiliyyah fil Siera al-Nabawiyyah (The Treatise of Kamil on the Prophet's Biography), known in the West as Theologus Autodidactus, written by the Arabian polymath Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288), is the first example of a science fiction novel and a coming of age story, and the earliest example of a desert island story alongside Abubacer's Philosophus Autodidactus. and deals with various science fiction elements such as spontaneous generation, futurology, the end of the world and doomsday, resurrection, and the afterlife. Rather than giving supernatural or mythological explnations for these events, Ibn al-Nafis attempted to explain these plot elements using the scientific knowledge of biology, astronomy, cosmology and geology known in his time. His main purpose behind this science fiction work was to explain Islamic religious teachings in terms of science and philosophy.

List

Here is a list of famous epic or romance literature in the Arabic language:

• Sirat Antara Ibn Shaddad سيرة عنترة بن شداد
• al-Sirah al-Hussainyya. Chronicles the biography of Husayn, grandson of Muhammad, and his death.
• Futuh al-Sham (Conquests of Syria) ascribed to al-Waqidi (disputed)
• One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights)
• Sirat al-Zahir Baibars سيرة الظاهر بيبرس
• Sirat Abu Zeid al-Hilali أبو زيد الهلالي
• Sirat Adham el-Sharqawi
• Sirat Dhat al-Himma, Arabic queen tale سيرة ذات الهمة
• Sirat Bani Hilal تغريبة بني هلال
• Qissat Zir Salim قصة الزير سالم
• Sirat Sayf Ibn Dhi Yazan سيرة سيف بن ذي يزن
• Qays wa Laila (Qays & Laila) romantic epic.
• Layla and Majnun in Arabic Majnun layla (مجنون ليلى)
• Sirat al-amirah Dhat al-Himmah سيرة الأميرة ذات الهمة
• Qissat Bayad wa Riyad قصة بياض و رياض, Arab-Andalusian love story about Bayad, a merchant's son and a foreigner from Damascus, for Riyad, a well educated slave girl in the court of an unnamed Hajib (vizier or minister) and his daughter.
• Hayy ibn Yaqdhan حي بن يقظان
• Tarikhul Hind wal Sind تاريخ الهند والسند
• The Kamiliyah Treatise by Ibn al-Nafis

See also

• Arabic literature

External links

• Al Jazeera article: Epic tales of Arab bravery