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Arabic Literature in Egypt in the Eighteenth Century with some Reference to the Poetry and Poets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

Before considering the literature of Egypt of the eighteenth century, a glance at the state of the country would not be out of place. There was not such a great difference between Egypt under the Turks and under the Circassians. The Sultan sent a Turkish governor but the Amīrs, no longer the great men of earlier times, were still the rulers. The governor lived in perpetual terror of his own garrison, while the Amīrs, who had formed themselves into parties (the Ḳ¯simīs and the Fiḳārīs were the most famous), fought and intrigued with one another for power. At times the anarchy was unbearable, but street fighting seems to have been of such common occurrence that the tradesmen sometimes did not even bother to shut up their shops while it was going on. Occasionally a really strong Amir was able to prevail over the rest of his rivals for a few years and a few names of such strong men are worth mentioning, for it was under them that Egypt was able to regain some of its prosperity.

Type
Papers Contributed
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1938

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References

page 675 note 1 al-Jab., i, 176–ii, 84Google Scholar (the second reference refers to the French translation of al-Jabartl's Annals).

page 675 note 2 Idem, i, 192–ii, 124–5.

page 677 note 1 Idem, ii, 5–7–iii, 238–246.

page 677 note 2 Sixty-five works on jurisprudence are mentioned in the Annals of al-Jabartī and forty-nine on the traditions.

page 677 note 3 Sixteen works on theology, thirteen on grammar, twelve on mysticism, thirty-two on algebra, and thirteen on logic.

page 677 note 4 Four works.

page 677 note 5 Two works

page 678 note 1 Four works.

page 678 note 2 Five works.

page 678 note 3 Two works.

page 678 note 4 Two works.

page 678 note 5 One work.

page 678 note 6 al-Jabartī gives the names of over 300 textbooks in use in the madrasahs covering the two dozen subjects studied there.

page 678 note 7 Seventy-three were written in the sixteenth century, sixty-seven in the fifteenth, fifty-two in the fourteenth, thirty-nine in the thirteenth, twenty-six in the seventeenth, fourteen in the twelfth, thirteen in the eighteenth, nine in the ninth, eight in the tenth, seven in the eleventh, and one in the eighth.

page 678 note 8 al-Jab., i, 161—ii, 43–5.

page 678 note 9 Idem, i, 209—ii, 159.

page 678 note 10 Idem, i, 261–2—ii, 243–4.

page 678 note 11 Idem, i, 263—ii, 247–8.

page 678 note 12 Idem, i, 287—ii, 278–280.

page 678 note 13 Idem, i, 289–304—ii, 284–305.

page 678 note 14 Idem, i, 337—iii, 60–4.

page 678 note 15 Idem, i, 385–408—iii, 167–202.

page 678 note 16 Idem, i, 414–15—iii, 218–223.

page 678 note 17 Idem, ii, 4—iii, 235; Murādī, iii, 285–273; Mubārak, Khitat. viii, 34.

page 678 note 18 al-Jab., ii, 25–7—iv, 16–21.

page 678 note 19 Idem, ii, 147—iv, 289.

page 678 note 20 Idem, ii, 164—v, 40.

page 678 note 21 Idem, ii, 196—v, 102.

page 678 note 22 Idem, ii, 227–233—v, 159–168.

page 678 note 23 Idem, ii, 240–1—v, 182–3.

page 679 note 1 Sarkīs, , Mu'jam, 870.Google Scholar

page 679 note 2 Loc. cit.

page 679 note 3 Edited three times.

page 679 note 4 al-Jab., v. preface and ii, 234—v, 170–1.

page 679 note 5 al-Jab., i, 397—iii, 190; ii, 223— v, 151.

page 679 note 6 The Arabian Nights appears to have been the least popular of these works.

page 680 note 1 al-Jab., i, 75–83—i, 181–195; G. A. L., ii, 280; Goldziher, , Muhammedanische Studien, ii, 285.Google Scholar

page 680 note 2 al-Jab., i, 30–1—i, 71; iv, 208 (not in trans.).

page 680 note 3 Idem, i, 29—i, 67–8.

page 680 note 4 Idem, i, 80–1—i, 190–2.

page 680 note 5 Idem, i, 81–2—i, 191–2.

page 680 note 6 Idem, i, 49–50—i, 119–120; i, 78—i, 187.

page 680 note 7 Idem, i, 78–i, 187.

page 680 note 8 Idem, i, 97–8—i, 325–7; i, 110—i, 253–4.

page 680 note 9 Idem, i, 29—i, 67–8; i, 27–8—i, 65–6; i, 30–1—i, 71.

page 681 note 1 Idem, i, 97–8—i, 225–7; i, 107–8—i, 248–251.

page 681 note 2 Idem, i, 102—i, 237.

page 681 note 3 Idem, i, 104–5—i, 241–2.

page 681 note 4 No. ādāb 60.

page 681 note 5 al-Jab., i, 77–8—i, 185–6.

page 681 note 6 Idem, i, 208—ii, 155–8; G. A. L., ii, 208; Murādī, iii, 107

page 682 note 1 al-Jab., i, 144–6—ii, 6–9; i, 176–7—ii, 82; i, 211–13—ii, 163–5.

page 682 note 2 v. Dīwān, Cairo, 1307 A.H., pp. 8, 22, 28, 29, and 48.

page 682 note 3 Hartmann, , Das Arabische Strophengedicht, Weimar, 1897, pp. 83–4.Google Scholar

page 682 note 4 al-Jab. (trans.), ii, 125.

page 682 note 5 ar-Risālah, 3rd year, No. 83, pp. 171–4, article by Muhammad Farīd Abū Ḥadīd; also articles by Muḥammad Kāmil Ḥusain in the Kaukab ash-Shark, Cairo daily newspaper, 25th October, 1933, 1st November, 1933, 22nd November, 1933, and 20th December, 1933.

page 682 note 6 al-Jab., i, 265–284—ii, 252–274.

page 683 note 1 Idem, i, 289–304—ii, 284–305; G. A. L., ii, 208, 323; Mubārak, , op. cit., x, 74.Google Scholar

page 683 note 2 al-Jab., i, 266—ii, 253.

page 683 note 3 Idem, i, 267—ii, 253–5.

page 683 note 4 Idem, i, 277–9—ii, 262–9.

page 683 note 5 Idem, i, 280–2—ii, 269–272.

page 683 note 6 Tash⃛īr here means the removal of a second half of a verse to the second half of a new verso; the poet fills in the blank hemistich thus created in the first line and the first half of the new line. Takhmīs means the adding of three hemistichs to the original verse of poetry, thus making five hemistichs.

page 683 note 7 al-Jab., i, 352–363—iii, 94–112; ii, 185—v, 80–1; i, 193—ii, 126; i, 339–342— iii, 66–8; G. A. L., ii, 283.

page 684 note 1 No. ādāb 1487.

page 684 note 2 The ḳāfiyah (rhyming letter) is not taken into account

page 685 note 1 al-Jab., i, 339—iii, 66–8.

page 685 note 2 Idem, i, 362—iii, 95; G. A. L., ii, 283.

page 685 note 3 al-Jab., ii, 184—v, 79.

page 685 note 4 Idem, ii, 252–5—v, 201–3.

page 685 note 5 Idem, iii, 114–15—vi, 219–220.

page 685 note 6 Still in MS. in the Egyptian Library, No. ādāb 1419.

page 685 note 7 al-Jab., 193–8, iii, 134. A poem consisting of strophes of five hemistichs in which the first four rhyme together while the fifth have a common rhyme throughout.

page 685 note 8 Idem, i, 198–9—ii, 134–6.

page 686 note 1 Idem, i, 205—ii, 147–8.

page 686 note 2 Idem, i, 216–19—ii, 170–4.

page 686 note 3 Idem, i, 216—ii, 270, also DrBey, Ahmad Issa, Histoire des Bimaristans, Cairo, 1928, p. 166.Google Scholar

page 686 note 4 al-Jab., i, 221–242—ii, 280–303; Murādī, iv, 154–166.

page 686 note 5 G. A. L., ii, 363.

page 686 note 6 Murādī, iv, 154–5.

page 686 note 7 al-Jab., loc. cit.

page 686 note 8 Idem, i, 248–9—ii, 210–211.

page 686 note 9 ash-Shubrāwī used to say to him: “la t uzaffir ḳa⋅īdatī al-fulāniyah” = “do not turn such and such a poem of mine into an ode on greasy food ”.

page 687 note 1 al-Jab., i, 339—iii, 66.

page 687 note 2 It is curious to note that the Egyptian recension of the Arabian Nights (Cairo, 1325), vol. i, p. 62,Google Scholar contains two verses taken from Sh. ‘Āmir al-Anbū⃛ī's parody on the lāmiyah of Ibn al-Wardī which tends to confirm Chauvin's theory that the redactor may possibly have been a Jew converted to Islam. Muhammad Ef. might fit in with this theory for he was the son of a convert and the biography indicates that he had both the knowledge and the ability to perform the task of editing such a work. A close comparison of al-Jabarti's Annals with the Egyptian edition of the Arabian Nights might be a fruitful task.

page 687 note 3 al-Jab., ii, 268–274—v, 225.

page 687 note 4 Idem, ii, 60—iv, 85.

page 688 note 1 The story about ‘AlĪ al-Mi⋅rī in the Arabian Nights shows that this island was used as a place of pleasure; see Lane's trans., London, 1859, ii, 549.

page 688 note 2 al-Jab., ii, 270–2—v, 229–231.

page 688 note 3 Idem, ii, 68–9 (mention of poet is omitted altogether in trans.).

page 688 note 4 Idem, i, 71–2—i, 172–4; G. A. L., ii, 279.

page 688 note 5 Idem, i, 242–8—ii, 203–210.

page 688 note 6 Idem, i, 211–16—ii, 103–120.

page 688 note 7 Idem, ii, 128—iv, 242–3.

page 689 note 1 Idem, ii, 85–9—iv, 132–140.

page 689 note 2 Idem, ii, 217–18—v, 140–1.