Download or read book The Poetry of Abu l ALA Al Maarri written by Abu'l-Ala Al-Maarri and published by Portable Poetry. This book was released on 2017-01-20 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abul 'Ala Al-Ma'arri was born in December 973 in modern day Maarrat al-Nu'man, near Aleppo, in Syria. He was a member of the Banu Sulayman, a noted family of Ma'arra, belonging to the larger Tanukh tribe that had formed part of the aristocracy in Syria dating back many hundreds of years. Aged only four he was rendered virtually blind due to smallpox and whilst this was thought to explain his pessimistic outlook on life and his fellow man it seems too young an age to support that. He was educated at Aleppo, Tripoli and Antioch and the area itself was part of the Abbasid Caliphate, the third Islamic caliphate, during what is now considered the Golden Age of Islam. During his schooling he began to write poetry, perhaps from as young as 11 or 12. In 1004-5 Al-Ma'arri learned that his father had died and, in commemoration, wrote an elegy in praise. A few years later, as an established poet and with a desire to see more of life and culture in Baghdad, he journeyed there, staying for perhaps as long as eighteen months. However, although he was respected and well received in literary circles he found the experience at odds with his growing ascetic beliefs and resisted all efforts to purchase his works. He was also by now a somewhat controversial figure and although on the whole respected his views on religion were now also causing him trouble. By 1010 with news of his mother ailing back at home he started the journey back to Ma'rra but arrived shortly after her death. He would now remain in Ma'arra for the rest of his life, continuing with his self-imposed ascetic style, refusing to sell his poems, living alone in seclusion and adhering to a strict vegetarian diet. Though he was confined, he lived out his years continuing his work and collaborating with others and enjoyed great respect despite some of the controversy associated with his beliefs. He is often now described as a "pessimistic freethinker." He attacked the dogmas of organised religion and rejected Islam and other faiths. Intriguingly Al-Ma'arri held anti-natalist views; children should not be born to spare them the pains of life. One of the recurring themes of his philosophy was the truth of reason against competing claims of custom, tradition, and authority. Al-Ma'arri taught that religion was a "fable invented by the ancients," worthless except to those who exploit the credulous masses. He went on to explain "Do not suppose the statements of the prophets to be true; they are all fabrications. Men lived comfortably till they came and spoiled life. The sacred books are only such a set of idle tales as any age could have and indeed did actually produce. However, Al-Ma'arri was still a monotheist, but believed that God was impersonal and that the afterlife did not exist. For someone who was not widely travelled Al-Ma'arri stated that monks in their cloisters or devotees in their mosques were blindly following the beliefs of their locality: if they were born among Magians or Sabians they would have become Magians or Sabians, further declaring, rather boldly, that "The inhabitants of the earth are of two sorts: those with brains, but no religion, and those with religion, but no brains." Abul 'Ala Al-Ma'arri never married and died aged 83, in May 1057 in his hometown, Maarrat al-Nu'man. Even on Al-Ma'arri's epitaph, he wanted it written that his life was a wrong done by his father and not one committed by himself. Today, despite fundamentalists and jihadists at odds with his thinking and viewing him as a heretic, Al-Ma'arri is regarded as one of the greatest of classical Arabic poets as these translated work readily attest too.

Download or read book Freethinkers of Medieval Islam written by Sarah Stroumsa and published by BRILL. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies the phenomenon of freethinking in medieval Islam, as exemplified in the figures of Ibn al-R wand and Ab Bakr al-R z . It reconstructs their thought and analyzes the relations of the phenomenon to Islamic prophetology and its repercussions in Islamic thought.

Download or read book The Luzumiyat of Abu l Ala written by Abu al-Ala al-Maarri and published by Litres. This book was released on 2021-12-02 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Studies in Islamic Poetry written by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Quatrains of Abu l Ala written by Abū al-ʻAlāʼ al-Maʻarrī and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book All the World Is Awry written by R LACEY and published by . This book was released on 2022-09 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Diwan of Abu l ala written by Abū al-ʻAlāʼ al-Maʻarrī and published by . This book was released on 1908 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Diwan of Abu l ala Al Ma arri written by Abu'l- 'Ala al-Ma'arri and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-22 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIWAN OF ABU'L- 'ALA AL-MA'ARRI Translation & Introduction Paul Smith CONTENTS: The Life and Works of al Ma'arri, The Ruba'i & Qit'a, Ghazal & Qasida: Form, Use, History. Abu'l- 'Ala al-Ma'arri was born in Ma'arra, south of Aleppo in Syria in 973 A.D. He achieved fame as one of greatest of Arab poets. Al-Ma'arri was stricken with smallpox when four and became blind. His early poems in ruba'i form gained great popularity as did his other poems. As he grew older, he was able to travel to Aleppo, Antioch and other Syrian cities. Al-Ma'arri spent 18 months at Baghdad, then the centre of learning and poetry, leaving to return to his native town. There he created the Luzumiyyat, a famous collection of 1592 poems. On return, his presence in al-Ma'arri drew many people who came to hear him lecture on poetry and rhetoric. In his passionate hatred of the vile world and all the material manifestations of life, he was like a dervish dancing in sheer bewilderment; a holy man, indeed, melting in tears before the distorted image of Divinity. In his aloofness, as in the purity of his spirit, the ecstatic negations of Abu'l-Ala can only be translated in terms of the Sufi's creed. In his raptures, shathat, he was as distant as Ibn al-'Arabi; and in his bewilderment, heirat, he was as deeply intoxicated as Ibn al-Farid. If others have symbolized the Divinity in wine, he symbolized it in Reason, which is the living oracle of the Soul; he has, in a word, embraced Divinity under the cover of a philosophy of extinction. Here is a large selection of poems in all the forms he composed in the correct rhyme and meaning. Selected Bibliography. Appendix: Luzumiyat of Abu'l-Ala'l-Ma'arri, Rendered Into English By Ameen Rihani Large Format Paperback 7" x 10." 224 pages. Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of over 80 books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages... including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Baba Farid, Rahman Baba, Lalla Ded, Omar Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Bulleh Shah and many others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and 12 screenplays.

Download or read book Three Great Abbasid Poets written by al-Mutanabbi and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-05-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THREE GREAT ABBASID POETS Abu Nuwas, al-Mutanabbi & al-Ma'arri Lives & Poems Translation & Introduction Paul Smith The Abbasid Caliphate that ruled the Islamic world was the golden age of Islamic culture. It ruled from 750 to 1258 AD, making it one of the longest and most influential of the Islamic dynasties. For most of its early history it was the largest empire in the world and this meant that it had contact with distant neighbors such as the Chinese and Indians in the East and the Byzantines in the West, allowing it to adopt and synthesize ideas from all these cultures. All the arts and sciences flourished during these 500 years and in the art of Poetry three poets stood out among the non-Sufi poets like Ibn al-Farid... these were Abu Nuwas, al-Mutanabbi and al-Ma'arri. Here is their lives & times and a large selection of their poetry in the correct beautiful rhyme-structures and meaning. Included in the Introduction chapters on The Abbasid Caliphate, Poetry of the Abbasid Period, Forms of Arabic Poetry of the Abbasid Period. Selected Bibliography. Large Format 7" x 10" Pages 350. COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFEZ'S DIVAN"It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafez is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished.." Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran."Superb translations. 99% Hafez 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of English to Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. "Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafez." Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author). Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish and other languages including Hafez, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in ud-din Chishti, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Hallaj, Rudaki, Yunus Emre Ghalib, Iqbal, Makhfi, Lalla Ded, Abu Nuwas, Ibn al-Farid, Rahman Baba, Nazir and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, kids books and a dozen screenplays. New Humanity Books amazon.com/author/smithpa

Download or read book Epistle of Forgiveness written by G. J. H. van Gelder and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most unusual books in classical Arabic literature, The Epistle of Forgiveness is the lengthy reply by the prolific Syrian poet and prose writer, Abu l-'Ala' al-Ma'arri (d. 449 H/1057 AD), to a letter by an obscure grammarian, Ibn al-Qarih. With biting irony, The Epistle of Forgiveness mocks Ibn al-QarihOCOs hypocrisy and sycophancy by imagining he has died and arrived with some difficulty in Heaven, where he meets famous poets and philologists from the past. He also glimpses Hell, and converses with the Devil and various heretics. Al-Ma'arriOCoa maverick, a vegan, and often branded a heretic himselfOCoseems to mock popular ideas about the Hereafter. a This second volume is a point-by-point reply to Ibn al-QarihOCOs letter using al-Ma'arriOCOs characteristic mixture of erudition, irony, and admonition, enlivened with anecdotes and poems. Among other things, he writes about hypocrites; heretical poets, princes, rebels, and mystics; apostates; piety; superstition; the plight of men of letters; collaborative authorship; wine-drinking; old age; repentance; pre-Islamic pilgrimage customs; and money. This remarkable book is the first complete translation in any language, all the more impressive because of al-Ma'arriOCOs highly ornate and difficult style, his use of rhymed prose, and numerous obscure words and expressions. a Geert Jan van Gelder awas Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford from 1998 to 2012. He is the author of several books on classical Arabic literature, including aBeyond the Line: Classical Arabic Literary Critics on the Coherence and Unity of the Poem aand aOf Dishes and Discourse: Classical Arabic Literary Representations of Food . a Gregor Schoeler awas the chair of Islamic Studies at the University of Basel from 1982 to 2009. His books in the fields of Islamic Studies and classical Arabic literature includea The Oral and the Written in Early Islam, anda Paradies und HAlle, a partial German translation of The Epistle of Forgiveness."

Download or read book written by G. J. H. van Gelder and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Verse and prose, from the 6th century CE (pre-Islamic) to the early 18th century CE.

Download or read book Classical Arabic Poetry written by Charles Greville Tuetey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1985 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1985. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Download or read book Classical Arabic Stories written by Salma Khadra Jayyusi and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Short fiction was an immensely innovative art in the medieval Arab world and speaks to the urbanization of the Arab domain after Islam. It reflects the bustling life of Muslim Arabs and Islamized Persians and the sure stamp of an urbanity that had settled very staunchly after big conquests. Reading these texts today illuminates the wide spectrum of early Arab life and the influences and innovations that flourished so vibrantly in medieval Arab society. Classical Arabic Stories selects from an impressive corpus, including excerpts from seven seminal works: Ibn Tufail's novel, Hayy ibn Yaqzan; Kalila wa Dimna by Ibn al-Muqaffa; The Misers by al-Jahiz; The Brethren of Purity's The Protest of Animals Against Man; Al-Maqamat (The Assemblies) by al-Hamadhani and al-Hariri; Epistle of Forgiveness by al-Ma'arri; and the epic romance, Sayf Bin Dhi Yazan. Organized thematically, the volume begins with pre-Islamic tales, stories of rulers and other notables, and thrilling narratives of danger and warfare. It follows with tales of love, religion, comedy, and the strange and the supernatural.

Download or read book The Book of Khalid written by Ameen Rihani and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reproduction of the original: The Book of Khalid by Ameen Rihani

Download or read book Al Mutanabbi written by Margaret Larkin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This exhaustive and yet enthralling study considers the life and work of al-Mutanabbi (915-965), often regarded as the greatest of the classical Arab poets. A revolutionary at heart and often imprisoned or forced into exile throughout his tumultuous life, al-Mutanabbi wrote both controversial satires and when employed by one of his many patrons, laudatory panegyrics. Employing an ornate style and use of the ode, al-Mutanabbi was one of the first to successfully move away from the traditionally rigid form of Arabic verse, the ‘qasida’.

Download or read book The Atheist Muslim written by Ali A. Rizvi and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-11-22 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In much of the Muslim world, religion is the central foundation upon which family, community, morality, and identity are built. The inextricable embedment of religion in Muslim culture has forced a new generation of non-believing Muslims to face the heavy costs of abandoning their parents’ religion: disowned by their families, marginalized from their communities, imprisoned, or even sentenced to death by their governments. Struggling to reconcile the Muslim society he was living in as a scientist and physician and the religion he was being raised in, Ali A. Rizvi eventually loses his faith. Discovering that he is not alone, he moves to North America and promises to use his new freedom of speech to represent the voices that are usually quashed before reaching the mainstream media—the Atheist Muslim. In The Atheist Muslim, we follow Rizvi as he finds himself caught between two narrative voices he cannot relate to: extreme Islam and anti-Muslim bigotry in a post-9/11 world. The Atheist Muslim recounts the journey that allows Rizvi to criticize Islam—as one should be able to criticize any set of ideas—without demonizing his entire people. Emotionally and intellectually compelling, his personal story outlines the challenges of modern Islam and the factors that could help lead it toward a substantive, progressive reformation.

Download or read book Huma Life Poems written by Huma and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-08-12 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HUMA: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Merwan S. Irani, known world-wide as Meher Baba, took Huma (Phoenix) as his takhallus or pen-name when he composed enlightened ghazals in a mixture of Persian, Urdu, Hindi & Gujarati in his twenties as a realized disciple of the Qutub or Perfect Master Upasni Maharaj, and also later on. He knew the ghazals of Hafiz by heart as did his father the dervish Sheriar Irani, who had originally walked to Pune in India from Khooramshah in Iran. Merwan went on to reveal himself as Perfect Master (Qutub) and later also declared himself as the Rasool or Messiah (Avatar). The correct rhyme-structure has been kept as well as the beauty and meaning of these important beautiful, inspiring, mystical poems. CONTENTS: The Life, Times & Poetry of Meher Baba, Selected Bliography, A Large Selection of Ghazals, Qasidas, Qit'as (Fragments), Slokas (Couplets). The correct form and meaning is here. Pages 120. Introduction to Sufi Poets Series 'AISHAH Al-BA'UNIYAH, AMIR KHUSRAU, ANSARI, ANVARI, AL-MA'ARRI, 'ARIFI, 'ATTAR, ABU SA'ID, AUHAD UD-DIN, BABA FARID, BABA AZFAL, BABA TAHIR, BEDIL, BULLEH SHAH, DARA SHIKOH, GHALIB, GHANI KASHMIRI, HAFIZ, HASAN DEHLAVI, HUMA, IBN 'ARABI, IBN YAMIN, IBN AL-FARID, IQBAL, INAYAT KHAN, 'IRAQI, JAHAN KHATUN, JAMI, JIGAR, KAMAL AD-DIN, KABIR, KHAQANI, KHAYYAM, LALLA DED, MAKHFI, MANSUR HALLAJ, MIR, MU'IN UD-DIN CHISHTI, NAZIR, NESIMI, NIZAMI, NUND RISHI, OBEYD ZAKANI, RABI'A, RAHMAN BABA, RUMI, SADI, SA'IB, SANA'I, SARMAD, SHABISTARI, SHAH LATIF, SHAH NI'MAT'ULLAH, SULTAN BAHU, YUNUS EMRE, EARLY ARABIC SUFI POETS, EARLY PERSIAN SUFI POETS, URDU SUFI POETS, ETC. 90-120 pages each. Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre. Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Ibn 'Arabi and others, and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books, screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com