ARABIAN LITERATU

RE

GLADYS T. AMBUYAT BSED II

Philippines is not only composed of Christians but of non-Christians too. The biggest group among the non-Christians are the Muslims of Mindanao whose literature springs mostly from Arabian Literature.

Arabic poetry is characteristically witty and satirical. Each line is a compact thought filled with meaning. The poems gives praises to such virtues as truthfulness, hospitality, generosity, and love of freedom.

The Arabs produced one of the most famous collections of tales in the world known as The Thousand and One Nights, or The Arabian Nights.

*THE PROPHET**DATES*

*THE BEWILDERED ARAB**THE FOOD OF PARADISE*

*THE GREEDY JACKAL**COUNT NOT YOUR

CHICKEN BEFORE THEY HATCH*

*THE PROPHET* a book of 28 prose poetry essays.

written in English by the Lebanese artist, philosopher and writer Khalil Gibran.

originally published in 1923 by Alfred A. Knopf. It is Gibran's best known work. The Prophet has been translated into over forty different languages and has never been out of print.

The coming of

the ship Love Marriage Children Giving Eating and

drinking WorkJoy and

Sorrow

Houses Clothes Buying and

Selling Crime and

Punishment Laws Freedom Reason and

Passion Pain Self –

knowledge

Teaching Friendship Talking Time Good and Evil Prayer Pleasure Beauty Religion Death The Farewell

The Prophet provides timeless spiritual wisdom on a range of subjects including:

The prophet , Almustafa, has lived in the foreign city of Orphalese for 12 years and is about to board a ship which will carry him home. He is stopped by a group of people, with whom he discusses topics such as life and the human condition. The book is divided into chapters dealing with love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.

SYNOPSIS

KHALIL GIBRAN (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931)

• Lebanese – American artist, poet and writer. • Born in the town of Bsharri in the north of modern-day Lebanon (then part of Ottoman Mount Lebanon).• as a young man he immigrated with his family to the United States, where he studied art and began his literary career, writing in both English and Arabic. • In the Arab world, Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel. • His romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic literature, especially prose poetry, breaking away from the classical school. In Lebanon, he is still celebrated as a literary hero. 

He is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose.

The book sold well despite a cool critical reception, gaining popularity in the 1930s and again especially in the 1960s counterculture. Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lau Tzu.

KHALIL GIBRAN

Then Almitra spoke again and said, "And what of Marriage, master?" 

And he answered saying: 

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. 

You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days. 

Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. 

But let there be spaces in your togetherness, 

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. 

Love one another but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. 

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. 

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,      

ON MARRIAGE

On marriage cont.

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though

they quiver with the same music. 

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. 

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. 

And stand together, yet not too near together:

For the pillars of the temple stand apart, 

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow. 

      And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children." And he said:       Your children are not your children.       They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.       They come through you but not from you,       And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.       You may give them your love but not your thoughts.       For they have their own thoughts.       You may house their bodies but not their souls,       For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.      

ON CHILDREN

On children cont.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.       For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.       You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.       The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.       Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;       For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. 

*DATES*From the Arabian Nights

We grow to the sound of the wind

Playing his flutes in our hair.

Palm tree daughters,

Brown flesh Bedouin,

Fed with light

By our gold father

We are loved of the free-tended,

The sons of space, the hall forgetters,

The wide-handed, the bright-sworded

Masters of horses.

Who shall rested in the shade of our palms

Shall hear us murmur even above his sleep.

*THE BEWILDERED ARAB*Jami 1414

dervish and mystic philosopher

(This funny little story is about the confused Arab could very well happen to a barrio boy who is in Manila for the first time.)

From the solitary desertUp to Baghdad came a simple

Arab; there amid the routGrew bewildered of the countlessPeople, hither, thither, running,

coming, going, meeting, parting,Clamor, clatter, and confusion,

All about him and about.

The bewildered Arab cont.

Travel-wearied, hubbub-dizzy,would the simple Arab fain

Get to sleep - "But then, on waking,How," quoth he, "amid so manyWaking, know myself again?"

So, to make the matter certain,Strung a gourd about his ankle,

And, into a corner creeping,Baghdad and himself and peopleSoon were blotted from his brain.

The bewildered Arab cont.But one that heard him and divined

His purpose, slyly crept behind;From the sleeper's ankle clipping,Round his own the pumpkin tied,

And laid him down to sleep beside.

By and by, the Arab waking,Looks directly for his signal -Sees it on another's ankle -

Cries aloud, "Oh, good-for-nothingRascal to perplex me so!

That by you I am bewildered,Whether I be I or no!

If I - the pumpkin why on you?If you - then where am I, and who?"

*THE FOOD OF PARADISE*Ibn Amjed

Is one of the inspiring tales form

“THE BOOK OF ORIENTAL LITERATURE” edited by the Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah and published by Garden City

Publishing Company Inc. in New York.

MULLAH- is generally used to refer to a Muslim man, educated in Islamic theology  and Sacred law.

Characters:

*Mullah Ibrahim*Hermit

*The Princess*Adhem

Setting:

*City of Baghdad*Silver castle

Conflict:

When Mullah Ibrahim questioned the goodness of Allah

Climax:

When Mullah found where his food came from.

Summary:

Mullah Ibrahim taught Islam to his Moslem students in the seminary founded by the Caliph. The work was thankless and ill-paid. He questioned the goodness of Allah and why should the servant like him suffered. Mullah left the seminary and walked out of the City of Baghdad where he had lived for many years. He fell asleep in dry and shady spot beneath a spreading cypress tree by the riverbank. When he woke early the next morning, holy silence lay upon everything. He asked himself that would the birds of the air bring him food but morning came, and still no miracle came.

And on the road above, pilgrims and travelers passed, but they ignored him. Hunger gnawed at his vitals and he recalled with envy the millet and goat’s milk the mullahs would now be enjoying at the seminary. Still he did not lose hope but prayed with usual fervor.He slept again without eating, and woke up too faint from hunger to stand. From the noontime heat, Mullah saw something floating on the river. He got it and inside was the most delicious halwa, famous marzipan, a sweetmeat composed of sugar mixed with paste of almonds and attar of roses and other delicate essences.

*THE GREEDY JACKAL**COUNT NOT YOUR

CHICKEN BEFORE THEY HATCH*

From the interesting stories to learn Proverbs- R.K. Murki

Meaning: No man should take the future for granted. One

can make plans for the future and work on them. At the same time he should know that even the best of the plans can go wrong. So one should be ready for unexpected reverses.

Don't build castles in the air.