Classicla Arabic Wisdom Literature

Classical Arabic Wisdom Literature: Nature and ScopeAuthor(s): Dimitri GutasSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 101, No. 1, Oriental Wisdom (Jan. -Mar., 1981), pp. 49-86Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/602164Accessed: 15/08/2010 02:01

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aos.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal ofthe American Oriental Society.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/stable/602164?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aos

CLASSICAL ARABIC WISDOM LITERATURE: NATURE AND SCOPE

DIMITRI GUTAS

YALE UNIVERSITY

Ln . J ) J1

I. Introduction. II. The Word hikma/ maxim in pre- and early

Islamic times. III. The Age of written wisdom literature in Arabic. IV. The Sources of Classical Arabic wisdom lit-

erature. A. Luqman. B. Arabic sources. C. Foreign sources.

V. Classical Arabic wisdom literature as a literary genre. A. The Place of wisdom literature in the clas-

sification of literary genres. B. The Typological classification and nomen-

clature of maxims. VI. The Social function and significance of classical

Arabic wisdom literature.

I. INTRODUCTION.

"MODESTY," THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD is reported to have said, "can only bring about good." When this saying was told by 'Imran b. Husayn (d. 52/672), a Companion of the Prophet, another Companion, Bugayr b. Ka'b (n.d.), countered with a different saying from another source: "It is written in the hikma that 'modesty is partly gravity and partly imperturbability.'" 'Imran replied in irritation, "I am telling you about the Messenger of God and you are telling me about your scroll!"'

Many of the issues involved in a study of classical Arabic wisdom literature are reflected in this report. First and foremost is the very word hikma: its association with 'wisdom' literature (clearly indicated in the above report), its definition as 'maxim,' and the origins and development of this definition. Second, and no less important, is the age of written wisdom literature in Arabic: oral wisdom literature certainly antedated Muhammad and the Qur'an, but whether there existed in his time books containing such literature, as the above report seems to imply, is still a matter of debate.

Third is the material out of which the voluminous Arabic wisdom literature was composed, and its sources, both Arab and foreign (Bugayr is apparently drawing here upon material in wide circulation). Fourth is the place wisdom literature occupies within Arabic literature as a whole-that is, its literary genre, and its relation to the other genres. In this connection the taxonomy developed by the Arabs themselves to ac- commodate these genres is of particular importance, especially in view of the fact that early Arabic prose literature is predominantly apophthegmatic in na- ture2-like the above report. Fifth, and perhaps most significant of all in a wider sense, is what one might call the social dimension of wisdom literature: its produc- tion, collection, and consumption as a social function, and its relation, as a social determinant, to religious literature (a hint of which is provided by the hadit quoted above).

Surprising as it may seem, especially in comparison with other Near Eastern traditions, Arabic wisdom literature has received little scholarly attention. Its sheer copiousness may be one reason; its ubiquitous- ness, which derives from the apophthegmatic nature of Arabic literature, and which tends to blur the focus of attention, may be another. The few references to, or discussions of, this literature that exist in secondary sources are mostly incidental. Serious investigations into this general field, especially such works as those of Sellheim (1954), Blachere (1954), and Bloch (1954), deal primarily with proverbs, which represent but one aspect of wisdom literature. What is set forth in the following pages, therefore, is less a survey than a preliminary investigation and inventory of the issues enumerated above, issues which I believe ought to be discussed in association with classical Arabic wisdom literature. The discussion will necessarily be selective and restricted-given the constraints of time and space-as well as tentative. I wish to emphasize this point here in order to spare the readers and myself tedious repetition later on. Some of the arguments to be presented will be more developed than others,

49

50 Journal of the American Oriental Society 101.1 (1981)

depending on the relative importance of the issue being discussed, but in general what follows ought to be regarded as an outline of the points I consider significant. I leave the elaboration and emendation of points already made, as well as the addition of new ones, to the future studies I hope it will prompt.

II. THE WORD HIKMA MAXIM IN PRE- AND EARLY

ISLAMIC TIMES.

The Arabic word hikma is not as unequivocal as it appears at first sight. But both Arab and non-Arab authorities have been for the most part so consistent in defining it primarily as 'wisdom'3 that one is apt to forget that words, as carriers of a culture at a specific stage of its development, may have different referents not only when translated from one culture to another, but also at different stages of the same culture. A semantic history of the word hikma in Arabic culture would therefore be highly desirable, but such an investigation can hardly be undertaken here.4 Ilikma, however, also means 'maxim," 'wisdom saying,' and, because of the central position which this signification occupies in the present discussion, some consideration of this aspect of the word is clearly warranted. Our first recourse, the Arab lexicographers, prove disap- pointing. Despite the quantity and breadth of the available medieval lexica, the term hikma itself, in the sense of 'maxim,' remained almost totally undefined. With the sole exception of Ibn Durayd's Jamharat al- luga, to be mentioned presently, hikma = 'maxim' was left undefined not only by the standard dictionaries- from al-Azharl's Tahdib to Ibn Manzur's Lisdn but also by more specialized lexica. We find, for instance, neither a reference to it in Zamahsarl's Asts al-baliga, a dictionary of literal and metaphorical meanings, nor a comparison between it and, say, ma'rifa or cilm6 in Abf Hilal al-cAskarl's al-Furaq al-lugawiya, a dictionary of synonyms. This is doubtless due to the inherent bias of Arabic lexicography in favor of religious terminology and Bedouin poetic vocabulary, and to its exclusion of the commonly known (al-macrfif).7 Ibn Durayd's (d. 321/933) Jamhara, however, one of the earliest extant dictionaries, does define hikma in this sense, and significantly, only in this sense.8 With regard to the use of the word hikma in the saying (habar), "Hikma is the stray camel of the believer [for which he must search]," Ibn Durayd says: "Every saying which exhorts you, or urges you, or calls you to a noble trait or deters you from a disgraceful one is a hikma or hukm. This is the interpretation of the

Prophetic saying, 'some poetry is hikma and some eloquent style is magic.'9

Ibn Durayd's definition is substantiated by the actual occurrence of the word in our earliest post- Qur'anic sources, which allows us to be quite specific about usage. Hikma, the feminine singular noun, means 'maxim,' and its plural is hikam. Concerning a verse by Suwayd b. Abi Kahil (active before and after Islam), al-Asma'i (d. ca. 215/830) says that the Bed- ouin consider it as one of their maxims (ta'udduhd min hikamihd).'? The same singular word, however, is frequently used in a collective sense, meaning 'a collection of maxims,' or 'maxims [in general].' This usage is best exemplified by a quotation from Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889): "The New Testament says that when Jesus . . . coined proverbs and maxims for them . . . ((daraba lahum al-amtdia wa-/-hikmata . . ).""1 The collective use of hikma is evident here. Similarly, Abf l-Faraj al- Isfahani (d. 356/967) refers to a verse by al-Afwah (d. ca. 570 A.D.) as "one of the maxims and precepts of the Bedouin" (min hikmati l-Arab wa-dddbihdu).'2 The fact that the parallel word, ddab is plural clearly illustrates the collective use of hikma. A single saying from a collection of sayings was frequently, and early, referred to as kalima min al-hikma or kalimatu hikmatin. Both Tirmid! (d. 279/892-3) and Ibn Maja (d. 273/887), for example, refer to the saying quoted above, ",hikma is the stray camel of the believer," (to which Ibn Durayd refers as habar,) as al-kalima.'3 Jahiz (d. 255/868-9) quotes al-Fudayl [b. 'Iyad] as having said, "an excellent gift is one of the maxims which a man upholds in order to present it to his friend" (ni'mat al-hadiva al-kalima min al-hikma 'ahfazuhd l-rajul hattd yulqiyahd il/ ahihi).'4 Through an extension of the collective use, hikma also came to designate the genre of the body of written and oral expressions (i.e. literature) which contained maxims, and it thus meant 'literature of maxims' or, to use the traditional appel- lation, 'wisdom literature.' Ibn Durayd himself says about the famous pre-Islamic sage, Aktam b. Sayfl, that "Aktam said many sayings belonging to the literature of maxims" (lahu kalimun katirun fi /-hikma).15 Similarly, Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Katib introduces some sayings ascribed to 'Ali with the words, "some sayings of the Commander of the Faithful belonging to the literature of maxims" (wa-min kal/mi amiri /-mu'minina fl l-hikma).'6 Finally, when this literature of maxims is contained in a book, it is also referred to as hikma, which then means, 'a book of maxims. This meaning of the word is most clearly exhibited in a quotation of Ibn Hisam (d. 218/833)

GUTAS: Arabic Wisdom Literature: Nature and Scope 51

when he explains the relatively rare (and foreign) term majallat Luqmnn (Luqman's scroll) with the more usual hikmat Luqmdn (Luqman's Book of Maxims).'7 In the hadit quoted at the beginning of this paper, Bugayr b. Ka'b introduces a saying as having been "written in a book of maxims" (maktubunfi l-hikma).'8 When the author of the collection was (or thought to be) known, his name was appended to it: Jahiz prefaces a saying ascribed to David by saying, "it is written in David's Book of Maxims (maktubun fi hikmat Ddwad).'9

The above range of meanings for the word hikma is thus well attested for post-Qur'anic Arabic to the time of Ibn Durayd (d. 321/933).20 That these meanings have been in use since then needs no particular documentation; rather, the question is to determine the meaning of the word for Qur'anic and pre-Islamic Arabic. With regard to the latter, the problem is quite intractable: there seem to be virtually no attestations (?awdhid) for the word in pre-Islamic poetry.2' Never- theless, a rapid survey of the most essential available evidence can be attempted here.

In the verse of the pre-Islamic poet Zabban b. Sayyar, where the word hikma itself (and not a derivative of the root h-k-m) is used, the meaning 'maxim'fits the context better and more naturally than the traditional 'wisdom.' The situation which occasioned the composition of the poem was the following: al-Nabiga and Zabbdn22 were about to set out on a raid when a locust fell on al-Nabiga, who took this as an evil omen and stayed behind. As it turned out, however, Zabban returned from the raid both safe and enriched, and composed these verses in mild reproof of al-Nabiga's superstition:

Ziyad [al-Nabiga] consulted his omen about it to tell him, but he has no experience with omens;

He stayed [behind], as if Luqman b. cAd

had been someone beckoning to him with his 23 maxims.

The parallel drawn here is between two concrete subjects, the omen Qayr, i.e. the locust) and the maxim (hikma), both of which can properly be called signs (as'ra lahu: 'he made signs to him') indicating future conduct. It would be less natural to assume a paral- lelism between the concrete omen and abstract 'wisdom,' which, in any case, is not a 'sign. 24

One element in the above verses that requires attention concerns the implied association between hikma and bablr: al-Nabiga, having no experience or knowl-

edge of interpreting omens, acted as though he had benefited from the hikma of Luqman. Had he been habir (experienced, knowledgeable), he would not have been in need of Luqman's hikma ('distilled experience'?). The implication is therefore that hikma, the maxim or admonition, stems from previous experiences. We find a striking confirmation of this implication in the verse of a later poet, Muhammad b. Munadir (d. 198/814):

Tell us . of the marvels of our jahilivva, for they are hikma and [sources of ?] experiences."

This understanding of hikma seems to be closely related, in one instance at least, to the denominative fac ala form of the root. The lexicographer al-Jawhari (d. ca. 398/1007) explains the word muhakkam occurring in a verse by the pre-Islamic poet Tarafa26 as "an old and experienced (mujarrab) man, to whom hikma is attributed."27 Accordingly, a person who is able to derive a general truth or rule of conduct (maxim) from previous experiences, one who is able therefore to benefit from them and find a way out in a given situation, is a hakim. This meaning of hakim is well attested in pre-Islamic sources. A maxim attributed to Luqman reads, "the person who knows (calim) and is a hakim calls people to his knowledge through dignified silence; he who knows ('dlim) but is perplexed (ahraqu: unable to see the proper course, unskilled in communicating) repels people from his knowledge through excessive prattle.',28 It is interesting to note that both people are characterized as c'lim. Not knowledge itself, therefore, but the ability to do or say (as in the example that follows) the proper thing makes one a hakim. In a laudatory verse, the pre-Islamic poet al- A'sa says,

When you speak, you pronounce better maxims than Luqman, since he could not find the right

expressions.29

Again, what is contrasted here with Luqman's inability to find the right expression ('avvta) is not knowledge but the ability to utter pronouncements appropriate to the occasion. Finally, in a dialogue held in the presence of one of the pre-Islamic kings of Himyar, the question, "who is the best hakim of all people," is answered by, "He who is silent and then keeps this in mind, he who observes and accordingly takes warning, and he who is exhorted and accordingly refrains."30 In other words, a pre-Islamic hakim is he who can derive benefit with regard to his conduct from his own


experience (he observes and accordingly takes warning), or from the experience of others when so admonished by their pronouncements (bikam or mawvv'iz:3 he is exhorted and accordingly refrains). A very important attendant quality is dignified silence on occasions when speaking is inappropriate (cf. al-A'da's verse: hina tantiqu, 'the moment when you do speak').

This brief and necessarily limited survey of the meaning of hikma and the related hakim and ahkamu in pre-Islamic Arabic has thus shown the basic agree- ment between the pre- and post-Qur'anic uses of the term. Narrow as the pool of available evidence is, it nevertheless shows that in pre-Islamic Arabic hikma most probably referred to a pronouncement (maxim) reflecting an admonition for proper conduct, derived from past experience. The person who had the capacity to derive benefit either from his own experience or from the experience of others as distilled in their pronouncements (maxims), and who could act accordingly, was a hakim. A hakim was also the person who could utter such pronouncements.32 In the Islamic period this meaning of hikma remained essentially unaltered, except for what I perceive to be a significant change in the provenance of maxims: instead of (or perhaps, concurrently with) experience, it is God and his worship. A Prophetic tradition has it that Muham- mad said, "No man can devote himself exclusively to the worship of God for forty days without the springs of maxims (yandbT'u l-hikma) arising out of his heart and overwhelming his tongue."33 Al-Hasan al-Basr (d. 110/728) is reported to have interpreted the Qur'anic verse about Moses (28.14), "When he reached his full maturity we gave him judiciousness (hukm) and knowledge," as follows: "Whoever worships God well in his youth is granted hikma by God in his old age."34 In both these instances it is seen that worship leads to hikma. Finally, the pre-Islamic hakim who maintains a dignified silence, speaks only when necessary, and heeds or utters maxims based on experience is trans- formed into a Muslim hakim who maintains a dignified silence, speaks only when necessary, but is a storehouse of maxims based on the Qur'an. The second century A.H. hadit scholar 'Abdallah b. al- Mubarak (d. 181/797) eulogizes the great Malik b. Anas in this way:

Always silent when silence his people adorned, but constantly breaking new ground with virgin

and untried speech, He was the storehouse of every maxim stored in

the Qur'an,

and moral sayings were mixed with his flesh and blood. "

With regard to the Qur'anic use of the word hikma, the recurring problem of the actual, as opposed to the traditional (both Muslim and non-Muslim), meanings of Qur'anic terms arises again.36 Our earliest extant sources dealing with Qur'anic terminology differ widely in their interpretaion of the word. This by itself should alert us to the possibility that the traditional interpretation might not be accurate. Had 'wisdom' been both the intended and accepted meaning of hikma in the Qur'an from the very beginning, there would have been no need for the great variety of later intepre- tations given by Qur'anic commentators. And yet TabarT's Tafsir lists the following meanings, some by Tabari himself, others by earlier authorities: hikma is Prophetic practice (sunna), knowledge of the religion (al-ma'rifa bi-l-din, al-fiqh fl i-din), following the religion (al-ittibd' li-l-din), comprehending the religion (al-'aql fl i-din), something which God puts in the heart to illuminate it;37 it is prophethood (nubawa);38 it is correct word and deed (al-isdbafl 1-qawil wa-lfi'l), the Qur'an and its understanding, knowledge of the religion (al- 'ilm bi-l-din), understanding (fahm), fear of God (ha'yat Allh);39 it is whatever God revealed to the prophets other than a recited book;40 it is the revelation (wahy) of God;4' it is trustworthiness (or something committed to somebody's trust: amdna);42 it is knowledge of the Prophetic traditions ( 'ilm al-sunan).43 The early philologists al-Farrad (d. 207/ 822) gives yet another meaning (on the authority of Mujahid) for hikma as it applies to David (38.20): it is the vision of God (Cuhad).44

All these meanings are patently forced, as must have been acknowledged as early as the third century A.H. because Ibn Qutayba finds it appropriate to include hikma in his Tafsirgarib al-Qur'an where, echoing one of the traditions also preserved by Tabarl, he defines it as follows: ",hikma is knowledge and [corresponding] action; no one can be called a haki'm unless he combines the two."45 In contradistinction, the word does not figure in Ibn Qutayba's Ta'wvil mu~kil al-Qur'dn, or, most important, in Abu 'cUbayda's Ma/az al- Qur'dn,46 or, as mentioned earlier, in Zamahgarl's Asds al-balga, a dictionary of literal and metaphorical meanings. The above evidence, together with the previous discussion of the meaning of hikma as 'maxim.' thus presents a paradox: on the one hand, the literal meaning of the word (i.e., maxim), though well-


known (it was not included among the muskil al-Qur'an), was regarded as inappropriate to the Qur'anic usage, and the word was therefore interpreted metaphorically: to this suggestion testify both the long list of interpretations given above and Ibn Qutayba's acceptance of the word in his book on the uncommon (*arfb) meanings in the Qur'an. On the other hand, however, the word was not included among those with an unambiguous metaphorical (majdz) meaning, nor was it given by the lexicographers a metaphorical definition apart from those taken from the tafsfr literature.47

The paradox noted above implies that a sharp distinction was made between the secular and religious (Qur'anic) meanings of hikma, each presented as a reflection of the literal meaning of the word. The secular literal meaning of hikma (maxim) was evi- dently not acceptable Qur'anic usage, and accordingly another meaning, religious ('knowledge and practice of Islam' = 'religious wisdom'), but also considered as literal, was put forward; for, had the religious meaning been presented as metaphorical, literalists would have still insisted that hikma in the Qur'an means 'maxims.' Now the early Muslim commentators on the Qur'an did not acknowledge the applicability of the meaning of 'maxim' to the Qur'anic use of hikma, apparently in order to avoid according any authority to collections of maxims. If God-as the argument in favor of maxims would have run-grants worthy mortals collections of maxims, which can be used, as discussed above, to guide proper conduct, then any collection of established respectability, such as that of Luqman, could be considered as God-given and hence equally authoritative with the Qur'an. In fact there are indications that such arguments were used.48 The commentators accordingly had to gloss over the literal meaning of hikma and insist that, rather than to pagan pronouncements on proper conduct, hikma literally referred to specifically Islamic concepts, like the tradition (sunna) of the Prophet, knowledge of Islam, and all the other interpretations enumerated above. In this way they hoped, and mostly succeeded, to direct attention away from a potential rival to the Qur'an, the collections of maxims.

Another argument-though indirect-in favor of the original meaning of hikma as 'maxim' and of the later development of the meaning 'wisdom' is that in pre-Islamic and Qur'anic Arabic the concept 'wisdom' was adequately covered by the word hukm, which meant both 'judgment' and 'judiciousness.'49 A verse of the pre-Islamic poet al-Musayyab b. cAlas provides sufficient testimony to this: fa-ra'aytu anna l-hukma

mujtanibu l-siba, "I saw that judiciousness counselled me to leave youthful folly."50 Later, in early Islamic times, as a more abstract literal signification had to be given to the Qur'anic hikma, the meaning of hukm as 'judiciousness' was transferred to hikma. In the interpretation of Sura 28.14 quoted above (p. 52a), for example, it was seen that al-HIasan al-Basri substituted hikma for the Qur'anic hukm. How this transferral was grammatically possible is well illustrated by Tabari's "etymology" of hikma: "In my opinion, [hikma] derives from hukm in the sense of 'separating (fasl) the true from the false,' just as jilsa and qicda [are derived] fromrjulus and qu'ucd.

01 In other words, hikma is seen to be a noun of kind (ismu l-naw'i) of the pattern fi'la, deriving from the masdar of the verb hakama, hukm, and meaning 'a particular kind of judging,' that is, 'judging well,' and hence 'judiciousness.' Hukm was accordingly deprived of this latter meaning and left only (in this context) with the meaning of 'judgment.' This is why the Arab commentator of al-Musayyab's verse just quoted had to interpret hukm, apparently no longer immediately understood as 'judiciousness,' by 'aql, and also, very possibly, why the variant reading hilm arose to replace hukm which was felt not to fit the context.53

Despite the continous glossing over the literal meaning of the Qur'anic hikma by lexicographers and exegetes alike, traces of the original meaning (maxim) can still be found in their works. Most explicit is the report given by al-Ragib al-Isfahan! about the interpretation of 33.34 ("[Wives of the Prophet,] bear in mind the ayat of God and the hikma which are recited in your houses"): "They [i.e. the dydt and the hikma] are the knowledge of His verses and His maxims (hikamihi)."'54 Tabari also, in one of his own interpretations, implies that the referent of hikma has the form and content of maxims: "Hikma refers summarily to what is licit and illicit, to the commands and pro- hibitions, to the rules of conduct (ahkdrm), and to the promises and threats which God mentioned in the Book."55 This is very close to Ibn Durayd's definition of hikma (as given above p. 50a).

With the above discussion in mind, we can now look at the actual use of hikma in the Qur'an. It occurs there twenty times. In half of these, it is coupled with the word kitib, a book which was revealed to one of the prophets.56 Horovitz has made an excellent case for understanding hikma in this context as some part of the revealed books;57 we can now assert that, in all probability, hikma refers to the section which contains maxims. In the remaining ten passages, however, the


meaning of 'maxim' again fits the context much more naturally and yields a better sense than 'wisdom':

a) Sara 17.29-39 consists of eight maxims (vv. 29, 31- 37; vv. 30 and 38 belong, respectively, with the immediately preceding verse), followed by the explanatory remark, "Those are some of the maxims (hikma) which your lord signified58 to you," i.e. the eight maxims that just preceded. That these maxims are called hikma is further evident from 17.37, wa-da tamsi fl 1-ardi marahan, a saying repeated verbatim as one of the maxims of Luqman in 31.18.

b) Precisely the same meaning is intended in 54.4-5: "Announcements containing a deterrents8a came to them [scil. those who deny God's signs]: maxims sufficient [for this purpose], yet warnings are of no avail." The words anbd' and nudzr in these verses clearly indicate that hikma is a pronouncement containing an announcement and a warning; 'wisdom' yields very little sense in this context.59 Similarly, in 33.34, "[Wives of the Prophet,] bear in mind the verses of God and the maxims which are recited in your houses," hikma cannot be 'wisdom'; for surely one cannot "recite"60 'wisdom,' an intellectual faculty.

c) A synonym for hikma is provided in 16.125: "Call [the people] to the way of your Lord with maxims and good exhortations (maw'iza); in your disputations with them use those that are better [than all the others]." Here hikma and maw'iza are closely related, much as in the poem of Tarafa mentioned earlier (n. 27). These maxims are to be used in orations, when the Prophet is calling people to Islam, and in disputations, when he is arguing against his more contentious opponents. That such maxims, when used in speeches and orations, increase the effectiveness of the speaker is apparent from 38.20: "We made his [David's] kingdom strong and gave him [a book of?] maxims and the ability to make speeches that decide the matter." About a century after Muhammad, Wahb b. Munab- bih, the editor of Luqman's sayings, would state this use of maxims in explicit terms: "People inserted them [i.e. Luqmdn's maxims] into their speech, made use of them in their orations and letters, and associated their eloquence with them."6' As to the maxims which David received from God (repeated in 2.251: "God gave him the kingdom and [a book of?] maxims'), it is not clear to what extent these are to be identified with the Zabur. The term Zabar is somewhat ambiguous in the Qur'dan,62 but in any case, later tradition (starting at least as early as Whab b. Munabbih) knew of a collection of sayings attributed to David (Qikmat , ....., 63

d) In 31.12 God gives [a book of] maxims to Luqman, followed by extracts from that collection (vv. 13, 16-19); these verses sufficiently identify the nature of the hikma given to Luqman. In 43.63 we read, "When Jesus brought the clear statements (bavyyindi), he said, 'I have brought you maxims and [I have come] to make clear to you some of that about which you differ."' Here hikma is explained by the preceding bajyindt: it is a clear pronouncement indicating a way out of a confusing situation, much as in the pre-Islamic passages discussed above.

e) Finally, Sura 2.269 provides a general statement about maxims and the admonitions they contain: "[God] gives maxims/admonitions to whomever He wishes. Whoever is given maxims/admonitions is truly given much good, but only those with understanding remember." A pre-Islamic "man of understanding" is he who can remember and apply the maxims he heard from a hakim; a Muslim "man of understanding" is he who can remember (and hence apply) the maxims revealed by God.64 One certainly cannot remember abstract 'wisdom' but only specific sayings and admonitions.

Hikma in the Qur'an, therefore, never seems to mean 'wisdom' in the sense of an intellectual faculty; it is not an abstract concept-hukm, in the sense of judiciousness' apparently served that purpose-, but it refers to something concrete and specific. It means 'maxims' and, when coupled with the word kitdb, it means that part of a (revealed) book which contains maxims [in the case of Luqman and even of David, perhaps, it could be argued that it refers to a book of maxims]. If hikma in the Qur'an has an abstract meaning at all, then it must be 'admonition' in the sense of the advice for conduct which these maxims include, not 'wisdom.' How the meaning 'wisdom' for hikma may have subsequently emerged from the efforts of the Qur'dnic commentators,65 or possibly from theological/doctrinal debates,66 or even from a probable (re-?) entry of the Syriac hekmd into Arabic,67 is a subject for another investigation.

Also outside the scope of the present paper lies a discussion of the origins of hikma in pre-Islamic Arabic. It has been maintained, with some documentation, that hikma and hakim are Aramaic loan-words;68 there is also some evidence that might conceivably point to a South Arabian origin.69 Cultural borrowings, especially of such a general nature as the referents of hikma and hakim, are as a rule difficult to establish incontrovertibly; and when the evidence, as in the case of hikma and hakim, is by its very nature


circumstantial and indirect, then the difficulty may be insurmountable. In all such investigations of origins the first step should be to establish, to the extent allowed by the sources, the meaning of a term in context in a given language or culture. This section constitutes a preliminary attempt in that direction.

III. THE AGE OF WRITTEN WISDOM LITERATURE IN

ARABIC.

The question of the beginnings of written wisdom literature among the Arabs is inextricably linked with that of the extent of their literacy in pre- and early Islamic times in general,70 and with that of the tradition of Luqman's maxims among them in particular. From the available evidence--which must necessarily come from Islamic sources unless or until archaeo- logical discoveries provide independent documentation -it is possible to state the problem as follows: if written documents (books, scrolls, etc.) of secular" prose" in Arabic existed prior to the rise of Muham- mad, then more likely than not they were books of wisdom literature,73 which, in turn, were more likely than not ascribed to Luqman. Some of the pertinent evidence bears reexamination and, to a certain degree, reevaluation.

1. Both books and the act of writing itself were familiar to the Arabs of the H ijaz at the time of Muhammad.

a) The Qur'an uses no less than six words to designate a written document in general (kitab, lawh, raqq, qirtds, sahifa, ustura [?]), and at least four words to refer to specific kinds of books (tawrdt, injil, zabiur, hikma [or hukm?]).74

b) Acts of writing are referred to casually in the Qur-an in connection with everyday activities: Sara 2.282 (contracts for debts), 24.33 (deeds of manumission). People who copy (religious suhuf) by profession are the safara (80.15), and it is apparently accepted practice to employ such scribes for one's personal use. In 25.5 we read: "They [i.e. those who disbelieve] say: '[The Qur'an is nothing else but] tales (asdtir)75 of the ancients which he [i.e. Muhammad] has had copied for himself (iktatabahd)76 and which are recited to him (tumid 'alayhi; cf. note 60) morning and evening."' This verse is doubly significant: not only does it place beyond a reasonable doubt the later reports that Muhammad employed secretaries,77 but it also reflects a conception that must have been common among his pagan contemporaries,78 namely, that a scribe could be employed not only in business (debt contracts) and

private (manumission deeds) transactions, but also in connection with recording essentially literary material transmitted in the tradition of the society (asdtir al- awwalin).

c) This assertion is further corroborated by a report in Ibn Hisam, according to which not only Muhammad but other Meccans also were in the habit of commissioning the writing of the "tales of the ancients." Al-Nadr b. al-Harit, the minstrel and 'rival' of Muhammad, is reported to have said, "By God, Muhammad does not tell better stories than I do-his stories are nothing else but tales of the ancients which he has had copied for himself just as I have had them copied for myself."79

In the eyes of the Meccans, therefore, the fact that Muhammad had a portion of the Qur'an recorded in writing was quite typical of what people occasionally did when they wished to have stories of the ancients recorded. Writing down Luqman's sayings would thus have been nothing extraordinary in itself.

2. The practice of employing scribes for this purpose may perhaps be documented for the Jdhilivi'va also. Quite some time ago Goldziher drew attention to the following verses of the Hudall poet Ma'qil b. Huway- lid, an older contemporary of Muhammad:

As he who dictates the writing on parchment while the scribe writes, says,

The calm witness who is present sees what he who is absent cannot see."80

In a recension of this poem, there follow two more verses, also containing wisdom sayings.8' This led Goldziher to conclude that "this is an important proof for the fact that wise sayings were noted down even in the most ancient days."82 Bloch (1954:222-3), however, took exception to this interpretation of Ma'qil's poem. He pointed out that the last two verses of the poem (not quoted above) do not really belong there. As for the saying, "The calm witness, etc.," he maintained, citing Tabari (Ta'rll II.i.401), that it was often used in correspondence as an excuse when the author of the letter failed to achieve the results which the addressee had originally desired. The first verse quoted above, therefore, does not, according to Bloch, refer to dictating wisdom literature which a scribe would write down, but to dictating letters.

Bloch's objection is compelling, but Goldziher's position now finds new support from a passage in Ibn Qutayba's I U'n. This passage consists of a lengthy


quotation from Wahb b. Munabbih's book on Luq- man," in which Luqman advises his son about traveling. The last sentences read as follows: "If you see a single person [when you are traveling] do not ask him about the way, for it is the single person in the desert that can give you wrong directions. But also beware of two people, unless you see something I don't: for the witness sees what he who is absent cannot see, and when the person endowed with reason sees something with his own two eyes, he knows the truth in his heart."84 The saying, "The witness sees what he who is absent cannot see," therefore, is part of the wisdom literature ascribed to Luqman and not simply an independent proverb. In fact, the saying fits the context in which it is quoted by Wahb so well that it might even be assumed that Ma'qil b. Huwaylid was indeed referring to this passage in his poem. Be that as it may, however, Goldziher's interpretation of Ma'qil's verses now seems at least as probable as, if not more so than that of Bloch.

3. A case was made above (Section II) that hikma in the Qur'an means that part of the books revealed by God which contains maxims. If this is so, and the books of maxims given to the other prophets were in the language of those prophets, then the book of maxims given to Luqman and quoted in the Qur'an must have been in Arabic.

4. Goldziher has referred to a number of passages in early Islamic literature which indicate that books containing maxims in Arabic were in circulation at least as early as the time of the Prophet.85 The most telling of these may be reviewed here.

a) Mucawiya asks his courtier, Habib b. Maslama al-Fihri, to write down a saying which Mu'awiya had heard from 'Ad! b. Hatim because, he says, "it is a maxim (hikmna)."86 Mu'awiya's request here is perfectly consonant with the earlier practice, mentioned above, of recording in writing maxims worthy of preservation.

b) At least two early reports mention books of wisdom sayings competing with the Qur'an and the hadc't in Muhammad's time.

i) In the hadit quoted at the beginning of this study Bugayr b. Kacb cites from a written collection of maxims (maktubunfl l-hikma). In this form, the story is found in Buhari (d. 256/870), Muslim (d. 261/875), and Ibn Hanbal (d. 241/855); it was therefore in circulation no later than the end of the second century A.H.87 The danger of tracing such reports further back is well-known;87a in this particular case, however, an argument can be made in favor of its authenticity. A variant version of the same story is also reported by the

younger contemporary of Buhdri, Ibn Abi l-Dunya (d. 281/ 894). With an isndd going back also to 'Imran b. Husayn, this version reads as follows: "The Prophet said, 'Modesty is entirely good.' Somebody said, 'It is partly weakness (dIucf) and partly impotence ('ajz).' clmran said, 'I am telling you about the Messenger of God, and you are telling me about scrolls (suhuf)!"'88 The main difference between this version and the one given by Buhari is that the words 'weakness' and 'impotence' replace 'gravity' (waqadr) and 'imperturbability' (saklna). The purpose of this substitution is obvious: to denigrate wisdom literature preserved in 'scrolls.' Buhari's version should therefore be considered original and Ibn Ab! 1-Dunya's derivative, for were the reverse the case, the two parts of the story would work at cross purposes: the substitution of 'gravity' and 'imperturbability' for 'weakness' and 'impotence' would make the maxim say essentially the same thing as the Prophetic saying and therefore lend respectability to wisdom literature, while CImrdn's reply would discredit it. If this story, then, as reported by Buhari, is authentic, the existence of suhuf containing maxims in Muhammad's time becomes more difficult to deny.

In this connection it is worth noting that the conflict implied above between hadlot and written wisdom literature seems to be related, both substantially and temporally, with the controversy about the permis- sibility of writing down hadit.89 The dating of the latter controversy is precisely the question. The traditional reckoning would place it in the second half of the first century A.H., during the time of Said b. Jubayr (45- 95/665-714), a protagonist in this controversy and undoubtedly one of the founders of the Islamic sciences.90 Ibn Sa'd's contradictory reports about Sacid's attitude toward recording had4t in writing are indicative: ";Sacid said: 'Sometimes I would go to Ibn 'Abbas and write down [hadit] in my sahifa until it was full...."' "AbO 'Asim al-Nabil reports on the authority of 'Abdallah b. Muslim b. Hurmuz who said that Sacid b. Jubayr used to have an aversion to writing down hadit."9' The use of the word sahtfa in this connection is significant. It seems that an aura of authority enveloped material recorded in suhuf,92 which would account for the disinclination to record hadit-lest it jeopardize the position of the Qurdan-and for the polemics against wisdom literature recorded in suhuf- lest it be considered more authoritative than the sayings of the Prophet, or indeed, the wisdom sayings included in the Qur'an. Seen in the wider context of the existence of written wisdom literature in the first century A.H., the traditional dating of the controversy


about the recording of hadit thus becomes more probable.

ii) Ibn Higam relates from Ibn Ishaq (d. 151/ 768) that an Aws1 kdmil, Suwayd b. Samit, initially refused to accept Muhammad's call to Islam because he claimed to have a book which he thought was better, the Majallat Luqmdn.Y If not authentic, this report, which could not have originated after the middle of the second century A.H., should be evaluated in the light of the controversy between religious texts (Qur'an, hadit) and wisdom texts discussed in the preceding paragraph. On the other hand, because the very presence of Luqman's maxims in the Qur'an serves to preempt just such an elevation of his wisdom book into something venerated (viz. by incorporating parts of the wisdom book of Luqman, the Qur'an precluded its independent rise to preeminence94), this report appears much more credible.95

The rivalry implied here between wisdom texts and the Qur'an occupied a prominent place in the forma- tion of an orthodox position regarding the status, authority, and 'inimitability' of the latter. Indicative of this is the fact that the argument between the de- tractors and the defenders of the Qur'an often re- volved around a comparison between it and wisdom literature. The theologian al-Baqillanl counters the alleged attempts of Ibn al-Muqaffa', the acknowledged master of adab, to imitate the Qur'an with the statement that the latter's al-Durra al-yatima (al-Adab al-kabir) is nothing but "transmitted maxims which can be found among the sages of any civilized nation."96 Even more telling is the objection to the Qur'an by Ibn al-Rawandi, the 'heretic': "We find among the sayings (kaldm) of Aktam b. Sayf! better things than, 'We have given you the Spring of Paradise (Kawtar)' [Qur'an 108.1]."97 Aktam is, of course, one of the great hukamd' al-cArab, renowned for his maxims.98

To recapitulate: during the time of Muhammad and immediately before him, writing was used in the Hijaz not only for commercial and private transactions, but also for recording material that today would be characterized as literary. Professional scribes employed for this purpose took down what was dictated to them and read it out loud when called upon to do so. This material consisted mainly of pious admonitions and maxims considered useful in providing proper guidance for personal conduct-which seems to have been the reason why it was recorded. A large part of this material, written in Arabic, was ascribed to the leg- endary sage of the Arabs, Luqman, and commanded considerable respect. The Qur'an, in competition with

previously revealed scriptures, set itself apart by pointing out that it was a revelation in Arabic; and in order to avoid competition with Arabic wisdom texts and especially the Arabic Luqman material, simply incorporated parts of it and thereby transferred to itself the respect accorded to wisdom texts. A perception of the potential of written wisdom material to challenge the authority of the Qur'an-a challenge that was, in fact, leveled at it-seems on the one hand to have played a role in inhibiting the recording of hadit in the first century A.H., and on the other to have become instrumental in the development of the theory of the inimitability of the Qur'an in subsequent centuries.

IV. THE SOURCES OF CLASSICAL ARABIC WISDOM LIT-

ERATURE.

A. LUQMAN. However the problem of written literary documents in pre-Islamic Arabia is resolved, the fact remains that Luqman was known in the JdhilKvya as a sage of great antiquity under whose name a considerable number of maxims was in circulation in Arabic.99 We do not know the extent of this pre- Islamic Luqman material, nor can we easily distinguish in the wealth of later material-the few sayings ascribed to Luqman in the Qur'an excepted-what is genuinely pre-Islamic from what was later adapted, assimilated, fabricated, or even translated from the available sources. There seems to be little doubt, however, that both the tenor and the content of the pre-Islamic Luqman material derived from the pool of wisdom literature in Semitic languages, transmitted in the biblical, apocryphal, and Ahiqar traditions.'00 Perhaps this is what, more than anything else, the Qur'anic verse (31.12) signifies: "Indeed, We gave Luqman [the book of] maxims." By associating Luqman in this fashion with the other prophets in the biblical tradition to whom books were given by God, the Qur'an also points to the source of these sayings: the same biblical tradition with all its accretions from related Semitic wisdom material.

The six verses in the Qur'an where Luqman and his sayings are quoted (31.12-3, 16-9)'?' established Luq- man once for all as the hakim par excellence in Islamic tradition.'02 The prominent position accorded to him in the Qur'an aroused early interest in his person and his sayings. Accordingly, it was a first century A.H.

scholar, Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 110/728 or 114/732), who first collected and published the material on Luqman.'03 In Ibn Qutayba's K. al-Ma'drif, Wahb is reported to have said that he had read approximately ten thousand babs of Luqman's hikma.'04 The number


is difficult to interpret. If bdb means here 'chapter' ('Abschnitt' GAS 1.307; 'Kapitel' Khoury [1972: 207]; 'chapitres (?)' Lecomte [1965: 208]), then the number is clearly exaggerated. If it means 'topics,' and to each topic corresponded a single saying, or if bdb simply means 'item,' then the figure becomes more probable. In any case, the significance of the report lies in Wahb's claim to have found a large number of sayings attributed to Luqman in a written form (qara'tu) in the first century A.H.

Wahb made his own collections presumably from this material. Arabic sources ascribe to him various books on wisdom literature: Hikmat (or Kitdb Zabar) Ddwad, Hikmat Wahb, Hikmat Luqmdn, Maw'izat Wahb.'05 These, however, seem to be parts of a single book rather than separate books: the bibliographer Ibn Hayr specifically says that the Ilikmat Wahb comprised four parts.106 Another book by Wahb, his Kitdb al-Mubtada' wa-qisas al-anbiyd', also contained a selection of Luqman's sayings in the chapter devoted to him.'07 The extent to which the contents of the two books overlapped, or the specific book from which quotations were drawn by later authors is unknown at the present.

Wahb b. Munabbih represents the culmination of a long process of assimilation and reproduction in Ara- bic of Semitic wisdom material ascribed to Luqman. The appropriation of this material in Arabic took place through oral transmission,'08 and it never assumed the form of a translation, however free, from the original sources, the claims that Wahb was a polyglot notwith- standing.'09 The precise wording in which Wahb cast this material must be considered to bear to the original form of these sayings, whatever the mother language, the same relation as Wahb's "quotations" from David's Zabtr bear to the Hebrew of the Psalms."0 Wahb's written collections gave this material a fixed form, and in this form it became known to subsequent generations of Muslim scholars. Much of what Wahb collected from Luqman's sayings is extant in the fragments preserved in later literature."'

With the advent of the third/ninth century and the age of translations, we witness a second stage in the influx into Arabic of wisdom material attributed to Luqman. The details of the origin and development of this stage have yet to be studied, but there is little doubt that this time it was Christians and not Muslims who attributed features of Aesop (particularly his blackness) to Luqman, and who attributed to him sayings from the Ahiqar tradition. The starting point in this stage is again provided, as in most of the translated gnomic literature, by Ijunayn b. Ishaq's

Nawddir al-falsifa, where we find a section devoted to Luqman's sayings (about 36 sayings)."2 No study has so far been made of the sources of these sayings; it would be interesting to determine whether Hunayn used any of the Wahb b. Munabbih material. It seems, however, that he did not, and that his sources are rather the Syriac Ahiqar and related traditions."3 This is clearly supported by the later, and final, form which the Luqman material assumed in the second stage of its development. Al-Mubaggir b. Fatik's Muhtdr al-hikam, written in 440/1048-9, contains a very full section on Luqman (pp. 260-277. 1 ), '14 with various reports on his origins and his exhortations to his son. The name of the son is given in the MSS as B'r'n''5 and T'r 'n, 116

which is nothing but the name of Ahlqar's nephew Nadan. "7

Al-Mubaggir's section on Luqman is apparently a hodgepodge of all the material then available to him. Future research will have to isolate the different strands that went into its making. What is striking, however, is that it also contains some of the Qur'anic sayings of Luqman without any of the usual pious formulae preceding and succeeding Qur'anic quotations in Mus- lim literature. We thus read on page 264.8: " Wa-ruwiya [sic!] anna Luqmdna qdla li-bnihi. mur bi-l-macrnfi wa-nha 'ani 1-munkari wa-sbir 'ala md asdbaka," which is a verbatim quotation of Sara 31.17.1 1 8

There seems to be little doubt about the Christian provenance of at least this segment of Mubaffir's chapter on Luqman.

A small work transmitted in the MS tradition independently of Mubaggir, but consisting of a different recension of essentially the same material, is preserved in certain MSS, also of Christian provenance, under the title AhbOr Luqmdn al-hakim wa-&ddbuhu."9 A problem that needs solving in this connection is to determine whether the AObir Luqmdn was initially extracted from the text of Mubassir or whether it reflects an original collection also used by Mubassir.

B. A R A B I C S O U R C E S. If Luqman is the best known pre-Islamic sage whose sayings were in wide circulation in Arabic both during the Jdhiliyya and afterwards, he is by no means the only one. Later sources have preserved a wealth of material attributed to prominent pre-Islamic Arabs: tribal chiefs (sdda), arbitrators (hukkdm),'20 men famed for their longevity (mu'am- marin),'2' poets, and other individuals'22 cherished in the collective social memory of the Arabs. With the advent of Islam, the list of those whose sayings proved memorable was expanded to include people in all walks of life, from the Prophet and his Companions to


caliphs and viziers, to qddis and religious personalities, to poets and scholars, to jesters'23 and the riffraff.l23a The sayings of these individuals permeated the entire range of Arabic literature, which has therefore to be combed in every instance for source material. Of certain genres, however, they constituted an integral part, and it is thus in this context that the source material of Arabic wisdom literature can most fruit- fully and concisely be discussed.

Poetry. Maxims and proverbs formed a significant component of Arabic poetry from the earliest times onward. 124 Gnomic material was incorporated into longer poems with varying degrees of appositeness: Bloch gives examples from pre-Islamic poetry in which sayings are either quoted incidentally, or belong inte- grally to the poem, or constitute its major part.'25 Although some such sayings were presumably coined by the poet for a particular occasion,'26 others, perhaps the majority, circulated in prose and were altered slightly by the poet to conform to the meter of the poem.'2 Arab philologists were well aware of such versifications of prose maxims: al-Mubarrad expressly says that the poet Abf l-'Atahiya found sayings in prose which he changed into verse. 128 In other instances an anthologist, such as Ibn Hinduf, would give his own poetic version of a saying he had just quoted,'29 or a poet, such as al-Mutanabbi', would deliber- ately set to verse a collection of sayings, saying by saying.'30 Independent verses of gnomic poetry, and especially hemistichs, also gained immense currency, and were, indeed , considered the equivalent of prose maxims;'3' they were almost invariably included in collections of poetry and in general adab works,'32 and were collected independently in anthologies entitled al-Abydt al-s'ira. 33

Proverb Literature. Proverbs (amtdl) comprise a significant part of Arabic wisdom literature, a part well-defined and studied both by the Arabs themselves and modern scholarship.'34 The initial interest of Arab philologists in compiling collections of proverbs was, as in the case of collections of anecdotes (nawddir),'35 a parallel field of endeavor, largely lexicographical and grammatical; it was, however, also ethnographical and historical. In connection with their interest in the ayydm al-'Arab, the philologists frequently searched for aetiological stories (Amtdl-Geschichte)'36 that would identify the person connected with a proverb or explain the allusions it contained.'37 Compilations of proverbs began early in the Umayyad period and continued apace throughout the centuries. In time, however, the scholarly tendency toward comprehen- siveness predominated, and it inflated the originally

modest size of these collections into volumes containing not only proverbs of the early Arabs, but sayings of all sorts, even those of foreign origin. Al- Maydani's (d. 518/1124) comprehensive collection, Ma/ma' al-amtdl, represents the culmination of these tendencies. '38

Biography. Early biographical works, such as Ibn Sa'd's Tabaqdt, as a rule contain gnomic material interspersed with the discrete biographical reports on each individual they cover. Later biographies, on the other hand, such as Bayhaqi's (d. 565/ 1169-70) Ta'rih al-hukamd'/ Tatimmat Siwdn al-hikma, or Nawawi's (d. 676/1278) Tahdlb al-asmd', tend to contain separate sections devoted exclusively to the hikam and the nawddir of the person concerned.'39 The distinction may be no more than one of convention; due partly perhaps to the influence of such works as the 4th/ 10th century Siwdn al-hikma,'40 which contained brief biographies of Greek philosophers followed by their sayings, some subsequent Arabic biographies adopted the practice of grouping the biographical notices and the sayings separately. In both cases, however, biographies remain a major source for the sayings of eminent Muslims throughout the ages.

Adab. The genre of Arabic literature which com- bined poetry and proverbs, maxims and anecdotes, and sayings of all sorts by all kinds of different people to form edificatory and entertaining anthologies is adab literature.'4' These anthologies constitute the single most comprehensive source for sayings by Arabs and non-Arabs alike.

Adab collections are either general or specialized, depending on the nature of both the audience for whose edification and entertainment they were intended and the sources from which they were compiled. General collections, like Ibn Qutayba's 'Uyrln al-aibdr and Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi's al-'Iqd al-farid (to mention perhaps the two most famous ones)'42 are veritable treasure troves of gnomic material culled from all sources and addressed to all literate Arabs.'43 Spe- cialized collections, on the other hand, which are addressed to a specific audience, draw from sources on a specific subject, or belong to a specific intellectual or sectarian tradition within Arabic/Islamic civilization. Identifying and describing the different categories of specialized adab collections as well as providing biblio- graphical surveys for each one are mostly tasks for the future.'44 Here only a synopsis can be offered.

Addressed to Islamic rulers was a special sub-genre of adab literature, found also in many other literary traditions. The [1] 'Mirrors for Princes' were intended to provide counsel to rulers, and were essentially, in


the Islamic tradition, compilations of anecdotes and maxims by Greek, Persian, and Arab sages and kings.'45 Closely related to the 'Mirror for Princes' were adab collections intended for government admin- istrators: [2] for viziers, such as Jahsiyari's Kitdb al-wuzard', [3] for qadis, such as al-Mawardi's Adab al-Qddi, and for secretaries (kuttwb). For the benefit of this latter class there were compiled [4] general handbooks bearing the title dddb al-kuttmb,146 and [5] specialized handbooks on writing and calligraphy.147

A number of specialized adab collections dealt with one subject only. Among the subjects whose treatment developed into an independent tradition in Arabic adab, the following may be mentioned here: [6] the noble qualities of character (makdrim al-ahldq),'48 [7] 'profane' love,'49 and [8] humor and jokes.'50

Specialized adab collections were also compiled within certain intellectual or sectarian traditions. To the [9] literary tradition proper belong such works as the Kitdb al-dddb of Ibn al-Mu'tazzll5 and the al-Ic /z ft l-1/dz of al-Ta'alibi,ls2 which differ from the general collections in that they were compiled for strictly literary and literary critical purposes, respectively. The work of Ibn al-Mu'tazz appears to be an elegant retelling of sayings from various sources 15 in a highly polished style,154 while that of al-Ta'alibi is a source- book of sayings illustrating the brevity and inimitability of Qur'anic style, the different kinds of rhetorical figures (tasbih, tamattul, isti'dra, mutdbaqa, ta/nis) used in the sayings of the Prophet, and the different kinds of sayings (latifa, badica, zarifa) of men of letters in general.'55

[10] In the Sj'j tradition, the anthologies of 'All's sayings occupy a prominent place. A small collection of one hundred sayings of 'Ali, ascribed to Jahiz,'56 was in circulation from an early time."' It was later expanded by al-Amidi (d. ca. 550/1155) to form the celebrated Curar al-hikam, which in turn provided the basis for subsequent larger compilations and commentaries.'58 The fundamental source for 'All's sayings, however, remains the Nahj albbaldka by al-Sarif al-Rad. (d. 969-70/1016)'15 and the series of commentaries it occasioned. 60 The relationship of the various collections of 'All's sayings to each other and to the NaIj, as well as the authenticity of these sayings, are issues that are still to be examined.'6'

In addition to 'All, SiC' tradition has preserved and transmitted sayings attributed to the Imams and other eminent Si1s. Special mention should be made here of the hikam of Ja'far al-Sadiq, who was perhaps one of the most beloved and revered Imams. These were extracted from a work of his entitled Majdlis

al-mu'minfn by al-Mufaddal b. 'Umar al-Ju'f i and recently published by Tamer (1957).62

[11] Suff literature is by its very nature replete with maxims and anecdotes: terse and often paradoxical sayings are the major means of communication of Sfif! ideas. As early as the beginning of the second century A.H., the sayings of al-Hasan al-Basri gave impetus to a more introspective, ascetic, and pious way of life;163 in the following century, the ecstatic sayings (satahdt) of Abh Yazld al-Bistami paved the way for al-Hallaj,'64 while another eminent Shfi, Sahl al-Tustari (d. 283/ 896), composed a Risdla fl 1-hikam wa-l-tasawwtf.'65 A particularly popular ShfU collection of aphorisms, though, has been the Hikam of the ~adill Ibn 'Atad'allah (d. 709/1309). It gave rise to numerous commentaries, and was recently translated into English.'66

[12] Collections containing philosophical maxims mostly drew upon non-Arabic, especially Greek, sources. These will be discussed in the following section.

C. FOREIGN SOURCES. Foreign sayings passed into Arabic either through oral or written transmission. Oral transmission, whether in the Jdhiliyvla or the Islamic periods, presents grave problems both of analysis and documentation. With regard to oral transmission in the Jdhiliyya, the pool of available gnomic material in pre-Islamic poetry may be too narrow to be counted as a representative sample from which valid general conclusions about transmission may be drawn; our knowledge of pre-Islamic Arab society may be too fragmentary to allow for the criterion of 'social characteristics' in determining the origin of maxims to be applicable; and the possibility of polygenesis may be too real to permit any degree of acceptable certainty in establishing direct affiliation. The most that could be accomplished would be to indicate the possibility of transmission in the case of certain individual sayings. 167

As for oral transmission during the Islamic period, the problems connected with it are equally intractable, even if they are of a different nature. Foreign gnomic material was introduced into Arabic by the assimilation into the Arabic mainstream of individuals from the most diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds who learned to express themselves in the new lingua franca of the Middle East, Arabic. This transmission, effected, as it were, by the physical transference of individuals into Arabic/ Islamic culture, is hard to document on a general scale, and may only be indicated, again, in specific cases and with specific sayings.

Written transmission of sayings from non-Arabic sources, on the other hand, is both attested to in the


Arabic tradition itself and independently subject to documentation. There are four cultures from which gnomic material was translated into Arabic: Greek, Persian, Indian, and Syriac.'68 The details of transmission and the matter transmitted from these languages into Arabic, however, have been scarcely examined and much remains to be done.

1. The bulk of the foreign gnomic material translated into Arabic was Greek. This Greek material can be classified into two distinct groups on the basis of its provenance and subject matter. The first contains primarily material of a political nature associated with the literature of 'Mirror for Princes.' Its sources are 6th-7th century A.D. Byzantine manuals on administration and warfare. This material, with accretions from older Greek (Classical, Hellenistic, and Hermetic) political writings and from Sasanian (and Indian?) sources, was translated, adopted, and adapted under the supervision of Salim Abfi l-'Ala', the secretary of the Umayyad caliph Higim b. 'Abd al-Malik (regn. 724-743 A.D.), to form a 'romance cycle' of correspondence between Aristotle and Alexander.'69 The translation activity associated with this cycle thus represents the last vestiges of the direct influence of Byzantine administrative tradition upon Umayyad bureaucracy, and is qualitatively distinct from the later translations made by intellectuals (physicians, scientists, and philosophers).'70 The material translated during this period was incorporated in most subsequent Arabic gnomologia and had a pervasive influence on all political adab.

The second-and larger-group of Greek (both pagan and Christian) gnomic material translated into Arabic can be broadly characterized as ethical and had its sources in the numerous gnomologia compiled throughout the centuries in the Greek-speaking world.'7' This material was for the most part translated from the Greek'72 by Hunayn b. IshIq and other members of his school in the 3rd /9th century.'73 It forms the bulk of the four most comprehensive Arabic collections of Greek sayings: Hunayn's Nawddir al-faldsifa, the Siwan al-hikma,'74 Ibn Hindfu's al-Kalim al-rahdniyya, and Mubaggir b. FRtik's Muhtdr al-hikam.'75 The Greek sayings thus incorporated into Arabic literature have had a profound and lasting influence on most aspects of Arabic culture.'76

2. The Persian gnomic material translated into Arabic derived from the Pahlavi literature: from ethical writings such as the andarz (teachings/testaments) and the pandndmag (book of counsels) and from political/ administrative writings such as the kdrndmag (book of royal deeds) and the dyin (regulations for

government administration).177 This material passed into Arabic in translations made predominantly in the second and third centuries A.H. by Muslims of Persian descent in high official positions, prominent among whom was Ibn al-Muqaffa'.'78 The purpose of these translations was, as in the case of the Greek 'cycle of epistolary romances,' mostly practical: the material translated was intended to provide guidance in government administration as well as advice, in the form of the 'Mirror for Princes,' to Muslim rulers. It was also, in view of the ?u 'cbiyya movement, "a kind of cultural propaganda. "',79

The gnomic Pahlavi literature translated into Arabic still lacks a comprehensive treatment. An idea of what is available in Arabic can be gained by a brief look at the contents of Miskawayh's Addb al-'Arab wa-l-Furs and the Istanbul MS Koprulu 1608. Miskawayh prefaces his collection by citing in full a wisdom text entitled Javiddn Hirad (eternal wisdom) and attributed to the ancient Peshdadian king H69ang.'80 There follows a section on the dddb al-Furs which includes: the exhortations (mawfiiz) of Adarbad; the precepts (dddb) of Buzurjmihr; 181 the maxims (hikam) of Kisrd Qubad; the maxims of Kisra Anfigirwan; the maxims of Bahman the King; then follow sayings by anonymous Persian sages. The section of MS Kdprulu 1608 containing Persian wisdom material was edited and translated by Grignaschi, 1966.182 It includes the following: the testament ('ahd) of Ardagir; 83 the regulations (ryin) of Ardagir; the Kitib al-tdj by Ibn al-Muqaffa';184 various sayings of Persian kings.185

3. Direct translations of gnomic material from San- skrit into Arabic were limited, although through the intermediary of Pahlavi considerable material of a 'Mirror for Princes' nature penetrated into Arabic.'86 What few Sanskrit sayings were translated directly into Arabic seem to have made the transition in connection with medical literature, and they are, indeed, attributed to Indian physicians.187

Arabic gnomologia quote an occasional saying ascribed to Indian sages; but the longest continuous section of maxims attributed to Indians is that by Miskawayh in his Addb al-'Arab wa-i-Furs (pp. 91- 100). This section consists of sayings enumerating kinds of people with specific qualities. Because of their form, these sayings are in all probability of Indian origin, though a detailed study of these and other Indian maxims is still needed.

4. Wisdom material translated from Syriac into Arabic falls into three categories: a) biblical,'89 b) Greek,'90 c) relating to Ahiqar.'9' Whether any gnomic material originally composed in Syriac was


translated into Arabic has not been investigated yet. It appears, however, that the role of Syriac in the transmission of wisdom literature into Arabic was largely intermediary.

V. CLASSICAL ARABIC WISDOM LITERATURE AS A LITERARY

GENRE.

A. THE PLACE OF WISDOM LITERATURE IN THE

CLASSIFICATION OF LITERARY GENRES. Thedevel- opment and extent of Arab literary theory are still insufficiently known. Essential texts have yet to be published, reliable comprehensive histories of the field are practically non-existent, and monographs on individual subjects are all too few.'92 It is therefore quite premature, at this stage, to attempt to enumerate- much less to assess the Arab theoretical discussions of hikma as a literary genre. 92a To initiate future research, however, some general considerations may be stated here.

With regard to the categorization of literary genres, Arab literary criticism seems to have developed along two lines, not always separate, which I would tenta- tively call horizontal and vertical. The former tended to categorize literary products primarily according to theme, while the latter would use the form of the literary product as its criterion.193 Of these two, it was the horizontal, that is, the thematic, approach that was most intensely cultivated, and especially the thematic categorization of poetry,194 although prose was also so categorized. 95 The vertical, or formal, categorization, seems to have been more implicit than explicit in the minds and writings of the Arab literary critics. It reflected the feeling that somehow a literary product could be appreciated (in the literal sense of the term), and therefore graded, on a descending scale of value, according to its formal proximity or distance from that consummate form of expression, a verse of metric poetry (excluding rajaz). There was accordingly a loose hierarchy of forms established more by consensus than by theoretical argumentation. These forms descended from strictly metric poetry (Qi'r), through loosely metric poetry (rajaz), through rhymed prose (saj'), through balanced prose (matal), to plain prose (natr), with additional grades in the scale added by individual critics.196 To these two lines of approach one might perhaps add, as a third dimension of the process of categorization, and running through the first two, the classification of the figures of speech.'97 The Qur'Dn, of course, was considered sui generis, and was accordingly allotted a category all its own, comprising all the other categories.'98

Within these modes of categorization, maxims (hikma) were classified, horizontally, as one of the themes of poetry, and vertically, as one of the forms of literary (or artful) prose. Theoretical discussions of literary genres appear to have taken early the thematic (horizontal) approach, and it was through discussions along these lines that hikma emerged, as early as the second century A.H., as one of the themes of poetry. The famous philologist Abfi Muhammad al-Yazidi (d. 202/817-8), while discussing the kinds of (religiously) acceptable and reprehensible poetry, incidentally differentiates among them on the basis of theme: he would listen, he says, to no hi/d, while he himself composed only poetry containing pious admonitions (maw 'iza) and maxims (hikma).199 Later theory developed on the basis of such discussions, and the classical handbooks of literary theory widely accept hikma as a theme of poetry. For example: Ishaq b. Ibrahim (ft. 4th/ 10th century) divides poetry into four themes (asnaf): panegyric (rnadih), satire (hijad'), gnomic poetry (hikma), and entertainment (lahw). Each one of these has its own subdivisions, the subdivisions of gnomic poetry being proverbs (amtdl), exhortations to chastity or asceticism (tazhid), and general exhortations (mawd'iz).200 The anonymous authorities quoted by Ibn Ragiq (d. 463/1070-1) divide poetry into two only, panegyric and satire. Among the sub-themes of the former they include the improvement of moral character (tahsin al-ahldq), which contains maxims (hikam), exhortations (mawc'i-), abstinence from material things (al-zuhd fl i-duny d), and contentment (qindaa) 201

It may not be idle to consider briefly at this point whence hikma came to be considered as a theme of poetry. The existence of prose maxims as well as proverbs in pre-Islamic Arabic has been mentioned above (Section III). These maxims and proverbs were frequently incorporated into poetry, and were recog- nized as being such by the earliest Arab philologists.2 Theoretical formulations about literary theory, however, were initially focused on poetry, and conse- quently attention was first directed to maxims in poetry, disregarding prose maxims as a literary genre. This early development-by the end of the second century A.H., at the latest set a precedent which conditioned all later discussions. A major factor con- tributing to this development was also the coining, presumably by this date, of the hadit mentioned above, p. 50b, 'Some poetry is hikma,' which on the one hand reflected the common feeling that poetry does indeed contain maxims and proverbs, and on the other intended to neutralize the harsh statements in the Qur'dn


about poetry and poets. Once this hadit gained currency (it is included in most of the canonical hadit collections), literary critics were accordingly constrained, in a way, to take account of the "Prophetic" dictum in their formulations and include hikma among the themes of poetry.203 Apparently the notion that hikma is primarily expressed in poetic language became so widespread that the fifth century litterateur, at-Mdwardi (d. 450/1058) felt compelled to remind his readers that maxims came in prose, as well, and introduced one of the sayings which he quotes with the qualification, "It was said in a prose maxim."204

In the vertical classification, theoretical discussion about hikma as a form and its place among the other forms of prose was limited. As a matter of fact, apart from the likes of such implicit references to this vertical classification as mentioned previously (note 196), I know of only one author who devotes any appreciable space to the subject: Ishaq b. Ibrdhim al-Farabi (d. 350/ 961), the maternal uncle of the lexicographer Jawhari, in his Diwvdn al-adab.205 But even here the discussion of hikma as a form of prose is incidental because it occurs in the introduction to his work, which is not a treatise on literary theory but a limited dictionary serving as a concordance of fa'ala patterns (abniya) in the Arabic language. Ishdq al-Fdrdbi says that he is going to take the examples for his concordance from words occurring in the Qur'an, hadit (sunna), history (hadit), poetry (9i'r), rajaz, maxims (hikma), rhymed prose (saC'), proverbs (matal), and sayings of the elite (nddira). He then proceeds to define each one of these genres. Because of the importance of this passage for the history of Arabic literary theory, it is translated here in its entirety:

Qur'an: a revelation (wahv) revealed by God to the Messenger, with the Holy Spirit (rah al-qudus), in clear (mubin) Arabic language. It is the speech (kaldm) of God, His utterance (qawi), and what He sent down, setting forth in it in detail the deeds they should commit or omit for their good in this world and the next. There is no way to know the Qur'dn and grasp its meanings (macdnihi) without a total immersion in the study of this language.

Sunna is what the Messenger did and sanctioned for his community (umma). Salvation lies in it, and hap- piness can be attained by understanding it and putting it in practice.

Hadit is information (habar) about events in the three times [i.e. past, present, and future]. It is the one among the four pillars of speech206 which can be either true or false.207

Poetry (ji'r) is like all speech (ka/dm): it has its good and bad parts. The part transmitted by the learned ('ulamd'), though, is good because they scrutinized [all poetry] with their minds, examined it with the eyes of their opinions despite its volume, and selected from it what is most eloquent (ablak), most correct (afsah), and most sound (asahh). Poetry, therefore, is the counterpart of proverbs (matal) with regard to excellence [of composition] because in this regard the only distinction between the two [i.e. poetry and proverbs] is that the one is in verse (nazm) while the other is in prose (natr).

Rajaz is something (sav') composed in a meter other than the meters of poetry. The only difference between the two [i.e. rajaz and poetry] is the disparity of meters.

A hikma is formed when an artful formulation latent in an artful composition is extracted and stated in a

- .208 pronouncement containing it.

Saj' is a hikma composed in an expression (/afz) one part of which is balanced (qabila) with the other. The only difference between poetry and sajc is that the one has meter while the other does not.

Matal is something about whose form and content both the masses and the elite reached mutual agree- ment to the point that they use it as a cliche in their affairs (hattd btadal/hu fl-md bav nahum) and utter it in good or bad days. By means of matal they draw eloquence from what does not allow for eloquence, they gain [verbal] access to remote things they wish to express, and they relieve themselves of oppressing worries. A matal is a most eloquent hikma (min ablagi /-hikma) because people would not [all] agree upon anything deficient or remiss in perfection, or something that does not reach the utmost extent of refine- ment. [Cf. Sellheim, 1954: 11.]

Nddira is a true hikma which indicates the same thing as a matal, except that it is not current among the general public but is only treasured by the elite few. The only difference between it and matal is the extent of their respective circulation.

It is interesting to note that in the above passage three methods of categorization have been employed: the first three genres (Qur'dn, sunna, hadit) have been defined according to their content or theme (i.e. horizontal classification), the next four (9i'r, rajaz, hikma, saj') according to their form (i.e., vertical classification), while the last two, the subcategories of hikma (matal, nadira), according to their application or function (although in the definition of sijr a formal distinction is drawn between it and matal). We are thus left uninformed about where Qur'dn, sunna, and hadit


[ALL SPEECH (other than the Qur'an)]

[Artless composition] Artful composition (masniC')

Criteria for -

classification Artful formulation Rhyme Meter B Meter A

(sun') [in prose]

Classification I according to \ form Iikma ra Zoery

[regular] sad

most eloquent

Classification according to historiography; matal nddira function and traditions application

DIAGRAM I

Classification of literary genres according to Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Farab^i

would be classified according to their form. But the criterion by which sicr, rajaz, hikma, and saj' are classified seems to be the extent and kinds of artful contrivance or formulation (sunf') present in each

genre-in other words, the range of the scale implicit above would theoretically run from perfectly plain and artless composition, unadorned prose, to the most masterfully contrived composition, poetry. And if we are allowed to extrapolate on the basis of this scale, then historiography (hadit) almost certainly, and tradition writing (sunna) probably, would fall under the heading of artless composition. The Qur'dn can be assumed to be sui generis, although strangely enough Ishaq al-Farabi does not explicitly say so. His classification of literary forms could thus be indicated in a schematic form in Diagram 1.209

In this schema, hikma is centrally located between totally artless and perfectly composed expressions, something which brilliantly exposes, in a theoretical fashion, the perfect blend of informality and formality which has distinguished the style and form of maxims in the Arabic language and has made them an integral part of all discourse, both oral and written, and both learned and colloquial.

An opportunity to broaden and deepen the theoretical discussion of hikma, which could have been provided by Aristotle's pithy chapter on maxims (gnomologia: Rhetoric 11.21, 1 394al9-1395b20), was entirely missed both by Arab philosophers and literary theorists alike. The fault, however, lies not with them but partly with the translator of the Rhetoric into Arabic, partly with Aristotle himself (in a manner of speaking), and partly with the commentatorial tradition on the Rhetoric. The translator, first of all, translated the word gn6me in the definition of the word and in subsequent occurrences (1394a21ff.) by ra y, 'opinion,' and not by hikma.210 This is doubly misleading in Arabic because, in addition to the inac- curacy of the translation, in a Muslim context-and especially in jurisprudence-the word ra?'y has a totally different semantic field than that of gn6me. Secondly, Aristotle himself discusses gn6me not as a literary genre, but in the context of enthymemes, which are unscientific syllogisms, and hence in a context of logic. The Arab reader, therefore, had neither the literal meaning of gn6me nor the context to guide him to a proper understanding of gn6me in the Rhetoric as hikma. Finally, the Rhetoric itself was seldom the


object of commentaries in the Aristotelian philosophical tradition in Athens and Alexandria.21' As a result, no Greek commentary on the Rhetoric was translated into Arabic, and Arab readers were denied help from that quarter also."' A comment by Ibn al-Samh (d. 418/1027), the Bagdddi philosopher who knew the philosophical bibliography very well and to whose hand-written copy of the Arabic translation of the Rhetoric we owe its very survival, best summarizes the situation: "Many of those who devote themselves to reading the art of logic did not get to studying this book [i.e. the Rhetoric] or examine it satisfactorily. For this reason neither a sound copy nor any authenti- cated (musahhah) interpretation (macnd) of it can be found."213

Of the three Arabic commentaries on the Rhetoric that we possess,2l4 al-Farabi's extant notes do not discuss Chapter 11.21 except for a brief summary paragraph in the Didascalia, where the Latin consilium reflects al-Farabi's utilization of, and attachment to, the word ra' in the Arabic translation. Elsewhere, al-Farabi identifies proverbial expressions (agvd' ma'- tura) as parts of rhetorical propositions known before the time of Aristotle, but this is in the context of the classification of sciences, not of literary theory.215 Ibn Sina and Ibn Rusd follow in their commentaries the Aristotelian text more closely, but themselves victims of the misleading factors described above, treat of ra'iy in terms of logic, in the context of enthymemes. When discussing Aristotle's argument that it is most appropriate for old people to use maxims (1395a2-7), they both come very close to the realization that what is discussed in the passage is, in fact, maxims or proverbs -Ibn Rusd even goes so far as to say, "These proverbs (amtdl) are, in themselves, opinions (drd')" but they do not advance beyond this point.216 The philosophical and theoretical discussion about hikma as a genre in Arabic, whether in general or in the context of rhetoric alone, thus never benefited from the Aristotelian formulations.2 17

B. THE TYPOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION AND

NOMENCLATURE OF MAXIMS. The different literary types of maxims, that is, the subcategories of hikma, were even more poorly defined in Arabic rhetoric and literary criticism. In Greek rhetoric, and especially in the school tradition of rhetorical manuals known as progymnasmata, the discussion of the different literary types of maxims occupied a prominent place:211 sayings were defined according to their form or structure (e.g. chreia, gn6me, apomnemoneuma), the formal differences among them were explained (e.g. a gn6me

is a plain statement, whereas a chreia is often cast in the form of question and answer; a chreia is short, while an apomnemoneuma is usually longer, etc.), and they were further subdivided (e.g. a gn6me can be either true, or probable, or plain, or compound, or exaggerated) 219

Although there is some evidence that the gnomic material, quoted as examples, which these progymnasmata contain was excerpted and translated into Arabic,220 there is nevertheless no indication that the progymnasmata themselves and their "classificatory terminology" of sayings were available either in Arabic22' or in Syriac translation. Syriac literature on rhetoric, which is still very imperfectly known, seems to have followed, at least as far as borrowings from the Greek are concerned, the Aristotelian model of theoretical exposition222 rather than the method of practical analysis and application represented by the progy'mnasmata tradition. The Rhetoric of the monk Anthony of Tagrit (composed in 825 A.D.), apparently the only early extant treatise on rhetoric in Syriac literature,223 is still unpublished; but a cursory exami- nation of the titles of its chapters224 reveals that its structure follows that of Aristotle's Rhetoric, and especially the ps.-Aristotelian Rhetorica ad Alexan- drum, rather than that of the progvmnasmata. One would thus expect the definition of the different literary types of sayings and their classification, as they appear in the Greek progymnasmata, not to have found their way into Anthony of Tagrit's Rhetoric, and hence not to have passed into Arabic through the intermediary of Syriac, either.225

A survey of the gnomic terminology in Arabic works actually supports this view. The Arab anthologists who collected sayings or the authors who included them in their works used a number of words to describe and introduce the various types of maxims, but no attempt seems ever to have been made either to discuss theoretically all these words as a genre or to interrelate them.226 Such words appear for the most part not to have had rigid semantic boundaries, and where a semantic distinction was made or implied, it was based not so much on the literary tjoupe or form of the saying in question as on its contents and on the person who uttered it. For example: al-Ta'alibi, in the introduction to one of his anthologies, says that the examples of the sayings his book is going to include were selected from the following categories: "the Qur'an, Tawrdt, Injil, and Zabzlr; the aphorisms (jawdmi' al-kalim)227 of the Prophet; the sayings (kaldm) of the prophets before Muhammad and of his Companions and Followers; the best proverbs (amtAl) of Arabs and non-Arabs; ...


the choice sayings (nutaf) of the caliphs; the epigrams (fiqar) of kings and ministers; the witticisms (nukat) of ascetics and sages; the sallies (luma') of hadit and fiqh scholars; the maxims (hikam) of philosophers and physicians; the highlights (kurar) of eloquent men and poets; the bons mots (mulah; 'Attic salt'?) of jesters and dandies; and the unusual coinings (turaf) of beggars and the riffraff."228 Al-Mubaggir b. Fatik says in the introduction to his Muhtar al-hikam that he read books containing the precepts (addb) of the Greek philosophers and the exhortations (mawdciz) of the ancient scholars, as well as their testaments (wasa^yd), and that of such his book is going to consist.229 The grammarian 'Abdalldh al-Bagdadi has in his Kitadb al- kuttab a section containing the elegant dicta and acta (;ara'if) of famous secretaries.230 Ibrahim al-Bayhaqi bases his introductory encomium of books in general and of adab books in particular on the delight the reader experiences from the variety of genres such books contain: the reader can skip from story to report, from report to poetry, and then on to anecdotes (nawddir), to choice sayings (nutaf), to exhortations (mawdaiz), to jests (mazh), to drolleries (fukdiha), to bons mots (mulah), to jokes (maddhik), and to fictional stories (burdfa).23' Ibn Durayd says that his book, al-Multana, will contain, in addition to reports, hadit, and poetry, graceful(?) utterances (al-alf@z al-mustars'aqa), expressions containing grand themes (albma'dnf al-fahma), and the finest maxims (al-hikam al-mutandihiya).232 Hunayn b. Ishaiq refers to the sayings of Socrates as 'useful sayings' (fawa'id),223 Ibn Qutayba says he will not omit 'astute sayings' (fitna) from his 'Uyun,234 and Ibn al-Muqaffa', finally, uses the general term 'saying' (qawl) synonymously with 'maxims' (hikam).235

The import of the above passages is that some of the words used in them to denote different kinds of sayings are clearly conditioned by the person who uttered them, while others refer to the contents and function of the sayings rather than to their literary type. Thus, a saying uttered by a $ufif in a moment of ecstasy (cf. iatahadt) is a 'sally' or 'scintilla' (lum a) because it is a flash of illumination; a bon mot uttered by a jester has the qualities of Attic salt (mulha) because of its pungent wit; one uttered by an ancient sage is a 'testament' (wasiyya) because it has been handed down from antiquity and its validity is hence well-tested, or a hikma because it was said by a hakim (philosopher or physician); and a saying uttered by a secretary is an 'elegant saying' (zarifa) because it has been said by one belonging to that elite group of affectatious literati, the

zurafcB. On the other hand, a mawvciza is clearly a saying whose function is to exhort to ethical action, a firna is a saying containing an astute remark or observation, afid'ida is a useful saying, etc. Still others are words of a general application, gaining the signification 'maxim' only in context, as, for instance, qawl (saying), lafz (utterance), kalam (sayings). The terms thus actually used to describe maxims in the above passages fall naturally into three categories, according to their application (given with their plurals):

A. GENERIC TERMS: hikma - hikam (maxim); adab - addb236 (precept); kalima - kalim or kalimat (aphorism).

B. TERMS OF SPECIFIC APPLICATION (in alphabetical order):

madhaka - maddhik, joke;

turfa - turaf, unusual coining; zarifa - zard^i, elegant saying; ma nan - ma adnin, saying on a specific theme; gurra - gurar, highlight; fitna - fitan, astute saying; fiqra - fiqar, epigram; fukaha, drolleries; fi'ida - fawa'id, useful saying, moral; lum'a - /uma', sally; matal - amtal, proverb; mazh, jest; mu/ha - mulah, bon mot; nutfa - nutaf, choice saying; nddira - nawUdir, anecdote of or by a member

of an elite group; nukta - nukat, witticism; wasiyya- wasaya, testament; maw 'iza - mawdciz, exhortation.

C. TERMS OF GENERAL APPLICATION:

qawl - aqwal, saying; kal/m, sayings; lafz - alfdz, utterance.

The above list cannot claim to be complete, but I believe it includes all the words most frequently used to refer to maxims. Their categorization on the basis of their application also follows the theoretical criterion provided by Ishaq al-Farabli, who differentiates between the only two subcategories of hikma he mentions (nadira and matal) not on the basis of their respective literary form, but on their application (contents and circulation) .237


VI. THE SOCIAL FUNCTION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CLAS-

SICAL ARABIC WISDOM LITERATURE.

Hikma referred essentially to proper conduct (Sec- tion II). As such, it played a decisive role in Arab/ Islamic society, a role which manifested itself in various ways.

a) Together with poetry, wisdom literature constituted the basis of Arab paideia (adab), and was accordingly an integral part of the upbringing and intellectual capital of all educated Arabic speaking members of medieval Islamic civilization. But in the education and training of no other social group or profession was it more institutionally integrated than in that of the administrative secretaries, the kuttab. All the handbooks on adab al-kuttab written throughout the centuries from the very first such treatises, 'Abd al-Hamid's Risala and Ibrahim al-Saybani's (?) al-Risa- la al- cadrad,238 to Qalqagandi's Subh al-a c' -mention some part of wisdom literature, proverbs or maxims, as a requirement in the education of a katib. Jahiz gives us a fair idea about what this 'course' on wisdom literature for secretaries comprised, while at the same time he is quick to point out that a mere knowledge of maxims and proverbs does not make one a wise administrator:239 "No sooner can a novice secretary quote the sayings (amtal) of Buzurjmihr, the testament ('ahd) of Ardagir, the epistles (rasa'il) of 'Abd al-Hamid, and the adab books of Ibn al-Muqaffa', and make the book of Mazdak the source of his knowledge and the collection (daftar) of Kalila and Dimna the treasure chest of his wisdom (maxims?), that he thinks he is 'Umar the Great (i.e. the caliph)240 when it comes to administration...."

b) Secretaries put their knowledge of wisdom literature to practical use: in order to perform their duties properly and ingratiate themselves to their masters they had to know how to compose effective and eloquent prose under the dictates of an aesthetic which considered the ability to quote appropriate maxims and proverbs the pinnacle of baldga. For this reason, parallel with books on adab al-kuttab, handbooks of ba'van or baldka always included wisdom literature as one of the principles of eloquent expression. Perhaps the best illustration of this correlation existing between works on adab al-kuttab and handbooks of rhetoric (baldga) is provided by the works of a single author, DiJyaD al-Din b. al-AtIr (d. 637/1239), who wrote on both subjects at a time when they had long acquired an established classical format. In his magisterial al-Matal

al-sn 'ir fi adab al-kitib wa-l-!5'ir, a book for secretaries, he enumerates eight kinds of tools necessary for the acquisition of eloquence in style (aldt cilm al-baydn): grammar, vocabulary, the proverbs! sayings and history of pre-Islamic Arabs (amtal al-'Arab wa-ayy muhum wa ... 1-waqa DCi), the writings (ta'lifdt) of earlier men of letters, administrative rulings (al-ahkdm al-sultantya), the Qur'an, hadit, prosody and rhyme (pp. 9-10). This list is repeated almost verbatim in his book on rhetoric, al-Jimi' al-kabirfi sind'at al-manzum min al-kaldm wa-l-mantur (p. 7).

c) Closely associated with the books on secretaries and rhetoric, and stemming from the same circles, were the 'Mirrors for Princes' referred to above. The sayings which these compilations contained both expressed and in turn helped shape the attitudes and practical ideology of the Muslim ruling classes. Wisdom literature was thus one of the major intellectual commodities which were produced and consumed by the Muslim rulers, the secretaries of the administrative bureaucracy, and the court intellectuals.240a

d) Intellectuals of all strata and not only those associated with government administration both were reared upon wisdom literature and used it as a professional tool. Its importance for adab literature in general, and hence for the education of all Arabs, hardly needs repetition. Furthermore, eloquence in expression, whether written or oral, was not the reserve of the administrative secretaries only. Baldga was an accom- plishment much prized and sought after in Arab society,241 and wisdom literature, together with poetry, were its principle ancillae: they increased the effectiveness of speech, improved its aesthetic quality, and lent to it authority. This function of wisdom literature, widely acknowledged by Arab authors, is well expressed by al-Riyadd (d. 365/975) in the introduction to his anthology of sayings, where he says that in the 'Iraq of his time men of letters (udabd') and secretaries (kuttab) never spoke on a subject without first intro- ducing it either with a well-known proverb/saying (matal mashuir) or an often quoted verse (bayt madkur) 242

e) In scholarly discourse and argumentation maxims and proverbs were understandably quite prominent, although in this case it is sometimes hard to distinguish qualitatively between quotations from wisdom literature and references to authorities, the ipse dixit syn- drome to which all scholarly writing is prone. As mentioned in Section IV. B (pp. 58-60), many an intellectual or sectarian tradition within Islam- Sufism, the Shi'a, philosophy had its own collections


of sayings, from which quotations were drawn at will in any work belonging to that tradition.

f) Among the general public, educated and unedu- cated alike, another basic function which wisdom literature performed was to facilitate self-expression and thereby ease both personal and social tensions. At this level, which may be called spontaneous, as opposed to the deliberate efforts of the literati to seek out the appropriate saying or verse for maximum rhetorical effect, maxims and proverbs helped the average individual to communicate, briefly and appositely, the incommunicable or the hardly communicable: emotions too complex for words, or something that would otherwise require a lengthy discourse. Wisdom literature thus functioned as a shorthand language, culturally determined, which allowed for rapid communication of complicated ideas and emotions, and the attendant relief of anxiety or stress, without the need for individual self-expression in original terms.243

g) Finally, at the most general and fundamental level, wisdom literature was entertaining. The form of maxims a short and elegantly phrased saying containing all the artistic qualities of ornate speech244_ contributed decidedly to their potential for entertainment, which frequently was their sole merit.245 Their content provided the appropriate counterpart to their form: the wit, the bon mot, the unexpected repartee, the moral, the deeply felt general truth. Entertainment through wit and moral edification was thus the major quality that made wisdom literature immensely popular among all strata of medieval Islamic society. 46

All these various functions performed by wisdom literature, in the final analysis, are essentially reducible to one: to preserve the distilled experience, observations, and attitudes of past generations Arab and non-Arab alike and to project them to contemporary generations as authoritative and beneficial knowledge to be assimilated and as an ideal to strive for. This function rested on two cultural assumptions: a) on the belief that the pronouncements of the ancients had validity, relevance, and ultimately, authority, and b) on the aesthetic premise that concision is eloquence (al-iJdzf i l-lyaz). The form in which this authority was transmitted from generation to generation the unit of authoritative knowledge or information, so to speak was thus the pithy and eloquent saying, aesthetically pleasing and easily remembered and reproduced.

Islamic society inherited the form and function of wisdom literature, with its underlying assumptions of the authority of the ancients eloquently communicated, from pre-Islamic times. Indeed, the importance of wisdom literature looms even greater in pre-Islamic

Arab society as one of its fundamental characteristics: because literacy was restricted, authoritative knowledge could come only from the ancients and it had to be communicated orally in a form that would ensure its survival. The form of wisdom literature was thus quite essential to its function.

A proper appreciation of these aspects of wisdom literature in pre-Islamic society may shed light from a different angle on the nature and method of Muham- mad's mission. His demand for the allegiance of his contemporaries certainly rested on his claim to be the messenger of god; this god, however, was not any god, but the god to whom testimony was borne by the authority of the ancients: the tradition of Abraham (whose maqam was the Ka'ba) and the entire succession of prophets from Adam to Muhammad.247 As an expression of the authority of the ancients, therefore, the call to Islam derives a significant portion of its validity from the same conceptual framework in pre- Islamic Arab society as that which lent authority to wisdom literature. And the form of the Qur'anic call to Islam follows suit: the unit of revelation is predominantly the short, eloquent verse, aesthetically pleasing and easily remembered and reproduced, and having distinct formal affinities with wisdom literature.248 Hadit literature also derives naturally from this conceptual framework: the hadits, without isnad originally, are the wisdom sayings of the Prophet.249

This being the case, the controversy over which one of the ancients, Muhammad or all the others, had the ultimate authority could not but arise early: this may account for the traces of the rivalry, mentioned above (Section III), between the Qur'an and the hadit on the one hand and wisdom literature on the other. In the ensuing compromise, ultimate authority was granted to the Qur'an and the associated religious literature, while wisdom literature, with its emphasis on the eloquent formulation of the authority of the ancients as a guide to proper personal and social conduct, was relegated to the domain of adab, both in its wider sense of mores and the restricted one of literature.250 In the stylized classifications of the sciences of the fourth century A.H., the literary arts, and hence wisdom literature, were assigned an instrumental role; and their function, in relation to the religious sciences, was seen as propaedeutic:25' they provided the intellectual pre- disposition and the ideational context within which the Islamic sciences and the Islamic way of life were to be pursued. This compromise and its attendant theoretical formulation gave literature in general, and wisdom literature in particular, a secure position from which it could continue unencumbered to exert its


influence on all phases of medieval Arab/ Islamic society.

Most of the points touched upon in the above discussion in this section had already been made in the fourth/ tenth century by Abi I-Hasan al-'Amiri, a subtle author and a keen observer of culture. It is therefore fitting that the last words be left to him:252

Knowledge is divided into religious and philosophical.... The religious sciences consist of three branches. One of

them relies on sense perception, namely, the science of the hadit scholars. The second relies on intellection, namely, the science of the kalam scholars. The third relies on both sense perception and intellection, namely, the science of the fiqh scholars. The sciences dealing with language253 are instru- ments serving all three branches.

The philosophical sciences also consist of three branches. One of them relies on sense perception, namely, natural science. The second relies on intellection, namely, meta- physics. The third relies on both sense perception and intellection, namely, mathematics. Logic is an instrument serving all three branches....

As we know, there is a group of pious men who consider all literature (ddab) reprehensible and claim that those who devote themselves to its acquisition must be of two kinds, namely, those who aspire to be praised for their lucid and correct speech (al-lasan wa-l-fasdha) and those who flaunt their literary competence in the presence of aristocrats and dignitaries, using its brilliance as a stepping stone to benefit and rank.254 Both types are thereby cheated out of devoting themselves to the service of God and of searching for wisdom (hikma).

The pious men who make such claims, are making a great mistake because literature is an art concerned with eloquence in style (baydn)-which is to cultivated souls what bridle and harness are to horses, since an eloquent man can change the souls of others from one condition to another through his eloquence, especially since words have exactly the same relationship to ideas as bodies to souls: just as the praise- worthy deeds of noble souls can only appear in bodies which are distinguished by an outstanding temperament, so also true ideas can only attain their form through pleasant words. The Messenger of God has said, "Some eloquent style is magic."255 And God has said, "He has created man and taught him eloquence in style" (Qur'an 55.3-4). Hence the purpose of having an extensive knowledge of the language is not so much to gain a good mastery over correct style (fasaTha) as it is to develop a naturally artistic style256-as in poetry, sermons, letters, and proverbs (amnil)-since each one of these four

genres251 contains eloquent maxims25' and wonderful similitudes (tagbihdt) which are useful in helping to sharpen the mind. For this reason they (i.e. the maxims and similitudes)

have been immortalized in books to such an extent that it has been said on account of their sheer survival that they are living speech.

Furthermore, if it observed how they serve to settle quarrels in company and to remove animosity and antagonism,259 how they help to gain influence over kings and dignitaries260 and to adorn one's own observations with the account of their noble deeds and good remarks,261 it must surely be admitted that anyone who declares them false dares to despise something which is really very significant. Exalted spirits who master such subjects and hand them on to others are thus inspired to higher things.262 Anyone interested in listening to them is induced to secure some portion of them for himself, since it might provide a good subject for conversation one day.",61

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS

The following list contains in alphabetical order all the works and abbreviations referred to in the preceding article. The Arabic article al- has not been taken into account.

'Abbas, Ihsan 1967 'Ahd Ardagir. Beirut. 1977 Malamih yindniyvafi I-adab al- 'arabi. Beirut.

Abbott, Nabia 1941 "Arabic Paleography," Ars Islamica 8: 65-104. 1957 Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri I. Historical

Texts. Chicago. 1967 Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri 11: Qur'dnic

Commentary and Tradition. Chicago. Agknil

Abi l-Faraj al-Isfahani, Kitdb al-Agdnr. 20 vols. Cairo, 1285 A.H.

Alon, Ilai 1976 "Isocrates' Sayings in Arabic," Israel Oriental

Studies 6: 224-228. Al-'Amiri, Abfi I-Hasan Muhammad

Al-Filam bi-manaqib al-Isldm. Ed. A. cA. Ghorab. Cairo, 1967.

Arberry, A. J. 1963 "Javidhan Khiradh," Journal of Semitic

Studies 8: 145-158. Aristotle

Al-Hitfba. Ed. cAbdurrahman Badawi. Cairo, 1959

Al-Asad, Nasir al-Din 1962 Masddir al-sicr al-/ahili. 2nd ed. Cairo.

Badawi, cAbdurrahman 1949 Al-?atahdt al-sufiya I. Cairo. 1952 Al-Hikma al-hdlida. Cairo.


1955 "Mahnuitt Aristu ff l-'arabiyya," Majallat Ma'had al-Ma1.ta.utt al-cArabiyva 1: 1-16.

1959 Mahtiutdt Aristafl l-carabiyya. Cairo. 1974 Siwdn al-hikma wa-talat rasd'il. Tehran.

Bagley, F. R. C. 1964 Ghazdl/Vs Book of Counselfor Kings. Oxford.

al-Baqillani, Abu Bakr Muhammad 1977 I'jaz al-Qur 'an. Ed. Ahmad Saqr. 4th edition.

Cairo. Barthes, Roland

1980 "La Rochefoucald," in New Critical Essays. New York. Pp. 3-22.

Baumstark, Anton 1922 Geschichte der syrischen Literatur. Bonn.

al-Bayhaqi, Ibrahim b. Muhammad Al-Mahasin wa-l-masdwi. Ed. Muhammad Abui 1-Fadl Ibrahim. Cairo, 1961.

Bellamy, James A. 1973 The Noble Qualities of Character by Ibn Abi

d-Dunva. Wiesbaden. Bevan, A. A.

1924 The Mufa~didali vt, Vol. 3. Leiden. Blachere, Regis

1954 "Contribution a l'etude de la litterature proverbiale des Arabes a l'epoque archafque," Analecta (Damascus, 1975): 189-221 [=Arabica 1(1954): 53-83.]

1963 "Un auteur d'Adab oublie: al-'Utbi, mort en 228," in Melanges d'Orientalisme offerts a Henri Masse. Tehran. Pp. 38-47.

1966 Histoire de la litterature arabe, Part III. Paris. Bloch, Alfred

1954 "Zur altarabischen Spruchdichtung," in Westdstliche Abhandlungen [Festschrift R. Tschudi]. Ed. F. Meier. Wiesbaden. Pp. 181-224.

Bonebakker, S. A. 1970 "Poets and Critics in the Third Century A.H.,"

in Logic in Classical Islamic Culture. Ed. G. E. von Grunebaum. Wiesbaden. Pp.85-111.

Boughanmi, Othman 1963 Studien uiber al-Abi und sein Werk Natr

ad-Durr. (Diss. Muinchen.) Brock, S. P.

1970 "The Laments of the Philosophers over Alex- ander in Syriac," Journal of Semitic Studies 15: 205-218.

Brockelmann, Carl 1927 "Kalila wa-Dimna," El2, IV: 503-506 (= El').

Al-Buhari, Muhammad b. Ismacil al-Jamic al-sahih. Ed. L. Krehl. 4 vols. Leiden, 1862- 1908.

Buhl, Fr. 1960 "Ad," El2, I: 169 (= El').

Busse, Heribert 1968 "Fiirstenspiegel und Furstenethik im Islam,"

Bustan 9.i: 12-19. Carter, M.

1971 "The Katib in Fact and Fiction," Abr-Nahrain 11: 42-55.

Christensen, A. 1930 "La 1lgende du sage Buzurjmihr," Acta Orient-

alia 8: 81-128. Crum, W. E.

1937 Review of A. Mingana, Catalogue of the Mingana Collection of MSS (Cambridge, 1933), in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Pp. 326-330.

Daiber, Hans 1980 Aetius Arabus. Wiesbaden.

Danner, V. 1973 Ibn cAta'illdh's Sjifl Aphorisms. Leiden.

de Boer, T. J. 1938 "Hikma," El' Supplement, 88.

de Goeje, M. J. and Houtsma, M. Th. 1888 Catalogus Codicum Arabicorum, Vol. 1. 2nd

edition. Leiden. Diwdn al-Hudaliyin

Ed. Ahmad al-Zayn. 3 vols. 2nd edition. Cairo, 1965.

Djait, Hichem 1976 "Les Yamanites a Kuifa au Icr siecle de l'Hegire,"

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 19: 148-181.

Dunlop, D. M. 1979 The Muntakhab Siwan al-Hikmah of Abu

Sulaiman as-Sijistani. The Hague. Duval, Rubens

1906 "Notice sur la Rhetorique d'Antoine de Tag- rit," in Orientalische Studien Theodor Nol- deke . . . gewidmet. Ed. C. Bezold. Gieszen.

Vol. 1. Pp. 479-486. 1907 La Litterature Syriaque. 3rd edition. Paris.

El The Encyclopedia of Islam. 1st ed. 4 vols. and Supplement. Leiden and London, 1913-1938; The Enci'clopaedia of Islam 2nd ed. 4 vols. to date. Leiden and London, 1960-

Al-Farabi, Abu Nasr Al-A ffaz al-mustacmala f l1-mantiq. Ed. Muhsin Mahd;. Beirut, 1968.

Farlha, Anis 1962 Ahiqar, hakim min al-garq al-adna I-qadim.

Beirut.


Faris, Bichr 1939 "Makarim al-abulbq," Mabathit 'Arabivya.

Cairo. Al-Farra', Abu Zakariyya' Yahya b. Ziyad

Ma'cini l-Qur'an, Vol. II. Cairo, 1966. Flugel, Gustav

1857 "Zur Frage uber die altesten Uebersetzungen "Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldnd-

ischen Gesellschaft 11: 148-153; 325-327. Fraenkel, Siegmund

1886 Die aramdischen Fremdworter im Arabischen. Leiden.

Gabrieli, Francesco 1931-32 "L'Opera di Ibn al-Muqaffa',," Rivista degli

Studi Orientali 13: 197-247. GAL

Carl Brockelmann. Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur. 2 vols. Leiden, 1943-49.

GA LS Carl Brockelmann. Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, Supplementbdnde. 3 vols. Leiden, 1937-42.

GAS Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums. 7 vols. to date. Leiden, 1967-

Gauthier, Leon 1904 "La Racine arabe h-k-m et ses deriv~s," in

Homenaje 6 D. Francisco Codera. Ed. D. Eduardo Saavedra. Zaragoza. Pp. 435-454.

Georr, Khalil 1948 Les Categories dAristote dans leurs versions

Slvro-Arabes. Beirut. Geyer, Rudolf

1928 Gedichte von . al-'Acs'a [Gibb Memorial Series, New Series VI]. London.

Gibb, H. A. R. 1960 "Arabic Literature," El2, 1: 583-599. 1962 "Islamic Biographical Literature," in Histo-

rians of the Middle East. Edd. B. Lewis and P. M. Holt. London. Pp. 54-58.

Giffen, L. A. 1971 TheorY of Profane Love among the Arabs.

New York. 1973 "Love Poetry and Love Theory in Medieval

Arabic Literature," in Arabic Poetri', TheorY and Development [Giorgio Levi della Vida Conference III]. Wiesbaden. Pp. 107-124.

Gimaret, Daniel 1978 "Sur un passage enigmatique du Tabyi'n d'Ibn

'Asakir," Studia Islamica 47: 143-163. Goichon, A. M.

1971 "Hikma," E12, 111:377-378.

Goitein, S. D. 1952 "The Origin and Historical Significance of the

Present-Day Arabic Proverb," Islamic Culture 26: 169-179.

Goldziher, Ignaz 1889 Muhammedanische Studien, Vol. 1. Halle.

[ Muslim Studies. Ed. S. M. Stern (London. 1967)].

1890 Muhammedanische Studien, Vol. II. Halle. [= Muslim Studies. Ed. S. M. Stern (London, 1971)].

1899 Abhandlungen zur arabischen Philologie 11: Abu Hatim al-Sijistani, Kitdb al-Mu'am- marnn. Leiden.

1902 "Neutestamentliche Elemente in der Traditions- litteratur des Islam," Oriens Christianus 2: 390-397.

Grignaschi, Mario 1965-66 "Les 'Rasa'il 'Aristataqisa 'ila l-Iskander' de

Salim Abui-l-'AlaD et l'activite culturelle a 1'epoque Omayyade," Bulletin dEtudes Orient- ales 19: 7-83.

1966 "Quelques specimens de la litterature Sassanide conserves dans les bibliotheques d'Istanbul," Journal Asiatique 254: 1-142.

1967 "Le Roman epistolaire classique conserve dans la version arabe de Salim Abuil-'Ala'," Le Museon 80: 211-264.

1975 "La 'Siyasatu-l-'ammiyya' et l'influence iranienne sur la pensee politique Islamique," in Acta Iranica, Deuxieme Serie: Hommages et Opera Minora III: Monumentum H. S. NAvberg. Leiden. Pp. 33-287.

Grohmann, Adolf 1924 Allgemeine EinfUhrung in die arabischen

Papyri. Vienna. Gutas, Dimitri

1975 Greek Wisdom Literature in Arabic Transla- tion. New Haven.

Hamasa G. W. Freytag, Hamasae Carmina, Vol. 1. Bonn, 1828.

Harris, J. Rendel 1898 The Story of Ahikar. London.

Al-Hattab;, Abu Sulayman Hamd b. Muhammad al-Bust; Baydn l jaz al-DQuran, in Talat rasd'ilfl iciaz

al-Qur'cin. Edd. Muhammad Halafallah and Muhammad Zaglfil Sallam. 3rd edition Cairo, 1976. Pp. 21-71.

Haywood, J. A. 1965 Arabic Lexicography. 2nd edition. Leiden.


Heinrichs, Wolfhart 1969 Arabische Dichtung und griechische Poetik.

Beirut. 1973 "Literary Theory: The Problem of Its Effi-

ciency," in Arabic Poetry, Theory and Devel- opment [Giorgio Levi della Vida Conference III]. Wiesbaden. Pp. 19-69.

Heller, B. 1936 "Lukman," El', III: 35-37.

Henning, W. B. 1956 "Eine arabische Version mittelpersischer

Weisheitsschriften," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft 106: 73-77.

Hizdna 'Abd al-Qadir al-Bagdadi, Hizanat al-adab. 4 vols. Bfuaq, 1299 A.H.

Horna, Konstantin 1935 "Gnome, Gnomendichtung, Gnomologien," in

Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Edd. G. Wissowa et al. Supplement 6. Stuttgart. Col. 74-90.

Horovitz, Josef 1926 Koranische Untersuchungen. Berlin and

Leipzig. 1930 "Ibn Quteiba's 'Uyun al-Akhbar," Islamic

Culture 4: 171-198. 1934 "Wahb b. Munabbih," El', IV: 1084-1085.

Huart, Ch. 1927 "Hikma," El', II: 305-306.

Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, Abu 'Umar Ahmad b. Muhammad Al-'Iqd al-Farid. Edd. Ahmad Amin, Ahmad al-Zayn, Ibrahim al-Abyari. 7 vols. Cairo, 1948- 1973.

Ibn AbN Ya'la, Muhammad b. Muhammad

Tabaqat al-Hanabila. 2 vols. Cairo, 1371 A.H.

Ibn Durayd, Abu Bakr Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Azdi Al-Itiqaq. Ed. F. Wuistenfeld. Gottingen, 1854. Jamharat al-luga. 4 vols. Haydarabad, 1344-51 A.H.

Kitlb al-mujtana. Haydarabad, 1362 A.H.

Ibn Halduin, Wali al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman The Muqaddimah. Trans. F. Rosenthal. 3 vols. 2nd edition. Princeton, 1967.

Ibn Hanbal, Ahmad b. Muhammad Al-Musnad. 6 vols. Cairo, 1313 A.H.

Ibn Hindfi, Abu l-Faraj 'All b. al-Husayn A l- Kalim al-rihaniyyafl 1-hikam al-yananiyya. Ed. Mustafa al-Qabbani al-Dimagql. Cairo, 1318 A.H.

Ibn Hisam, 'Abd al-Malik Sira: Das Leben Muhammed's nach Muham-

med Ibn Ishdk. Ed. F. Wuistenfeld. 2 vols. Gottingen, 1858-60.

Ibn al-Muqaffa', 'Abd Allah Al-Adab al-sakir wa-l-adab al-kabir. Beirut, 1974.

Ibn al-Mu'tazz, Abu l-'Abbas 'Abd Allah

Tabaqdt al-gucard'. Ed. 'A. A. Farraj. 3rd edition. Cairo, 1976.

Ibn Qutayba, 'Abd Allah b. Muslim Kitab al-Ma'arif. Ed. Tharwat 'Okasha. 2nd edition. Cairo, 1969. Tafsir Garib al-Qur'an. Ed. Ahmad Saqr. Cairo, 1958. Ta'wil muhtalif al-hadlt. Cairo, 1326 A.H.

'Uyan al-ahbar. 4 vols. Cairo, 1925-30. Ibn Ragiq, Abfi 'A1i al-Hasan

Al-'Umda. Ed. Muhammad Muhyiddin 'Abdalhamid. 2 vols. Cairo, 1383 A.H.

Ibn Rusd, Abu 1-Walid Talhis al-Hitdba. Ed. Muhammad Salim Salem. Cairo, 1967.

Ibn Sa'd, Muhammad Kitdb al- Tabaqat al-kabir. Ed. E. Sachau. 9 vols. Leiden, 1904-40.

Ibn Sina, Abu 'Ali al-Husayn

Al-?if6'. al-Mantiq. al-Hitaba. Ed. Muham- mad Salim Salem. Cairo, 1954.

Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Farabi Diwan al-adab. Edd. Ahmad Muhtar 'Umar, Ibrahim Anis. 2 vols. Cairo, 1974.

Ishaq b. Ibrahim, Abu 1-Husayn al-Katib Al-Burhan fi wuqjh al-bayan = Kitab Naqd al-natr. Edd. Taha Husayn, 'Abdalhamid al-'Ibadi. Cairo, 1937 [ H. Muhammad Saraf. Cairo, 1969].

Al-Jahiz, Abdi 'Utman 'Amr b. Bahr Al-Bayan wa-l-tabyin. Ed. 'A. M. Haruin. 4 vols. 4th edition. Cairo, 1975. Damm ahltfq al-kuttdb. In Three Essays of... al-Jahiz. Ed. J. Finkel. 2nd edition. Cairo, 1382 A.H. Pp. 39-51. Kitab al-Hayawan. Ed. 'A. M. Harun. 8 vols. Cairo, 1966-69.

Al-Jawharl, Abu Nasr Isma'il b. Hammad

Al-Sihih. Ed. Ahmad 'Abd al-Gaffar 'Attar. 6 vols. Cairo, 1956-58.

Jeffery, Arthur 1938 The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur'an.

Baroda. Al-Jurjani, Abu Bakr 'Abd al-Qahir b. 'Abd al-Rahman

Al-Risdla al-?cifiya. In Taldt ras'dil fi i7jfz

al-Qur an. Edd. Muhammad Halafallah and


Muhammad Zaglfil Sallam. 3rd edition. Cairo, 1976. Pp. 117-158.

Kassel, R. 1971 Der Text der aristotelisehen Rhetorik. Berlin.

Khan, M. S. 1961 "The Jawidan Khirad of Miskawaih," Islamic

Culture 35: 238-243. Khoury, R. G.

1972 Wahb b. Munabbih, Teil I. Wiesbaden.

Kister, M. J. 1960 "Aktham b. Sayf;," El2, I: 345.

Klima, Otakar 1968 "The Middle Persian Era," in History of

Iranian Literature. Ed. J. Rypka. Dordrecht. Pp. 25-65.

Kobert, R. 1971 "Bemerkungen zu den syrischen Zitaten aus

Homer und Platon im 5. Buch der Rhetorik des Anton von Tagrit," Orientalia 40: 438-447.

Kohlberg, Etan "Al-Amedi," in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Forth- coming.

Kopf, L. 1965 "Al-Djawhari," El2, II: 495-497.

Kratchkovsky, Ign. 1924 "Le Kitab al-adab d'Ibn al-Mu'tazz," Le

Monde Oriental 18: 56-121. Kraus, Paul

1934 "Beitrage zur islamischen Ketzergeschichte," Rivista degli Studi Orientali 14: 93-129.

Krenkow, F. 1922 "The Use of Writing for the Preservation of

Ancient Arabic Poetry," in A Volume of Oriental Studies Presented to E. G. Browne. Cambridge. Pp. 261-268.

1924 "The Beginnings of Arabic Lexicography till the Time of al-Jauhari," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Centennary Supplement. Pp. 255-270.

Kroll, W. 1940 "Rhetorik," in Paulys Realencyclopddie der

classischen A ltertumswissenschaft. Edd. G. Wissowa et al. Supplement 7. Stuttgart. Col. 1039-1138.

Lane, E. W. An Arabic-English Lexicon. 8 vols. London. 1863-93.

Lang, D. M. 1960 "Bilawhar wa-Yfidasaf," El2, 1: 1215-1217.

Langhade, J. and Grignaschi, M. 1971 Al-Farabi. Deux ouvrages inedits sur la

Rethorique [sic]. Beirut.

Lanz, Ellen 1968 "Syrische Platonzitate in der Rhetorik des

Anton von Tagrit," in Paul de Lagarde und die syrische Kirchengeschichte. Ed. Gottinger Arbeitskreis fur syrische Kirchengeschichte. Gottingen. Pp. 129-134.

Lecomte, Gerard 1962 Ibn Qutayba. Le Traite des divergences du

hadit '. Damascus. 1965 Ibn Qutayba, / 'homme, son oeuvre, ses ides.

Damascus. Leroy, L.

1909 "Vie, Precepts et Testament de Lokman," Revue de l'Orient Chretien, Deuxieme Serie 4: 225-255.

Levi della Vida, Giorgio 1910 "Sentenze Pitagoriche in versione Siriaca,"

Rivista degli Studi Orientali 3: 595-610. Loewenthal, A.

1896 Honein Ibn Ishak, Sinnspru'che der Philo- sophen. Berlin.

Lyall, C. J. 1918-21 The Mufaddaliyat, Vols. 1 & 2. Oxford.

Madelung, Wilferd 1979 Review of John Burton, The Collection of the

Qur'an. In International Journal of Middle East Studies 10: 429-430.

Martin, Josef 1974 Antike Rhetorik. Munchen.

Masse, Henri 1960 "Buzurgmihr," El2, 1: 1358-1359.

Al-Maward;, Adab al-dunya wa-l-din. Ed. Mustafa al-Saqa. 3rd edition. Cairo, 1375 A.H.

Meleuc, Serge 1969 "Structure de la maxime," Langages 13:

69-99. Merkle, Karl

1921 Die Sittenspru'che der Philosophen. Leipzig. Al-Mubassir b. Fatik, Abu l-Wafa'

Muhtar al-hikam wa-mahasin al-kalim. Ed. 'Abdurrahman Badawi. Madrid, 1958.

Muller, August 1880 "Arabische Quellen zur Geschichte der

indischen Medizin," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft 34: 465-556.

Nau, F. 1909 Histoire et Sagesse dAhikar l'Ass'rien. Paris.

Nielsen, Ditlef 1912 "Die athiopischen Gotter," Zeitschrift der

Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft 66: 589-600.


Noldeke, Theodor 1890 Delectus Veterum Carminum Arabicorum.

Berlin. Noldeke, Th. and Schwally, F.

1909 Geschichte des Qorans, Vol. 2. Leipzig. Nwyia, P.

1972 Ibn '-AtM' Allah et la naissance de la confrerie gadilite. Beirut.

Oman, G. 1960 "Uno 'specchio per principi' dell' Imam 'Ali

ibn Ab! Talib," Annali dell'!stituto Uni- versitario Orientale di Napoli, N. S. 10: 1-35.

Owen, C. A. 1934 "Arabian Wit and Wisdom from Abu Sa'id

al-Abi's Kitdb Nathr al-Durar," Journal of the American Oriental Society 54: 240-275.

Paret, Rudi 1971 Der Koran. Kommentar und Konkordanz.

Stuttgart. Pellat, Charles

1956a "Gahiziana III. Essai d'inventaire de l'oeuvre Gahizienne," Arabica 3: 147-180.

1956b "Une charge contre les secretaires d'etat attribuee a Gahiz," Hesperis 43: 29-50.

1960 "al-Ahnaf b. Kays," El2, 1: 303-304. 1971 "Hamza b. Bid," El2, III: 154-155.

Plessner, M. 1968 Review of Rosenthal, 1965, in Bulletin of the

School of Oriental andAfrican Studies 31: 619. Rabin, C.

1960 ",'Arabiyya," El2, 1: 561-567. Al-Ragib al-Isfahani, Abu l-Qasim al-Husayn

Mufradat alfaz al-Qur'an. Cairo, 1324 A.H.

Raguse, Harmut 1968 "Syrische Homerzitate in der Rhetorik des

Anton von Tagrit," in Paul de Lagarde und die svrische Kirchengeschichte. Ed. Gottinger Arbeitskreis fur syrische Kirchengeschichte. Gottingen. Pp. 162-175.

Richter, Gustav 1932 Studien zur Geschichte der dlteren arabischen

Furstenspiegel. Leipzig. Ritter, Helmut

1930 "Philologika VI," Der Islam 19: 1-17. 1933 "Studien zur Geschichte der islamischen

Frommigkeit," Der Islam 21: 1-83. Rosenthal, Franz

1953 "Some Minor Problems in the Qur'an," in The Joshua Starr Memorial Volume. New York. Pp. 67-84.

1956a Humor in Ear/v, Islam. Philadelphia.

1956b "State and Religion according to Abui 1-Hasan al-'Amiri,'' Islamic Quarterly 3: 42-52.

1965 Das Fortleben der Antike im Islam. Zurich. 1970 Knowledge Triumphant. Leiden. 1971 Four Essays on Art and Literature in Islam.

Leiden. 1975 The Classical Heritage in Islam. London. 1980 "Asatir al-awwalin," E? 2 Supplement,

Fasc. 1-2, pp. 90-91. Ruicker, Ad.

1930 Obituary for Ignatius Ephraem II. Rahmani, Oriens Christianus III. 3-4: 279-282.

1934 "Das fuinfte Buch der Rhetorik des Antuin von Tagrit," Oriens Christianus 111.9: 13-22.

Al-Saranil Al- Takmila . . li-kitab ... .[al-]$ihah. Vol. 5. Cairo, 1977.

Sayed, Redwan 1977 Die Revolte des Ibn al-Ag'at und die Koran-

leser. Freiburg. Schoeler, Gregor

1973 "Die Einteilung der Dichtung bei den Arabern," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen- ldndischen Gesellschqft 123: 9-55.

Seligsohn, Max 1901 Diwdn de Tarqfa ibn al-'Abd al-Bakri. Paris.

Sellheim, Rudolf 1954 Die klassisch-arabischen Sprichwortersam-

mlungen insbesondere die des Abu 'Ubaid. 's-Gravenhage.

Semaan, Khalil 1968 Linguistics in the Middle Ages. Phonetic

Studies in Early Islam. Leiden. Shaked, S.

1970 "Specimens of Middle Persian Verse," in W. B. Henning Memorial Volume. London. Pp. 395- 405.

Sourdel, Dominique 1952-54 "Le 'Livre des Secretaires' de 'Abdallah

al-Bagdad;," Bulletin dEtudes Orientales 14: 115-153.

Spengel, Leonard 1854 Rhetores Graeci, Vol. 2. Leipzig.

Speyer, Heinrich 1961 Die biblischen Erzahlungen im Qoran. 2nd

edition. Hildesheim. [1st edition, 1931]. Sprengling, Martin

1915-16 "Antonius Rhetor on Versification," The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 32: 145-216.

Steinschneider, M. 1870 "Zur Geschichte der Uebersetzungen aus dem


Indischen in's Arabische und ihres Einflusses auf die arabische Literatur," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft 24: 325-92.

Stern, S. M. 1956 "Ibn al-Samh," Journal of the Royal Asiatic

Society. Pp. 31-44. Strothmann, Werner

1968 "Die Schrift des Anton von Tagrit uber die Rhetorik," in Paul de Lagarde und die syrische Kirchengeschichte. Ed. Gottinger Arbeitskreis fur syrische Kirchengeschichte. Gottingen. Pp. 199-216.

Al-Sukkari, Abu Sacid al-Hasan garh a?'dr al-Hudaliyyin. Edd. 'A. A. Farraj and M. M. Sakir. Vol. 1. Cairo, 1963.

Al-Ta'Alibi, Abu Mansfir 'Abd al-Malik b. Muhammad Al-Tantil wa-l-muhadara. Ed. 'A. M. al-Hulw. Cairo, 1961.

Al-Tabarl, Muhammad b. Jarfir Tafsir. Edd. Muhammad Sakir and Ahmad Muhammad Sakir. Cairo, 1955- Tafsir (Bfuaq). 30 vols. Cairo, 1903. Ta'rih. Edd. M. J. de Goeje et al. Leiden. 1879-1901.

Tafazzoli, A. 1972 "Andarz i Wehzad Farrox Peroz Containing a

Pahlavi Poem in Praise of Wisdom," Studia Iranica 1: 207-217.

Tamer, 'Aref 1957 A l-Hikam al-Ja 'fariyva. Beirut.

Al-Tawhidl, Abu Hayyan Al-lmtac wa-l-mu'dnasa. Edd. Ahmad Amin, Ahmad al-Zayn. 3 vols. in one. Beirut, n.d.

Till, W. 1934-37 "Griechische Philosophen bei den Kopten," in

Melanges Maspero. Cairo. Vol. 11. Pp. 165- 175.

Ullmann, Manfred 1959 Griechische Spruchdichtung im Arabischen.

(diss. Tubingen.) 1966 Untersuchungen zur Ragkazpoesie. Wiesbaden.

Valeton, J. J. P. 1844 Taalibii Syntagma Dictorum. Leiden.

Veccia Vaglieri, L. 1958 "Sul 'Nahg al-balagah' e sul suo compilatore

ag-Sarif ar-Rad;," Annali dell' Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, N. S. 8: 1-46.

von Grunebaum, G. E. 1952 "The Aesthetic Foundation of Arabic Litera-

ture," Comparative Literature 4: 323-340.

Wansbrough, John 1977 Quranic Studies. Oxford.

Widengren, Geo. 1948 "Literary and Psychological Aspects of the

Hebrew Prophets," Uppsala Universitets

Arsskrift, No. 10. Wikander, S.

1968 "De l'Inde a l'Espagne: l'origine de la Poridat de las Poridades," in Actas IV Congresso de Estudos Arabes e Islamicos. Coimbra [appeared 1971]. Pp. 267-269.

Wild, Stefan 1965 Das Kitab al-'Ain und die arabische Lexiko-

graphie. Wiesbaden. WKAS

Worterbuch der klassischen arabischen Sprache. Wiesbaden. 1957-

Yatima Abu Mansur 'Abd al-Malik b. Muhammad al-Ta'alibi, Yatdmat al-dahr fi mahasin ahl al-'asr. Ed. Muhammad Muhyiddin 'Abdal- hamid. 4 vols. 2nd edition. Cairo, 1956-8.

Zachariae, Theodor 1914 "Die Weisheitsspruiche des anaq bei

at-Tort.ius," Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes 28: 182-210.

Zimmermann, F. W. 1972 "Some observations on al-Farabi and Logical

Tradition," in Islamic Philosophy and the Classical Tradition. Edd. S. M. Stern, A. Hourani, V. Brown. Oxford. Pp. 517-546.

Zwettler, Michael 1978 The Oral Tradition of Classical Arabic Poetry.

Columbus.

BuhAri, Sahih IV.139. 2 Cf. Bellamy, 1973: vii-ix. ' A representative sample of such definitions can be read in

the El' and the El2 articles by Huart, 1927, and Goichon, 1971. Goichon's article especially is disproportionately weighed in favor of the philosophical use of the term. The short notice by de Boer, 1938, in the El Supplement deals primarily with Ibn Sina's al-hikma al-masriqivva.

4 Something similar was attempted with regard to the entire root h-k-m by Gauthier, 1904, who professed to be following a process of semantic derivation "natural a 1'esprit humain" (Gauthier, 1904: 441). His discussion is accordingly more normative than historical. There is a brief discussion of hikma, especially as it compares to cilm, in Rosenthal, 1970: 35-40. An entire monograph on hikma along these lines would be particularly welcome.

76 Journal of the American Oriential Society 101.1 (1981)

5 I use 'maxim' in its current and common meaning of "a general truth, fundamental principle, or rule of conduct, especially when expressed in sententious form" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 1966). The emphasis is added: the practical aspect in particular of the meaning of the word should be borne in mind in the following discussion.

6 This may be yet a further attestation of the inferior position, vis-A-vis 'ilm, afforded to hikma in the Muslim scale of intellectual excellence; cf. Rosenthal, 1970: 37-8, 40. On the other hand, there is the very real possibility-to which I am inclined, as will be shortly argued-that hikma initially referred to something much more concrete than 'ilm (and therefore could not be a rival to it), and that only later it acquired a more abstract signification.

7 The religious bias of the great general dictionaries, like the Tahdib (al-Azharl, d. 370/981), the Sihdh (al-Jawharl, d. ca. 398/1007), and the Muhkam (Ibn Sida, d. 458/1066)-and to a certain extent the Lisdn al-'arab (Ibn Manzfir, d. 711/ 131 1) as well-is concretely illustrated when one compares their entries under the root h-k-m with the corresponding entries in the specialized dictionaries of religious terminology by al-Rigib al-Isfahin! (d. 501/1108; Mufradfit: Qur'anic glossary) and Majd al-Din Ibn al-Atlir (d. 606/1210; al-Nihfiya: vocabulary primarily of the hadit): poetic vocabulary ex- cluded, they contain approximately the same material. This is not to cast aspersions on the efforts of the great lexicographers; they never intended to cover all the words in the language. "Lexicography (lugha) was initially the study of words which, though they occurred in the Qur'an, the HadfLh, and pre- Islamic poetry, were not known to everyday speech" (Hay- wood, 1965: 17; cf. Wild, 1965: 5-6). This is well illustrated, ia., by Ibn Durayd's use of ma'ruf (well-known) in lieu of a definition for a common word in his Jamhara. As a matter of fact, he describes the first word under the root h-k-m, al-hukm, as "ma'rtif" (Jamhara II. 186a). All-inclusiveness in lexicography was not a deliberate objective until Ibn Manzuir, and even he fell short of it, precisely because he was following the traditional material. For the same reason the same deficiency is also present in Lane's Lexicon: hikma is nowhere defined as 'maxim.'

8 At least in the recension represented by the printed edition; cf. Haywood, 1965: 44-5. For the various recensions of the Jamhara see Krenkow, 1924: 266ff.

9 Ibn Durayd, Jamhara II. 186b: Kullu kalimatin wa'azatka aw zajaratka aw dacatka ild makramatin aw nahatka Can qabihin fa-hiva hikmatun wa-hukmun. Wa-huwa ta 'vilu qawli l-rasuli slcm, inna min al-sicri la-hikaman wa-inna min al-baydni la-sihran. Incidentally, certain sources read the word in this ubiquitous hadit as la-hukman instead of la- hikaman. There is no doubt, however, that the correct reading is la-hikaman, as vocalized in the edition of the Jamhara (presumably on the basis of the Mss), and as noted, a long time

ago, by Goldziher, 1890: 205 n. 4 [1971: 191 n. 1]. For the possible translations of the hadit see below, note 255.

'0 Agani XI.171 (reference in Goldziher, 1890: 205 n. 3 [1971: 190 n. 7], where other passages are also referred to).

" Ibn Qutayba, 'Uyan 11.118. 12 Agani XI.44 (reference in Goldziher, 1890: 205 n. 3 [1971:

190 n. 7]). Al-Afwah himself was considered as one of the hukamd' al-'Arab: GAS 11.302.

3 Al-Tirmidl, Sunan, 'ilm 19; Ibn Maja, Sunan, zuhd 15. 14 Jahiz, Baydn 1.258. For kalima see also below, note 227. 15 Ibn Durayd, Htiqdq 127.17 (reference in Goldziher, 1890:

205 n. 7 [1971: 191 n. 4]). 16 Burhdn 88 [157]. 17 For the story and references see below, p. 57a and note 93. 18 Buhari, Sahih IV.139. This was the common expression;

cf., for instance, Jahiz, Baydn I. 265. 19 Jahiz, Baydn 11 .312. Alternate expressions include: "I

found in David's Book of Maxims" (wajadtu fi hikmat Ddw2d, Ibn Munabbih as reported by Ibn Qutayba, 'Uyan 1.279), and "I read among the maxims of Luqman" (qara'tu fi hikam Luqmdn, Ibn Qutayba, 'Qyan 11.119).

20 The examples cited above date for the most part from the second and third centuries A.H. Reliable evidence for the meaning of hikma from the first century A.H. is more difficult to come by-as it is for everything else in Arabic studies. For references to Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 110/728 or 114/ 732) see above, n. 19, and below, pp. 57-58. For Mu'awiya's use of the term in the meanings given above see below, p. 56a.

21 Cf. Bloch, 1954: 221: "In der vorislamischen Gnomik fehlt das Wort hikma bezeichnenderweise fast ganz." Cf. also the verses referred to by Horovitz, 1926: 133-5, where the word ,hikma appears only once.

22 For Zabban see GAS IL.1 Off. The famous al-Nabiga was in all probability an older contemporary of Muhammad; cf. GAS 11.185.

23 Text in Jahiz, Hayawan V.555: tahabbara tayrahu fihd Ziyddun li-tuhbirahu wa-md flhd habiru / aqama ka-anna Luqmdna bna 'A din a~dra lahu bi-hikmatihi mu~ru. Horovitz, 1926: 133 translates the second verse as follows: "Er verweilte, als ware Luqman b. 'Ad ein Berater gewesen, der ihn kraft seiner Weisheit beraten hatte."

24 That is, one cannot make signs with abstract wisdom. It is significant that the expression in the poem is asdra lahu, not a~dra 'alayhi, which would be the proper way to say 'he advised him,' the translation given by Horovitz ("beraten hatte").

25 Quoted in Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, 'Iqd II.325: "Irwvifiqhan ... / aw min a'djibi jdhiliyyatind fa-innahd hikmatun wa-muhtabaru." Ibn Munadir himself was considered "als guter Kenner der 'arabiya'' (GAS 11.505-6).

26 The verse is reproduced in Seligsohn, 1901 (Arabic text p. 156, n. XXII): "Lavta l-muhakkama ua-l-mau'uaa sawta-


kuma tahta 1-turfibi idb ma i-bbtilu nka~afU" Trans. (p. 84): "O homme d'experience et homme averti! plit a Dieu que votre voix ftlt sous la terre lorsque l'amour vain m'a quitt6!"

27 Jawhari, Sih/h V.1902b. The form hakkama would thus mean, 'one who admonishes others by telling them maxims,' and the corresponding passive participle, 'one who is thus admonished' and hence as experienced as the person who told the maxims. The later lexicographer al-Saganil, in his Takmila to Jawharl's Sihdh (V.618b), disagrees with the latter and reads muhakkim for muhakkam in Tarafa's poem, which he then interprets to mean, 'he who commands one to be wise' (alladi ya'muruhu bi-l-hikma). It appears that al-Sagdni was led to this interpretation because he assumed hikma in this context to mean 'wisdom' rather than 'maxim.' There is little doubt, however, that muhakkam is the correct reading, and that its sense is analogous to the parallel word maw'uz.

28 Ibn Qutayba, 'Uyan 11.122. Even if this saying is not pre- Islamic, it derives in all probability from Wahb b. Munabbih's first century A.H. compilation of Luqman's maxims. See below, p. 58a.

29 Hizana 1.545: "wa-la-anta ahkama hina tantiqu min Luqmana lammd 'ayya bi-l-amri." Cf. the translation in Horovitz, 1926: 133: "Und du bist, wenn du sprichst, weiser als Luqman, da er mit der Sache nicht weiter kam." This verse is also attributed to al-A'Wa's uncle, al-Musayyab b. 'Alas, where instead of ahkamu the reading is abvanu (Geyer, 1928: [Arabic p. 353, poem IX.35]). The variant antaqu is also recorded (Geyer, 1928: 333, note to IX.35). Antaqu is clearly impossible; while abyanu ('you have more bayfin,' i.e. 'you have greater clarity and eloquence of style') seems to be a gloss on the original ahkamu ('you have better hikam,' i.e. 'you pronounce better and clearer maxims than Luqman'), manifestly the lectio difficilior.

30 Ibn cAbd Rabbihi, 'Iqd 11.256: "man ahkamu l-ndsi? man samata fa-ddakara wa-nazara fa-'tabara wa-wu'iza fa-zdajara.

3' Maw'iza seems to be very closely related to hikma. The only difference between the two, apparently, is that the former has a more restricted application (one is exhorted with regard to a specific thing), whereas the latter is of a more general nature. Cf. al-muhakkam al-mawc'uz in the verse of Tarafa quoted above (notes 26-7), and bi-l-hikma wa-l-maw'iza in the Qur'an 16.125 (see also below, pp. 54a, 66b).

32 Cf. Hamdsa 529.2 = Noldeke 1890: 1.3: "wa-l-amt/lu yadribuha li-di 1-lubbi l-hakimu."

3 Quoted in Ibn Qutayba, cUvufn 11.119; a slightly variant version in Ibn cAbd Rabbihi, cIqd 11.253.

34 Ibn Qutayba, cUyun 11.122. See also below, p. 53b. 3 Ibn cAbd Rabbihi, 'Iqd 11.221. The second hemistich

literally reads, "he constantly ripped open virgin and tightly sealed speech."

36 See the remarks on this subject in Rosenthal, 1953: 67-8.

Tabari, Tafsir 111.86-7 on Sara 2.129. 38 Tabari, Tafsir V.371, on Sara 2.251. 3 Tabari, Tafsir V.576-8, on Sara 2.269. 40 Tabari, Tafsir VIII.480, on Sara 4.54. 41 Tabari, Tafsir (B01aq) XIV.122, on Sara 16.125. 42

Tabari, Tafsir (Bfilaq) XXI.40, on Sara 31.12. 43 Tabari, Tafs r (Bfilaq) XXIII.79, on Sfira 38.20. 44 Al-Farrad, Ma'ani 11.401. 45 Ibn Qutayba, Garib 32, no. 24. With this is to be

compared Ibn Qutayba's Hanbali definition of iman (faith): "The person who declares true [saddaqa, i.e. the principles of faith] with his tongue and heart, performs his ritual duties, and avoids grave sins is the true believer (mu min haqqan) who fulfills the conditions of faith (imain);" Muhtalif 2134 (cf. Lecomte, 1962: 190, and 1965: 229-32). Ibn Qutayba's definition of iman echoes that attributed to Ahmad b. Hanbal: "Faith is a statement [of faith], works ('amal), intention, and holding fast to Prophetic tradition"; Ibn Abi Ya'ld, Tabaqdt 1.24. The Hanbali insistence on knowledge of (and testimony to-for tasdiq = 'ilm see Rosenthal, 1970: 97-108) Islamic belief and corresponding action as the two pillars of faith thus raises an interesting parallel between hikma and iman. A study of the relationship of these two terms at this relatively early stage might provide a clue about the incorporation of hikma into theological terminology.

46 Vol. 1 of this work (ed. Fuat Sezgin, Cairo 1954)-the only portion to have appeared-covers saras 1-18, which include 14 of the 20 times the word hikma occurs in the Qur'dn, a high enough percentage to permit this gener- alization.

47 Cf. above, note 7. 48 See below, pp. 56-57. 49 See the discussion in Paret, 1971: 73, where he improves

upon the arguments of Horovitz, 1926: 72-3. 50 Lyall, 1918-21: 1.94.2 = Geyer, 1928 (Arabic p. 354, poem

XI.6). Also referred to in Horovitz, 1926: 73 n. 1. Lyall, 1918- 21: 11.30.6 translates, "I saw that wisdom counselled me. . ." Bevan, 1924: 111.192, in the glossary of the Mufa4ddaliyj'at, apparently on the authority of the Arab commentator, who explains hukm in this verse by 'aql, defines hukm as 'reason- ableness.' See further below.

51 Tabarl, Tafsfr 111.87. 52 Following Tabari's lead and the same logic of 'etymol-

ogizing,' al-Ragib al-Isfahanil says that hukm is more general (a'ammu) than hikma (Mufradbt 126). Naturally so-once hikma is accepted as an ismu 1-naw 'i, it follows by definition that its sense would be more restricted.

53 This argument makes hukm the lectio difficilior and hence the probable one. On the other hand, it is difficult to establish chronological boundaries for the disuse of hukm in the sense of 'judiciousness.' A verse by a Bedouin in praise of Dawfid b. al-Muhallab says, "he has the judiciousness (bukm) of


Lugman, the form (~ara) of Joseph, the power (mu/k) of Solomon, and the justice ('adl) of AbQ Bakr" (Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, 'Iqd 1.257).

54 Mufrdddt 127. On this verse see also below, p. 54a. 5 Tabarli, Tqfsir IX.200, on Sara 4.113. 56 S2ras 2.129, 151, 231; 3.48, 81, 164; 4.54, 113;5.110;62.2. 57 Horovitz, 1926: 71-4. Paret, 1971: 68, takes issue with

Horovitz's interpretation on the basis that hikma in these passages refers to the contents of the revealed books. The case is far from being closed, but in view of the present discussion, it seems that hikma refers to the contents of the books only in later interpretations, not in the Qur'dnic usage.

58 I use the word in its literal sense, 'to make known by means of signs,' to render the Arabic awhd, something which the word originally meant. (Decisive is the rendition of awha in Sara 19.11 by tukallima . . . ranizan in the variant passage of 3.41, both reflecting the Greek dianeu6 in Luke 1.22.) These signs could be nothing other than written signs in this context, i.e. letters (cf. Horovitz, 1926: 67-8 and the references given there). A renewed investigation of this word in connection with the concept 'written revealed books' might prove helpful. Indeed, in an early exegetical work ascribed to Muqatil b. Sulayman, the Kitdb al-wuuah wa-l-na-d 'ir (Ms Istanbul, Beyazit 561), one of the interpretations given to the word wahia is kirdb, i.e. 'writing,' and Sara 19.11 is quoted as an example (see Wansbrough, 1977: 209-10). Wansbrough finds the choice of 19.11 as an example for wahy = kitdb inappropriate. I would rather tend to think, however, that the author of the Kitdb al-wu/ah was simply transmitting this definition of wal?) from older, philological sources which kept alive the pre-Islamic signification of wahV (as reflected, i.a., in the third century A.H. grammarian 'Abdallah al-Bagdadl's Kitdb al-kuttib [Sourdel, 1952-4: 133-4] and the fourth century A.H. literary critic Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Katib's Burhan 63 [113]), but that he was at a loss to find a Qur'anic example of wah/; in this sense as applied to God; he therefore chose a theologically neutral verse, one in which the subject of the verb awhd is not God by Zakariya.

5 V8uzdajar. Cf. the similar association of hikma and izdijdr in the pre-Islamic definition of ahkamu l-nds above, p. 51b, and note 30.

59 It is indicative that Hunayn b. Ishaq, not a Muslim, and therefore not constrained to follow the Muslim theological interpretations of hikma in the Qur'an, understands the literal meaning of hikma, 'maxim,' in the Qur'anic phrase hikma bfiliga. In his Nawfidir al-faldsifa he introduces the section containing the maxims carved on the philosophers' signet rings with the following words: "wa-li-kulli wdihidin minhumn [i.e. al-faldsifa] hikmatun bhlikatun cald fassi hftamihi manqagsatun" (Ms Escorial 760, f. 6').

60 For the meaning of tali, 'read out loud,' and its association in the Qur'an with revealed books, see Speyer, 1961: 159- 61 n. 4.

61Ibn Qutayba, Ma'arif 55. 62 Cf. Horovitz, 1926: 73-4. 63 References in Khoury, 1972: 259. 64 Sara 2.269 ("vu'th [Alldhu] I-hikmata . . . wa-md

Jaddakaru illd al1 l-albfibi") is exactly parallel to the gnomic verse from the Hamasa 529.2 quoted above (note 32): "wa-l-amtdlu wadribuhfi li-d I-lubbi l-hakimu." The hikma in the Qur'anic verse is therefore the amtdl of the poetic verse.

65 Cf. the discussion above, pp. 52-53. 66 Cf. above, note 45.

67 For the theory of the Aramaic origin of pre-Islamic Arabic hikma see the following note. In Islamic times, a possible route of entry of the Syriac hekmd into Arabic may have been the incorporation of New Testament elements into the hadit (cf. Goldziher, 1890: 382-400 [1971: 346-62] and Goldziher, 1902). For example: Matthew 7:6 appears in Ibn Qutayba, 'Uion 11.124, as follows: "Jesus said: 'O Israelites, do not throw pearls to swine, for they will not do anything with them, and do not give hikma to whomever does not want it, for hikma is better than pearls, and whoever does not want it is worse than swine.'" This recalls a Prophetic saying, also about hikma, reported by Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, 'IqdII .254: "Do not leave hikma with those who have no use for it lest you wrong it, and do not withhold it from those who could benefit from it lest you wrong them." Cf. another parallel from the hadit referred to in Goldziher, 1890: 392 [1971: 355].

68 Horovitz, 1926: 72-3; Jeffery, 1938: 111; Bloch, 1954: 221. 69 Although there is no scholarly consensus on the origins of

Luqman, the man with whose name maxims (hikrna) are most readily associated in pre-Islamic Arabia (see below, Section IV, note 102), the fact remains that in Arabic sources he is held to be from South Arabia (cf. Heller, 1936: 36a), from the tribe of 'Ad (cf. Buhl, 1960: 169b). Wahb b. Munabbih, the scholar who collected and edited Luqman's hikma (see below, Section IV.A), was from South Arabia. A tradition in Buhari (11.382) quotes the Prophet as saying that hikma comes from the Yemen (al-hiknma Yamdnihi'a). Finally, South Arabian inscriptions have preserved the word hukm as an epithet of the moon god (Nielson, 1912: 592; Huart, 1927: 305b). Cf. also Jeffery, 1938: 111.

70 The pioneering statement on writing in pre-Islamic Arabia is that by Goldziher, 1889: 110-2 [1967: 106-7]. A useful survey of previous literature is given by Widengren, 1948: 11- 34. See also Abbott, 1967: 5ff and Semaan, 1968: 6-9. Recently, the question has been discussed in association with the status of 'Arabiyya in pre- and early Islamic times. See Rabin, 1960: 566a and Zwettler, 1978: 122-4 and 165.


71 For religious literature see the discussion in Abbott, 1957: 48ff. and the references cited there. Whether any of the religious suhuf referred to in pre- and early Islamic sources (Horovitz, 1926: 69) were written in Arabic is precisely the problem. Nbldeke and others (see the references in Widengren, 1948: 16 n. 5) have argued for a South Arabian origin of the word sahifa, and it is a South Arabian author, Wahb b. Munabbih, who says that he read 93 out of the 163 suhuf (according to Ibn Higam's version) which God revealed to the prophets (Khoury, 1972: 217). What language(s) were these suhuf in?

7 Even some poetry seems to have been written down in this period, though apparently not for the purposes of preservation. See the references in Krenkow, 1922: 264-6; Grohmann, 1924: 55 n. 3; Al-Asad, 1962: 23-103.

7 Cf. Gibb, 1960: 585a: "It is probable that judicial maxims also were occasionally committed to writing [in pre-Islamic times]. "

74 The words qur an and dikr may be added to the above, but it is debatable whether they referred to a specific document existing in writing. These terms are discussed by Horovitz, 1926: 65-75. "It is true that most of these are Arabicized forms of words borrowed from Greek, Aramaic, or Ethiopic, but the fact that they were taken over into Arabic is evidence that the language needed words concerned with the art of writing" (Semaan, 1968: 8). For a list of other words related to books and writing in early Arabic texts see Semaan, 1968: 8 n. 3.

7 For asatir see now Rosenthal, 1980. 76 See WKAS I.39b. 77As is well known, Muslim tradition is replete with refer-

ences to Muhammad's secretaries. A number of these references is given in Semaan, 1968: 8-9 n. 4.

78 This sara (al-Furqan) is traditionally believed to have been revealed in Mecca; Ndldeke-Schwally, 1909: 133-4, put it in the second Meccan period. Independent of this dating, however, "those who disbelieve" identify themselves as poly- theists (25.42: "He almost led us away from our gods,") and are therefore pagan Arabs and not any of the people of the Book among whom having religious books transcribed would have been current.

79 Ibn Higam, Sira I.235: "Wa-/lahi ma Muhammadun bi-ahsana haditan minni wa-ma hadituhu illa asatiru I-awwalina ktatabaha ka-ma ktatabtuha." Cf. Jeffery, 1938: 56.

80 Diwan al-Hudalivin III.70.2-3. 81 According to Sukkari, garh I.392, these last two verses

were found in the riwdva of Salama only. 82Goldziher, 1890: 204-5 [1971: 190]. 83 For this book see below, p. 58a.

84 CUIvan 1.135-6. 85 Goldziher, 1890: 205-6 [1971: 190-1]. 86 Ibn cAbd Rabbihi, cIqd IV. 28.15 87 Buhari IV.139; Muslim, Sahih, fman 60, 61; Ibn H anbal,

Musnad IV.427, 436, 445. Cf. Abbott, 1967: 6 n. 14. 87a Cf. now the succinct statement of the problem by

Madelung, 1979: 429. 8 Bellamy, 1973: 16-17 (no. 76). 89 Cf. Abbott, 1967: 7 and the references in n. 25; Goldziher,

1890: 194-202 [1971: 181-8]. 90 Cf. the assessment of Djait, 1976: 180-1, and Abbott,

1967: 156-7. A short biography of Sacid and extensive references to the sources are given by Sayed, 1977: 352-3. 9' Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat VI.179. 92 Cf. the suggestion of Wansbrough, 1977: 9 n. 2, that suhuf

in the Qur'an may refer to 'covenant'. 93 Ibn Hisam, Sira 1. 283-5. For references to the same story

in other authors see Abbott, 1967: 5 n. 10, and Goldziher, 1890: 206 n. I [1971: 191 n. 6]. For the use of the term majalla in pre- and early Islamic times see Abbott, 1957: 48; for its Aramaic origins see Fraenkel, 1886: 247-8. Ibn Durayd (Istiqaq 191.5) says, apparently reflecting Ibn Higam's expla- nation ma/alla = hikma, that a ma/a/la is a sahifa upon which some maxims (hikma) are written.

94 Tabarli uses this report in his Tafsir VII.78 as the occasion for the revelation of the Luqman verses.

95 Bloch, 1954: 223, dismisses this and the preceding report (above, paragraph 4.b.i) rather cavalierly: "Was Goldziher a.a.O. [i.e. 1890: 205 = 1971: 190-1] anftihrt. bezieht sich wohl auf die Tatigkeit der spatern Philologen." The above discussion warrants at least a more serious investigation into the matter.

96 Baqillani, I/jaz 32. 97 Ritter, 1930: 4. For the importance of this and related

passages for the development of the theory of the i'jaz al-Qur'dn see Kraus, 1934: 126ff.

98 See above, p. 50b, and below, note 120. Cf. also Goldziher, 1890: 205-6 [1971: 191] and 401-4 [363-5]. 99 The question of the national origin of Luqman, although

irrelevant in the present discussion, remains unresolved. Horovitz, 1926: 132-6, and Bloch, 1954: 220-3 express op- posing views.

'00 A detailed investigation into the sources of the Arabic Luqman material has yet to be undertaken. Here it is sufficient to point to a few similarities between Luqman and Ahiqar. Harris (1898: lxxiv, cf. p. 61) finds echoes of the Syriac Ahiqar No. 8 with Qur'dn 31.19. In a passage attributed to Luqman by Wahb b. Munabbih (Ibn Qutayba, cUiuln 1.135) Luqman says to his son, "Travel with your sword, your bow, and all your weapons"; to this we may compare the


Syriac Ahiqar No. 27 (Harris, 1898: 62), "My son, walk not in the way unarmed."

'1' Verses 14-5 seem to be a parenthetical aside. Cf. Horo- vitz, 1926: 132; Bloch, 1954: 210.

102 For Luqman see in general Heller, 1936, and his references to earlier literature. See further Bloch, 1954: 210-1 and 220-2; Sellheim, 1954: 23; Blachere, 1966: 748-9; and Paret, 1971: 316ff.

103 See GAS 1.305-7, and especially Khoury, 1972. The article in El' (Horovitz, 1934) is still serviceable (cf. the statement by Khoury, 1972: 11).

104 Ma'drif 55: VQara'tu fl hikmatihi nahwan min 'aarati dhifi bab."

105 References in Khoury, 1972: 206-7 and 258-69. 106 References in Khoury, 1972: 267-8. 107 See the reconstruction of the contents of this book in

Khoury, 1972: 227-46. For Luqman see p. 242, no. 32. 08 See below, pp. 60-61. '09 Khoury, 1972: 194. "1 See the discussion, with illustrative material, in Khoury,

1972: 258-63 and 268-9. "' Some references in Abbott, 1967: 6 n. 1, Khoury, 1972:

242; but most of the adab literature, especially Ibn Qutayba, must be consulted; see Lecomte, 1965: 207-9. Some of the sayings of Luqman preserved in Ibn Qutayba's 'Uyfn, Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi's 'Iqd, Ibsihl's al-Mustatraf, and Ta'labi's Qisas al-anbivad' have been collected by Fariha, 1962: 188-96. A study that would collect Wahb's Luqman fragments would be very useful; such an undertaking would also shed some light on the question of written literature in the first century A.H. (cf. the discussion in Khoury, 1972: 306ff.).

112 Mss Munich 651, ff. 130-134r; Escorial 760, ff. 5 v bis-53t; Loewenthal, 1896: 1404. Cf. Nau, 1909: 70-2.

113 Merkle, 1921: 54 n. 24, traced one saying in Hunayn's collection to the Syriac Ahiqar. Cf. also Loewenthal, 1896: 19, and his notes on pp. 140-4.

114 The sayings in Mubaggir (Muhtdr) from p. 277.12 onward belong to 'nysuvs (most likely Athanasius, as in MS Paris. Arab. 310, f. 38', where Athanasius' sayings precede those of Luqman), as in the Istanbul MS III Ahmet 3206, f. 134>.

115 In Sahrazfir's Nuzhat al-arwdh. MS Brit. Mus. 688 and 601 (according to Badawi in Mubaggir, Muhtar, 263 n. 4).

116 Ms III Ahmet 3206, f. 127v. 117 Thus in the Arabic translation of the Ahiqar story,

Harris, 1898: 1 (Arabic text). 118 In the independently transmitted Ahbar Luqmdn

wa-ddabuhu (see the paragraph immediately following) the text simply reads, " Yd bunayya, mur bi-l-ma'raf... astdbaka." (Leroy, 1909: 229).

119 In MSS Paris. Arab. 309, ff. 35-52 (15th century) and 310. ff. 38'-52' (17th century). The text was published and translated, on the basis of the former MS, by Leroy, 1909: 226-55.

There are numerous other MSS containing the sayings of Luqman (among them, e.g., Paris. Arab. 312, ff. 73ff.; Vienna A.F. 499 (156) [Flugel no. 1851], f. 1 I; Vienna A. F. 444 (160) [Fliigel no. 1852], ff. 53r-68'); their exact contents and their interrelationships are subjects for future investigations.

120 Preeminent among these two groups are, e.g., the two Tamimis: the savyid al-Ahnaf b. Qays (see Pellat, 1960) and the hakam Aktam b. Sayf! (see Kister, 1960), the hakim al-'Arab, whose fame rivaled that of Luqman (cf. Abbott, 1967: 6).

121 See AbQ Hatim al-Sijistani's book on the subject (Goldziher, 1899).

112 A short list of pre-Islamic sages is given by Jahiz, Badan 1.365. A collection of the maxims of such individuals is a major desideratum in the study of the birth and development both of the stories and sayings attached to such persons and of Arabic prose literature. Cf. Blachere, 1966: 758 n. 3.

123 Such as Hamza b. Bid, court jester to the Muhallab family (Pellat, 1971; sayings in the Agani XV. 15-26), and Ag'ab 'the Greedy' (fl. early 2nd century A.H.), whose sayings and anecdotes were collected and translated in Rosenthal, 1956a: 36-131.

123a See the quotation from al-Ta'alibi, below, p. 66a. 124 For the classification of hikma as one of the themes of

poetry see below, pp. 62-63. 12' Bloch, 1954: 182ff. This article is fundamental for the

study of pre-Islamic gnomic poetry. 126 Bloch, 1954: 186.

127 Cf. for instance, the saying, "The witness sees what he who is absent cannot see," discussed above, pp. 55-56. A saying would frequently appear, worded quite differently, in different poems. See Bloch, 1954: 182-4, and Blachere, 1954: 213.

128 References in Gutas, 1975: 464-5. See also further Sellheim, 1954: 21.

29 Ibn Hindu, Kalim, passim. 130 References in Gutas, 1975: 465 and n. 2. 131 Tawhid! (Imta' 11.146) quotes Ibn al-Marapi as saying

that aphorisms (kalimat; see below, n. 227) and hemistichs (masdri' abvat al-si'r) provide great help to those who wish to write or speak eloquently.

132 See, e.g., the gnomic hemistichs and verses of al-Mutanabbi' in Yatima 1.214-28, and the gnomic hemistichs quoted anonymously in Tawhidi, Imta' 11.147-153.

133 See the list in Sellheim, 1954: 21. The philologist Hamza al-Isfahani (d. before 360/970), in addition to his famous Kitdb al-amtdl (Sellheim, 1954: 128-38), is also the author of another work entitled al-Amtal al-sadira 'an buv2t[j!Jal-si'r (reference in GAS 1.337) which, as the title indicates, is a collection of proverbs drawn from gnomic verses.

134 Fundamental for the study of Arabic proverbs is Sell- heim, 1954. Pp. 1-7 provide a concise history of European


studies on the subject; the rest of the book gives a detailed account, with full bibliographic references, of all the classical collections of proverbs. Cf. also Goitein, 1952.

115 Cf. Rosenthal, 1956a: 6 n. 3, and the Nawadir works listed in GAS II. 86-9.

136 See Sellheim, 1954: 27-44. 137 For a literary and social analysis of proverbs in the

'archaic' period see Blachere, 1954, where the problem of the currencY of the proverbs collected is also discussed.

138 Cf. Gutas, 1975: 461, and the Tables of Concordance on pp. 482-92.

139 For the structure of Arabic biographical works see Gibb, 1962: 56-7. Cf. F. Rosenthal in OLZ 40: 626-7 (1937).

140 See below, note 174. 141 Cf. Gutas, 1975: 459-60. Perhaps the best statement on

the nature and function of adab literature is that by Ibn Qutayba, c Uyzfn 1.11 (in the author's introduction), English translation by Horovitz, 1930: 174.

142 Two other comprehensive collections which deserve greater recognition than has been accorded to them so far- they are both unpublished-are al-Abli's (d. 421/1030) Nair al-durr (or durar) and Zamahsafi's (d. 538/ 1144) Rabic al-abrar (GA L 1.292, GA LS 1.512). For the former see Kratchkovsky, 1924, Owen, 1934, and Boughanmi, 1963.

143 See, for example, the chapter on 'ilm in Ibn Qutayba's cUiJan II. 117-259, as summarized and analyzed in Rosenthal, 1970: 255-63.

144 See below, notes 147-9. 145 The most thorough study of Arabic Mirrors for Princes

is still that of Richter, 1932. A useful summary of the genre, with special reference to al-Gazali's Nasihat al-mulik, is given by Bagley, 1964: ix-xvi. The major themes and ideas per- vading these Mirrors are sketched in Busse, 1968, where further bibliography is also to be found.

146 Sourdel, 1952-54 provides a useful introduction to the subject with numerous references.

147 A list of such handbooks is given by Abbott, 1941: 85-6; cf. Rosenthal, 1971: 48-9.

148 A list of collections bearing this title is found in Faris, 1939: 31-2. Cf. also Bellamy, 1973: 1-4.

149 See Giffen, 1971, and especially Giffen, 1973, where a survey of the collections on the subject is provided. It would be desirable to have bibliographic surveys of all the specialized adab collections on the pattern provided by Giffen, 1973.

150 See Rosenthal, 1956a: 1-16. 15' Kratchkovsky, 1924. 152 Valeton, 1844.

153 An indication of the stylistic technique of Ibn al-Mu'tazz is provided by the following Greek saying as translated, quite literally, into Arabic: "Qila [li-Arista]: ma bclu 1-hasadati ayahkzanuna abadan, fa-qala: li-annahum la i'ahzanfina li-mci

yanzilu bi-him min al-fiddati faqat bal li-ma yanalu l-nasu

a'dan min al-hapr" (Gutas, 1975: 172-4; cf. 402-3). Ibn al- Mu'tazz recasts this into the following form: " Yasflka min al- hasidi annahu _vagtammu fl wvaqti surarika" (Kratchkovsky, 1924: 94).

54 Cf. Kratchkovsky, 1924: 65. "5 Cf. also al-Ta'alibl's Tamtil which would also fall into

this category. 156 Cf. Pellat. 1956a: 152. 157 A collection of 'Ali's sayings which is ascribed to Ibn

Durayd is preserved in MS Paris. Arab. 3971 (GALS 1.173). For the numerous MSS and editions of 'All's one hundred sayings see GAL 1.44, GALS 1.75; cf. also Merkle, 1921: 29- 30. The sayings of 'All have enjoyed great popularity in English as well. The first translation into English of an independent collection of 'All's sayings is that by Simon Ockley, Sentences of Ali, son-in-law of Mahomet, and his fourth successor, London (B. Lintot) 1717. The most recent translation that I can trace is by Mehdi Khan Nakosteen, Maxims of Ali, Boulder, Colorado (Este Es Press). 1978.

158 Kohlberg, 'al-Amedl,' in Enc yclopaedia Iranica, forth- coming. I am indebted to Professor Etan Kohlberg for providing me with a typescript of his article.

159 See Veccia Vaglieri, 1958. The Nahj has recently been translated into English by Mohammed Askari Jafery, Nahjul Balagha, Karachi (Khorasan Islamic Centre). 1971.

160 According to Veccia Vaglieri, 1958: 1 n. 2, more than seventy commentaries were written. Cf. GAL 1.405, GALS 1.705.

161 Cf. Veccia Vaglieri, 1958: 2 n. 7. Oman, 1960 has claimed that a text in the Nahj represents an authentic document by 'All and an early sample from the Mirror for Princes literature in Arabic.

162 Cf. GAS 1.530. 163 See the study of Ritter, 1933: 1-53. 164 See GAS 1.645. Abfi Yazid's gatahdt were collected by

Badawl, 1949. 165 GAS 1.647. 166 See GAL 11.118 and GALS 11.146. English translation,

with introduction and notes, by Danner, 1973. For a study of Ibn 'Atad'allah and the SadilU tariqa see Nwyia, 1972.

167 Bloch, 1954: 21 1ff. perhaps said as much as can be profitably said on the matter at present.

168 It is conceivable that sayings were translated into Arabic from Coptic directly (for Coptic gnomologia see Till, 1934- 37), or from Coptic through a Syriac intermediary (cf. the remarks by Crum, 1937: 329 about Syriac MSS in the Mingana collection), although I am not aware of any investigation on this subject so far. The Ethiopic gnomologium Mashafa falasfb tahibdn, on the other hand, is a translation from the Arabic (Merkle, 1921: 21).

169 See Grignaschi, 1975, which revises the conclusions reached in his earlier studies (1965-66 and 1967). For all


references to sources, MSS, and secondary material these works are to be consulted.

170 For the periodization of translations of Greek gnomic material into Arabic see Gutas, 1975: 444-5.

17 See Gutas, 1975: 9-35 for a list of all the published Greek gnomologia and their interrelations. Other Greek sources which Arabic collections drew upon include Neopythagorean oeconomic literature, paradoxographical literature, handbooks of rhetoric, Neoplatonic introductions to philosophy, biographical literature, doxographic literature (cf. Daiber, 1980: 80-85 and 816-817), and Neoplatonic compendia of Pla- tonic and Aristotelian ethics (Gutas, 1975: 268-75, 328-31, 376-80, and 426-9). See also G. Graf, GCAL 1.380-9, 483-6.

172 Some material was also translated from the Syriac. See below in this Section, paragraph 4.

173 Gutas, 1975: 444-50. 174 The attribution of the Siwdn al-hikma to AbQ Sulayman

al-Sijistani has now been challenged by Gimaret, 1978: 154 n. 2 and by Wadad al-Qadi in a communication to the Ninth Congress of European Arabists and Islamicists, held in Amsterdam, September 1978 (I am indebted to Professor Manfred Ullmann for a private communication on this matter; see now Daiber, 1980: 816).

175 For bibliographic information on these and other Arabic collections of Greek sayings see Gutas, 1975: 36-55, and p. 450 for a schematic presentation of their interrelations. Since that study was completed, the Muntahah Siwdn al-hikma was published twice, by Badawi, 1974, and Dunlop, 1979. Hunayn's Nawddir al-fa/isifa is also extant in two Tehran MSS: Danisgah 2165 and Daniggah 2103 (I am indebted to Professor Gerhard Endress for communicating this information to me). I am currently in the process of preparing a comprehensive edition of the Graeco-Arabic gnomologia as outlined in Gutas, 1975: 441-3.

176 Cf. Gutas, 1975: 464-6. For a detailed study of the influence of Greek sayings in Arabic literature see 'Abbas, 1977. The extent and duration of the diffusion of Greek gnomic material in Arabic is poignantly illustrated by a recent column in the Cairo daily al-Ahram (12 November 1978). In the section of the newspaper entitled Sundaq al-dunjd. the columnist Ahmad Bahgat illustrates the moral that reason (caql) should rule over desire (ragha) by quoting the anecdote of Socrates and the king (Gutas, 1975: 90-1, no. 10). In his version, though, the incident occurs between a king and an anchorite (faqir, zdhid), not Socrates; Bahgat doubtless found the story in Arabic literature, where it is widely quoted, and not in any Western source.

1 Useful summary in Klima, 1968: 34-58. For recent studies on andarz literature see Shaked, 1970, and Tafazzoli, 1972. The sources of this literature were not, in certain instances, of Iranian origin; it has been shown that the existing fragments of dcin literature derive from Byzantine administrative and

military manuals (references in Grignaschi, 1975: 39). Works of Indian origin, like the Kalila wa-Dimna (cf. Brockelmann, 1927) and Bilawhar wa-Yfidasaf (cf. Lang, 1960), also passed into Arabic through a Pahlavi intermediary.

178 For the translations of Ibn al-Muqaffa' see Gabrieli, 1931-2: 198-218. For the other translators from the Pahlavi see GALS I. 237-9.

179 Henning, 1956: 76 = Khan, 1961: 242. For a study of a Persian 'Mirror for Princes' and its Pahlavi antecedents see Iradj Khalifeh-Soltani, Das Bild des idea/en Herrschers in der iranischen FEirstenspiegelliteratur dargestellt am Beispiel des Qabus-Name. Diss. Tubingen 1971.

180 A MS of this text which was transmitted independently from Miskawayh's work (Badawi, 1952) was published by Arberry, 1963.

181 See Christensen, 1930, and Masse, 1960. Cf. Henning, 1956: 76-7 = Khan, 1961: 241-3.

182 The information on the Koprtilu MS given in Gutas, 1975: 47 should now be revised according to the indications of Grignaschi, 1966.

183The testament of Ardagir was also edited by 'Abbas, 1967: 49-84, on the basis of sources other than those used by Grignaschi, 1966.

184 See Gabrieli, 1931-2; 215-6. "' The sayings ascribed to Ardagir in various Arabic sources

were collected by 'Abbas, 1967: 85-117. 186 See above, note 177. For translations of Sanskrit mate-

rial into Arabic see Steinschneider, 1870, and the references in Zachariae, 1914: 182-4. More recently, Wikander, 1968, claimed Indian influence on the Sirr al-asrbr (Secretum secretorumn), but the subsequent study of Grignaschi, 1975 (especially pp. 36ff.) refutes this claim. Cf. further Grignaschi, 1975: 277. 187Ibn al-Nadim's report in the Fihrist was studied long ago

by Flugel, 1857; Mtiller, 1880 translated the passages in Ibn AbM Usaybica's 'cUvn a/-anha6 relating to Indian physicians; and Zachariae, 1914, provided parallels from Indian literature to Sanaq's sayings preserved in TurtQi9's Sirdj al-mulak.

188 Cf. Zachariae, 1914: 196: "Solche Aufzahlungen ... in der indischen Literatur sehr beliebt sind."

'89 The question of the Arabic translations of the Bible cannot be discussed here. The fact remains, however, that some biblical wisdom material, translated into Arabic presumably from the Syriac, did find its way into Arabic collections. Cf. Gutas, 1975: 46 no. XIII, 253-6, 433-4. The relationship of this material, transmitted through direct translation, to that found in earlier sources, apparently transmitted orally (e.g., Wahb b. Munabbih's Hiknat Ddwaud; see above, pp. 57-58), and their respective sources and diffusion in Arabic literature require further study.

190 Baumstark, 1922: 169-70; Levi della Vida, 1910. For more recent studies see Brock, 1970, and especially the articles


of Raguse and Lanz in the 1968 Gottinger Arbeitskreis fur syrische Kirchengeschichte, referred to below, note 225. Cf. also Alon, 1976. The extent to which these Syriac gnomologia were translated into Arabic remains to be investigated.

19' The Arabic Ahiqar was translated from the Syriac: Nau, 1909: 87-9. The diffusion of the maxims of Ahiqar in Arabic gnomic literature in post-Qur'anic times (cf. above, p. 57b and note 100) and the extent of the association of Ahiqar with Luqman (above, p. 58a) have yet to be determined.

192 The state of current scholarship and the problems yet to be solved are discussed in Heinrichs, 1973: 19-33. Heinrichs deals more with poetry than with prose, but this only reflects both the medieval and contemporary state of affairs. Much less attention was devoted by medieval Arab literary critics and theorists to prose than to poetry, primarily for the four reasons enumerated by Heinrichs, 1973: 30-2. This has in turn conditioned modern research.

'92a Outside of Arabic studies, considerable advances in the structuralist and semiotic analysis of maxims have recently been made by Meleuc, 1969 and Barthes, 1980, both with reference to the maxims of La Rochefoucauld. Some of the points made by Barthes are strikingly similar to the formulations of medieval Arab literary critics discussed below.

193 An earlier method of categorization, which apparently fell into disuse in later times, was applied according to the different states of mind induced by the poem (joy, anger, etc.), a method called "psycholiterary" by Heinrichs, 1973: 37.

194 A poem was accordingly one of praise, wine, hunting, etc. See Heinrichs, 1973: 38-43, and especially the more comprehensive treatment by Schoeler, 1973.

'9' To take Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Katib's Burhdn 93ff. [150ff.] as an example, prose is divided into four: oratory (bitdha), correspondence (tarassul), argumentation (ihti~d), history (hadit).

196 See the discussion in Ullmann, 1966: 1-3, and especially p. 2 n. 8. To Ullmann's references one might add, i.a., the passing rhetorical question of al-Hattabi (d. 388/998) in his Baydn FIcjz 35: 'How are people unable to produce the like of the Qur'an, "seeing that they are Arabs skillful in the correct use of language (fusahd'), capable of dealing with all sorts (awdiva; 'genres'?) of speech, and knowing both its structured forms (nu-tumihi)-qasida, rajaz, saj'-and all its other forms (funanihi)"?' Cf. further below, cAmiri's statement, p. 69a and note 257.

'9' To which were devoted individual treatises; see Hein- richs, 1973: 32. Elements from this third classification were also employed in the horizontal classification: we thus find taghih (comparison), a figure of speech, "included among what are otherwise quite clearly themes of poetry," Heinrichs, 1973: 39 and ff.

198 CAbd al-Qahir al-Jurjani's views can be taken as representative in this regard. He says that the Qur'an is polythematic

(/ahu asnaf min al-ma'dnl) because we know that it contains "proofs and demonstrations; maxims (hikam) and precepts (adab); passages that excite longing and fear; promises and threats; description, comparison, and similitudes (amali); mention of nations and [past] ages with a narration of their states, information about what transpired between them and the prophets, and [other] things which can be neither enumerated nor counted," al-Risdla al-safii'a 143.

'99 Reported by Ibn al-Mu'tazz, Tabaqdt al-u'ardD 275; quoted in Bonebakker, 1970: 100-1.

200 Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Katib, Burhan 81 [135]. The same text, under the name of CAbd al-Karim, is also given by Ibn Ragiq, 'Umda 1. 121. See the discussion in Heinrichs, 1973: 42 and Schoeler, 1973: 17.

201 Ibn Ragiq, cUmda 1.121. 202 See above, p. 59a. 203 As a matter of fact, Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Katib quotes this

had.t twice in the space of four pages: once right after his definition of poetry and once just before his division of it into the four themes cited above; Burhcn 77, 81 [130, 134]. Closely related to this famous hadit and perhaps originating from the same tradition that sought to exonerate poetry from the Qur'anic censure is another alleged statement of the Prophet: "The poetry of Hassan b. Tabit, Kacb b. Malik, and cAbdallah b. Rawaha is not poetry but maxims (hikma)" (Agdni X1.80). The three poets are, of course, Muhammad's "court" poets. What makes their poetry (and by extension, all poetry) religiously acceptable is that it is, or contains, maxims. On this point see also below, note 258.

204 "Wa-qad qila fi mantur al-hikam." Al-Mawardi, Adab al-dun'd 232.

205 For Ishaq al-Farabi see Kopf, 1965: 496a; GAL 1.133, GA LS 1.195-6. For the arrangement of the Diwdn al-adab see Krenkow, 1924: 269. The text translated below is in the recent edition of the Diwcin, 1.73-4.

206I.e. report, command, question, and wish-roughly, in grammatical terms, the four finite moods of the verb: indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and optative.

207 The idea that only habar can be either true or false is also found i.a. in Ishaq al-Katib, Burhan 45 [94].

208 Wa-l-hikmatu an yakuna sun'un kaminun fi masnu'in fa-yustanbata fa-luadaca lafzatan tastamilu calayhi; literally, "A hikma [requires] that there be an artful formulation latent in an artful composition which is then extracted and stated in a pronouncement containing it." It is doubtful that by masnuc here Ishaq al-Farabi is referring to masnuc poetry as opposed to mathl' poetry (for masnau and mathuc cf. Heinrichs, 1969: 52-5 and Ibn Haldun, Muqaddima [Rosen- thal] 111.398-409). Although hikma ua~s considered one of the themes of poetry, as discussed above, p. 62b, it is unlikely that Ishaq al-Farabi would claim that hikma could be extracted from masnhc poetry only and not from inathac, or indeed


from any other form of artful composition. It thus appears that by masnz c he is referring to all artful composition, presumably both prose and poetry, and including all the ornaments of style and rhetorical figures, the sunc (artful formulation) mentioned in the definition. Furthermore, judging by what is stated in the definition of poetry, the pronouncement which constitutes hikma and which contains this artful formulation would appear to be in prose, since matal, a "most eloquent hikma" (see below), is also in prose.

209 For the subcategories of hikma and their categorization see further below, pp. 65-66. In the diagram, words in square brackets and broken lines indicate my extrapolations, which are here offered with all due circumspection. The

question of the formal categorization of religious prose in general and of hadit in particular is more complicated than the diagram would indicate and lies beyond its scope. "O

Aristotle, al-Hitdba 142. This translation, which is preserved in the unicus Paris. Arab. 2346, dates from the pre- Hunayn era and is very poor. A concise report on all the available information on the Arabic translation (and on the fate of Tkatsch's Nachlass) is given by Kassel, 1971: 88-92. Further evidence in support of a single, poor translation of the Rhetoric is provided by Langhade-Grignaschi, 1971: 133-8. Cf. also Heinrichs, 1969: 51.

211 Cf. Kroll, 1940: 1065. 212 Ibn Rugd, for one, explicitly states that he could find no

commentary by a reliable commentator (Qarh li-man yurta1dd min al-mufassirin, Talhis al-hit iba 690). The oblique references to commentaries on the Rhetoric that Grignaschi finds in al-Farabi's Didascalia (Langhade-Grignaschi, 1971: 138 n. 2) are too vague: as so often with al-Farabi, the referents are in all probability discussions in the Syriac tradition preserved in the Bagdadi philosophical circles (cf. in general Zimmermann, 1972), or else discussions in contemporary Bagdad. Ibn Sina, on his part, refers to 'modern commentators' (cf. al-gifd', al-Hitdba 21-3). Moreover, the complete misunderstanding by both Ibn Sina and Ibn Rusd of Stesichorus' saying to the Locrians that they should not be insolent lest the cicadae sing on the ground (Rhetoric 1395al; commentary by Ibn Sina, al-bifd', al-Hitdba 173.2-4; Ibn Rugd, Talhis al-hitcba 461-2) indicates that they could not have been using-at least for this chapter of the Rhetoric- any Greek commentaries. If they had, the correct interpretation to this 'enigmatic' saying would have been given.

213 Aristotle, al-IHitdba 254. In another publication, Badawi reads sahih for musahhah in the admittedly damaged Paris MS

(Badawi, 1959: 14.14 = Badawi, 1955: 14.14). Stern, 1956: 42, translates the same text as follows: "This book is not very useful [?] and has not often been studied, therefore one does not find a correct copy or a person interested in its correction," apparently reading musahhih for musahhah. Badawi's vocal- ization in his edition of the translation is the correct one, if the

skeleton is m-s-h-h (but cf. the reading of Georr, 1948: 188, bi-tashihihii [?]).

214 Ibn al-Samh's own marginal annotations are sporadic and fragmentary. Cf. Stern, 1956: 41-44.

215 The Didascalia text is in Langhade-Grignaschi, 1971: 246. The asvyd' ma'tura are mentioned in al-Farabi, Alfiz 110.14.

Ibn Sina, al-!if D, al-Hitdba 173.5-9; Ibn Rugd, Talhis al-hitdba 464.2-3.

217 A rather unusual philosophical/ literary classification of styles is given by the famous logician and philosopher Abfi Sulayman al-Sijistani (d. after 377/988) in Tawhidi's al-Imtii' (II.140-3). Abi Sulayman divides eloquent style (balaga) into the following categories: poetry (9i'r), epigraphy (kitdba) [the editors of the Imta' substitute hatdba for the MS reading, kitdba, but it is clear from the context that some kind of ornate ceremonial prose, such as epigraphy, is meant; cf. WKAS s.v. kitdba= 'inscription'], prose (natr), proverbs (matal), intellectual argumentation ('aql), impromptu composition (badiha), and exegesis (taDwil). This is a curious list. The first four categories are based on the criterion of theform of the literary product-and thus represent a variant of the vertical classification discussed above-while the last three depend on the psychological faculty which gives rise to these styles (they all variously spring from rth) and on the function which these styles perform (understanding through conceptu- alization, understanding through sudden intuition, and understanding hidden meanings through exegesis, respectively). Hikma, which is not mentioned by Abu Sulayman, would clearly fall under the category of proverbs (matal).

218 For the place of gn6mai in Greek rhetoric see Martin, 1974: 122-4. '19 The above examples are taken from the progymnasma of

Hermogenes (fl. 2nd century A.D.), chapters III-IV, Spengel, 1854: 11.5-8. Later rhetoricians mostly followed and expanded upon his exposition. For a survey of the literary types of sayings in Greek rhetoric see Horna, 1935.

220 Gutas, 1975: 242, 261-3, and 261 n. 1. See also below, note 225.

221 It is conceivable that certain Arabic words used to designate maxims may indeed be translations of Greek terms, as, for example, fd Dida for chreia (see below, note 233), but these would be individual occurrences only and do not represent a wholesale adaptation in Arabic of Greek gnomic terminology. Ullmann's assessment of the situation in this regard is still valid: "Eine ahnliche klassifizierende Termin- ologie hat im Arabischen nicht bestanden.... Ebensowenig wird es gelingen, die Begriffe hikma und mulha, die in den Titeln einschlagiger Werke vorkommen, auf eine der vor- genannten griechischen Gattungen festzulegen" (Ullmann, 1959: 19 n. 1). Also unrelated to the progvmnasmata literature is Ibn Durayd's definition of hikma (above, p. 50a), which is


similar to the definition of gn6me given by Hermogenes (which, in turn, echoes that of Aristotle, Rhetoric 1394a 21- 25): "Gn6me is a summary saying [couched] in a general statement which deters from something or urges to something" (Spengel, 1854: 11.7). The preceding discussion allows for little else than the assumption of polygenesis for the cause of the similarity here.

222 Cf. Duval, 1907: 299-301. 22 Baumstark, 1922: 278. The dating of Anthony, however,

which depends on a report by Barhebraeus (Chron. EccL. I. 361-4, Abbeloos-Lamy), is far from certain. See Strothmann, 1968: 199-201.

224 Given by Duval, 1906, according to the Mosul MS. The variant readings of the chapter headings from the Harvard MS

(Goshen-Gottstein no. 125) are supplied by Sprengling, 1915- 6: 174-5. For this work see primarily Strothmann, 1968; cf. also Rucker, 1930; Rucker, 1934; Raguse, 1968; Lanz, 1968; and Kobert, 1971 (I am indebted to Professor Franz Rosenthal for a number of these references).

225 The final verdict on this matter will have to await the eventual publication and study of Anthony's Rhetoric. What needs to be investigated as well is whether the Greek sayings quoted by Anthony (for the Homeric and Platonic quotations in Anthony see Raguse, 1968; Lanz, 1968; and Kbbert, 1971) passed into Arabic. If they did, then the theory that rhetorical treatises were used as sources for Greek sayings in Arabic would be further substantiated; see above, note 220.

226 The poet al-'Attabi (d. ca. 208/823) wrote a book, not extant, entitled, Funan al-hikam (GAS 11.541). Is the title to be translated, The Types of Maxims, and is it to be assumed that the book contained a theoretical discussion, with concrete examples, of the literary types of maxims? It seems rather doubtful.

227 The word kalima (coll. kalim, p1. kalimdt) by itself means 'aphorism' proper in the sense of a terse saying embodying a general truth, like the kalimit quoted by Tawhidi, Imtdc II. 147ff. The expression jawdmi' al-kalim emphasizes to a greater degree the twin qualities of pithiness and concision of such sayings (cf. Lane, Lexicon I.458b, s.r.j-m- c) and perhaps could best be rendered by 'laconism.'

228 Al-Tacalibi, al-Tamtil 5. 229 Al-Mubaggir, Muhtir 2. 210 Sourdel, 1952-54: 147. 231 Al-Bayhaq!, al-Mahdsin 9. 232 Ibn Durayd, al-Muftand 15. 233According to the text of the Muntahab Siwen al-hikma

(Gutas, 1975: 84.2). In Muhammad b. cAli al-Ansari's recension of Hunayn's Nawddir al-fa dsifa the text reads hikam for fawbDid (MS Escorial 760, f. 64). Hikam is in all probability an editorial gloss, as it seems very likely that fawdD'id reflects the Greek chreiai. Cf. Gutas, 1975: 276, 453, and 453 n. 4.

I bn Qutayba, ' Uvan 1.12.3.

235 Ibn al-Muqaffa', al-Adab al-Kabir 65: min jisdmi hikami l-awwalin wa-qawlihim.

236 See also the examples for the word adab cited above, pp. 50-51.

237 See above, p. 63b, and Diagram I. 238 Cf. Sourdel, 1952-54: 116 n. 2. 239 Jahiz, Damm 42. 240 Reading al-Fdraq for al-ffiriq in the text, following

Pellat, 1956b: 35. 240a For a discussion of the social position and function of

the kuttdb see Carter, 1971. 241 "Eloquence is the basis, genius, spirit, and nature of

Arabic speech." Ibn Haldin, Muqaddima (Rosenthal) 11 1.401. 242 Text of Talqib al- cuqal according to MS Leiden 380

(Warner 442), quoted in de Goeje and Houtsma, 1888: 1.213. For al-Riyadi see Sellheim, 1954: 127. Cf. also the statement of Ibn al-Maragi about the help provided by wisdom literature for all speech in Tawhidi, Imtbc 11.146. For an illustration of the practice referred to by al-Riyadi see cAmiri's JC/cm, where every chapter is introduced by a few sayings "containing the gist of the author's thinking on the subject under discussion" (Rosenthal, 1956b:44). The attitude that maxims help clarity and eloquence of expression is much older than the theories of literary criticism developed in the third and fourth centuries A.H.; see Wahb b. Munabbih's statement quoted above, p. 54a.

243 The psychological dimension of this function of wisdom literature and its association with that of cliches are perspica- ciously exposed by Ishaq al-Fdrabi in his definition of proverbs (matal), above, p. 63b.

244 To paraphrase Ish.aq al-Farabi's definition, above, p. 63b. 245 Cf. Blach&re, 1963: 46, about Jahiz, al-cUtbi, and Ibn

Qutayba. 246 Cf. Gutas, 1975: 459-61. 247 Qur'dn 2.124-141, and especially verse 136, are signifi-

cant in this connection. 248 See, most recently, Wansbrough, 1977: 1-33 (especially

pp. 3 and 15-6) and 238-9 for a discussion of such formal affinities, although I cannot subscribe to his absolute theoretical category of "schemata of monotheistic revelation" (pp. 1 and 239).

249 Not only did many pre-Islamic sayings enter the corpus of Prophetic hadit (Blachere, 1966: 736 and n. 3, 768 n. 3), but also Muhammad himself, in 'secular garb,' figured promi- nently in a succession of Arab hukama' (Blachere, 1966: 767-8). Cf. also Sellheim, 1954: 20-1.

250 In this controversy, when literary sophistication paved the way for an appreciation of the Qur'an on a par with other literature, the theory of its inimitability (ic az) had precisely the effect of placing it beyond the domain of eomparative literary criticism by declaring it to be sui generis.

21 See the passage of cAmiri quoted below.


252 cAmiri Ic/cm 84-5, 96-7. Translation adopted, with

modifications, from Rosenthal, 1975: 63, 69-70. 253 SincCat al-luka. Judging from what is to follow, in

addition to grammar, syntax, and lexicography, literature is also intended.

254 This would be the extreme position of those who would

deny any authority to the ancients: if nothing useful can be gained from literature-i.e. if there is no authority to its

contents-then it must obviously be indulged in for some

ulterior motive-viz. for its form, which can be used for

personal gain. 255 Cf. Plessner's (1968: 619a) review of Rosenthal, 1965:

100. See also above, note 9. Cf. von Grunebaum, 1952: 324, for a wider view.

256 Al-wusal iU6 /-kal/m al-muntabic. The reference is doubtless to the matbac, the naturally artistic style, as opposed to the masnac, the recherch& style; see above, note 208, and cf. von Grunebaum, 1952: 323 n. 2, for the inter-cultural context

of the matbac / masnac dichotomy. Note that cAmiri is pointing here to the universally acknowledged importance of eloquence: see above, paragraph (d) in this section.

257 Aqscm, i.e. 'divisions' of speech (kaldm). This is another instance of vertical, or formal categorization of literary genres

(above, Section V. A.).

258 Al-hikma al-baliga. The allusion to the Qur'anic hikma bdliga is manifest (Sara 54.5; see above, p. 54a). 'Amiri is arguing here, in effect (in answer to the objections of the 'pious men': cf. note 254), that what justifies the study of all literature and makes it religiously acceptable is that all genres of literature contain maxims which sharpen the mind and improve moral character (see the following paragraph in the text)-all this, it is implied, in preparation for the study of religious sciences. He makes maxims, i.e. wisdom literature, and tagbih&t, with its double meaning of 'comparison' (figure of speech) and 'parable,' the focus of his argument, and by his allusion to the Qur'anic hikma bcliga he finds scriptural substantiation for it.

259 Cf. the psychological function of wisdom literature referred to above, paragraph (f).

260I.e. wisdom literature as one of the accomplishments of secretaries and courtiers: above, paragraphs (a) and (b).

261I.e. wisdom literature as 'Mirror for Princes': above, paragraph (c).

262 I.e. wisdom literature as the instrument of the religious sciences: cf. above, p. 68b.

263I.e. wisdom literature as entertainment: above, paragraph (g).

Classicla Arabic Wisdom Literature

Documents

Transcript of Classicla Arabic Wisdom Literature