Literature and Science of the Arabs.--Their Facilities for Literary and
Scientific Pursuits.--Patronage of Literature by the Princes of the
House of Abbas.--Almamoun.--Arabian Schools.--Eloquence.--Poetry.--The
Arabian Tales.--History.--Geography.--Speculative
Sciences.--Astrology.--Mathematical Knowledge of the
Arabs.--Astronomy.--Architecture.--The Fine
Arts.--Agriculture.--Medicine.--Chymistry.--Our obligations to Arab
Literature.
The early followers of the Arabian prophet were only enthusiastic
military adventurers, subduing in their wide and rapid progress most of
the nations of the then known world. The lust of power, and successful
military enterprise, are commonly unfavourable to the cultivation of
the liberal arts, so that a conquering people usually exhibit but
little taste for science or literature. The Goths and the Huns, for
instance, were among the most implacable foes of knowledge. Nor did
the early Arabs regard it with more favour. Mohammed found his
countrymen sunk in the deepest barbarism: he was incapable of any
direct effort to raise them; and, from the ruthless destruction of the
Alexandrean library by Omar, one of his earliest successors, they
appear not to have been in a much {244} better condition after the
close than at the commencement of his eventful career.
Their settlement in the countries they had subdued, the unlimited
resources which their wide-spread conquests placed within their reach,
and probably the leisure which their almost universal dominion
afforded, speedily led to a change in their character in relation to
literary pursuits, of which the more enlightened nations of the West
are still reaping the advantage. It was about the middle of the
seventh century that Omar committed the famous library of Alexandrea to
the flames: before the end of the eighth, literature began to enjoy the
munificent patronage of the caliphs of the Abbassidan race, who
superinduced upon the stern fanaticism of the followers of the Prophet
the softening influences of learning; and, by an anomaly in the history
of mankind, the most valuable lessons in science and the arts have been
received from a people who pursued with relentless hostility the
religion and liberties of every other nation.
The Greeks were the most distinguished patrons of literature and
science. Among them philosophy found its earliest home, and the arts
are commonly supposed to have sprung up chiefly under their fostering
care, though modern researches have shown that much of their knowledge
was derived from still more ancient sources. Their {245} philosophy,
though greatly improved by them, was borrowed from the mysteries of the
Egyptian priests and the Persian magi. Their system of the universe,
which made the nearest approach to the more correct discoveries of
modern times, was previously known to the learned Hindus; and it may
admit of question whether their whole mythology, allowing for the
additions which a chastened and vivid imagination would make to it, had
not its prototype in some Asiatic religio-philosophical system. A
learned writer on the erudition of the Asiatics says, that the whole of
the theology of the Greeks, and part of the philosophy of modern
scientific research, may be found in the Hindu Vedas. He adds, "That
most subtile spirit which Newton suspected to pervade natural bodies,
and to lie concealed in them so as to cause attraction and repulsion,
the emission, reflection, and refraction of light, electricity,
calefaction, sensation, and muscular motion, is described by the Hindus
as a fifth element, endued with those very powers; and the Vedas abound
with allusions to a force universally attractive, which they chiefly
attribute to the sun." The extension, therefore, of the Arabian
victories over the Eastern world, and their entire command, after the
overthrow of the Greek empire, of the resources possessed by that
people, {246} gave them access to all the literary stores then in
existence.
It has been said, and probably not without good reason, that Mohammed
himself saw and felt the importance of literary distinction. Among the
sayings attributed to him, the following has been considered as
evincing his sense of the value of learning: "A mind without erudition
is like a body without a soul. Glory consists not in wealth, but in
knowledge;" and, as the Koran affords abundant proof, he was by no
means unmindful of that mental cultivation, of which the means were
within his reach. His immediate followers, occupied only with the
ideas of conquest and conversion, despised equally the religion and
learning of the nations they subdued; but when the age of rapine and
violence yielded at length to comparative security and quiet, and the
fair and splendid city of the Oriental caliphs arose, the Muses were
courted from their ancient temples, and by the milder and more graceful
achievements of literature and science, efforts were made to expiate
the guilt of former conquest, and to shed a purer lustre over the
Mohammedan name.
Almansor, the second of the dynasty of the Abbassides, whose reign
commenced A.D. 754, and lasted twenty-one years, was among the first of
the Arab princes to foster learning and the arts. {247} Jurisprudence
and astronomy were the principal subjects of his study, which, however,
through the instruction of a Greek physician in his court, he extended
to the art of healing, and probably to those kindred arts with which,
in all ages and countries, medical science has been connected. What
progress was made by himself or his subjects, we cannot now ascertain.
His two immediate successors seem not to have trodden in his steps,
though it is probable they did not undo what he had done; for the next
caliph, Haroun al Raschid, is renowned as one of the most munificent
patrons that literature ever enjoyed. He was fond of poetry and music:
he is said to have constantly surrounded himself with a great number of
learned men; and to him the Arabs were deeply indebted for the progress
in knowledge which they were enabled to make. Every mosque in his
dominions had a school attached to it by his order; and, as if his love
of learning were superior even to his hereditary faith, he readily
tolerated men of science who refused to yield to the bold pretensions
of the Prophet. A Nestorian Christian presided over his schools, and
directed the academical studies of his subjects. His successor
imitated his wise and generous course; and thus knowledge extended from
the capital to the most distant extremities of the empire.
{248}
But it was during the reign of Almamoun, the seventh of the Abbassidan
princes, A.D. 813-833, that literature flourished most among the Arabs.
Learned men, professors of the Christian faith, had multiplied at
Bagdad under the tolerant reigns of his predecessors, and they were now
liberally encouraged to unfold their ample stores of knowledge. The
copious language of Arabia was employed to communicate whatever that of
the Greeks had hitherto concealed, though, with a barbarism for which
it is difficult to account, many of the original works were destroyed
as soon as translations of them were made. Almamoun in his youth had
associated with the most eminent scholars of Greece, Persia, and
Chaldea; and he now invited them to his court. Bagdad was resorted to
by poets, philosophers, and mathematicians, from every country and of
every creed. Armenia, Syria, and Egypt were explored by his agents for
literary treasures, which were amassed with infinite care, and
presented at the foot of the throne as the richest and most acceptable
tribute that conquered provinces could render. Camels, hitherto
employed exclusively in traffic, were seen entering the royal city
laden with Hebrew, Persian, and Grecian manuscripts. The court assumed
the appearance rather of an academy than of a council guiding the
affairs of a luxurious and warlike {249} government, and all classes
were encouraged to apply themselves to the acquisition of knowledge
with a zeal commensurate to the advantages thus afforded. "I chose,"
said Almamoun, when remonstrated with for appointing a learned
Christian to an office of no small influence over the intellectual
pursuits of his people, "I chose this learned man, not to be my guide
in religious affairs, but to be my teacher of science; and it is well
known that the wisest men are to be found among the Jews and
Christians." [1]
Under such favourable auspices, it is not to be wondered at that the
Saracens became a literary people. The caliphs of the West and of
Africa imitated their brethren of the East. "At one period, six
thousand professors and pupils cultivated liberal studies in the
college of Bagdad. Twenty schools made Grand Cairo a chief seat of
letters; and the talents of the students were exercised in the perusal
of the royal library, which consisted of one hundred thousand
manuscripts. The African writers dwell with pride and satisfaction on
the literary institutions which adorned the towns on the northern coast
of their sandy plain. The sun of science arose even in Africa, and the
manners of the Moorish savage were softened by philosophy. {250} Their
brethren in Europe amassed numerous and magnificent collections; two
hundred and eighty thousand volumes were in Cordova, and more than
seventy libraries were open to public curiosity in the kingdom of
Andalusia."
We know but little of the internal government of the Arabian schools,
or of the studies actually pursued. Aristotle, no doubt, was the great
master to whom, in philosophy, all deference was paid. The Prophet had
prescribed their religion. Their schools were of two kinds, or rather
classes; the one comprehending the inferior institutions, in which
elementary branches of instruction, such as reading, writing, and
religious doctrine were chiefly attended to; the other, called
_Madras_, mostly connected with the mosques, as were all the schools of
the former class, included those institutions in which the higher
departments of knowledge were explored. Here grammar, logic, theology,
and jurisprudence were studied. The management of each school was
confided to a principal of known ability, and not always, a Mohammedan.
The professors lectured on the several sciences; and the pupils, if not
in every department, of which there is some doubt, certainly in that of
medicine, were publicly examined, and diplomas were given under the
hand of the chief physician.
Of elegant composition, the Koran was {251} universally esteemed the
model. Hence it was studied with the most diligent care by all who
sought to distinguish themselves in the art of eloquence, one of the
leading acquirements of Arab scholars. Subordinate to this pre-eminent
composition, their schools of oratory boasted of models scarcely
inferior to the celebrated orators of antiquity. Malek and Sharaif,
the one for pathos, the other for brilliancy, are the chief of these.
Horaiai was esteemed as the compeer of Demosthenes and Cicero.
Bedreddin, of Grenada, was their "torch of eloquence;" and Sekaki
obtained the honourable designation of the Arabian Quinctilian.
The ancient Arabs were much inclined to poetry. The wild, romantic
scenery of the land they inhabited, the sacred recollections of their
earliest history, the life they led, everything around them,
contributed to poetic inspiration. After the revival of letters, this
art was cultivated with enthusiasm. The heroic measures of Ferdousi,
the didactic verses of Sadi, and the lyric strains of Hafiz, even
through the medium of imperfect translations, discover animated
descriptions, bold metaphors, and striking expressions, that at once
delight and surprise us. In splendour, if not in strength, the poets
of the courts of Haroun and Almamoun, or those of the Ommiades of
Spain, have, perhaps, in no age been excelled. In this art, as among
other {252} people, so among the Arabs, the fair sex have distinguished
themselves. Valadata, Aysha, Labana, Safia, and others, have obtained
the highest encomiums.
So great is the number of Arabian poets, that Abul Abbas, a son of
Motassem, who wrote an abridgment of their lives in the ninth century,
numbers one hundred and thirty. Other authors have occupied
twenty-four, thirty, and one no less than fifty volumes, in recording
their history.
The Arabs, however, are entirely without epic poetry, so important a
department of the art; nor have they anything that may be properly
ranked as dramatic composition. Sophocles, Euripides, Terence, and
Seneca, the classic models of Greece and Rome, they despised as timid,
constrained, and cold; and under whatever obligation to these ancient
nations the Arabs may have been in other departments of literature,
they owe them nothing, or next to nothing, in this. Their poetry was
original and local; their figures and comparisons were strictly their
own. To understand and properly appreciate them, we must have a
knowledge of the productions of their country, and of the character,
institutions, and manners of its inhabitants. The muse delights in
illustrations and figures borrowed from pastoral life; that of Judea
revels among the roses of Sharon, the verdant slopes of {253} Carmel,
and the glory of Lebanon; while the Arab muse selects for her ornaments
the pearls of Omar, the musk of Hadramaut, the groves and nightingales
of Aden, and the spicy odours of Yemen. If these appear to us
fantastic, it must be remembered they are borrowed from objects and
scenes to which we are almost utter strangers.
Who is not familiar with the Alif lita wa lilin, or the thousand and
one tales, commonly known as the Arabian Nights' Entertainment? Some
have questioned whether they are an original work, or a translation
from the Indian or Persian, made in the Augustan age of Arab
literature: a doubt certainly not warranted by any want of exactness in
their description of Arabian life and manners. They seem to have been
originally the legends of itinerant story-tellers, a class of persons
still very numerous in every part of the Mohammedan world. The scenes
they unfold, true to nature; the simplicity displayed in their
characters, their beauty and their moral instruction, appeal
irresistibly to the hearts of all; while the learned concede to them
the merit of more perfectly describing the manners of the singular
people from whom they sprung, than the works of any traveller, however
accomplished and indefatigable.
Of history the ancient Arabs were strangely negligent; but, by the more
modern, this {254} department of knowledge has been cultivated with
greater care and success. Annals, chronicles, and memoirs, almost
numberless, are extant among them: kingdoms, provinces, and towns are
described, and their history is narrated in volumes, a bare catalogue
of which would extend to a wearisome length. They abound, however,
more in the fanciful than in the substantial and correct. Of this, the
titles of some of the most approved works of this kind may be taken as
specimens: A Chronology of the Caliphs of Spain and Africa is
denominated "A Silken Vest, embroidered with the Needle;" a History of
Grenada, "A Specimen of the Full Moon;" Ibu Abbas and Abu Bakri are
authors of historical collections, entitled respectively, "Mines of
Silver," and "Pearls and picked-up Flowers." Yet some of their
writers, as Ibn Katibi, are chiefly remarkable for the extent and
accuracy of their historical knowledge; and some of their works are
exceedingly voluminous. A full history of Spain occupied six authors
in succession, and cost the labour of one hundred and fifteen years to
complete. Their biography was not confined to men. Ibn Zaid and Abul
Mondar wrote a genealogical history of distinguished horses; and
Alasucco and Abdolmalec performed the same service for camels worthy of
being had in remembrance. Encyclopaedias and gazetteers, {255} with
dictionaries of the sciences and other similar works, occupied Arabian
pens long before they came into vogue among more modern literati.
Every species of composition, indeed, and almost every subject, in one
age or another, have engaged the attention of learned Mohammedans.
Geography they did not so well understand, their means of acquiring
knowledge on this subject being exceedingly limited. Yet their public
libraries could boast of globes, voyages, and itineraries, the
productions of men who travelled to acquire geographical information.
With statistics and political economy they had but an imperfect
acquaintance; yet so early as the reign of Omar II. we find a work
devoted to these subjects, giving an account of the provinces and
cities of Spain, with its rivers, ports, and harbours; of the climate,
soil, mountains, plants, and minerals of that country; with its
imports, and the manner in which its several productions, natural and
artificial, might be manufactured and applied to the best advantage.
Money, weights, and measures, with whatever else political economy may
be understood to include, were also subjects which employed their
ingenious speculations, and, in some cases, their laborious research.
The speculative sciences, scarcely less than polite literature,
flourished among the Arabs. {256} Indeed, what superstitious,
enthusiastic people has ever neglected these? Their ardour in the more
dignified of these pursuits was badly regulated; subtleties were
preferred to important practical truths; and, frequently, the more
ingenious the sophism, constructed after the rules of Aristotle, the
more welcome was it to men who rendered to that philosopher a homage
almost idolatrous. The later Arabs, and the Turks of the present day,
pay no little attention to astrology, though it is strongly prohibited
by their Prophet. This science was universally employed by the
idolaters, against whom his denunciations are scarcely less inveterate
than are those of the inspired volume; and doubtless he apprehended
that its prevalence would hazard the integrity, if not the very
existence, of his own system of religion. For many ages, therefore, it
was discountenanced; but, at length, the habit of consulting the stars
on important public occasions became frequent, and was attended with as
much anxiety and as many absurd ceremonies as disgraced the nations of
antiquity. Among the modern Mohammedans, no dignity of state is
conferred; no public edifice is founded, except at a time recommended
by astrologers. These pretenders to knowledge are supported by persons
of rank; and in vain do the more enlightened part of the community
exclaim that astrology is a false {257} science. "Do not think," said
a prime minister, who had been consulting a soothsayer as to the time
of putting on a new dress, "that I am such a fool as to put faith in
all this nonsense; but I must not make my family unhappy by refusing to
comply with forms which some of them deem of consequence."
After these references to the polite literature of the Arabs, it will
be expected that they should have paid attention to the natural
sciences. They were not, indeed, discoverers and inventors, but they
considerably improved upon what they acquired in their extensive
intercourse with other nations; and, as forming the link which unites
ancient and modern letters, they are entitled to our respect and
gratitude. We derive our mathematics from them; and to them, also, we
owe much of our astronomical knowledge. Almamoun, by a liberal reward,
sought to engage in his service a famous mathematician of
Constantinople; and Ibn Korrah enriched the stores of his country in
this department with translations of Archimedes and the conics of
Apollonius. Some have said that, on the revival of European literature
in the fifteenth century, mathematical science was found nearly in the
state in which it had been left by Euclid; and the justly celebrated
Brucker contends, that the Arabs made no progress whatever in this
{258} most important branch of knowledge; later writers, however, and
particularly Montucia, the author of the Histoire des Mathematiques,
have done ample justice to their researches. Numerical characters,
without which our study of the exact sciences were almost in vain,
beyond all doubt came to us from the Arabs: not that they invented
them--it is probable they were originally words, perhaps Hindu words,
expressing the quantities they respectively represent, but abbreviated
and brought to their present convenient form by the followers of the
Prophet. Trigonometry and algebra are both indebted to their genius.
The sines of the one of these sciences instead of the more ancient
chord, and the representatives of quantities in the other, descend
through the Arabs to us, if they did not at first invent them.
Original works on spherical trigonometry are among the productions of
Ibn Musa and Geber, the former of whom is accounted the inventor of the
solution of equations of the second degree. The University of Leyden
still retains a manuscript treatise on the algebra of cubic equations,
by Omar ibn Ibrahim; and Casiri, who, preserved and classed 1851
manuscripts, even after a fire had destroyed the magnificent collection
or the Escurial, informs us, that the principles and praises of
algebraic science were sung in an elaborate poem by Alcassem, a native
of Grenada. {259} These departments of knowledge were studied by the
Arabs as early as the eighth and ninth centuries.
Astronomy, the science of a pastoral people, and eminently so in
regions with an almost cloudless sky, like the East, was studied with
great eagerness by Arabian philosophers. Almamoun, who has been before
mentioned, was ardently devoted to it: at his cost the necessary
instruments of observation were provided, and a complete digest of the
science was made. The land where, many ages before, this science had
been successfully studied by the Chaldeans, was in his power, and upon
its ample plains a degree of the earth's circle was repeatedly
measured, so as to determine the whole circumference of the globe to be
twenty-four thousand miles. The obliquity of the ecliptic they settled
at twenty-three degrees and a half: the annual movement of the
equinoxes and the duration of the tropical year were brought to within
a very little of the exact observations of modern times, the slight
error they admitted resulting from the preference they gave to the
system of Ptolemy. Albathani, or, as his name has been Latinized,
Albatenius, in the ninth century, after continuing his observations for
forty years, drew up tables, known as the Sabean tables, which, though
not now in very high repute because of more accurate calculations,
{260} were for a long time justly esteemed. Other Arabian astronomers
have rendered considerable service to this science. Mohammedanism did
not, like ancient paganism, adore the stars; but its disciples studied
them with a diligence, without which, perhaps, Newton, Flamstead, and
Halley had observed and calculated almost in vain.
Architecture was an art in which the Arabs greatly excelled; their wide
extension gave them command of whatever was worthy of observation, and
their vast revenues afforded the most abundant means of indulging a
taste thus called into exercise. The history of Arabian architecture
comprises a period of about eight centuries, including its rise,
progress, and decay: their building materials were mostly obtained from
the ruined structures and cities that fell into their hands; and if no
one particular style was followed by them, it was because they
successfully studied most of the styles then known. On their buildings
but little external art was bestowed; all their pains were exhausted on
the interior, where no expense wag spared that could promote luxurious
ease and personal comfort. Their walls and ceilings were highly
embellished, and the light was mostly admitted in such manner as, by
excluding all external objects, to confine the admiration of the
spectator to the beauties produced within. With the art {261} of
preserving their structures from decay they must have had an adequate
acquaintance. Their stucco composition may still be found as hard as
stone, without a crack or flaw: the floors and ceilings of the
Alhambra, the ancient palace of Grenada, have been comparatively
uninjured by the neglect and dilapidation of nearly seven centuries;
while their paint retains its colour so bright and rich as to be
occasionally mistaken for mother-of-pearl. Sir Christopher Wren
derives the Gothic architecture from the Mohammedans; and the crescent
arch, a symbol of one of the deities anciently worshipped throughout
the heathen world, was first adopted by the Arabs of Syria, and
invariably used in all the edifices erected during the supremacy of the
Ommiades. The succeeding dynasty declined following this model; but,
during the reign of the house of Moawiyah, in Spain, it was imitated
from the Atlantic to the Pyrenees.
The fine arts, painting, and sculpture, were not so much cultivated
among the early Mohammedans: they were thought to involve a breach of
the divine law. In this particular they agreed with the Jews.
Subsequently, however, these scruples were, by degrees, overcome; that
style of embellishment denominated Arabesque, which rejects figures of
men and animals, being first adopted, and afterward sculpture, more
nearly resembling {262} that of modern times. The Alhambra, or palace
of that suburb, had its lions, its ornamented tiles, and its paintings.
Abdalrahman III. placed a statue of his favourite mistress over the
palace he erected for her abode. Music was ardently cultivated. At
first, in the desert, its strains were rude and simple; subsequently,
the professors of the art were as much cherished, honoured, and
rewarded, as were the poets in the courts of the Arab sovereigns. Many
were celebrated for their skill in this art, especially Isaac
Almouseli. Al Farabi has been denominated the Arabian Orpheus: by his
astonishing command of the lute, he could produce laughter, or tears,
or sleep in his auditors at pleasure. He wrote a considerable work on
music, which is preserved in the Escurial. Abul Faragi is also a
famous writer among the Mohammedans on this subject. To them we are
indebted for the invention of the lute, which they accounted more
perfect than any other instrument; the use, also, of many of our modern
instruments, as the organ, flute, harp, tabor, and mandoline, was
common among them. Some say that the national instrument of the
Scottish highlander is taken from them.
In many of the useful arts of modern days the Arabs were proficients;
as agriculture, gardening, metallurgy, and the preparing of leather.
The {263} names Morocco and Cordovan are still applied, in this latter
art, to leather prepared after the Arabian method. They manufactured
and dyed silk and cotton, made paper, were acquainted with the use of
gunpowder, and have claims to the honour of inventing the mariner's
compass. But perhaps there is no art in which their knowledge is so
much a subject of curious inquiry as medicine. Their country was
salubrious, their habits simple, and their indulgences few; so that
large opportunities of practically studying the art, at least among the
Arabs of earlier date, would not occur. Anatomy, except that of the
brute creation, was shut up from their study by the prejudices of their
creed; yet they excelled in medical skill. Hareth ibn Kaldar, an
eminent practitioner settled at Mecca, was honoured with the
conversation and applause of Mohammed. Honain was an eminent Arab
physician in the middle of the sixth century; Messue, the celebrated
preceptor of Almamoun, belonged to this profession; and a host of
others adorn the early annals of the Saracens. Al Rhagi, or Ullages,
as commonly called, and Abdallah ibn Sina, or Avicenna, are names to
which, for centuries, deference was paid by professors of the healing
art throughout Europe, though it would not be difficult to show that
their doctrines and practice must have been beyond measure absurd.
They {264} administered gold, and silver, and precious stones to purify
the blood.
Of chymistry, so far as it relates to medicine, the Arabs may be
considered as the inventors; and botany, in the same connexion, they
cultivated with great success. Geber, in the eighth century, is known
as their principal chymical writer; he is said to have composed five
hundred volumes, almost every one of which is lost. The early
nomenclature of the science indicates how much it owes to this people.
Alcohol, alembic, alkali, aludel, and other similar terms, are
evidently of Arabic origin; nor should it be forgotten that the
characters used for drugs, essences, extracts, and medicines, the
import of which is now almost entirely unknown (and which are
consequently invested, in vulgar estimation, with occult powers), are
all to be traced to the same source.
It may be impossible now to estimate accurately the extent of our
obligations to Arabian literature. An empire so widely spread, by the
encouragement it gave to letters, must have had a beneficial influence
on almost every country. Europeans, whether subject to its sway or
only contemplating it from a distance, copied or emulated the example.
Gerbert, who subsequently occupied the papal chair as Silvester II.,
acquired the Arabic method of computation during his travels in Spain,
{265} previously to his elevation. Leonardo, a Pisan merchant,
obtained a knowledge of the same art in his intercourse with the
Mohammedans on the coast of Africa; and by him it was introduced into
his own native republic, from whence it was soon communicated to the
Western World. In the city of Salernum, a port of Italy, Mussulmans
and Christians so intermixed as to communicate insensibly the
literature of the Saracens to the Italians, and in the schools of that
city students were collected from every quarter of Europe. Arabic
books, by command of Charlemagne, were translated into Latin for the
use of learned men throughout his vast empire; and, without
exaggerating the merits of the followers of the Prophet, it may be
admitted that we are indebted to them for the revival of the exact and
physical sciences, and for many of those useful arts and inventions
that have totally changed the aspect of European literature, and are
still contributing to the civilization, freedom, and best interests of
man.
[1] Abulferage, p. 160.
{266}