Sacred Books..., vol. V, Ancient Arabia

483 Pages·2009·2.69 MB·English

THE SACRED BOOKS AND

EARLY LITERATURE OF

THE EAST

WITH HISTORICAL SURVEYS OF THE CHIEF
WRITINGS OF EACH NATION
Translations, Bibliographies, etc., by the following
Leading Orientalists:
IN AMERICA:
MORRIS JASTROW ,LL.D., Professor of Semitic Languages, University of Penn-
sylvania; JAMES H. BREASTED, LL.D., Professor of Egyptology, University of
Chicago; CHARLES C. TORREY, D.D., Professor of Semitic Languages Yale
University; A. V. W. JACKSON, LL.D., Professor of Indo-Iranian, Columbia Uni-
versity; CHARLES R. LANMAN, LL.D., Professor of Sanskrit, Harvard University;
REV. CHARLES F. AIKEN, S.T.D., Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Catholic
University; FRIEDRICH HIRTH, LL.D., Professor of Chinese, Columbia Uni-
versity; REV. WILLIAM E. GRIFFIS, D.D., former Professor at the Imperial
University, Tokio.
IN EUROPE:
E. A. W. BUDGE, F.S.A., Director of Egyptology in the British Museum; SIR
GASTON MASPERO, D.C.L., Member of the Royal Institute of France; REV. A. H.
SAYCE, LL.D., Professor of Comparative Philology, Oxford University; W.
FLINDERS-PETRIE, LL.D., Professor of Egyptology, University College, London;
STEPHEN LANGDON, Ph.D., Professor of Assyriology, Oxford University; SIR
ERNEST SATOW, LL.D., G.C.M.G. British Minister to Japan; H. OLDENBERG,
LL.D., Professor of Sanskrit, Kiel University; T. W. RHYS-DAVIDS, LL.D.,
Librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society; ARMINIUS VAMBÉRY, LL.D., Professor
of Oriental Languages, University of Budapest.
IN ASIA:
SIR M. COOMARA SWAMY, Legislative Council of Ceylon; ROMESH CHUNDER
DUTT, C.I.E., Author of the History of Civilization in Ancient India; DARAB
D. P. SANJANA, Educational Society of Bombay; VISCOUNT KENCHO SUYE-
MATSU LL.M., Japanese Minister of the Interior; SHEIK FAIZ-ULLAH-BHAI,
Head Master of the Schools of Anjuman-i-Islam; RALPH T. GRIFFITH, President
Benares College, India; JIVANJI JAMSHEDJI MODI, Fellow of Bombay Uni-
versity, Officier de l'Académie Française.
Under the editorship of a staff of specialists directed by
PROF. CHARLES F. HORNE, PH.D.
PARKE, AUSTIN, AND LIPSCOMB, INC.
NEW YORK LONDON
This Volume is one of a complete set of the Sacred Books
and Early Literature of the East, consisting of fourteen
volumes. In Volume I of the series will be found a cer-
tificate as to the limitation of the edition and the registered
number of this set.
Copyright, 1917,
Parke, Austin, and Lipscomb, Inc.
THE LATEST SUCCESSOR OF MOHAMMED.
The Grand Sheik or Sheriff of Mecca who in 1916 announced
the Arabic Independence of Turkey.
© UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, N.Y.
THE SACRED BOOKS AND EARLY
LITERATURE OF THE EAST

VOLUME V
ANCIENT ARABIA

THE HANGED POEMS
THE KORAN

In Translations by
Captain F. E. JOHNSON, R.A., and GEORGE SALE, Esq., with Re-
visions and Explanatory Essay by SHEIK FAIZ-ULLAH-BHAI, Head
Master of the Schools of Anjuman-i-Islam.
With a Brief Bibliography by
CHARLES C. TORREY, D.D.,
Professor of Semitic Languages at Yale University.

With an Historical Survey and Descriptions by
PROF. CHARLES F. HORNE, PH.D.
PARKE, AUSTIN, AND LIPSCOMB, INC.
NEW YORK LONDON
"Let there be light."—GENESIS I, 3.

"There never was a false god, nor was there ever
really a false religion, unless you call a child a
false man."—MAX MÜLLER.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME V
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ANCIENT ARABIA

PAGE
INTRODUCTION—The Last Semitic Conquerors, the
Arabs: The Sudden Blossoming of their Litera-
ture ........................................................................... 1
I.—THE GENIUS OF ARABIC LITERATURE, by Sheik
Faiz-ullah-bhai......................................................... 11
THE HANGED POEMS

II.—THE POEM OF IMRU-UL-QUAIS (530 A.D.?) ................... 19
III.—THE POEM OF ANTAR (580 A.D.?).................................. 27
IV.—THE POEM OF ZUHAIR (590 A.D.?)................................. 35
THE KORAN

V.—INTRODUCTION............................................................. 43
VI.—AL KORAN (598-632 A.D.)............................................. 49
VII.—BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................. 469

ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME V

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FACING PAGE
The Latest Successor of Mohammed .................... Frontispiece
The Kaaba or Sacred Temple of Mecca.................................. 144
The Mohammedans' Central Spot of Earth, the Rock of
Abraham............................................................................ 320
vii