Al-Djāḥiẓ’s “The Book of Animals”
Keywords:
The Book of Animals, 'Adab, al-Djāḥiẓ, Mu’tazilite, Ḥikma.Abstract
Al-Djāḥiẓ (born c. 776, Basra – died c. 868/869, Basra) was a theologian, writer, and scholar notable for his individual and masterful Arabic prose. During the reign of Caliph al-Maʾmūn, he moved to Baghdad, where he started his career. Due to his insight, cheerful character, education, and pro-Arab sympathies, the writer became widely accepted in the Caliphate. He has created almost 200 works that concern different fields: philosophy, theology, history, geography, chemistry, etc. All the works are mainly controversial. The writer used experiments and observations to find real and logical solutions to everything. He used to avoid mysticism. He is considered to be a theoretician of Arabic literature. He created the work entitled The Book of Eloquence and Clarifications (Kitāb al-Bayān wa al-Tabyīn), in which he discusses the literary style of medieval Arabic literature, linguistic principles, Arabic eloquence, etc. The list of works by al-Djāḥiẓ that reached the present period includes the Epistle on Education and Rounding (Risālat al-Tarbī ʿ wa al-Tadwīr). Some Arab critics assume that this work represents the beginning stage of the maqāma genre. From the literary viewpoint, The Book of Misers (Kitāb al-Bukhalā ʾ ) and The Book of Animals (Kitāb al-Ḥayawān) are interesting as they belong to an early period of the ’Adab genre. They represent the collection of poems, stories, and sayings about animals, excerpts from stories written by Arab, Greek, and Persian writers, phrases from the Qurʾan, Bible statements, etc.
The Book of Animals (Kitāb al-Ḥayawān) consists of seven parts. It describes the animals’ natural characteristics and contains aphoristic sayings (Ḥikma), didactics (’Adab), and humorous elements. The author uses excerpts from his contemporary literary and scientific works concerning the issue of the connection between human and animal nature, together with popular poems, sayings, and aphorisms. Al-Djāḥiẓ emphasizes that he has written this book in order to talk about those characteristics of animals that prove the wisdom and omnipotence of Allah. While studying The Book of Animals, its historic value attracts our attention. Here, we find diverse information about the Arab and other people’s history, culture, customs, beliefs, and social relationships. All these prove the author’s erudition.
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