''On Pre-Islamic Poetry'' is a book of literary criticism published in 1926 by the Egyptian author

Taha Hussein Taha Hussein (, ar, طه حسين; November 15, 1889 – October 28, 1973) was one of the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a figurehead for the Nahda, Egyptian Renaissance and the modernism, modernist movem ...

. In it, Hussein argued that pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, which then was believed to date from the pre-Islamic period, was actually from later eras. Hussein also cast doubt on the authenticity of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

. The book's publication caused a major literary controversy in Egypt.

In the work, Hussein examines the canon of pre-Islamic poetry according to scientific principles. He concluded that some portions of the text of the Quran are inauthentic, and that some pre-Islamic poetry is a later forgery. As he put it, "the conclusion I reached was that the general mass of what we call pre-Islamic literature had nothing whatever to do with the pre-Islamic period, but was just simply fabricated after the coming of Islam. It is therefore Islamic, and represents the life, the inclination, the desires of Muslims, rather than the life of pre-Islamic Arabs." He criticized the story of Abraham and Ishmael specifically, arguing that the story of them building the Ka'bah was invented in order to serve the interests of the Quraish tribe. In the English-speaking world, the Orientalist scholar

D. S. Margoliouth David Samuel Margoliouth, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (; 17 October 1858, in London – 22 March 1940, in London) was an English oriental studies, orientalist. He was briefly active as a priest in the Church of England. He was Laudian P ...

published similar views at about the same time in his article "The Origins of Arabic Poetry."

Reception

The publication of the book launched one of the two major controversies of Egyptian intellectual life in the 1920s. It had to be withdrawn and re-issued under the title ''On Pre-Islamic Literature'' in 1927, with the portions on the Quran removed. Because of the reaction to the work, Prime Minister Ismail Sidky removed Hussein from his position as dean of the literature department of the University of Cairo in 1932. Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, the head of the university, supported Hussein and refused to accept his resignation. Hussein regained his university post when the

Wafd Party The Wafd Party (; ar, حزب الوفد, ''Ḥizb al-Wafd'') was a nationalist liberal political party in Egypt. It was said to be Egypt's most popular and influential political party for a period from the end of World War I through the 1930 ...

returned to power in 1936. At least five books were written in response to the work: * Mostafa Saadeq Al-Rafe'ie – ' * Muhammad Loutfi Goumah – ''The Monitoring Comet'' *Sheikh Al-Azhar - ''Criticism of the Book On Pre-Islamic Poetry'' * – ''Critism of the Book On Pre-Islamic Poetry'' *Muhammad Ahmed al-Ghamrawi – ''Analytical Critique of a Book on Pre-Islamic Literature'' Today, the arguments of Hussein and Margoliouth are believed to have been superseded by new developments in the understanding of oral tradition, specifically the theory of

oral-formulaic composition Oral-formulaic composition is a theory that originated in the scholarly study of epic poetry and developed in the second quarter of the twentieth century. It seeks to explain two related issues: # the process by which oral poets improvise poetry # ...

propounded by

Milman Parry Milman Parry (June 23, 1902 – December 3, 1935) was an American Classicist whose theories on the origin of Homer's works have revolutionized Homeric studies to such a fundamental degree that he has been described as the "Charles Darwin, Darw ...

and

Albert Lord Albert Bates Lord (15 September 1912 – 29 July 1991) was a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard University who, after the death of his mentor Milman Parry, carried on Parry's research on epic poetry. Early life Lord was bor ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Arabic text of ''On Pre-Islamic Literature'' (Hindawi)
* On Pre-Islamic Poetry 1st ed. at archive.org 1926 books 1926 non-fiction books Books of literary criticism Egyptian books Books by Taha Hussein

Contents

Reception

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links