1. PERSIAN &
ARABIC
LITERATURE
Prepared by: Thelma V. Villaflores

2. Persian Literature
Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and other parts of
Central Asia

3. - written in Persian and Arabic
- poets: Firdawsi, Sa’di, Hafez,
Rumi and Omar Khayyam
Persian Literature
“ one of the great literatures of
mankind”

4. AA constaant awareness of how uncontrollaabale aand fleeting life is
A constant awareness of how
uncontrollable and fleeting life is;
accompanied by a belief that the
uncontrollable nature of life adds
to its value and makes it more
enjoyable.
Persian Literature
“ one of the great literatures of
mankind”

5. Phrases
 Thousands of friends are far too few, one
enemy is too much.
 The wise enemy is better than the
ignorant friend.
 The wise enemy lifts you up, the ignorant
friend casts you down.

6. Poem awareness of how uncontrollaabale aand fleeting life is
AA constaant Language
-fresh -flexible
-original -musical
-melodious -sonorous
-full of fire -(softest &
richest
-animated
Characteristics- in the world)
Persian
Poetry

7. AA constaant awareness of how uncontrollaabale aand fleeting life is
-metaphor
-alliteration
-allusion
-antithesis
Poetic Devices

8. Omar Khayyam
18 May 1048 –
4 December 1131
Ghiyath al-Din
Abu'l-Fath Umar
ibn Ibrahim Al-
Nisaburi al-
Khayyami

9. Omar Khayyam
Khayyam, who stitched the
tents of science,
Has fallen in grief's furnace
and been suddenly burned,
The shears of Fate have cut
the tent ropes of his life,
And the broker of Hope has
sold him for nothing!

10. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
A collection of about 150 quatrains on the
meaning of life and pleasure of drink
Rubai – quatrain
It has 4 lines in which lines 1, 2 and 4 all
rhyme
Translated to more than 40 languages

11. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
1 Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
2 Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to
Flight:
3 And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
4 The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.

12. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

13. Islamic & Arabic Literature

14. Periods of Islamic Literature
Patriarchal (632 – 661)
Umayyad (661 – 750)
Abbasid (750 - 1258)

15. Quran
The Holy Book of
Islam

16. Hadith
the record of the
sayings and deeds
of Muhammad
2nd major source
of religious laws
and moral
guidance

17. The Road of Eloquence
a masterpiece of Arabic prose that has
inspired numerous commentaries and
imitations in other languages

18. Literary Types
aasida maqamah
ghazel
qitah
masnavi
roba’i

19. Arabic Literature
poetry
oral
mu’allagat (the suspended)
qasidah (ode)

20. Arabic Literature
Poetry is the mine of knowledge of the Arabs
and the book of their wisdom, the archive of
their history and the reservoir of their epic
days, the wall that defends their exploits, the
impassable trench that preserves their
glories, the impartial witness for the day of
judgement

21. Arabic Prose
al-Muqaffa
al-Jahiz
al-Faraj
al-Hamadhani
al-Hariri

22. Hamasa (Exhortation)
An anthology of heroic epic compiled by
Abu Tammam

23. The One Thousand and One
Nights
Kitāb alf laylah wa-
laylah
a collection of Middle
Eastern and South
Asian stories and folk
tales compiled in
Arabic during the
Islamic Golden Age