Frontmatter
Letter from the General Editor
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Notes to the Introduction
Verse
A Qaṣīdah by ʿAbīd ibn al-Abraṣ
A Qaṣīdah by ʿAlqamah ibn ʿAbadah
A Qaṣīdah by al-Muthaqqib al-ʿAbdī
An Elegy (Marthiyah) by al-Khansāʾ
Polemics in Verse: An Invective Qaṣīdah by al-Akhṭal and a Reply by Jarīr
Love in the Desert: A Qaṣīdah by Dhū l-Rummah, "To Mayyah's Two Abodes, a Greeting!"
An Umayyad Ghazal Poem, Used as an Abbasid Song Text
ʿUdhrī Ghazal: a poem attributed to Majnūn Laylā
Umayyad Ghazal: A Poem by ʿUmar ibn Abī Rabīʿah
A Love Poem by Umm Khālid
Anti-Arab, Pro-Iranian Lampoon (Hijāʾ), by Bashshār ibn Burd
A Muḥdath ("Modern") Ghazal Epigram by Abū Nuwās
A Ghazal by Abū Nuwās: On a Boy Called ʿAlī
Two Wine Poems by Abū Nuwās
A Lampooning Epigram (Hijāʾ) by Abū Nuwās
A Ghazal Poem by al-ʿAbbās Ibn al-Aḥnaf
Three Love Epigrams by ʿUlayyah bint al-Mahdī
A Zuhdiyyah ("Poem of Asceticism") by Abū l-ʿAtāhiyah
Ibn al-Rūmī: On His Poetry
A Qaṣīdah by Ibn al-Rūmī: A Party at ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Hāshimī's
A Panegyric Qaṣīdah by al-Buḥturī
A Victory Ode by al-Mutanabbī: The Qaṣīdah on Sayf al-Dawlah's Recapture of the Fortress of al-Ḥadath in 343/954
Nature Poetry: Two Epigrams by Ibn Khafājah
Strophic Poem: A Muwashshaḥah by al-Aʿmā al-Tuṭīlī
An Anonymous Muwashshaḥah from Spain
"There Descended to You": A Philosophical Allegory by Ibn Sīnā
Five Epigrams on Death and Belief, by Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī
Mystical Ghazal: A Poem by Ibn al-Fāriḍ
A Mystical Zajal by al-Shushtarī
Two Elegies on the Death of his Concubine, by Ibn Nubātah al-Miṣrī
A Zajal: An Elegy on the Elephant Marzūq
Rajaz
Prose
Examples of Early Rhymed Prose (Sajʿ)
A Pre-Islamic Tale: The Princess on the Myrtle Leaf (Three Versions)
How the Queen of Sheba Became Queen
Two Stories from al-Masʿūdī's Meadows of Gold
Lives of The Poets: al-Farazdaq Tells the Story of Imruʾ al-Qays and the Girls at the Pond
Bedouin Romance: The Unhappy Love Story of Qays and Lubnā
A Parable: The Human Condition, or The Man in the Pit
Mirror for Princes (and Others): Passages from Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ's Right Conduct
Al-Jāḥiẓ on Flies and Other Things
Essayistic Prose: Al-Tawḥīdī on the Superiority of the Arabs
History as Literature: Al-Amīn and al-Maʾmūn, the Sons of Hārūn al-Rashīd
Moral Tales and Parables: Passages from Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (The Epistles of the Sincere Brethren)
Prose Narrative: Four Stories by al-Tanūkhī
The Isfahan Maqāmah by Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī
The Debate of Pen and Sword, by Aḥmad Ibn Burd al-Aṣghar
A Visit to Heaven and Hell, by Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī
Poetics: Ibn Rashīq on the Definition and Structure of Poetry
Literary Criticism: From The Secrets of Eloquence by ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī
Popular Science: Two Chapters from al-Damīrī's Encyclopedia of Animals
A Section from an Adab Encyclopedia: The Chapter on Stinginess fromThe Precious and Refined in Every Genre and Kind by al-Ibshīhī
A Fairytale: The Tale of the Forty Girls
Erotica: The Young Girl and the Dough Kneader, from al- Tīfāshī's The Old Man's Rejuvenation
Two Burlesque Stories from Brains Confounded by al-Shirbīnī
Lyrical Prose: A Visit to the Bath, by al-Ḥaymī al-Kawkabānī
Notes
Chronology
Glossary of Names and Terms
Bibliography
Further Reading
Index
About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute
About the Typefaces
About the Translator