Letter from the General Editor
A Qaṣīdah by ‘Abīd ibn al-Abraṣ
A Qaṣīdah by ‘Alqamah ibn ‘Abadah
A Qaṣīdah by al-Muthaqqib al-‘Abdī
An Elegy (Marthiyah) by al-Khansā’
Polemics in Verse: An Invective Qaṣīdah by al-Akhṭal and a Reply by Jarīr
Love in the Desert: A Qaṣī´dah by Dhū l-Rummah
An Umayyad Ghazal Poem, used as an Abbasid Song Text
An ‘Udhrī´ Ghazal attributed to Majnūn Laylā
An Umayyad Ghazal by ‘Umar ibn Abī´ Rabī´‘ah
Anti-Arab, Pro-Iranian Lampoon (Hijā’) by Bashshār ibn Burd
A Modern (Muḥdath) Ghazal Epigram by Abū Nuwās
A Ghazal by Abū Nuwās: On a Boy Called ‘Alī´
A Lampooning Epigram (Hijā’) by Abū Nuwās
A Ghazal Poem by al-‘Abbās ibn al-Aḥnaf
Three Love Epigrams by ‘Ulayyah bint al-Mahdī´
A Poem of Asceticism (Zuhdiyyah) by Abū l-‘Atāhiyah
A Qaṣī´dah by Ibn al-Rūmī´: A Party at ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Hāshimī´’s
A Panegyric Qaṣī´dah by al-Buḥturī´
Nature Poetry: Two Epigrams by Ibn Khafājah
Strophic Poem: A Muwashshaḥah by al-A‘mā al-Tuṭī´lī´
An Anonymous Muwashshaḥah from Spain
There Descended to You: A Philosophical Allegory by Ibn Sī´nā
Five Epigrams on Death and Belief, by Abū l-‘Alā’ al-Ma‘arrī´
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
A Few Lines from the Poem of Proverbs by Abū l-‘Atāhiyah
A Few Lines from The Thousand-liner by Ibn Mālik
Light Verse: A Domestic Disaster, by Abū l-Ḥakam al Maghribī´
“Didactic” Verse: From a Poem on How to Behave in Society, by Ibn Makānis
Examples of Early Rhymed Prose (Saj‘)
A Pre-Islamic Tale: The Princess on the Myrtle Leaf (Three Versions)
How the Queen of Sheba Became Queen
Two Stories from Meadows of Gold by al-Mas‘ūdī´
Lives of The Poets: al-Farazdaq Tells the Story of Imru’ 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 Right Conduct by Ibn al-Muqaffa‘
Al-Jāḥiẓ on Flies and Other Things
Essayistic Prose: Al-Tawḥī´dī´ on the Superiority of the Arabs
History as Literature: Al-Amī´n and al-Ma’mūn, the Sons of Hārūn al-Rashī´d
Moral Tales and Parables: Passages from The Epistles of the Sincere Brethren
Prose Narrative: Four Stories by al-Tanūkhī´
The Isfahan Maqāmah by Badī´‘ 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-‘Alā’ al-Ma‘arrī´
Poetics: Ibn Rashī´q on the Definition and Structure of Poetry
Literary Criticism: From The Secrets of Eloquence by ‘Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī´
Popular Science: Two Chapters from the Encyclopedia of Animals by al-Damī´rī´
A Fairytale: The Tale of the Forty Girls
Erotica: The Young Girl and the Dough Kneader, from The Old Man’s Rejuvenation by al-Tī´fāshī´
Two Burlesque Stories from Brains Confounded by al-Shirbī´nī´
Lyrical Prose: A Visit to the Bath, by al-Ḥaymī´ al-Kawkabānī´