A History of Arabic Literature

There is a great tradition of Arabic learning in India. But not all Indians have equally benefited from that heritage. The language barrier is, admittedly, formidable. But it is equally formidable in the case of Greek. Nevertheless there is a not inadequate awareness of ancient Greek literature in India and the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides have been presented on the Indian stage. India's links with its Arabic heritage are closer and yet the general awareness remains?sadly?inadequate. This book may help towards remedying this unhappy situation. For the layman, original material will continue to remain inaccessible. But the corpus of translated material is large enough. However, some stimulus to explore it is necessary?and?this?book?seeks?in?all?humility?to?provide?it. Though it does not want to claim to be anything more than an outline, it seeks to provide a fairly complete frame. It covers poetry, religious thought, philosoph-ical currents and mystical tradition, the great contribution made by Arab histori-ography,?and?the?various?categories?of?prose?literature.