On Pre-Islamic Poetry

1926 book by Taha Hussein

On Pre-Islamic Poetry
Author	Taha Hussein
Language	Arabic
Genre	Literary criticism
Published	1926

On Pre-Islamic Poetry is a book of literary criticism published in 1926 by the Egyptian author Taha Hussein. 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 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.^[1] 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."^[2] 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.^[3] In the English-speaking world, the Orientalist scholar D. S. Margoliouth published similar views at about the same time in his article "The Origins of Arabic Poetry."^[2]

Reception

The publication of the book launched one of the two major controversies of Egyptian intellectual life in the 1920s.^[4]^[a] It had to be withdrawn and re-issued under the title On Pre-Islamic Literature in 1927, with the portions on the Quran removed.^[1] Because of the reaction to the work, Prime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.^[5] Hussein regained his university post when the Wafd Party returned to power in 1936. At least five books were written in response to the work:

Mostafa Saadeq Al-Rafe'ie – Under the Banner of the Quran [ar]
Muhammad Loutfi Goumah – The Monitoring Comet
Sheikh Al-Azhar Muhammad al-Khadr Hussein [ar] - Criticism of the Book On Pre-Islamic Poetry
Muhammad Farid Wajdi [ar] – 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 propounded by Milman Parry and Albert Lord.^[1]

Notes

^ The other pertained to Ali Abdel Raziq's book Islam and the Foundations of Governance.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Allen 2005, p. 398.
^ ^a ^b Hanna 1966, p. 7.
^ Labib Rizk 2001.
^ ^a ^b Allen 2005, p. 77.
^ Allen 2009, p. 142.

Bibliography

Allen, Roger (2005). The Arabic Literary Heritage: The Development of its Genres and Criticism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-48525-8.
Allen, Roger, ed. (2009). "Taha Hussein". Essays in Arabic Literary Biography: 1850-1950. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-06141-4.
Hanna, Suhail ibn Salim (1966). "Notes on the Historiography of the Pre-Islamic Odes" (PDF). Islamic Studies (Islamabad). 5 (3).
Labib Rizk, Yunan (2001). "Taha Hussein's ordeal". Ahram Weekly. Archived from the original on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2020.