Islamic Literature: An Attempt at A Historical Overview

Abstract

This study aims to provide an overview of the development of Islamic literature, particularly in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish languages, from the birth of Islam to the 20th century. It will encompass four main historical periods: The early Islamic period (7th-10th centuries), the middle Islamic period (11th-15th centuries), the 16th-18th century dynasties, and the modern period. The study describes the main literary genres, themes, trends, figures, and works that emerged in Islamic communities, explores the motives and outcomes of interactions with various Eastern and Western traditions in different periods, and draws attention to the significant shifts in Islamic literature during the modern era. Available compact studies in Islamic literature predominantly deal with a specific language area or undertake thematic research. The present study, which demonstrates the historical course of the literature of Islamic communities in three widespread languages, helps to pinpoint the general trends of continuity, transformation, and interaction among these traditions. For instance, it brings out the key role Arabic literature played in defining the main poetic forms of Islamic literature, such as ghazal, qasida, mathnawi, and promoting the literary prose, adab, which were subsequently elaborated and transformed within other linguistic traditions. Again, it shows how the dissolution of the Abbasid political power impacted the revival of Persian literature, which later took the lead in establishing mystic philosophy as a major vein in general Islamic literature. Another common experience of Islamic literatures that stands out in this survey is the transformation of formal and thematic features due to the expanding Western influence and stimulus of modernization in the 19th century.