Louis Cheikho and the Christianization of Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Ascetic Poetry

Nora K Schmid

doi:10.1163/24519197-bja10025

Abstract

Abstract Using the Jesuit scholar Louis Cheikho’s (1859–1927) work on pre-Islamic and early Islamic ascetic poetry as a focal point, this article examines two strategies which contemporary and later scholars accused Cheikho of using to falsify the Arabic literary heritage. Cheikho de-Islamized Arabic language texts through editorial interventions, as evinced by his edition of the Dīwān of the Abbasid ascetic poet Abū al-ʿAtāhiya. Furthermore, he overtly laid claim to the past by Christianizing pre-Islamic poetry. In his work al-Naṣrāniyya wa-ādābuhā bayna ʿarab al-jāhiliyya, Cheikho tried to establish the “origins” of Arabic cultural and literary production in Christianity. He did so in response to Arab and European intellectuals who challenged the Christian contribution to Arabic. Above all, he rejected racist ideas embedded in nineteenth-century European philology, notably the denigration of Semitic languages and their speakers based on the “Aryan”/“Semite” binary in Ernest Renan’s (1823–1892) work.

Highlights

Louis Cheikho – Abū al-ʿAtāhiya – pre-Islamic poetry – Ernest Renan – Orientalism – asceticism
Arabic poetry played a pivotal role in the philological work of the Jesuit Orientalist Louis Cheikho (1859–1927)
Cheikho went further by putting the Arabic poetic tradition entirely at the service of his Christian readerships in the Levant and in Europe. This resulted in a recoding: in his scholarship, Arabic poetry became a crucial reference frame for Christian literary expression and self-affirmation

Summary

Introduction

Louis Cheikho – Abū al-ʿAtāhiya – pre-Islamic poetry – Ernest Renan – Orientalism – asceticism Arabic poetry played a pivotal role in the philological work of the Jesuit Orientalist Louis Cheikho (1859–1927).

Results

Conclusion