VII. ON PERSIAN POETRY-BY MR. NATHANIEL HOWARD, HONORARY MEMBER OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. THE difficulty of writing on Oriental subjects, particularly in this country, arises, in a great degree, from having so little access to manuscripts, and from the paucity of publications connected with the literature of the East. I feel much diffidence in entering on this dark and extensive region; but trust from this avowal, great allowances will be made, especially if it be considered, that not more than half a century has elapsed, since the strong efforts were made by that accomplished Orientalist Sir William Jones, to excite a popular taste in the British nation for the literary productions of Asia; and since his time, the march of Oriental learning, though not rapid, has been progressive. It is true, that a few Europeans have been eminent in Arabian learning before this stated period; but it was reserved for the genius of Sir William Jones, to shed a more general lustre on the languages of Asia.* * Much valuable information may now be expected from the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, in conjunction with the Branch Societies in India; also from the Oriental Society of Translation, which has recently been established in London. Before we can speak satisfactorily of the poetry of Iran or Persia, it is necessary to take a rapid view of the state of Arabian poetry before, and about the time of, the Mohammedan Conquest. The compositions of the old Arabian poets, preserved in a written form, are more or less descriptive of their primitive manners, of their tents and camels, of their deserts and pastures. Love and Pity, the two keys of the human heart in the poetry of all nations, impart an irresistible charm to the shorter pieces of the Orientals. Their gazels, generally expressive of gay and lively images, and their casidahs, appropriated to serious and grave subjects, are without number: many of their productions breathe a fine spirit of independence; inculcate a noble contempt of riches; and are profuse in praise of liberality, a virtue for which the Eastern nations are pre-eminently distinguished. Some authors imagine that the art of writing was not much in practice among the Arabians before the time of Mohammed, who on account of his ignorance of the written character, was styled by his enemies "The Illiterate." This ignorance perhaps extended only to the kind of writing introduced just * It has been suspected that the term “Illiterate” was purposely assumed by Mohammed, or given to him by his friends as a pretended proof of the Koran being of divine origin. M. Renaud in his “Description des Monumens Musulmans," observes that Mohammed was fond of retirement, and that every year, during the month of the Ramadan, he withdrew to a cave on Mount Hira near Mecca, and declared, that in his meditation on divine subjects, he was visited by the angel Gabriel, who saluted him with the title of "Apostle of God," and, "as he knew not how to read, at least at first, the angel brought his instructions in writing, and read them to him. Mohammed repeated them, and afterwards revealed what he had learned to his disciples. Hence is the origin of the term coran, which in Arabic means reading, and is pronounced with the article, al-coran, which implies, emphatically, "the reading." Asiatic Journal for Jan. 1829. before Islam* by Morámer Ibn Morrah, a native of Babylonian Irák, which was named Ambary, and superseded the Almosnad,t a character in use before the establishment of Mohammedanism amongst the Hamyarites, or the people of Yemen, governed by princes of Hamyar, and professors of Sabeism. This character was most probably the rude Cufic. The learned Silvestre de Sacy thinks it impossible to imagine that Islam or Islamism, “from the word salama, which in the fourth conjugation is islama, to enter into the state of salvation; hence eslam (or islam) the saving religion; and musliman, or as we call it, musleman, he that believeth therein." Prideaux's Life of Mohammed, page 15. Musulman, according to M. Reinaud, signifies "to put oneself into the hands of God." + Almosnad or Musnad. Nous n'avons, sur les caracteres musnades que des notions vagues et incertaines. .. Je crois aussi que les caracteres musnades etoient les memes que ceux que nous voyons sur certaines bandelettes de momies. Les auteurs arabes qui parlent des antiquites de l'Egypte, l'affirment meme tres-positivement; ils nous apprennent en meme temps que ce caractere etoit usite anciennement chez les Hhemyarytes. L'ecriture musnade, dit alMasoudy (Mouroudje al dscheb) est la premiere ecriture des Hhemyarytes et des rois de A'ad. Al Maqryzy (Descr. de l'Egypte, article des Pyramides) ajoute que les lettres en sont isolees. Hhadjy Khalfah (Bibl. Orient. article Ilm el-Khath) et Pocock, nous representent, au contraire, ces caracteres comme groupes. Ces deux opinions ne paroissent pas contradictoires, quand on examine les bandelettes dont nous venons de parler." Recherches Asiatiques Tom. Sec. P. 14. So called from Cufa or Coufa where it was first used. The character termed Cufic was introduced by Moramer. Ibn Khalcan, an Arabian writer, thus observes :-"With respect to the practice of the art of penmanship, the first who ever wrote in an Arabic character was Ismael, on whom be peace. The true opinion, however, according to men of learning is, that the first writer in an Arabic character was Moramer Ibn Morrah of the people of Ambar. And it is said, that from the sons of Morrah and from Ambar writing was spread among our countrymen." See also on this subject Professor Stewart's "Original Persian Letters," page ii. a work of great importance to writers and other students going to India. His version of the seventh chapter of Anvari Soohyly, and his other publications have considerably enlarged our knowledge of Persian literature. all the tribes of Arabia continued without the knowledge of writing until the sixth century of the Christian era, and also remarks, that as the old Cufic character bears so great a resemblance to the ancient alphabet of the Syrians named Estranghelo, there seems to be no doubt that the Arabians borrowed it from the people of Syria; and this opinion is further confirmed by historical traditions: and as the Korán was originally written in the rude Cufic, or rather in the anterior character borrowed from the Syrians of Mesopotamia a little before the time of Mohammed, he very justly conceives that the character, then introduced, spreading through every part of Arabia with the doctrine of the Prophet, caused all other kinds of more ancient writing to fall into disuse.* It may also be here observed, that Arabic may easily be written with Hebrew characters.t The Cufic laid the foundation for the Niski, a beautiful character in use about three hundred years after Mohammed, ascribed to Abu Ali Ibn Moklah, but it was considerably improved and perfected about the year of the Hijra 423‡ by Ibn Bowab. This character was afterwards embellished by * See M. de Sacy's admirable Grammaire Arabe. Premiere Partie. p. 5. See also Note to Mills's Mohammedanism, page 381, where references are made to Pocock. Specimen p.153, Niebuhr tom. 1. p. 38. + See Memoir of the Rev. Joseph Wolf, p. 211, M. Langles speaking of the learned Pocock, thus observes: En 1655, il publia le Porta Mosis, ouvrage compose en arabe et ecrit avec des caracteres hebreaux, par le savant Juif Moise Maimonides, sur l'histoire et la nature du Talmud. C'est le premier livre imprime a Oxford avec des caracteres hebreaux. Recherches Asiatiques. An. Dom. 1030. Ibn Khalcan; but according to Abulfaraji 413, or An. Dom. 1022. Hijra or Hejira signifies flight, alluding to the flight of Mohammed to Yatreb. and this circumstance according to M. Reinaud, produced a change of its name to Medinet al-Nabi, "the city of the prophet," or simply Medinet or Medineh. It occurred in the year 622 of our era, and has since been employed as an epoch by all Mussulman nations. Nezam, Tograi, Yakút, and other eminent penmen. The Persians are fond of the fine Talik hand, particularly in Poetry; but the Shekesteh is an inelegant and careless kind of writing without regularity, and often without diacritical points. A very ancient cuneiform character has recently been discovered by M. Schulz, inscribed on the monuments in the city of Van in Turkish Armenia, which the natives call Shamiramakert, or the city of Semiramis. This cuneiform character the learned M. St. Martin considers as belonging to a very remote antiquity, and identically the same as that found in the Inscriptions on the walls of Persepolis; some of which he so ably interpreted. He is of opinion that this system of writing expressed the sounds of a dialect closely connected with the Zend, and which dialect was the ordinary language of the Persians at the time of the elder Cyrus. Other inscriptions have also been discovered by M. Schulz in the city of Van, which are different to the character which M. St. Martin denominates Median and Assyrian, but possessing a strong affinity with it, and referable perhaps to a higher period of antiquity.† The copiousness and extent of the Arabic language is a subject of astonishment to those, who have not duly considered the rapid productiou of words from roots generally triliteral, (though quadriliterals in Arabic are also numerous,) and in a language which abhors compounds. Sir William Jones has calculated that twenty-eight Arabic letters will give nearly twenty-two thousand elements of the language; he also informs * Tograi is the author of a favorite monody of fifty-nine couplets, well known to Arabic scholars. + See more on this subject in the Asiatic Journal for Dec. 1828. D D |