ARAB I LITERATURE PROGRAM I (a / a 2017-2018)

The course includes two modules:

1) Main elements of Arab-Muslim culture:

the geographical identity of the Arab-Muslim countries; linguistic and religious minorities; notes on food prohibitions: lawful and illicit foods, the Arab name day (tasmiyah); the Islamic veil; polygamy and repudiation; the pillars of Islam; Sunni and Shiite Muslims; confessions within Islam; Sufism and confraternities; Wahabbism and Salafiyyah.

2) General features of classical Arabic literature:

the pre-Islamic age (ğāhiliyyah); poetry in the pre-Islamic age: le mu'allaqāt; the Koran; the prophet Muḥammad and his prophetic mission; the birth of the Islamic community (ummah) and the Constitution of Medina (623 d.C.); possible links between the Divine Comedy and the mystical experiences experienced by the prophet Muḥammad; the prophets of Islam and Christianity compared; Islamic law (šarī'ah); the canonical sources of Islamic law (fiqh); the theological-juridical schools; well-guided caliphs; the Omayyad kingdom (660-750 AD); the Abbasid empire (750-1258 AD); Bacchic poetry: Abū al-Nuwās (m 814); Arab prose: Ibn al-Muqaffa '(m 757) and al-Ğāḥiẓ (m 868); neoclassicism and al-Mutanabbī (m 965); the literary genre of the maqāmāt: al-Hamaḏānī (m 1008) and al-Ḥarīrī (m.1122); the large collections of adab: Abū-l-Farağ al-Iṣfahānī (m 967); the Thousand and One Nights.

In addition, during the course, some extracts in Arabic will be analyzed (Koranic suras, hadīṯ, extracts of literary works), which are an integral part of the examination of Arabic Literature I.

REFERENCE TEXTS FOR THE ATTENDING:

1) For the part of Arab-Muslim culture, one of the following texts:
- M. Ruthven, Islam, Einaudi, Milan, 1999
- P. Branca, The Muslims, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2016
- W. Montgomery Watt, Brief History of Islam, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2001 or other texts, after consultation with the teacher.

For further information:
- A. Hourani, History of the Arab peoples, Mondadori, Milan, 1998
- C. Lo Jacono, Muhammad, Laterza Editions, Rome-Bari, 2011
- C. Lo Jacono, History of the Islamic World (VII-XVI century), Einaudi, Turin, 2003
- P. Branca, Il Corano, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2016
- A. Bausani, L'Islam, Garzanti, Milan, 1999
- The Koran. Introduction, translation and commentary by A. Bausani, Sansoni, Florence, 1999, pp. Eighteenth-LXXIX
- P. G. Donini, The Islamic world. Brief history of the sixteenth century to today, Laterza, Bari, 2007

2) For the literature part:
- D. Amaldi, History of Classical Arabic Literature, Zanichelli, Bologna, 2004 (at choice only one of the following chapters: I or III or IV).

N. B: Each student must have read at least two novels (or anthologies of short stories or poems) of their choice, translated from Arabic into Italian. For the selection of Arabic works available in Italian, please refer to the website www.arablit.it

REFERENCE TEXTS FOR NON-ATTENDANTS:

- Il Corano (Introduction, translation and comment by A. Bausani), Sansoni, Florence, pp. Eighteenth-LXXIX.
- M. Ruthven, Islam, Einaudi, Milan, 1999
- D. Amaldi, History of Classical Literature, Zanichelli, Bologna (all)

N. B: Each student must have read at least two novels (or anthologies of short stories or poems) of their choice, translated from Arabic into Italian. For the selection of Arabic works available in Italian, please refer to the website www.arablit.it