zation. Arabic even found its way into European
languages, especially Spanish, which has as many
as 4,000 words of Arabic origin (for example,
algodón, arroz, azul, azúcar, alcalde, fulano, etc.).
A number of Arabic nouns have also entered Eng-
lish, such as the words cotton, rice, sugar, admiral,
magazine, sherbet, and even coffee.
There are two basic types of Arabic: formal lit-
erary Arabic and everyday spoken (or colloquial)
Arabic. The first is subdivided into Classical (or
Medieval) and Modern Standard Arabic. It can
be comprehended by anyone who has learned
to read and write it, no matter what his or her
spoken Arabic dialect is, and it is used in books,
newspapers and magazines, government docu-
ments, sermons, and official speeches. Colloquial
Arabic is subdivided into a number of regional
dialects that can differ significantly from each
other. For example, people who speak Egyptian or
Iraqi Arabic can understand each other, but they
cannot understand the Moroccan Arabic of North
Africa. Egyptian colloquial, furthermore, is widely
understood throughout the Arab world because of
the leading role Egypt plays in the production of
movies and the broadcast programming for radio
and television. Through the centuries, literary and
colloquial Arabic have mutually influenced each
other, which is one reason for the language’s on-
going vitality.
Arabic literature encompasses a vast range of
prose and poetry that deals with both religious
and worldly subjects. The body of religious lit-
erature in Arabic is massive; beginning with
the Quran itself, it includes Quran commentar-
ies, hadith collections, religious biographies and
prophets’ tales, texts on religious law, theological
treatises, Sufi writings, and religious poetry. Many
such works were composed in the Middle Ages,
but they have had a lasting impact on Arabic
writing, and they are widely available today in
print, on compact disks (CDs), and even on the
internet. Secular poetry is another major branch
of the Arabic literary tradition, especially a type
of poem called the qasida (a multi-themed ode),
considered to be the most ancient and prestigious
form of poetic expression. Classical Arabic poetry
addressed themes of love, praise, ridicule, death,
and remembrance. It also celebrated wine, hunt-
ing, nature, and famous places. Many nonreligious
prose works were composed during the Middle
Ages as well. They dealt with a variety of top-
ics that were of special interest to rulers and the
educated elite: history, geography, government,
philosophy, the sciences, differences between vari-
ous kinds of people, etiquette, proverbs, interest-
ing trivia, and entertaining stories and anecdotes.
The most famous works of prose literature are the
arabian nights and the animal fables of Kalila wa
Dimna, both of which contain stories that have
been transmitted from other cultures. There were
also popular oral epics about noble Arab warriors
such as Antar and Abu Zayd al-Hilali.
The Arabic literary heritage was selectively
translated into Hebrew and Latin and transmit-
ted to Europe during the Middle Ages, which
enriched intellectual and cultural life there. In
modern times, Western learning and literature
have influenced Arab writers, creating a fusion
of the old with the new. During the 20th century,
new generations of Arab authors rose to national
and international fame, none moreso than the
Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz (b. 1911),
who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1988. In
recent decades, an increasing number of women
have also made contributions to the Arab literary
renaissance, including Nawal al-Sadawi (b. 1930)
and Hanan al-Shaykh (b. 1945).See also (^) adab; alphabet; animals; aUtobiogra-
phy; biography; calligraphy; fiqh; persian lan-
gUage and literatUre; tUrkish langUage and
literatUre.
Further reading: Roger Allen, An Introduction to Arabic
Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2000); Salm K. Jayyusi, Modern Arabic Poetry: An
Anthology (New York: Columbia University Press,
1987); Kees Versteegh, The Arabic Language, 2d ed.
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2001).
Arabic language and literature 55 J