Faced with death threats, forced separation from
his wife, and the lack of support from Egyptian
civil authorities, he and his wife left the country
to live in exile.
See also mUtazili school; secUlarism.
Further reading: Fauzi M. Najjar, “Islamic Fundamen-
talism and the Intellectuals: The Case of Nasr Hamid
Abu Zayd.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 27
(2000): 177–200; Nasr Abu Zaid and Esther R. Nelson,
Voice of an Exile: Reflections on Islam (Westport, Conn.:
Praeger, 2004).
adab
Adab is an Arabic word for refined behavior and
good manners that are to be practiced daily. It is
also used for areas of knowledge that are today
called the humanities, especially literature written
in eloquent prose. Both as a code of moral instruc-
tions and as a body of knowledge expressed
through literature, adab has been significantly
shaped by the qUran and the sUnna of mUham-
mad, but it has also absorbed local codes of behav-
ior and non-Islamic traditions of learning based in
urban social settings. The traditional masters of
adab were Muslim religious scholars, mystics, and
educated elites who served the rulers of Islamicate
lands from Spain and North Africa to Southeast
Asia, especially between the eighth century and
the 20th.
Although mastery of the skills necessary for
understanding and producing eloquently written
literature was available only to a select minority,
training in manners and morals was a life-long
process that all members of society were expected
to engage in, beginning with childhood education
and continuing with individual self-discipline
in adulthood. In premodern Islamicate societ-
ies, there were written codes of adab for specific
groups, such as the Ulama, rulers, nobles, bureau-
crats and secretaries, judges, Sufis, tradesmen and
artisans, and even musicians. From the general
religious perspective of Islam, there are also rules
of good conduct that are applicable to all believ-
ers. The Quran and the sunna of Muhammad con-
tain these rules, which involve ordinary activities
such as eating, dress, grooming, speaking, visita-
tion, and hospitality. Muslim theologians and phi-
losophers saw adab as an etiquette or discipline
that could help purify the individual’s God-given,
rational soul by strengthening inner virtues and
controlling or even eliminating wrongful behav-
ior such as lying and cheating. Moreover, they
thought adab could curb worldly passions, for
example, sexual desire, greed, anger, jealousy,
gluttony, and stinginess. One of the leading medi-
eval theologians, al-Ghazali (d. 1111), linked adab
to the Five pillars of Islam (which involve an
etiquette for human behavior toward God), Sufi
practices, and the attainment of eternal bliss in
paradise.
Adab is also used as a name for a large and
diverse body of literary works that both conveys
information and demonstrates the creative elo-
quence of the written word in order to transmit
cultural values and entertain readers. It includes
books of history, geography, travel, biography,
poetry, and interesting information about people
and natural phenomena. In the early centuries of
Islam, much of this literature was written in Ara-
bic and drew upon the styles of expression found
in the Quran and hadith. But ancient Greek and
Persian learning also inspired and was at home
wherever Islamicate civilization flourished. One
of the most important contributors to this body of
writings was al-Jahiz (d. 869), who may have com-
posed as many as 200 books and essays on a wide
range of topics, including animal lore, singing
girls, misers, politics, philosophy, and religion.
See also arabic langUage and literatUre;
edUcation; ghazali, abU hamid al-; morality and
ethics; sUFism.Further reading: Roger Allen, The Arabic Literary Heri-
tage: The Development of Its Genres and Criticism (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998); Barbara
Daily Metcalf, ed., Moral Conduct and Authority: Theadab 11 J