Library of Arabic Literature

New Release! 📚 The Genius of Invective: Ibn Zaydūn's Letter Explained, translated by Peter Webb, is an encyclopedic guide to one of the most widely read works of Arabic literature: an erudite and searing rejection letter by Ibn Zaydūn. Now available from LAL!

"They rejoice and say, “A year of fertility, auspiciousness, and peace.”"

"I yearn for the days of my youth too soon gone—how I blossomed, like a bud on a twig—how I long for their intoxications and venial sins, when our hearts were sprightly and full of vim and all our hopes opened before us."

"Diligent and expeditious, pens held at the ready:sent on a mission, count on them to perform."

"For in everything in the world of nature, there is something to be marveled at,"

"If adulthood arrives without common sense, abandon all hope: the case is lost."

"He who finds contentment free of greed will be relieved from toil,"

"The arrowheads of angry words may penetrate the flesh and be extracted but the arrowheads of words that penetrate the heart can never be extracted."

"If each according to his worth were given,your gift would be the World and all you therein seek!”

"In the breath of dawn, I crossed the dark with a twitchy gos greedy for the kill"

“Repent from passion’s way!” “No!” I said.“Not until old age stops me in my tracks.”

"Any treasure seeker with his own money ends up losing it in his quest."

"Bravery is of two sorts: before or against the wind; some ships sail a steady course, others lie still."

"Ease in this world is no more than distress in the next."

"I swear, if I took my afflictions to heart, I’d be dead already."

New Release!📚 The Turks and the Caliphal Army, translated by Robert G. Hoyland, is a defense of Abbasid military policy from al-Jāḥiẓ, a powerhouse of Arabic letters and the “father of Arabic prose”. Now available on the LAL website! tinyurl.com/yh6a4mmj

New Release!📚 The Turks and the Caliphal Army, translated by Robert G. Hoyland, is a defense of Abbasid military policy from al-Jāḥiẓ, a powerhouse of Arabic letters and the “father of Arabic prose”. Now available on the LAL website! tinyurl.com/yh6a4mmj

"With you I feel jealous of my eye and of myself and also of you, of where you are, of Time. If I tucked you inside my eyelids from now till Judgment Day, it still would not suffice."

"When the prey sees her chase, its soul whispers, “Death is here.”"

"We arranged the horses like beads on a string and to the beat of the drums and the chorus of shouts, a number of horseman charged and scattered them, sorting them according to their condition. The end was inevitable."

"Who will judge between me and destiny? It's tamed me at last with separation."