Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature Part 3

Extracts from this testament especially from its concluding portion, have been handed down to us in the _Kitabat Tambih._[1] They relate to the prophecy of Zaradusht regarding the destruction of the Persian religion and empire in the course of a thousand years after him.[2]

[Footnote 1: By the same Ahmed ibn Abi Taher has been preserved the Essay of this Ahmed ibn Yusuf on "Thankfulness"--_Risalat Ahmed ibn Yusuf fishshukr_ which possibly is referred to by the author of the Fihrist. See also there the highly important _Risalat ibn Mukaffa fissahobat_.

B.G.A. VIII, 98, 16-99, 1. Macoudi, _Le livre de l'avertiss.e.m.e.nt et de la revision_, trad. par Carra de Vaux, Paris, 1897, 141-142.]

[Footnote 2: In connection with this prophecy, as regards the changes which were made in the chronological system of the Persian history see A. Gutschmid, _Kleine Schriften,_ III, Leipzig, 1892. 22-23, and 97, &c.]

It is highly interesting that just like the well-known testament by Tansar to the king of Tabaristan this testament was written at a considerably later period, in the time of a.n.u.shirwan.[3]

[Footnote 3: See on this question Christensen 111-112 and Appendix VI.]

Regarding the general character of this apocryphal testament we may judge by the counsels of the founder of the Sasanian dynasty which have come down to us in various Arabic and Persian historical works and in the Shah Nameh.

7. The 7th t.i.tle refers to the book of a certain _mobedan mobed_ on rhetorical pa.s.sages which were a.n.a.logous probably to the anonymous _Pand Namehs_ which are found in the Pahlavi literature.

8. The 8th is the book on the correspondence between the Kisra and a Marzban.[1]

[Footnote 1: Does not this appear like a book containing the correspondence on the well-known episode in the history of the Persians in Yemen and the letters which were exchanged between the Marzban or Mavazan and Khosrau Parviz? (See Noeldeke, Tabari 237, 264, 350-351).]

9-10. The 9th and the 10th t.i.tles relate to books of questions directed on a certain occasion by the king of Rome to a.n.u.shirwan and on another occasion by the king of Rome to another emperor of Persia.

11. The 11th book refers to the order of Ardeshir to bring out from the treasury books written by Wis.e.m.e.n on "Government."

12. The 12th book was written for Hormaz, son of Kisra, _i.e.,_ Kisra a.n.u.shirwan on the correspondence between a certain Kisra and "Jamasp."[1]

[Footnote 1: Are we to understand under this name a reference to the well-known Jamasp Hakim occurring in Pahlavi literature (Weat, 110)?

On the Persian wisdom of Jamasp, see C.H.L. Flise, cher _Kleinere Schriften_ 3 Leipzig, 1888, 254-255, and Justi _Namenbuch_, 109.

The name, however, cannot be clearly read, Hadahud (see Fihrist, 316, 13) where instead of Mardyud should be read Mardwaihi. In the same book 162, 6, instead of Zaydyud should be read Zaiduya. As regards the name Hadahud generally, see Justi, 177, who mentions a son of Farrukhzad.]

13. The 13th book is attributed to a certain Kisra and it is added that it treated of grat.i.tude and was written for the benefit of the public.

14. Finally, the 14th heading referred no doubt to one of those Persian books written by Persians bearing Persian names and embodying various stories and anecdotes.

Of the remaining 30 books, 11 belong to the Moslem period but were composed at the time of complete Persian influence on Arabic literature.

We have three books on Adab written for Khalif Mahdi, Rashid and for the Barmecide Yahya ibn Khalid. Then there are nine books by authors who are partly unknown and partly belong to the same period of Persian influence and who have been mentioned in other places in the Fihrist.

Of the remaining 19 books a considerable number is to be found to have issued from Persian sources. Of Persian origin probably were two books translated by the aforesaid Mihr Adur Jushnasp--one relating to 'Adab'

and the other on 'house-building.'

The book on the refutation of the Zendiks by an unknown author was probably derived from Parsi circles. For, especially in the reign of Mamun there existed various controversies with the followers of Mazdaism and Dualists.[1]

[Footnote 1: A. Barthelemy, Gujastak Abalish. _Relation d'une Conference Theologique, presidee par le Calife Mamoun_, Paris, 1887. (Bibliotheque de l'ecole des hautes etudes, sciences philologiques et historiques, LXIX., fascicule.)]

Further, undoubtedly under Persian books must be reckoned the book of the 'Counsels' of ancient kings and the book of the 'Questions' to certain Wis.e.m.e.n, and their Answers. If these are not of direct Persian origin they are similar in contents to Persian books. Two books included in this list, namely, one by a certain Christian on ethico-didactical subjects as is stated in the t.i.tle itself, drawn from Persian, Greek and Arabic sources, and the other, a book translated by the author of the Fihrist himself containing the anecdotes regarding the people of a superior cla.s.s and of the middle cla.s.s--these two books on account of their contents embody the experiences relating to ethico-didactical questions and were of the nature of compilation similar to the book of Ibn Miskawaihi of whom we shall speak later on. Finally, all the remaining books relate to that cla.s.s of anecdotal and didactic literature which spread so wide among Arabic writers through Pahlavi and originating from Indian authors. Such books were, for instance, the story of Despair and Hope, the Book of Hearing and Judgment, the Book of the two Indians, a liberal man and a miser, their disputation, and the judgment pa.s.sed on them by the Indian prince, etc. That our a.s.sumption is highly probable is confirmed by the mention among these books of the book of the philosopher and his experiences with the slave girl Kaytar.[1]

[Footnote 1: This book no doubt is a portion of the well-known fable Lai d'--Aristote preserved in certain ancient monuments of Arabic literature. The same book is mentioned among Persian books in another place in the Fihrist. (305-6). Kitab Musk Zanameh, w[=a] shah Zanan.

These two books have been variously transcribed by the copyists.]

The name has been much mutilated and serves as an example of the degree to which Persian t.i.tles have been corrupted. Nevertheless, thanks to the circ.u.mstance that the name of the slave girl has come down to us, in the Arabic version of the story we are able to trace the t.i.tle adduced in the Fihrist.[1]

[Footnote 1: Le Livre des beautes et des ant.i.thesis attribute a Abu Othman Amr ibn Bahr al-Djahiz texte publie par G. Van Vloten, Leyde, 1898, 225-257; E. G., Browne, "some account of the Arabic work ent.i.tled Nihayatu'l-irab fi Akhbari'l Furs wa'l-Arab," particularly of that part which treats of the Persian kings, J.R.A.S. (900, 243-245).]

This name is Mushk Daneh or a grain of Musk. The book of Musk Daneh and the _mobed_ became famous in Arabic literature as a separate Persian composition.[2]

[Footnote 2: Similarly the t.i.tle Shahzanan in the Fihrist is possibly Mobedan, (See Browne 244, 2, 3, 11, 15; 245, 4, 15; and Van Vloten 255, 16; 256, 1, 4, 14; 257, 7, 9; or Shaikh al mobedan, Browne 245.)]

CHAPTER IV

The Persian, sources of the compilation of Ibn Miskawaihi 54

Preponderance of the Persian element in the evolution of the Musalman morals 57

The "Book of Adab" by Ibn al Muqaffa and other similar Arabic works 59

_IRANIAN COMPONENTS OF ADAB LITERATURE IN ARABIC_

At the head of works under the t.i.tle of ethico didactic writings, which have come down to us stands a group most characteristically denominated _Adab ul Arab val Furs_ belonging to the pen of a writer of the 10th and 11th centuries, Ibn Miskawaihi whose name is p.r.o.nounced in Persian Ibn Mushkuya. At the basis of this collection lies the ancient Persian pseudepigraphical book _Javidan khired_, or "Eternal wisdom." But in the body of it there is a series of literary monuments of Sasanian literature and its descendants.[1] The author is known, besides, by his philosophical works, as a historian[2] and as such he is particularly important for the history of the Buides.[3] And his Persian origin would point to his sympathy for Persian literary tradition. As a matter of fact, his ethico-didactic collection is based on a book of the Sasanian epoch. It would appear that this circ.u.mstance has undoubted significance for the determination of the influence in the compilation of Moslem ethical ideals. However, in contradiction to this basal fact and notwithstanding that in the province of the development of Islam as a religion, Persian element played an important part,[4] the development of the Moslem ethical tracts in contemporary literature, for the most part, is dependent upon more antique, specially Greek, tradition. J.

Goldziher recognizing the importance of the influence of Parsism on Islam says the exact demonstration of the dependence of these phenomena on the culture historical facts, whose consequences they are, would be the most interesting task which those studying Islam in its present position can place before themselves. Many of the dominating views regarding the original spirit of Islam would receive the needed correction by such investigation.

[Footnote 1: On this work and its ma.n.u.scripts see my _Material from Arab sources_ 68-69.]

[Footnote 2: For Miskawaihi as a philosopher see Boer 116-119.]

[Footnote 3:--He was the treasurer and a close friend of the Buide Adudad-Daula.]

[Footnote 4: For a general sketch of Moslem ethics in ancient times see Carra de Vaux, _Gazali_, 129-142, and _Encyclopaedia of Islam_ 4, 244-246.]

Let us examine three points regarding the influence on Moslem morals and general conduct. In the first place stand the moral writings of ecclesiastical character. The morality is rooted in and based on the moral of the Bible and then on the developed Moslem law and has absorbed in itself some of the elements of the ethics of Christianity. In the second place, there is a series of ethical doc.u.ments of a most valued nature in the shape of proverbs, dicta, maxims, fables, const.i.tuting a kind of moral philosophy, often independent of each other, varied in their character, and different as to time and the place of their compositions. Here we may separate a certain stratum of Persian element, and an a.n.a.lysis of them may reveal partly contemporary knowledge and partly elements of foreign religious ethics. The third but not the last place in importance is occupied by the Greek ethical tradition in which latterly are discernible important Christian const.i.tuents. Recent studies have yielded us as their result, this structure of Musalman ethics. But it is to be noted that the theoretical deductions at first sight do not find confirmation in facts. For we do not know which Greek books on ethics were translated in the beginning of the period of the scientific development of Islam, and for the support of our thesis we have to point to the possibility of oral transmission of h.e.l.lenic ethical tradition through Syriac scholars, although this circ.u.mstance does not militate against our hypothesis. Besides a small amount of translations from Greek ethical works, especially the books of Aristotle, there are observed among the works embodied in this tradition a series of pseudographs which, however, can have only an external relation with the Greek sciences and which would rather lead to the second group of the influences on Musalman ethical monuments namely, the group of monuments of "Oriental wisdom." The most typical of the pseudographical _wisaya_, or "Testaments" are ascribed to Aristotle, Pythagoras, and others. To our mind, they are derived from Persian tradition to the same extent, if not in a larger extent than from the Christian. Actual studies demonstrate that the basal work for this epoch was the book above-mentioned of Ibn Miskawaihi which as we saw above, issued from Persian literary tradition. And the character of that tradition can be explained from exterior circ.u.mstances without an a.n.a.lysis of its contents. The fact is that Ibn Miskawaihi worked upon that cla.s.s of Persian material, for instance the _Pand Nameh_ or _Andarz_, which had nothing to do with the province of the indefinite gnomic literature but which had the character of a catechism and therefore expresses a definite system of religious morals, the morals of Parsism.[1] The appreciation of the influence of Parsism on Islam has only just commenced. But we are already in a position to emphasise the great influence, which Parsi ethics have exercised on Islam and this influence has been attested by a number of Greek and Christian witnesses. So far, for an acknowledgment of this influence serves a purely external fact, namely, a glance at the bibliography of the ancient ethico-didactic tracts in the Musalman literature and an examination of the contents of the book of Ibn Muskawaihi. A number of additional facts confirm this hypothesis.

[Footnote 1: For a general review of the morals of Parsism see A.V.W.

Jackson's G. I. Ph. Vol. II, 678-683.]

Well-known is the importance enjoyed in the beginning of the epoch of the development of the Arabic Musalman literature, by the activities of the Parsi Ibn al Muqaffa.[1] He is famous as the first commentator of the Greek books on logic in Arabic literature, but he is particularly renowned as the efficient supporter of the Persian literary tradition and its translator into the Arabic literature. His rendering of _Kalila and Dimma_ is well-known. It enjoys a prime role in the migration of this collection of stories to the West. Well-known also is his translation of the Persian book of _Khoday Nameh_,--that is, the official chronicle of the Sasanian times and of the _Ain Nameh_, the Inst.i.tutes of the time. We shall have occasion to speak about these books later on. To him also belong the books closely connected with the Sasanian epoch, namely, the _Book of Mazdak_ the _Book of Taj_ to which we shall refer further on. It is interesting that he is also the reputed author of two books on Adab, perhaps among the most ancient ones in Arabic literature.[2] One of these books called the Smaller was probably contained in the other which is called the Larger and has the purely Persian t.i.tle of Mah farra Jushnas. (This is how the t.i.tle is to be read according to Hoffmann and Justi).[3] Since the interest of Muqaffa was concentrated in the province of Persian culture it is indisputable that his activity was not confined in this direction to one book and the contents of the book have vestiges in a high degree of dependence on Persian motifs. This is proved by a variety of circ.u.mstances. We have descended to us his book called _Al Yatima_, a tract on that aspect of morals which was especially diffused in the Sasanian epoch and was devoted to politics and in form represented the species of writings called Furstenspiegel.[4] A tradition of this kind of literature for long continued to live in the Musalman writers and the typical representative of the species seems to be the famous _Siyasat Nameh_, of Nizam-ulmulk, the Saljuk Wazir. On some occasions it directly serves as a source for the internal history of the Sasanian domination. It bears particularly on didactic literature though it has been as yet very ill studied from the comparative standpoint. The Sasanian influence is perfectly obvious. Some portions of Al Yatima of Ibn Muqaffa may be parallelled to corresponding remnants from Pahlavi literature in the _Kabus Nameh_ and the _Siasat Nameh._[5] We know further that books under the t.i.tle of Persian Adab were spread among those who sympathised with Mazdaism and Manichism in the circle of Moslem society.[6] These books by their character were comparable to books on Mazdak but also to Kalila wa Dimna.

[Footnote 1: Fihrist, 118, 18-29, and Ibn al Qifti's _Tarkh al hukama_ edited by Lippert, page 220, 1-10.]

[Footnote 2: Brockelmann, On the rhetorical writings of Ibn all Mukaffa, Z.D.M.G. 53, 231-32.]

[Footnote 3: Hoffmann "Extracts from Syrian acts of Persian martyrs", 1880 page 289 note, and Justi, _Namenbuch_ 186.]

[Footnote 4: Precise information regarding its contents is rather to be found in Ibn al Qifti than in the _Fihrist_. In the former the heading is _Fi taat us Sultan_, in the latter _Fi rasail._ See _La perle incomparable ou_ l'art du parfait courtisane de Abdallah ibn al-Muqaffa, 1906. See the French translation from the Dutch rendering of this tract.]

[Footnote 5: On the political ideas of the latter see Pizzi, Le idee politiche di Nizam-ul-Mulk G.S.A. 1., 131-141.]