776 - 868
Zoology, Arabic
Grammar, Rhetoric, Lexicography
Al-JAHIZ, Abu 'Uthman 'Amr b. Bahr
al-Fuqaymi al-Basri, was a famous Arab prose writer,
the author of works of adab, Mu'tazili theology and
politico-religious polemics. Born at Basra
about 160/776 in an obscure family of mawali from the Banu
Kinana and probably of Abyssinian origin, he owes his sobriquet
to a malformation of the eyes (jahiz = with a projecting
cornea).
Little is
known of his childhood in Basra, except that from an early age
an invincible desire for
learning and a remarkably inquisitive mind urged him towards a
life of independence and,
much to his family's despair, idleness. Mixing with groups which
gathered at the mosque
(masdhidiyyun) to discuss a wide range of questions, attending
as a spectator the philological enquiries conducted on the
Mirbad [q.v.] and following lectures by the most learned men of
the day on philology, lexicography and poetry, namely al-Asma'i,
Abu 'Ubayda, Abu Zayd, he soon acquired real mastery of the
Arabic language along with the usual and traditional culture.
His precocious intelligence won him admittance to Mu'tazili
circles and bourgeois salons, where conversation, often light,
was also animated by problems confronting the Muslim conscience
at that time: in the realm of theology, harmonizing faith and
reason and, in politics, the thorny question of the Caliphate
which was constantly brought up by the enemies of the 'Abbasids,
the conflicts between Islamic sects and the claims of the
non-Arabs. His penetrating observation of the various elements
in a mixed population increased his knowledge of human nature,
whilst reading books of all kinds which were beginning to
circulate in Basra gave him some outlook on to the outside
world. It is quite certain that the intellectual resources
offered by his home town would have been fully adequate to give
al-Jahiz a broad culture but the 'Iraqi metropolis, then at its
apogee, had a decisive influence in helping to form his mind. It
left its rationalist and realist imprint so clearly on him, that
al-Jahiz might be considered not only one of the most eminent
products of his home town, but its most complete representative,
for the knowledge he subsequently acquired in Baghdad did not
modify to any noticeable degree his turn of mind as it had been
formed at Basra; Basra is the continuous thread running through
all his works.
Although he probably began writing earlier, the first proof of
his literary activity dates from
roughly t00/815-6; it relates to an event which had a decisive
effect on his subsequent career. Some works (the plural is no
longer in doubt) on the imamate, a very characteristic subject,
won him the compliments of al-Ma'mun and thereby that
consecration by the capital coveted by so many provincials eager
to have their talent recognized and so reach the court and
establish themselves. From then on, without completely
abandoning Basra, al-Jahiz frequently stayed for long periods in
Baghdad (and later Samarra) devoting himself to literary work of
which an appreciable part, fortunately, has been spared the
ravages of time.
In spite of some slender indications, it is not really known on
what we relied for his income in
Basra. In Baghdad, we know, he discharged for three days the
functions of scribe and was very briefly assistant to Ibrahim b.
al-'Abbas al-‘uli at the Chancellery; it is also probable that
he was a teacher, and he records himself an interview he claims
to have had with al-Mutawakkil who, anxious to entrust him with
the education of his children, finally dismissed him because of
his ugliness. Although information about his private and public
life is not readily forthcoming from either his biographers or
himself, it appears from what knowledge we have that al-Jahiz
held no official post and took on no regular employment. He
admits, however, that he received considerable sums for the
dedications of his books and we know that for a time at least he
was made an allowance by the diwan. These fragmentary
indications are indeed confusing and tend to suggest that al-Jahiz
who otherwise, unlike some of his fellow countrymen, does not
appear to have led the life of a courtier, acted the part of an
eminence grise, so to speak, or of unofficial adviser at least.
We have seen already that the writings which won him the
recognition of the capital dealt with the Caliphate and were
certainly intended to justify the accession to power of the
'Abbasids; they were the prelude of a whole series of opuscules
addressed to the authorities, if
not inspired by them, and relating to topical events;
notwithstanding some degree of artifice in risalas beginning:
'Thou hast asked me about such and such a question .... I answer
thee that ...', it may be presumed that in many cases the
question had in fact been asked and he had been requested to
reply in writing. For, if he was never admitted to the intimacy
of the Caliphs, he was in continuous contact with leading
political figures and it is rather curious that he should have
attached himself successively to Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Malik al-Zayyat
[q.v.], then after the latter's fall from favour (t33/847) which
almost proved fatal to both men, to the qadi al-qudat (d.
t40/854) Ahmad b. Abi Du'ad [q.v.] and to his son Muhammad (d.
t39/853) and finally to al-Fath b. khaqan [q.v.] (d. t47/861).
He nevertheless retained ample independence and was able to take
advantage of his new
position to further his intellectual training and to travel
(particularly to Syria; but al-Mas'udi,
Murudh, i, t06, was to criticize him for having attempted to
write a geography book--now almost entirely lost--without having
traveled enough). In Baghdad also he found a rich store of
learning in the many translations from Greek undertaken during
the Caliphate of al-Ma'mum
and studying the philosophers of antiquity--especially Aristotle
(cf. al-HadhiÜi, Takhridh nusus aristataliyya min K. al-Hayawan,
in Madhallat kulliyyat al-adab, Alexandria, 1953 ff.)--enabled
him to broaden his outlook and perfect his own theological
doctrine, which he had begun to elaborate under the supervision
of the great Mu'tazilis of the day, of whom al-Nazzam and
øhumama b. Ashras [qq.v.], who seems to have had a strong
influence on him, should be placed in the first rank.
Towards the end of his life, suffering from hemiplegia, he
retired to his home town, where he
died in Muharram t55/December 868-January 869.
Like many Arabic writers, al-Jahiz had a very great output. A
catalogue of his works (see
Arabica, 1956/t) lists nearly t00 titles of which only about
thirty, authentic or apocryphal, have been preserved, in their
entirety; about fifty others have been partially preserved,
whilst the rest seem irremediably lost. Brockelmann (S I, t41
ff.) has attempted to classify his works according to real or
supposed subjects and gives us some idea of the breadth and
variety of his interests. Considering only the extant works,
which now for the most part are available in editions of varying
quality, two broad categories may be distinguished: on the one
hand, works coming under the head of Jahizian adab, that is to
say intended in a rather entertaining manner to instruct the
reader, with the author intervening only insofar as he selects,
presents and comments on documents; on the other hand, original
works, dissertations where his ability as a writer and to some
extent his efforts as a thinker are more clearly shown.
His chief work in the first category is K. al-Hayawan (ed. Harun,
Cairo n.d, 7 vols..) which is not so much a bestiary as a
genuine anthology based on animals, leading off sometimes rather
unexpectedly into theology, metaphysics, sociology etc.; one can
even find embryonic theories, without it being possible to say
how far they are original, of the evolution of species, the
influence of climate and animal psychology, which were not to be
developed till the nineteenth century. Following K. al-Hayawan,
which was never completed, came K. al-Bighal (ed. Pellat, Cairo
1955). K. al-Bayan wa 'l-tabyin (ed. Harun, Cairo 1367/1948-50,
4 vols, and other editions) seems fundamentally to be an
inventory of what have been called the 'Arabic humanities',
designed to stress the oratorical and poetic ability of Arabs;
he attempts to justify his choice by positing the bases of an
art of poetry, but he does so in an extremely disorderly
fashion, as was pointed out by Abu Hilal al-'Askari, K. al-‘ina'atayn,
5, who decided to write a more systematic treatise.
Another quality of the Arabs, generosity, is emphasized in K.
al-Bukhala (ed. al-Hadhiri, Cairo
1948 and other editions; Ger. tr. O. Rescher, Excerpti ..; Fr.
tr. Ch. Pellat, Paris 1951), which is at the same time a
portrait gallery, an attack on non-Arabs and an analysis of
avarice, the
equivalent of which is not to be found anywhere in Arabic
literature. His acute powers of
observation, his light-hearted scepticism, his comic sense and
satirical turn of mind fit him
admirably to portray human types and society; he uses all his
skill at the expense of
several social groups (schoolmasters, singers, scribes etc.)
generally keeping within the bounds ofdecency; only K.
Mufakharat al-dhawari wa 'l-ghilman (ed. Pellat, Beirut 1957),
dealing with a delicate subject, is marred by obscenity, whilst
K. al-qiyan (ed. Finkel), which is about slave-girl singers,
contains pages of remarkable shrewdness. But this work really
belongs to the second category, which includes the dissertations
assembled by Kraus and Hadhiri: al-Ma'ad wa 'l-ma'ash, al-Sirr
wa hifz al-lisan, al-Jidd wa 'l-hazl, Fasl ma bayn al-'adawa wa
'l-hasad, and several other texts published either by al-Sandubi
or in the 11 Risala. One might also add the politico-religious
works, now for the most part lost, perhaps even deliberately
destroyed when Sunnism finally triumphed over Mu'tazilism. Of
those still extant, the most voluminous is K. al-'Uthmaniyya
(ed. Harun, Cairo 1374/1955; see Arabica, 1956/3) in which al-Jahiz
asserts the legitimacy of the first three Caliphs, attacks the
claims of the Shi'a and thereby justifies the accession of the
'Abbasids to power. No less important is K. Taswib 'Ali fi
tahkim al-hakamayn (ed. Pellat, in Machriq, July 1958),
unfortunately incomplete and defective but clearly directed
against the outdated partisans of the
Umayyads, who again were enemies of the 'Abbasids. In this
respect Risala fi 'l-Nabita (or fi Bani Umayya) is interesting
also (see Pellat's translation, in AIEO Alger, 195t), for it is
nothing short of a report by al-Jahiz to the son of Ahmad b. Abi
Du'ad on the political situation, the causes of division in the
community and the danger presented by the nabita, that is the
neo-hashwiyya, who were reviving Mu'awiya for their own ends and
using the kalam to support their theses; Risala finafyi 'l-tashbih
(ed. Pellat, in Machriq, 1953) is in the same manner. Revealing
of the correspondences between government policy and al-Jahiz's
activity are K. al-Radd 'ala 'l-Nasara (see Allouche's
translation, in Hesp., 1939) and Risala fi manaqib al-Turk,
dealing respectively with measures taken against the Jimmis and
the forming of the Turkish guard. Generally speaking, in
politics al-Jahiz shows himself irresolute Mu'tazili, that is an
apologist of the 'Abbasids against the pro-Umayyad movement of
the Nabita, the Shu'ubis and the Shi'a; but his highly personal
manner of presenting facts tends to mislead his readers and in
all probability the pro-'Alid al-Mas'udi in Murudh, vi, 55 ff.
misunderstood the true significance of his writings. If the
chronology of al-Jahiz's work could be established, one would
probably see that after warning the authorities against the
regression that might be the result of abandoning Mu'tazilism,
he gave up the struggle once Sunni reaction had won the day and
from then on restricted himself to purely literary activity; the
fact that he wrote K. al-Bukhala' in the latter part of his life
supports this hypothesis.
As in politics so in theology al-Jahiz was a Mu'tazili, though
his doctrine appears to offer hardly any original features; as
the writings where he expounded are for the most part lost, one
has to make do with occasional annotations in al-khayyat, K. al-Intisar,
translated and edited by A. N. Nader, Beirut 1957, and with data
supplied by the heresiographers (al-Baghdadi, Farq, 160 ff.; Ibn
Hazm, Fisal, iv, 181, 195; al-Shahrastani, on the margin of Ibn
Hazm, i, 95-6; etc.; see also, Horten, Die phil. Systeme der
spekulativen Theologen im Islam, 3t0 ff.; L. Gardet and M. M.
Anawati, Introd. a la Theologie musulmane, index; A. N. Nader,
Le Systemeqphilosophique des Mu'tazila, Beirut 1956, index)
which summarize or indicate points where al-Jahiz differs from
other Mu'tazilis. Too little is known of the doctrine itself for
one to be able to do more at this stage than simply refer to the
article mu'tazila, pending the completion of a thesis
specifically concerned with the question.
Meanwhile, even though Jahiz's place in the development of
Muslim thought is far from
negligible, he is chiefly interesting as a writer and an adib,
for with him form is never
overshadowed by content; even in purely technical works. If he
is not the first of the great Arab prose writers, if in rhetoric
'Abd Allah b. al-Muqaffa' [q.v.] and Sahl b. Harun [q.v.], to
name but two, are his masters, nevertheless he gave literary
prose its most perfect form, as was indeed recognized first by
politicians who made use of his talent for the 'Abbasid cause
and then by Arab critics who were unanimous in asserting his
superiority and making his name the very symbol of literary
ability.
Al-Jahiz's writing is characterized by deliberately contrived
disorderliness and numerous
digressions; the individuality of his alert and lively style
lies in a concern for the exact term--a foreign word if
necessary--picturesque phrases and sentences which are nearly
always
unrhymed, but balanced by the repetition of the same idea in two
different forms; what would be pointless repetition to our way
of thinking, in the mind of a 3rd/9th century writer simply
arose from the desire to make himself clearly understood and to
give ordinary prose the symmetry of verse; though difficult to
render and appreciate in a foreign language, the flow of his
sentences is perfectly harmonious and instantly recognizable.
Nevertheless, for the majority of literate Arabs al-Jahiz
remains, if not a complete buffoon, at least something of a
jester; his place as such in legend can undoubtedly be
attributed in part to his fame and his ugliness, which made him
the hero of numerous anecdotes; but it must also be attributed
to a characteristic of his writing which could not but earn him
the reputation of being a joker in a Muslim world inclined
towards soberness and gravity; for he never fails, even in his
weightiest passages, to slip in anecdotes, witty observations
and amusing comments. Alarmed at the dullness and boredom
enshrouding the speculations of a good many of his
contemporaries, he deliberately aimed at a lighter touch and his
sense of humour enabled him to deal entertainingly with serious
subjects and help popularize them. But he realized he was doing
something rather shocking and one cannot help being struck by
the frequency with which he feels it necessary to plead the
cause of humour and fun; the best example is in K. al-Tarbi' wa
'l-tadwir (ed. Pellat, Damascus 1955) a masterpiece of ironic
writing, as well as a compendium of all the questions to which
his contemporaries whether through force of habit, imitative
instinct or lack of imagination offered traditional solutions or
gave no thought at all. Without stepping outside the boundaries
of the faith--this itself was something of a strain--he takes
for granted the right to submit to scrutiny accepted attitudes
to natural phenomena, ancient history and legends handed down as
truths, to restate problems and skilfully suggest rational
solutions. Nor is that all; for at a time when mediaeval Arabic
culture was taking shape, he brought together what seemed of
most value to him, drawing either on the Arab heritage, of which
he was a passionate defender, or on Greek thought,qalways
careful however to curb the intrusion of the Persian tradition,
which he considered too dangerous for the future of Islam, into
the culture he longed to bestow on his co-religionists. This
vast undertaking, based on the spirit of criticism and
systematic doubt in everything not directly concerned with the
dogma of Islam, was unfortunately to be to a considerable extent
narrowed and side-tracked in the centuries to follow. It is true
that al-Jahiz was to have admirers as noteworthy as Abu Hayyan
al-Tawhidi, imitators and even counterfeiters, who made use of
his name to ensure greater success for their works; but
posterity has only kept a deformed and shrunken image of him,
seeing him at the most as a master of rhetoric (see Pellat, in
al-And., 1956/t, t77-84), the founder of a Mu'tazili
school--whose disciples no one bothers to enumerate--and the
author of compilations to be drawn upon for the elaboration of
works of adab, a sizeable share of recorded information on
jahiliyya and the
early centuries of Islam.
