Arabic Authors / A Manual of Arabian History and Literature

This work provides a compact survey of Arabian history and literary achievement, tracing political developments from early tribal organization through the rise of Islam and the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, the establishment of Muslim rule in Iberia, and later dispersal and decline. It divides literary history into pre-Islamic, classical, and post‑Baghdad periods, describing poetic traditions, scholarly disciplines (grammar, law, philosophy, medicine, historiography), key centres, libraries, and patronage, and profiles leading figures and institutions. It also offers a biographical summary of Muhammad and a discussion of the Qur'an's language and reception, concluding with remarks on printing, translation, and the perceived waning of Arabic letters.