Library of Arabic Literature

Book series of Arabic literature

Library of Arabic Literature

Parent company| New York University Press
Official website| https://www.libraryofarabicliterature.org/

The Library of Arabic Literature (Arabic: المكتبة العربية) is a bilingual book series that publishes English translations and Arabic editions of Arabic texts from the seventh to nineteenth centuries.[1]

## Premise

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The Library of Arabic Literature publishes editions of significant Arabic texts from the seventh to nineteenth centuries and their English translations.[2] The series' aim is "to revive and reintroduce classic Arabic literature to a whole new generation of Arabs and non-Arabs, and make it more accessible and readable to everyone,"[3] as very little of the corpus of Arabic literature from this period is available to an English-speaking audience.[4] The books are edited and translated by distinguished scholars of Arabic and Islam from around the world.

The series publishes each book in a hardcover parallel-text format, with Arabic and English on facing pages, as well as in English-only paperbacks and free downloadable Arabic PDFs. For some texts, the series also publishes separate scholarly editions with full critical apparatus.[2] Genres include poetry and prose, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, history, and travel writing.[3]

The Library of Arabic Literature is published by NYU Press and supported by a grant from the New York University Abu Dhabi Research Institute.[2]

The first volume was published in December 2012.[3]

## Awards

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The Library of Arabic Literature's award-winning edition-translations include Leg Over Leg by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies, which was shortlisted for the American Literary Translators Association's 2016 National Translation Award[5] and longlisted for the 2014 Best Translated Book Award, organized by Open Letter;[6] Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal by Ibn al-Jawzi, edited and translated by Michael Cooperson,[7] which won the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding in 2016; The Epistle of Forgiveness by Al-Ma'arri, edited and translated by Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler, which won the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding in 2015;[8] and Impostures by al-Hariri, edited and translated by Michael Cooperson, which won the 2020 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the Translation Category, shortlisted for the 2021 National Translation Award, was a Finalist for the 2021 PROSE Award in the Literature category, and was on The Wall Street Journal's list of Top 10 Books of the Year.

## Publications

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As of 2024, the Library of Arabic Literature has published more than fifty bilingual hardcover edition-translations and more than forty English-only paperbacks.[9] Arabic-only PDFs are also available for download from the website for free.[2] All books are published in all three formats unless otherwise noted. Forewords only appear in the paperback versions.

### 2012

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* Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology, translated by Geert Jan van Gelder (English only)

### 2013

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* The Epistle on Legal Theory by Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, edited and translated by Joseph E. Lowry; foreword by Kecia Ali

* The Epistle of Forgiveness, Volume One: A Vision of Heaven and Hell by Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī, edited and translated by Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler; foreword by Matthew Reynolds

* Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal, Volume One by Ibn al-Jawzī, edited and translated by Michael Cooperson; also abridged with volume two as The Life of ibn Ḥanbal, with a foreword by Garth Fowden

* Leg over Leg, Volume One by Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies

* Leg over Leg, Volume Two by Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies

### 2014

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* The Epistle of Forgiveness, Volume Two: Hypocrites, Heretics, and Other Sinners by Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī, edited and translated by Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler; foreword by Matthew Reynolds

* The Principles of Sufism by ʿĀʾishah al-Bāʿūniyyah, edited and translated by Th. Emil Homerin; foreword by Ros Ballaster

* A Treasury of Virtues: Sayings, Sermons, and Teachings of 'Ali, with the One Hundred Proverbs attributed to al-Jahiz by al-Qāḍī al-Quḍāʿī, edited and translated by Tahera Qutbuddin; foreword by Rowan Williams

* The Expeditions: An Early Biography of Muḥammad by Maʿmar ibn Rāshid, edited and translated by Sean W. Anthony; foreword by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem

* Leg over Leg, Volume Three by Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies

* Leg over Leg, Volume Four by Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies

* Two Arabic Travel Books (published together in hardcover and separately in paperback)
* Accounts of China and India by Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī, edited and translated by Tim Mackintosh-Smith; foreword by Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
* Mission to the Volga by Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān, edited and translated by James E. Montgomery; foreword by Tim Severin

### 2015

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* Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal, Volume Two by Ibn al-Jawzī, edited and translated by Michael Cooperson

* Disagreements of the Jurists: A Manual of Islamic Legal Theory by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, edited and translated by Devin Stewart; foreword by John J. Coughlin and John Sexton

* Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad by Ibn al-Sāʿī, edited by Shawkat M. Toorawa and translated by The Editors of the Library of Arabic Literature; introduction by Julia Bray and foreword by Marina Warner

* What ʿĪsā ibn Hishām Told Us: or, A Period of Time, Volume One by Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥī, edited and translated by Roger Allen; foreword by Maria Golia

* What ʿĪsā ibn Hishām Told Us: or, A Period of Time, Volume Two by Muḥammad al-Muwayliḥī, edited and translated by Roger Allen; foreword by Maria Golia

* The Life and Times of Abū Tammām by Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī, edited and translated by Beatrice Gruendler; foreword by Terence Cave

### 2016

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* The Sword of Ambition: Bureaucratic Rivalry in Medieval Egypt by ʿUthmān ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nābulusī, edited and translated by Luke Yarbrough; foreword by Sherman 'Abd al-Hakim Jackson

* Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded, Volume One by Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies; foreword by Youssef Rakha

* Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded, Volume Two by Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies

* A Hundred and One Nights, edited and translated by Bruce Fudge; foreword by Robert Irwin

* Risible Rhymes by Muḥammad ibn Maḥfūẓ al-Sanhūrī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies (in paperback, collected with Brains Confounded, Volume Two)

* Light in the Heavens: Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad by al-Qāḍī al-Quḍāʿī, edited and translated by Tahera Qutbuddin

### 2017

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* The Excellence of the Arabs by Ibn Qutaybah, translated by Sarah Bowen Savant and Peter Webb and edited by James E. Montgomery and Peter Webb

* Scents and Flavors: A Syrian Cookbook, edited and translated by Charles Perry

* Arabian Satire: Poetry from 18th-Century Najd by Ḥmēdān al-Shwēʿir, edited and translated by Marcel Kurpershoek

### 2018

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* In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People, Volume One by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies; introduction by R.S. O'Fahey

* In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People, Volume Two by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies

* Diwan ʿAntarah ibn Shaddad: A Literary-Historical Study by James E. Montgomery (Arabic text with English scholarly apparatus)

* Arabian Romantic: Poems on Bedouin Life and Love by ʿAbdallāh ibn Sbayyil, edited and translated by Marcel Kurpershoek

* War Songs by ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād, edited and translated by James E. Montgomery with Richard Sieburth; foreword by Peter Cole

## Editorial Board Members

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* Philip F. Kennedy (New York University) - General Editor
* James E. Montgomery (University of Cambridge) - Executive Editor
* Shawkat M. Toorawa (Yale University) - Executive Editor
* Sean W. Anthony (Ohio State University) - Editor
* Huda J. Fakhreddine (University of Pennsylvania) - Editor
* Lara Harb (Princeton University) - Editor
* Maya Kesrouany (New York University Abu Dhabi) - Editor
* Enass Khansa (American University of Beirut) - Editor
* Bilal Orfali (American University of Beirut) - Editor
* Maurice A. Pomerantz (New York University Abu Dhabi) - Editor
* Mohammed Rustom (Carleton University) - Editor
* Julia Bray (University of Oxford) - Consulting Editor
* Michael Cooperson (University of California, Los Angeles) - Consulting Editor
* Joseph E. Lowry (University of Pennsylvania) - Consulting Editor
* Tahera Qutbuddin (University of Oxford) - Consulting Editor
* Devin J. Stewart (Emory University) - Consulting Editor[10]

## See also

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* Loeb Classical Library \- a similar bilingual series for Greek and Latin classics
* Clay Sanskrit Library \- a Sanskrit bilingual series

## References

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1. ^ "About the Library of Arabic Literature". Library of Arabic Literature. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
2. ^ a b c d Kennedy, Philip F. "About the Library of Arabic Literature". Library of Arabic Literature. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
3. ^ a b c Rym Ghazal (December 22, 2012). "Arabic literary treasures given new life". TheNational. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
4. ^ Staff writer (December 14, 2012). "NYUAD's Library of Arabic Literature Releases First Publication". WAM. Emirates News Agency. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
5. ^ "Announcing the 2016 NTA Shortlists in Poetry and Prose!". ALTA Blog. 2016-09-29. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
6. ^ "BTBA 2014 Fiction Longlist: It's Here! « Three Percent". www.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
7. ^ "Professor Cooperson wins the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation - Near Eastern Languages & Cultures - UCLA". Near Eastern Languages & Cultures - UCLA. 2016-12-14. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
8. ^ "Hamad Translation Award". Hamad Translation Award. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
9. ^ "Our Books". Library of Arabic Literature. 2012-04-04. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
10. ^ "People". Library of Arabic Literature. 2011-12-09. Retrieved 2018-07-26.

## External links

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* Official Blog
* LAL at NYU Press