Arab roots in European literature

Comparative Literature: Shakespeare's Othello and Antara Ibn Shaddad from the Arabian Desert to the London Theatre

Abstract

The Arab heritage during the golden age of Islam in the East and the West was at a level of maturity and prosperity, so that it occupied the forefront of the whole world in thought, civilization, science and culture. In Baghdad, there was the “House of Books” established by the Caliph Al-Nasir for the Abbasid religion in the year 589 AH ([1]) And in Cairo was the “Dar Al-Hikma” established by “Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah” in the year 895 AH ([2]), and the library of Sultan Al-Mu’ayyad Al-Rasuli in “Al-Mu’ayyidah” in Taiz, in the country of Yemen ([3]). All the cities of Islam in the Arab world included such libraries. Hence, this thriving heritage must have an effective impact on the surrounding countries and those connected to it, including Europe, through several methods. Including: (translation), where a large-scale translation movement began to transfer the Arab heritage in various Greek and Latin languages ([4]), including direct friction - through the first Islamic conquests - between the Arabs and the Romans ([5]), then the Crusades in which Europe entered in Direct contact with the Arabs and the Arab culture, the island of "Sicily", which was conquered by the Muslims in 122 AH ([6]), as well as the "country of Andalusia", which the Arabs also entered and established in it scientific cities, including "Cordoba and Toledo", they had a major role in the process of communication and communication between Arab and European cultures ([7]). The trips that the Europeans took to the capitals of the Arab countries also had a clear role in this influence. Dr. Tawfiq Al-Taweel says: ((Intellectual life flourished in Andalusia in the twelfth century until it was in its golden age. It was the kiss of European scholars who would make a pilgrimage to it to receive knowledge on the hands of its scholars..Christian Europe knew all this Arab-Islamic heritage and benefited from it at a time when it was concerned with vigilance and seeking reasons for advancement)). ([8])

Many of our critics have talked about the impact of Arab literature on the formation of European literature, including Al-Akkad in his book “The Impact of the Arabs on European Civilization”, and Abd al-Rahman Badawi in his book “The Role of the Arabs in the Formation of European Thought” and Suhair Al-Qalamawi and Mahmoud Ali Makki in “The Impact of Arabs and Islam In the European Renaissance” ([9]) as Akkad believes that there is not a single genius among European writers whose poetry or prose has been devoid of an Islamic hero or an Islamic anecdote from Shakespeare, Addison, Byron, Cloridge, Shelley and other English writers, Getty, Herder, Lessing and other German writers, Voltaire, Montesquieu and Hugo and La Fontaine of the French ([10]), and it is not hidden what the orientalists acknowledged and affirmed of this influence. And from that what was mentioned by the orientalist Makiel, who said: ((Europe owes the Arab countries with their enthusiastic metaphorical tendencies, just as they owe their faith to the countries of Judaism, and we Europeans owe the Arabs and Syria and most of the vital driving forces or all those forces that made the Middle Ages different in spirit and imagination to the world which was governed by Rome and with reservations answered this phrase, it does not negate the impact that Arabic literature left on the poetry and prose of Europeans from the thirteenth century to the modern centuries))([11]).

It is not hidden that Dante (1321 AD) was influenced in The Divine Comedy by Islamic sources, foremost of which is the message of the Mi’raj and the message of forgiveness for Al-Ma’arri and the books of Mohiuddin Ibn Arabi, as confirmed by the Spanish orientalist “Asin Blasius” (1944 AD) ([12]), “It is clear the extent of the influence of the “Thousand Nights” And a night" in European literature. After these tales were translated into European languages and several editions were printed, the famous Italian writer "Boccaccio" quoted many of them in his book "The Ten Days". The book spread in Western European countries, and the English writer "Shakespeare" quoted from him the subject of his play Chaucer followed Boccaccio's approach, writing "Cantopuri Stories" in the same vein. ([13]) Which prompted the orientalist Jeb to say that: "Had it not been for the book of One Thousand and One Nights, the likes of Robinson would not have appeared." Crusoe" and "Gulliver's Travels", and without him, English literature would have been poorer and more miserable" ([14]).

Perhaps this journey of ours with Shakespeare comes from this influential curve of Arab literature in European literature, which we will follow in the framework of what we have shown of the reflection of Arab chivalry and love stories on the fictional and theatrical art of European literature in its first stages of renaissance, which is evident in our study of this play of Othello (Othello) by Shakespeare and its influence on chivalry stories And Arabic love, especially in the story of Antar bin Shaddad, according to our discussions and analyzes, which are listed in the aspects and parts of this study. They are represented in the following topics:

The first topic: a review of the two stories.

The story of Antara in Arabic novels.

The story of Othello in Shakespeare's play.

The second topic: the places of convergence in the two stories.

The third topic: building characters and events

The fourth topic: the physical and historical evidence that Shakespeare took the character of his hero "Othello" from the Arab character "Antara".