FROM THE HISTORY OF ARABIC LITERATURE IN THE OTTOMAN PERIOD. SA’ID AL-MINDASI (1583–1766)

• Main Author: Marek M. Dziekan
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń 2014-09-01
• Series: Litteraria Copernicana
• Subjects: algieria; maghreb; osmanowie; sa’id al-mindasi; poezja; malhun
• Online Access: https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/LC/article/view/4385

<p>The Arabic literature from the period of the Ottoman Empire’s rule over the Middle East and Maghreb is not well known and poorly investigated, which in consequence leads to a popular suggestiong about cetain cultural gap in the development of the Arabic-Muslin civilization between XVI and XIX century. This paper is an attempt to fill this painful gap. It is devoted to the writings of Sa’id al-Mindasi, one of the greatest Arabic poets of Algeria at the turn of the XVII century. The first and the second parts of the paper give a general description of Algeria and its literature under the Ottoman rule. Part three is devoted to Al-Mindasi himself and his writings in the Arabic literary language and a specific form of the written language from that period, which is positioned between the literary and the dialectical language. This kind of works is known by the name of <em>malhun</em>. In the context of <em>malhun</em>, special emphasis has been put on a vast Al-Mindasi’s poem entitled <em>Al-Aqiqa</em>, which to this day is one of the most popular Maghrebian panegryics in honor of the Prophet Muhammad.</p>