Translation Movement and its Impact on the Poetry of Abbasid Period

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1 Journal of Language Sciences & Linguistics. Vol., 4 (3), , 2016 Available online at ISSN Translation Movement and its Impact on the Poetry of Abbasid Period Raziyeh Sheikhnazari Katooli * Islamic Azad University of Iran, Aliabaad Katool Branch, Iran * Corresponding Author Sheikhnazari2016@gmail.com ABSTRACT: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of translation movement on the poetry of Abbasid period. In this study, it has been attempted to investigate the impact of translation on the poetry of Abbasid period using descriptive-library method and Islamic historical resources that this period is considered as the golden period of Islamic literature. The results of this study are as follows: The poetry and literature of Abbasid era under the influence of philosophy, theology and mysticism and using the works translated from Greek, Persian, Hindi, and Syriac has changed into a wide space to ponder. New purposes were created. Art became prevalent including aspects such as Poison, Dheri, Brotherhoods, and Satire. The poets took some of the definitions from other poetic definitions that were pointing to their own nature such as gardens, sweets, proud to wealth, etc. Keywords: Translation Movement, Impact, Poetry, Abbasid Period. INTRODUCTION Accordingly, we aimed to investigate the impact of translation movement on Abbasid period poetry that has not been specifically investigated. Therefore, in this study, this topic will be studied. According to the conducted surveys, this questions comes to mind that what are the impacts of translation movement on the poetry and sciences in Abbasid period? In order to answer this question, a series of investigation were done in the context of description and content of the related sources and the similarities between Persian and Arabic cultures were demonstrated. This study introduced translation as the most important communication tool between various civilizations that leads to progress and exchange of views. Also, it was started that the Islamic culture in Abbasid era provided the society with a bunch of services and was effective in scientific advances. The attempts by Muslim and Iranian poets were pointed out who exchanged techniques and civilizations through acquiring knowledge. Regarding the impact of translation movement on Abbasid poetry, numerous studies have conducted in both Persian and Arabic languages. The most famous works in this context are The History of Literature in Iran by Safa; The History of Arabic Language by Al Fakhori and; Shiite Poetry and Poets in the First period of Abbasid era by Krmani. In all of these books, the impacts of translation on poetry and sciences related to it in Abbasid period were investigated and the role of caliphs and poets in the progress of Islamic Literature was explained. The research model is retrospective and descriptive. Data were collected using library method. Regarding time and space dimensions, this study investigates the impact of translation on the poetry of Abbasid period and Abbasid territory, respectively. In this study, the impact of translation movement on the poetry of Abbasid period will be investigated and states that what effected are derived by poetry from different cultures, particularly Persian, and how much progress has poetry experienced in this period. 199

2 Translation Movement The collapse of Umayyad dynasty and the rise of Abbasid dynasty followed a new period of historical, cultural and scientific advances in all countries affiliated to the Islamic Caliphate. This period is known as the golden period of Islam (Zeidan, 1982). The transfer of caliphate center from Damascus to Baghdad and its proximity to the scientific center of Jundishapur and the presence of Persian competent ministers and advisors in Islamic Caliphate court and Abbasid caliphs interest in science and culture led to the success and advancement of scientific and cultural movement of the Islamic world. The founder of Abbasid dynasty, Abul Abbas AsSaffah, due to various reasons could not take attention to science that included poetic sciences. But his brother, Mansour, despite all problems, contributed in knowledge developments (Khandmir, 1954). The scientific movement that Mansour started, was followed in Mahdi s era with all its ups and downs (Maruf, 1999). Mehdi s period passed to binge. He never could gain an opportunity to finish the plan that his father started. With his death, Musa Al Hoda came to power but his only one-year government was involved in tensions. Therefore, he could not help the movement course. The long period of Harun al-rashid created an opportunity for cultural activities. After Harun, Ma mun became the caliph. He opened a new opportunity in Abbasid history and led to the prosperity and development of science. With his death, the development rate of the movement decreased. Motasam became the caliph. His imprudence significantly damged the glory of Darolelm (house of wisdom) in Baghdad (Alsioti, 1982). After this period, the glory of the movement gradually vanished, many of the poets and scientists migrated to other places and the Drolelm was destroyed. The decline of scientific aspects of Baghdad caused the glory of Egypt s centers and Fatimid court (Zarrinkoob, 1997). The short reign of Vasegh could not solve the scientific problems of Baghdad. However, at the time of Motevakkel, everything was changed. Although the effects of scientific decline at the time of Motevakkel is clearly identifiable, his era can be considered as the era of the best translations. The policy of preventing debate events on the one hand, and punishing those who were active in this context on the other hand, bothered top poets and translators and led to their migration from the Caliphate (Maruf, 1999). This, accompanied by other political elements, damaged the cultural bases of the Islamic society and the golden era of the Islamic scientific movement was faded. Translation Movement Periods Scholars have classified the evolution course of the scientific movement of Abbasid period into three periods. In this regard, only the periods of Harun and Ma mun, due to their specific features, were called the golden era (Maruf, 1999). The first period Started from Mansur and led to Harun. According to the specific conditions of this period, it can be stated that the first steps of translations movements were taken in this period. One of the features of this period is the presence of poets and scholars in the Islamic Caliphate court that significantly affected poetry and poet (IbnGhatibe, 1994). The second period This long period started by Ma mun and led to Mghtader. Some scholars have considered this whole era as the golden era. According to historical evidences, at the last years of Ma mun s caliphate and by the emergence of incompetent caliphates such as Mo tasam, the signs of weakness of Abbasids and translation movement were appeared. The third period This period is the era of Muslims scientific decline. Neglecting poets and poetry and other sciences on the one hand, and the weakness of Islamic Caliphate court and political elites competition on the other hand provided the requirements for this decline. Maybe, the most important feature of this era is the translation of intellectual, cultural and literary, poetic and epic collections of other Islamic lands. For example, Aristotle s poetry book that was translated into Syriac was converted into Arabic by Abu Bashar (Shamsabadi, 1991). 200

3 Poetry and Literature of Abbasid Period In Abbasid period, the powerful Islamic culture on the one hand, and the cultures of new Muslim nations on the other hand, created a capacity in poetry and literature that changed this period into golden Islamic period. In other words, the experiences of Arabic literature were stolen from Arabs and were used by Muslims and not Arabs. Each poet with his or her national poetic backgrounds and imaginations that were shaped by Islamic cultures, started to prose and expanded the Arabic language that had potential capacity. Therefore, the poetry and literature of Abbasid era, under the influence of philosophy, theology and mysticism and using the works translated from Greek, Persian, Hindi, and Syriac changed into a wide space to ponder. The Abbasid literature is knows as productive or narrator literature; because, most of the poets and scholars of this period were mongrel. It means that one of their parents was Arab and the other one had different nationality. Therefore, the Arab literature in Abbasid era faced techniques and goals that did not exist in the past such as vinous, increased urban description, leaving Arabic nervousness, etc. In sum, the Abbasid period was the era of translations and the entrance of sciences from other nations to the Islamic culture. In the last years of Abbasid era, the Islamic region became weak due to the attacks by Mongol Ottoman Turks invasions and led to cultural and political decline. Turks aimed to replace Arabic by Turkish and therefore, did not give attention to Arabic language.as a result, interests were killed and the glory of art, literature and creativity extinguished. Therefore, in these periods in the contexts of literature, art and creativity, we rarely face competent and notable figures (Yahaghi, 2007). Abbasid poetry and literature periods are divided into three periods: 1. Revolution and modernity (the beginning of Abbasid era until the third century AH): in this period we find poets that have attempted to introduce modern issues: Dar HajavaHazal (Bashar), Dar Shirab (Abu Navas), Dar Zohd (AbolAtahieh). 2. Returning period (from the third until the seventh century AH): returning to the past and Arabic traditions but this mode has been influenced by modernization movement. Among the great poets of this period we can point to Abutamam and Bahtari. 3. The establishment and gradual movement towards artificiality (until the end of Abbasid era): among the poets of this era, we can mention Al-Mutanabbi, Moeri, IbnFarez, Razi (Alfakhori, 1979). Effective Cultures on Abbasid Poetry and Literature The cultural environment was the most important element of Abbasid movement, because caliphates were supporting scientific movements in various aspects by doing their best. They respected all poets and scholars and always made them happy and in some regions, there was competition to gain scholars. The prevalent cultures at that time are classified into three categories: Pure Islamic culture, Greek culture, and Greek culture of east science and literature that started from the time of the Alexande the Great (Alfakhori, 1979). The Impacts of Translation Movement on Poetry Sciences in Abbasid Period Following the translation movement, some of the poetic goals were weakened and new goals emerged. Discipline and coordination in political poetry decreased. Sonnets and humors were increased and a new form of sonnet was created. Khmer poems took different forms independently: heretic, permissibility, liquidation mood, and Persian-Arabic stories. Speech became an earning instrument and praise and whimper were formed according to forms of truth and lie. Most of the poets and scholars tended towards asceticism and real life were we can point to Khalil Ibn Ahmad. He has many verses on asceticism (Taha, 1982). Meanings and dreams After the entrance of foreign culture such as Persian in Arabic literature, the poets were influenced and new meanings were created and some took meaning from other poetic meanings based on their nature such as gardens, sweets, proud of wealth, ornaments. Meanings and dreams significantly progressed that can be seen in poets words. The famous Arabic poets, Aletabi, is surprised by thoughts and sentences in Persian books due to the depth of meaning. Poets influenced by various sciences and knowledge, have used analogy and logic in their poems and their interest in meanings and thoughts is significant (Taha, 1982). Ways and Methods Those poets in Abbasid period that tended towards literal and spiritual renewal, are abound. They have used new methods and instead of poetic beauties, have posed odes in describing mansions and wine events or 201

4 have concentrated on sonnet. If we divide the Abbasid period into three parts, in the first part, poets are interested in easy words and away from strangeness. In the second part, street poetry was boomed where similes, metaphors, allusions, poetic themes, and verses are used. Also, various new poems that are consistent with low-income life emerge. In the third part, the language of poetry becomes softer. The Damascus poets are influenced by Egyptian and Fatimid languages. Vulgar accents dominate over the poetry and enter the Bedouin language (IbnGhatibe, 1994). In these courses, poets have not paid to verbal beauties properly, but in their poems, we can see pun. The spiritual features of poetry has highly affected the Abbasid society and encourages kings and caliphates to create beautiful works. Storytelling was developed in Persian language and somehow found a Persian origin (Alhofi, 1959). Positive and Negative Results and Consequences of Translation Movement on Abbasid Poetry The fifteen years of scientific movement of Muslims introduced positive and negative results. Here, the most important results are pointed out: 1. From the beginning of second century AH, the Arabic poetry was accompanied by accurate meanings in the scientific and philosophical contexts and took subtle lyrical themes and proof, reason, analogy and metaphor entered the speech. 2. Racial and national figures who were mostly Persian, influenced Arabic poetry. The Persian poets, also, considered their history and kings as well as the incredible glory of their country in their poems (Haghighat, 1968). 3. According to the attempts by the poets, the Abbasid civilization was boomed and then, the scientific aspects of Abbasids caused a significant effect. 4. With the interaction of Persian and Arabic languages, Persian poets and scholars could have complete domination over both languages and considered various aspects. 5. This fact that Persians contributed in the enrichment of Arabic language as an Islamic language, makes Persian language asymmetrical to the emergence Islamic culture. However, the Arabic language affected the Persian language as well (Jan Ahmadi, 2007). 6. In this movement, intelligences emerged in various aspects of poetry and introduced great achievements (Ghazzali, 2003). 7. Lords became close to Abbasids and this improved their status, especially those from Khowrasan and Merv who helped Abbasids in establishing governing principles. 8. Among the important problems of Muslim translators it can be pointed to finding philosophical and scientific synonymous words to clarify the meanings (Shelbi, 1982). 9. Another problem was that the monopoly of translation was dominated by famous people (Lobon, 1968). CONCLUSION In this study, various factors that were important in the impact of translation movement on the poetry of Abbasid period were discussed. These factors included facing different civilizations by Muslims and active participation of elites and the need of society to various sciences as well as Islamic conquests. Also, it became clear that caliphs were interested in poets and scientists and their status led to the glory of the courts and this can be clearly observed in the roles of Persian ministers, especially Barmakids. This case that the great scholars and poets of Abbasid era were familiar with Persian culture became clear that was due to using Persian fashion in poetry or using Persian words. Among the most notable and famous poets of this period, it can be pointed to Abu Navas, Abolatahie, Bashar IbnBord, and Yasar who created great changes and developments in Persian and Arabic poetry. The translated works led to the acquaintance of cultures through which they used mutual sciences. In this article, we identified the attempts of translation movement poets and scholars in Abbasid period and found that Persians were effective in this process, so that they were responsible for the important part. It is suggested that other scholars investigate the effect of translation from various cultures on Persian culture to clarify this issue that how much cultural and literal interactions can affect the scientific and literal progress of countries. Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest 202

5 REFERENCES Alfakhori, H. (1979). The history of philosophy in Islam. Tehran: Franklin Publications. Alhofi, A. (1959). Tarikh Al Adab, 2 nd edition, Beirut. Alsioti, J. (1982). The history of caliphs. Beirut. Ghazzali, A. (2003). Tahaftalfalasefe, Beirut, Darolkotabalelmieh. Haghighat, A. (1968). The history of thought movements in Iran, 1 st edition, Farhang. IbnGhatibe, A. (1994). Alshoara and Alsher, 2 nd edition, Beirut, Darolsaghafer. Jan Ahmadi, F. (2007). The history of Islamic culture and civilization, 1wst edtion, Ghom. Khandmir, G. H. (1954). Habbibalseirfeakhbarbashar, Tehran, Khayyam Publications. Lobon, G. (1968). The history of Islamic civilization. Translated by Daei: Tehran. Maruf, Y. (1999). Aloroz al ArabiAlbasit. 1 st edition. Tehran. Razi University. Shamsabadi, H. (1991). Theory of Translation and Applied Translation. Sokhan Publications: Tehran. Shelbi, A. (1982). The history of education in Islam in Egypt. Translated by Saket. Tehran. Islamic Culture Publications. Taha, H. (1982). Men TarikhAladab al Arabi, 4 th edition. Beirut. Darolelmalmolaein. Yahaghi, F. (2007). The history of Iran and world literature, 7 th edition: Tehran. Zarrinkoob, A. (1994). Iran s history after Islam, Amirkabir: Tehran. Zeidan, G. (1982). The Islamic History. 2 nd edition, Beirut. 203

Abu Bakr: Caliph: Caliphate: Sunni: Shiite: Sufis: Dhimmis: Umayyads: Abbasids: Terms, People, and Places

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