Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature, Part IInostrantzev, Konstantin Aleksandrovich
Religion
Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature, Part I
Inostrantzev, Konstantin Aleksandrovich
Arabic literature; Persian literature
As we have already observed, and as we shall have occasion to speak
further, this category of literary remains undoubtedly survived in the
Musalman literature and partly in the literature of the Arabs. For the
study of the Pahlavi literature this class of tracts has already evoked
attention and has called forth several editions and translations. We
notice that their interest goes beyond that of Pahlavi literature proper
and they are important also for the history of the literature of
Musalman nations. Moreover, they are of interest from a general point of
view, for the study of Musalman culture. In fact, by their very
character these works are brief catechisms with no pretensions to
abstract theoretical acquaintance with the sacerdotal tracts, composing
another important section of Pahlavi literature, but immediately
connected with the daily ordinary life. It goes without saying that
whoever read them in the original, their interest did not lie in their
theoretical character, but that they were rendered into Arabic and
modern Persian languages with a view to the same practical end. Hence
however monotonous they are,[1] whatever wearisome character these books
possess, they are of great interest for the purpose of comparison with
similar productions of Musalman literature and for the purpose of
establishing their influence in the unfolding of ethical ideas of the
Musalman east, which are far from being clearly made manifest. This side
of the question deserves, in my opinion, in these days ampler attention
and research.
[Footnote 1: See Noeldeke "_Persische Studien_" II, S.B.W.A, 1892, 29,
Noeldeke remarks, with reference to this class of literature, "that the
investigation of this fatiguing business demands an unusual amount of
patience", see for instance, the comparison instituted between ethical
norm in the Parsi and in the Musalman Literature by Darmesteter in
_Revue Critique_, 21, 1-8.]
2. The second book in the Fihrist is attributed to a _Mobedan-mobed_
that is, head of the Parsi clergy, who in Arabic texts is sometimes
called simply Al-Mobedan and whose name was not understood by Flugel[1].
The same word is met with in a mutilated form in another place in the
Fihrist[2]. (119-20).
[Footnote 1: Fugel took it for a dual, and consequently divided the name
into two.]
[Footnote 2: The book next following is called _Kitab kay Lorasp_ and
apparently it had to do with questions connected with Persian literary
tradition.]
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