s of the Koran, well known to those able to read it in the
original, and in this respect the last twenty-five chapters of that
book are, perhaps, the most remarkable.

Although the power of the Arabs has long ago succumbed, their
literature has survived, and their language is still more or less
spoken in all Muhammadan countries. Europe at one time was lightened
by the torch of Arabian learning, and the Middle Ages were stamped
with the genius and character of Arab civilization. The great masters
of philosophy, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics, viz., Al-Kindi,
Al-Farabi, Ibn-Sina, Ibn-Rashid, Ibn Bajah, Razi, Al Battani, Abul
Ma'shar, Al-Farghani, Al-Jaber, have been studied both in the Spanish
universities and in those of the rest of Europe, where their names are
still familiar under the corrupted forms of Alchendius, Alfarabius,
Avicenna, Averroes, Avempace, Rhazes, Albategnius, Albumasar,
Alfraganius, and Geber.

Arabic literature commenced about half a century before Muhammad with
a legion of poets. The seven poems suspended in the temple of Mecca,
and of which more anon, were considered as the chief productions of
that time. The Mussulman era begins with the Hijrah, or emigration of
Muhammad from Mecca to Madinah, which is supposed to have taken place
on the 20th of June, A.D. 622; and the rise, growth, and decay of Arab
power, learning, and literature may be divided into three periods as
follows:

1. The time before Muhammad.

2. From Muhammad and his immediate successors, viz., Abu Bakr,
Omar, Othman, and Ali, through the Omaiyide and Abbaside dynasties, to
the end of the Khalifate of Baghdad, A.D. 1258.

3. From the fall of Baghdad to the present time.

First Period.

Although the proper history of Arabian literature begins from the time
of Muhammad, it is necessary to cast a glance upon the age that
preceded him, in order to obtain a glimpse of pre-Islamitic wisdom.
The sage Lokman, whose name the thirty-first chapter of the Koran
bears, is considered, according to that book, to have been the first
man of his nation who practised and taught wisdom in all his deeds and
words. He was believed to have been a contemporary of David and
Solomon; his sayings and his fables still exist, but there is not much
really known about him, as the following extracts will show:

'Lokman, a philosopher mentioned in the Koran, is said to have been
born about the time of David. One tradition represents h