Literature (continued):

Part IV: Other Types of Literature

A. Sayings and Expressions were also written down.

• Arabic wise expressions were often quoted. These expressions tell us of everyday life and values. See if you can understand them. Are there any sayings that are like American sayings? [From As the Arabs Say... Arabic wise expressions for daily life]

  Love: "No matter where your heart may seek romance it will find out there's none like the first love."

  Something too good to be true? "Had it been good the birds would not have abandoned it" (A hero of a story threw back a piece of abandoned fruit on the road.)

  Don't spread yourself too thin: "Stretch your legs only to the length of your mat"

  Business is business: "Socialize like brothers, and conduct business like strangers"

• Some proverbs from Turkey also show wisdom.
  • God wants to make a poor man happy he first makes him lose his donkey and then allows him to find it again.
  • He who handles honey has the chance to lick his fingers.
  • When a bald man dies, everybody remembers "what golden hair he had"; when a blind man dies, they say "what beautiful eyes he had".
  • Two tightrope walkers cannot perform on the same tightrope.
  • A vinegar seller with a smiling face makes more money than a honey seller with a sour face.
  • The hunter is sometimes hunted.
  • Stretch your legs to the length of your blanket. (Know your limits)
  • Water priority to the youngsters, talking priority to the elders.
  • You reap whatever you sow.
  • A pen is sharper than a sword.
  • A tree is bent while yet it is young.
  • There is nothing more expensive than what is bought cheaply and there is nothing cheaper than what is bought expensively.

The Arab people value sayings or maxims. They studied the Hadith, or sayings of the Prophet. In the thirteenth century, sayings and maxims of others were written down and illustrated: Socrates, Sophocles, and others.

 

B. Travel Books - Rihla

Travel books, or "rihla" were a type of Arabic literature that flowered in North Africa between the 12th and 14th centuries. The best known examples of the genre (type of literature) told of journeys from north Africa to Mecca for the hajj, or pilgrimage. It entertained and informed the readers with rich descriptions of the public monuments, mosques, religious personalities, governments, customs, and curiosities of the cities of Islamic World.

Ibn Battuta's Travels were the most extensive. He went from Morocco across North Africa to Cairo, then up the Nile, back to Damascus, then on to Mecca, Turkey, Persia, down the east coast of Africa, up to the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, India, Maldive Islands, Bangladesh, even to China, and into West Africa and Spain, about 75,000 miles in 29 years! For a full description of Ibn Battuta's journeys, see Ibn Battuta - A Virtual Tour of the Fourteenth Century.

 

 

C. Puppet Theater

(See our other webpage on "Entertainment" for more information)

Hand and string puppet theaters were popular in Central Asia. The Seljuk Turks who came into Turkey (Anatolia) in the 12th - 13th centuries brought the traditional plays with them.

The puppet theater was a folk entertainment and had nothing to do with Islam!

Karagoz Puppets - An Oral Tradition

Traditional shadow theater has human and animal figures cut out of leather and colored. Their shadows are thrown onto a white curtain using a light source behind it.

Karagoz was first performed at the Ottoman palace during the reign of Bayezid I (1389-1402). The shadow play is known to have been widely performed for the public and in private houses.

Legend attributes (gives the credit for) the character of Karagoz to a real person who lived during the reign of the emperor who ruled from 1324-1360. A mosque was being built, and among the laborers were Karagoz and Hacivad. They kept distracting the others from their work with their joking around. As a result, construction (building) of the mosque took longer than expected. When the angry king heard about their jokes he had them both executed. However, the pair of comedians were so really missed by the townsfolk. So, a man made images of Karagoz and Hacivad from camel hide and began to give puppet shows. Karagoz came to represent the ordinary man in the street , smart but poorly educated. He is illiterate (can't read), usually unemployed, and often tries to earn money which never works. He is nosy, tactless, often deceitful (tricks people and lies), and swears a lot. He frequently beats Hacivad and the other characters.

The shadow play puppets are colored and semi-transparent, with jointed limbs. Light from a lamp behind the stage reflects their images onto a white cloth curtain. The light comes from an oil lamp with a wick of cotton or string soaked in beeswax.

The puppets are made from camel or water buffalo hide. It is scraped until it is almost transparent (clear so you can see through it). Then the hide is cut into the desired shape with a knife and painted with vegetable paints. The joints are made by threading gut strings through holes made with a needle. Some of the puppets have many joints, and are usually 35-40 centimeters (about 14 - 16 inches) high. Read more at Turkey Shadow Theater: Karagöz and Hacivad

Karagoz, the clever hero who often swears.	Tuzsuz Deli Bekir (Drunkard and Braggart)
A woman	A Circassian
Hacivat	"Images of Turkish shadow puppets" courtesy of MFA

D. Folk Theater in Turkey

Long before the coming of Islam into Turkey (Anatolia), there were rituals and performances related to nature and to the early gods. For example, there were ceremonies showing death and revival while praying to their Goddess Cybele and God Attis. With the coming of Islam, of course, these pageants were no longer performed. But folk theater still persisted. Dramas (mostly comedies) were even performed at the court of the Turkish leaders. The library of Muhmut II included a great variety of theatrical works.

Turkish miniature, Topkapi Museum

There are many varieties of traditional Turkish performing arts:

1. Village Plays were put on in accordance with rural traditions on special days and events like a military victory, the birth of a prince, weddings and holidays. Plays and dances were also presented to visiting dignitaries.
2. Meddah or Storytellers dramatically presented a story with gestures and voice suggesting many characters. This was an old form of entertainment.
3. Puppet plays were popular in the 16th century and fully developed in the 17th century.
4. Public Square Plays: They started with dances performed a comedian with a strange mask and comic clothing. A kind of one-act dramatic play where the narrator also imitates the various characters in the play.
5. Orta Oyuna (comedies) that were put on by the guilds (workers' unions). Some of the comedies resembled the puppet shows in style and theme, but were performed by real actors.

Go to Page One: Religious Literature: The Qur'an

Go to Page Two: Religious Literature, Sayings of the Prophet, Ali's Sermons and Shi'a Drama

Go to Page Three: Religious Literature: Stories of the Prophets and Sufi Poetry

Go to Page Four: Poetry

Go to Page Five: Stories and Tales

You are here at Page Six: Other Types of Literature

 

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