Laṭā’if, Paraenetica and Prophets: restudying Junta Manuscript Kitāb laṭā’if al-Anbiy’ wa-fhi Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā’

Abstract

While examining the genre of “The Stories of the Prophets” (Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā’) as background to my dissertation about Abraham in Islamic literature, I received from Prof. J. Sadan a manuscript that he found in the British Library that is related to this genre. Later I found similar versions of the same composition, which led me to try to find how this compilation emerged. The composition is very close to the preaching literature (wa‘ẓ), which deals mainly with moral education, but it also includes stories. I wondered if this is a literary genre, standing by itself, which started out as an aid, auxiliary material for understanding the oral tradition and religious studies, and then became an independent genre, closer to edifying literature, known as Paraenetica, or to the genre of Specula Regis (Mirrors of kings). I describe the manuscript in order to try to reach a conclusion: is this a different literary genre? Is it an educational genre or only a simplified version of stories for a child or a non-Arab ruler whose education was in Arabic language? Or did the writer perhaps want an original name for his compilation, and as the name Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā’ was already in use he chose a different name, using a word which also intimates the collection’s small size?