Avarice and the Avaricious

Rating:
Summary: An amusing little book
Review: Al-Jahiz is generally considered the finest prose stylist in Arabic, and you certainly get a whiff of that from this fine translation. Many of the anecdotes about stingy people are still amusing today.

I would recommend this highly to anyone interested in Arabic or Islamic literature. The price of the new book is rather mind-boggling, but at the time of this review I see some very reasonably-priced used copies.

Rating:
Summary: An amusing little book
Review: Al-Jahiz is generally considered the finest prose stylist in Arabic, and you certainly get a whiff of that from this fine translation. Many of the anecdotes about stingy people are still amusing today.

I would recommend this highly to anyone interested in Arabic or Islamic literature. The price of the new book is rather mind-boggling, but at the time of this review I see some very reasonably-priced used copies.

Rating:
Summary: Unsung Heroes Of African Descent
Review: This is a very excellent example of classical arabic prose in medevial times. Just like the lands of America today, the Arab lands have always been diverse in ethnic varieties of people. Abu 'Uthman 'Amr ibn Bahr al-Jahiz was an African who happened to live in Arabia because of the Arab slave trade. This is the same as myself living in America as a result of the European Christian slave trade.

I was upset that only in footnote 120, is it mentioned that he was a Black African. Even then, it is mentioned as a probability. His greatest book, "Superiority of the Blacks over the Whites", exemplifies that racisim that existed in the early islamic empire of Iraq and others of the time, just as the racist overtones are still existent in Christian America.

This book is a must read for all races, but the "race" or etnicity of the person should be stated. If we fail to do this in what we call multi-ethnic societies, people will assume the person is of the dominant ethnic group. Many of my contemporaries thought I was lying when I said he was An African, living in Iraq. They presumed him to be an Arab.

These same persons are totally unfamiliar that Iraq boast the largest Black African slave revolt (in Basra) in the 9th century, that has ever occurred anywhere on any continent.