Classical Arabic stories an anthology (Columbia University Press, 2010)
I. Pre-Islamic tales. 1. The sons of Nizar -- 2. The priestess of the Banu Sa'd -- 3. Faithfulness and sense of honor -- 4. Al-Nu'man's outfit -- 5. A lowly man gains a wife -- 6. A charitable gift -- 7. A cunning message -- 8. A noble wife -- 9. The exile of al-Harith ibn Midad -- 10. The story of the cave where Shaddad ibn 'Aad was: how the adventurers entered and what happened to them there -- 11. Luqman -- II. Tales of rulers and other notable persons. 12. 'Amara the Faqih and 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan -- 13. The justice of 'Adud al-Dawla -- 14. The piety of 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz -- 15. A further story of 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz -- 16. The chief of police and Caliph al-Hadi -- 17. At Khosrow's court -- 18. An Arab at Khosrow's court -- 19. I take refuge in your justice, prince of the faithful -- 20. Tricked she was -- 21. Um Asya the midwife and the palace of Khumarawayh -- 22. Yazid and Habbaba -- 23. A ruse of Mu'awiya -- 24. Caliph 'Umar and the soldier's wife -- 25. Al-Akhtal imprisoned in a church -- 26. A miserly governor -- 27. All lies -- 28. Two great musicians -- 29. An attendant of al-Hallaj fasts for fifteen days -- 30. A vizier removes a dessert stain with ink -- 31. How a Baghdadi chief of police questioned suspects -- 32. God alone be thanked -- 33. Al-Hajjaj orders the torture of Azadmard -- 34. Iyas as judge -- 35. The wisdom of Judge Iyas -- 36. Why a judge pardoned a fraudster -- --
III. Tales of danger and warfare. 37. Ma'n ibn Za'ida and the black man -- 38. Al-Mansour's pride -- 39. With the Byzantines -- 40. Muslims in the court of China -- 41. Greed and treason -- 42. Consequences of oppression -- 43. Avoiding a conflict -- 44. The Byzantine rulers and the Muslim prisoners -- 45. From The lion and the diver -- IV. Tales of religion. 46. The tale of Ka'b ibn Malek -- 47. The tale of Jurayj the worshipper: showing how attending to parents has priority over prayer -- 48. The tale of the crevice people, and of the magician, the monk, and the young man -- 49. The tale of the leper, the bald man, and the blind man -- 50. Virtue and divine reward -- 51. A vision of the next world -- V. Comic tales: Tales of Juha. 52. Juha as a vehicle for satire -- 53. The comic wit of Juha -- 54. Juha the fool -- 55. The logic of Juha -- 56. Juha the judge -- Other comic tales. 57. Abu 'l-Qasim's slippers -- 58. The party crashers -- 59. Me too? -- 60. A quick-witted prisoner -- 61. Al-Hajjaj and al-Muttalib -- 62. A cunning marriage broker -- 63. Forgery on a shaky boat -- 64. A tempting wager -- --
VI. Tales of the strange or supernatural. 65. The strangest story -- 66. I shall never eat elephant flesh -- 67. A dream come true -- 68. The body snatcher -- 69. The old tailor and his untimely call to prayer -- 70. Crime and punishment -- 71. An unlucky encounter -- 72. The man and the lark -- 73. Two surrealist stories from the desert -- 74. The story of Tamim al-Dari -- VII. Tales of love. 75. A love story -- 76. A strange vow -- 77. A merchant and his wife -- 78. A final meeting -- 79. A party crasher's reward -- 80. Parting and reunion -- VIII. Excerpts from seven major classical works. From Ibn Tufail, Hayy ibn Yaqzan -- From Al-Jahiz, Al-Bukhala' (Book of misers) -- 83. From Ibn al-Muqaffa', Kalila and Dimna -- 84. From Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa (Epistles of the brethren of purity) -- 85. From Al-Maqamat (The assemblies) -- 86. From Abu 'l-'Ala' al-Ma'arri, Risalat al-Ghufran -- 87. From The adventures of Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan: an Arab folk epic
Includes bibliographical references and indexes