SOURCE: An introduction to Nine Essays of Al-Jahiz, translated by William M. Hutchins, Peter Lang, 1989, pp. 1-12.

In the following essay, Hutchins elaborates on al-Jahiz's role in Arabic literature.

Abu 'Uthman 'Amr ibn Bahr al-Jahiz lived more than a thousand years ago at the center of the Islamic empire during a peak time of Arab power. His literary works were financed by imperial officials. He is recognized as one of the early masters of Arabic prose literature. He has been an important influence on the development of twentieth century Arabic literature. A humorist, he was also a theologian associated with the Mu'tazili movement.

Al-Jahiz died in the last month of 868 AD or the first of 869 at an age of more than ninety years in his birthplace, Basra. He was a contemporary of the Saxon prince Egbert of Wessex and of the 'Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid of Baghdad, although...