(or logic) is little valued; it is read when judged
advisable, after Al-Nahw, from which it flows, and
before Ma’ani Bayan (rhetoric) to which it leads.
In Egypt, students are generally directed to fortify
their memories, and give themselves a logical turn
of mind, by application to Al-Jabr (algebra).
The only logical works known are the Isaghuji (the
[Greek text] of Porphyry), Al-Shamsiyah, the book
Al-Sullam, with its Sharh Al-Akhzari, and, lastly,
Kazi Mir. Equally neglected are the Tawarikh
(history) and the Hikmat (or philosophy), once so
ardently cultivated by Moslem savans; indeed, it is
now all but impossible to get books upon these subjects.
For upwards of six weeks, I ransacked the stalls and
the bazar, in order to find some one of the multitudinous
annals of Al-Hijaz, without seeing for sale anything
but the fourth volume of a large biographical work
called al-Akd al-Samin fi Tarikh al-Balad al-Amin.
The ’Ilm al-’Aruz, or Prosody, is not among
the Arabs, as with us, a chapter hung on to the tail
of grammar. It is a long and difficult study,
prosecuted only by those who wish to distinguish themselves
in “Arabiyat,"-the poetry and the eloquence
of the ancient and modern Arabs. The poems generally
studied, with the aid of commentaries, which impress
every verse upon the memory, are the Burdah and the
Hamziyah, well-known odes by Mohammed of Abusir.
They abound in obsolete words, and are useful at funerals,
as on other solemn occasions. The Banat Su’adi,
by Ka’ab al-Ahbar (or Akhbar), a companion of
the Apostle, and the Diwan ’Umar ibn Fariz,
a celebrated mystic, are also learned compositions.
Few attempt the bulky volume of Al-Mutanabbi-though
many place it open upon the sofa,-fewer still the
tenebrous compositions of Al-Hariri; nor do the modern
Egyptians admire those fragments of ancient Arab poets,
which seem so sweetly simple to the European ear.
The change of faith has altered the national taste
to such an extent, that the decent bard must now sing
of woman in the masculine gender. For which reason,
a host of modern poetasters can attract the public
ear, which is deaf to the voices of the “Golden
Song.” In the exact sciences, the Egyptian
Moslems, a backward race according to European estimation,
are far superior to the Persians and the Moslems of
India. Some of them become tolerable arithmeticians,
though very inferior to the Coptic Christians; they
have good and simple treatises on algebra, and still
display some of their ancestors’ facility in
the acquisition of geometry. The ’Ilm al-Mikat,
or “Calendar-calculating,” was at one
time publicly taught in the Azhar; the printing-press
has doomed that study to death. The natural sciences
find but scant favour on the banks of the Nile.
Astronomy is still astrology, geography a heap of names,
and natural history a mass of fables. Alchemy,
geomancy, and summoning of fiends, are pet pursuits;
but the former has so bad a name, that even amongst
friends it is always alluded to as ’Ilm al-Kaf,-the