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Al-jahiz Book Of Animals Pdf: How a Poor Fish Seller Became a Renowned Writer and Scientist



[3] Mohammad Iqbal, Dr., The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p.96. At another place in this book, Iqbal has again referred to al-Jahiz and wrote: It was Jahiz who was the first to note the changes in bird-life caused by migration. Ibid. p. 106.




Al-jahiz Book Of Animals Pdf




Abu Uthman ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Basri, or also known as Al-Jahiz, was a Muslim writer and thinker of Ethiopian descent. He was born in 776 in Basra, the second biggest city in Iraq. Even though his family was very poor, it did not stop Al-Jahiz of seeking knowledge and attending lectures on different topics like Arabic poetry, philology and lexicography. The gained knowledge and his desire for studying would later result in more than two hundred books, though unfortunately only thirty of them survived.


But the Book of Animals is not the only great work written by al-Jahiz. The Book of Misers, for example is also very popular. It is a social, literary and historical encyclopedia. He also wrote books on human psychology, language and grammar. They are all written in a language very accessible for the common person. He sometimes added funny anecdotes and amusing comments in his scientific works.


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Such contacts notwithstanding, Al Jahiz retained a level of independence in his work and was smart enough to ingratiate himself enough to take advantage of his many contacts, to further his intellectual training and to travel. Towards that end, he went to Damascus and Beirut, although critics were offended when he attempted to write a geography book after one or two trips to nearby cities. The geographers held the view that he ought to spend more time on the road and acquire a deeper knowledge before contributing to the field.


Towards the end of his life, suffering from hemiplegia (total paralysis of one side of the body), he retired to Basra, where he died in December 868. The exact cause of death was never clear, though a popular assumption was an accident, in which the books piling up in his private library toppled and crushed him. When he died, Al Jahiz was 93, a relatively happy man.


the Greeks wrote predominantly scientific descriptions of animals. In contrast, the Indians and Persians paid attention to the spiritual and moral aspects of the animal world. The best-known Indian animal legends of this era were the Indian tales of Bidpai, which became the Arabic collection Kalilah wa Dimnah (Kalilah and Dimnah). The main point of these stories is that people can learn from animals as well as about them. For practical reasons, many of the earliest Muslim zoological manuscripts dealt with horses and camels. In the eighth and ninth centuries these studies created the methodology for dissecting, studying, and describing animals in a scientific manner.


Arabian Horses . The Arabs became particularly adept at breeding the animals on which they depended for survival in the rough terrain of the extensive trade routes on which they traveled from one part of the vast Muslim empire to another. What is now known today as the Arabian Horse came about as the result of extensive care in breeding. Known for their amazing energy, intelligence, and devotion to their owners, these horses were originally bred by Bedouin tribes as war mounts or for long treks. The legendary endurance of these horses is due in part to their large lungs. In the seventh century the Prophet Muhammad was instrumental in encouraging the breeding of Arabian horses because they were considered crucial to Muslim military efforts against large armies of the Persians and Byzantines. These horses took on a religious significance as well after the Prophet pointed out that they had been created by Allah and that people who treated these beautiful horses kindly would be rewarded in the afterlife. Over the centuries, through their selective breeding, Arabian horses have retained characteristics such as large, wide-set eyes (good for seeing to both sides during battle), small ears (which collect less sand) and large nostrils (for taking in more air and strengthening endurance). Arabian horses are popular all over the world and were ridden by major military figures such as Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and George Washington.


A thousand years before Darwin, Al-Jahiz came to the conclusion that there must be some mechanisms that influence the evolution of animals. He writes about three main mechanisms; the struggle for existence, the transformation of species into each other, and the environmental factors.[6] He is therefore credited with outlining the principles of natural selection.[7]


Ibn al-Nadim lists nearly 140 titles attributed to Al-Jahiz, of which 75 are extant. The best known are Kitāb al-Ḥayawān (The book of Animals), a seven-part compendium on an array of subjects with animals as their point of departure; Kitāb al-Bayān wa-l-tabyīn (The book of eloquence and exposition), a wide-ranging work on human communication; and Kitāb al-Bukhalāʾ (The book of misers), a collection of anecdotes on stinginess.[8] Tradition claims that he was smothered to death when a vast amount of books fell over him.[9]


Al-Jāḥiẓ returned to Basra with Hemiplegia after spending more than fifty years in Baghdad. He died in Basra in the Arabic month of Muharram in 869 AD. His exact cause of death is not clear, but a popular assumption is that Jahiz died in his private library after one of many large piles of books fell on him, killing him instantly. Others say he died of a sickness. He died at the age of 93.[citation needed] 2ff7e9595c


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