The Book of Animals- كتاب الحيوان– which is also one of al-Jahiz’s last works – is the first comprehensive book written in Arabic about zoology… because those who wrote before Al-Jahiz in this field, such as Al-Asma’i, Abu Ubaidah, Ibn Al-Kalbi, Ibn Al-Arabi, Al-Sijistani, and others… dealt with a single animal, such as camels, bees, or Birds… Their first and last interest was in the linguistic and not the scientific aspect… But Al-Jahiz was interested, in addition to language and poetry, in researching the medicine of the Book of Animals – which is also one of Al-Jahiz’s last works – the first comprehensive book written in Arabic on zoology… because those who wrote before Al-Jahiz in In this field, the likes of Al-Asma’i, Abu Ubaidah, Ibn Al-Kalbi, Ibn Al-Arabi, Al-Sijistani, and others…they dealt with one animal, such as camels, bees, or birds…and their first and last interest was in the linguistic aspect, not the scientific aspect…but Al-Jahiz was interested, in addition to language and poetry, in researching the nature of animals, their instincts, conditions, and customs.
Because Al-Jahiz was abundant in knowledge… and absorbed the cultures of his time… his references in his books extended to include the Holy Qur’an, the Prophet’s Hadith, the Torah, the Bible, the sayings of the sages and poets, the sciences of Greece, Persian literature, and the wisdom of India, in addition to his scientific experiments, observations, and private observations.
Al-Jahiz had a unique style that resembles the overlapping stories of One Thousand and One Nights… Scheherazade tells Shahrayar a story… then one of the heroes of this story tells a sub-story… and the sub-story is sometimes interspersed with a third and fourth story… then
We return to the basic story. Al-Jahiz addresses a topic and then leaves it to address another topic. Then he returns to the first topic. He may leave it again before completing it and move on to a new topic. And so on.
His book, “The Animal,” for example, did not limit himself to the subject indicated by the book’s title.. Rather, he dealt with some natural and philosophical knowledge.. He spoke about the politics of individuals and nations.. and the dispute between the people of theology and other religious sects.. He also spoke in the book “The Animal” about topics related to Geography, medicine, Bedouin customs, and some issues of jurisprudence… This is in addition to the poetry and humor that the book is filled with, reaching the point of indecency and even obscenity.
Read كتاب الحيوان
