The Book of Mirdad

Last updated
The Book of Mirdad
Author Mikha'il Na'ima
Original titleThe Book of Mirdad: The Strange Story of a Monastery which was Once Called The Ark
Country Lebanon
LanguageEnglish
Genre Philosophical fiction
Publication date
1948

The Book of Mirdad is an allegorical book of philosophy by Lebanese author Mikha'il Na'ima. The book was first published in Lebanon in 1948 and was initially written in English, with Na'ima later translating it into Arabic. [1] Na'ima initially sought to have the book published in London, where it was rejected for "[advancing] a religion with 'a new dogma'". [2]

Contents

In 1973 the book was adapted into a three-act play by Padukone Ramanand. [3]

Synopsis

The book is presented as a series of dialogues between Mirdad, the abbot of a monastery, and his disciples. The Book of Mirdad draws on a variety of philosophies, including that of Leo Tolstoy and Sufi Islam. Through the allegories in the book presented by Mirdad, Na'ima presents several themes and calls for the unity of different people groups in universal love, as well as criticizing materialism and empty religious rituals. [4]

Mirdad's dialogs gives out teachings which show us how it is possible to transform our consciousness and uncover the God within, by dissolving our sense of duality.

Reception

A reviewer for Philosophy East and West praised the book, citing Na'ima's "power of enthusiasm and persuasion" as a highlight. [5] The Indian mystic Osho mentioned The Book of Mirdad in his book A Song Without Words, saying that it "can be of immense help if you don't expect, and it is a book worth reading thousands of times." [6] Osho has also mentioned that this book is the only book that has been successful in being written and if one fails to understand it, the failure is that of the reader and not the author’s.

The book has been compared to John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress in that both stories are largely allegorical. [7] The Book of Mirdad has also been compared to Ameen Rihani's The Book of Khalid , with the book being believed to have had an influence on Na'ima's writings. [8] Na'ima has described the work as the "pinnacle of his thought and a summary of his view of life". [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kahlil Gibran</span> Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer

Gibran Khalil Gibran, usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he himself rejected the title. He is best known as the author of The Prophet, which was first published in the United States in 1923 and has since become one of the best-selling books of all time, having been translated into more than 100 languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levantine Arabic</span> Arabic variety spoken in the Levant

Levantine Arabic, also called Shami, is an Arabic variety spoken in the Levant, in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Turkey. With over 44 million speakers, Levantine is, alongside Egyptian, one of the two prestige varieties of spoken Arabic comprehensible all over the Arab world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baskinta</span> Town in Mount Lebanon Governorate

Baskinta is a Lebanese village situated at an altitude ranging from 1250 metres above sea level and climbs up to approximately 1800 meters of height at Qanat Bakish, making it one of the highest villages of Lebanon. It is located 43 kilometers north east of Beirut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikhail Naimy</span> Lebanese writer and philosopher

Mikha'il Nu'ayma, better known in English by his pen name Mikhail Naimy, was a Lebanese poet, novelist, and philosopher, famous for his spiritual writings, notably The Book of Mirdad. He is widely recognized as one of the most important figures in modern Arabic literature and one of the most important spiritual writers of the 20th century.

The Nahda, also referred to as the Arab Awakening or Enlightenment, was a cultural movement that flourished in Arab-populated regions of the Ottoman Empire, notably in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Tunisia, during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ameen Rihani</span> American writer

Ameen Rihani (Amīn Fāris Anṭūn ar-Rīḥānī), was a Lebanese American writer, intellectual and political activist. He was also a major figure in the mahjar literary movement developed by Arab emigrants in North America, and an early theorist of Arab nationalism. He became an American citizen in 1901.

The Mahjar was a literary movement started by Arabic-speaking writers who had emigrated to America from Ottoman-ruled Lebanon, Syria and Palestine at the turn of the 20th century. Like their predecessors in the Nahda movement, writers of the Mahjar movement were stimulated by their personal encounter with the Western world and participated in the renewal of Arabic literature, hence their proponents being sometimes referred to as writers of the "late Nahda". These writers, in South America as well as the United States, contributed indeed to the development of the Nahda in the early 20th century. Kahlil Gibran is considered to have been the most influential of the "Mahjar poets" or "Mahjari poets".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasib Arida</span> Syrian-born poet and writer (1887–1946)

Nasib Arida was a Syrian-born poet and writer of the Mahjar movement and a founding member of the New York Pen League.

<i>The Book of Khalid</i> 1911 novel by Ameen Rihani

The Book of Khalid (1911) is a novel by Arab-American writer Ameen Rihani. Composed during a sojourn in the mountains of Lebanon, it is considered to be the first novel by an Arab-American writer in English. His contemporary, Khalil Gibran, illustrated the work, and the story is often seen as an influence on Gibran's own well-known book The Prophet.

Salom Rizk was a Syrian-American author, best known for his 1943 immigrant autobiography, Syrian Yankee, perhaps the best-known piece of Arab American literature in the middle part of the century. The book has been called "a classic of the immigrant biography genre", especially for the way Rizk's story portrays the American Dream and the virtues of cultural assimilation at the expense of his home country, which he finds loathsome when he returns for a visit. Rizk became well known enough that Reader's Digest sponsored him on a lecture tour around the United States as "the quintessential American immigrant". He also sponsored a drive for the Save the Children Federation, using advertisements in such magazines as Boys' Life to request families send their extra pencils, so that these could be donated to needy school-children around the world as a way of promoting freedom and democracy and fighting tyranny.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians</span>

Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians refers to Lebanese people who are adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in Lebanon, which is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and is the second-largest Christian denomination in Lebanon after the Maronite Christians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ameen Albert Rihani</span>

Ameen Albert Rihani is a university professor, scholar and administrator. He is a professor of Arab American literature at Notre Dame University - Louiaze. He was the Vice President of Academic Affairs since 1997. In 2013 he became advisor to the President of NDU and the Secretary General of the Institute of Lebanese Thought.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naoum Mokarzel</span> Lebanese writer and philosopher

Naoum Mokarzel was an influential intellectual and publisher who immigrated to the United States from Mount Lebanon in Ottoman Syria.

Al-Funoon was an Arabic-language magazine founded in New York City by Nasib Arida in 1913 and co-edited by Mikhail Naimy, "so that he might display his knowledge of international literature." As worded by Suheil Bushrui, it was "the first attempt at an exclusively literary and artistic magazine by the Arab immigrant community in New York."

As-Sayeh was an Arabic-language magazine founded in New York City by Abd al-Masih Haddad in 1912. It continued to be published until 1957. It presented the works of prominent Mahjari literary figures in the United States and became the "spokesman" of the Pen League which he co-founded with Nasib Arida in 1915 or 1916. Haddad published his own collection Hikayat al-Mahjar inside it in 1921.

<i>Meraat-ul-Gharb</i>

Meraat-ul-Gharb is an Arabic-language newspaper founded and published in New York City by Najeeb Diab in 1899. By 1911, it was considered "the best Arabic newspaper" published in the United States. In 1908, Meraat-ul-Gharb was reported to be "one of the instruments which incited the Turkish military to its recent revolt" against the Ottoman Sultan's Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abd al-Masih Haddad</span> Journalist in Syria

Abd al-Masih Haddad was a Syrian writer of the Mahjar movement and journalist. His magazine As-Sayeh, started in 1912 and continued until 1957, presented the works of prominent Mahjari literary figures in the United States and became the "spokesman" of the Pen League which he co-founded with Nasib Arida in 1915 or 1916. His collection Hikayat al-Mahjar, which he published in 1921, extended "the scope of the readership of fiction" in modern Arabic literature according to Muhammad Mustafa Badawi.

Thurayyā 'Abd al-Fattāḥ Malḥas was a Palestinian poet and academic. She is considered a pioneer of free verse poetry among Palestinian women writers.

Levantine Arabic vocabulary is the vocabulary of Levantine Arabic, the variety of Arabic spoken in the Levant.

References

  1. Boullata, Issa J. (July 1993). "Mikhail Naimy: Poet of Meditative Vision". Journal of Arabic Literature. 24 (2): 175. doi:10.1163/157006493x00041. JSTOR   4183302.
  2. Matar, Nabil I. (1980). "Adam and the Serpent: Notes on the Theology of Mikhail Naimy". Journal of Arabic Literature. 11: 56–61. doi:10.1163/157006480x00045. JSTOR   4183028.
  3. Ramanand, Padukone (1973). Mirdad: Mikhail Naimy's Famous Work 'The Book of Mirdad' Made Into a Play in Three Acts. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
  4. Aida Imangulieva (2010), Gibran, Rihani & Naimy: East-West Interactions in Early Twentieth-Century Arab Literature, Anqa Publishing, p. 153, ISBN   978-1-905937-27-1
  5. Scaligero, Massimo (March 1960). "Review: The Book of Mirdad, A Lighthouse and a Haven by Mikhail Naimy". Philosophy East and West. 11 (1): 54–55. JSTOR   29754226.
  6. Osho (2006). A Song Without Words. Diamond Pocket Books. pp. 130, 140, 143. ISBN   8171827357.
  7. Al Maleh, Layla (2009). Arab Voices in Diaspora: Critical Perspectives on Anglophone Arab Literature. Rodopi. pp. 3, 61, 430. ISBN   978-9042027183.
  8. Schumann, Christoph (2008). Liberal Thought in the Eastern Mediterranean. Brill Publishers. p. 244. ISBN   978-9004165489.
  9. Allen, Roger (2010). Essays in Arabic Literary Biography III: 1850-1950. Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 252, 260–261. ISBN   978-3447061414.