A First Book of Animals

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Despite the title, the Book of Animals is by no means conventional zoology, or even a conventional bestiary. It is an enormous collection of lore about animals - including insects - culled from the Koran, the Traditions, pre-Islamic poetry, proverbs, storytellers, sailors, personal observation and Aristotle's Generation of Animals. Abū Hiffān 'Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥarb al-Mihzamī was a secretary and poet who died in Baghdād in 871. Kitāb al-Ḥayawān is an extensive compendium in seven volumes [n 14] consisting of anecdotes, poetic descriptions and proverbs describing over 350 species of animals. [37] Composed in honour of Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Mālik al-Zayyāt, who paid him five thousand gold coins (5., dīnār). [38] The 11th-century scholar al-Khatib al-Baghdadi dismissed it as "little more than a plagiarism" of Aristotle's Kitāb al-Hayawān–a charge of plagiarism was levelled against Aristotle himself with regard to a certain "Asclepiades of Pergamum". [39] Later scholars have noted that there was only a limited Aristotelian influence in al-Jāḥiẓ's work, and that al-Baghdadi may have been unacquainted with Aristotle's work. [40] Montgomery, James (2013). Al-Jāḥiẓ: In Praise of Books. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0748683321.

Or they’re talking about the stuff that their children are obsessed with now, which I think is really cute, how their child is really into dinosaurs or something like that.’

In Baghdad, al-Jahiz not only fused the Islamic sciences to Greek rationalism, but created Arabic prose literature. He showed that Arabic was flexible enough to handle any subject with ease, and although he was not personally associated with the House of Wisdom, his linguistic achievement paralleled - indeed surpassed - the efforts of the scholars engaged in rendering Greek scientific texts into Arabic.

Jāḥiẓ; Pellat, C.; Hawke, D. M. (1969). The life and works of Jahiz: Transl. of selected texts. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press. OCLC 488398998.

Durayd (Ibn), Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (1854). Wüstenfeld, F. (ed.). Kitāb al-Ishtiqāq (Ibn Doreid's genealogisch-etymologisches Handbuch) (in Arabic). Göttingen: Dieterich. p.150. I would have you know that a pebble proves the existence of God just as much as a mountain, and the human body is evidence as strong as the universe that contains our world: for this purpose the small and slight carries as much weight as the great and vast. Al-Jahiz and his parents, for example, were poor themselves; as a young man of 20 he seems to have sold fish along one of the Basran canals. Nevertheless, al-Jahiz learned to read and write at an early age, indicating the opportunities for what today's sociologists would call "upward mobility" in eighth-century Iraq. Al-Jahiz tells the story of how his mother presented him with a tray of paper notebooks, and told him that it would be by means of these that he would earn his living.

Khallikān (Ibn), Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (1972). Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā' Abnā' al-Zamān (in Arabic). Vol.III. Beirut: Dār Ṣādar. pp.470–475 (§506 ). I feel like the subtitle on this should be changed to: A Primer for How to Be Killed By An Animal That Normally Wants Nothing to Do With You. (Catchy, right? I'm sure I'll be getting a call to join the publisher's creative team any minute now.) The availability of a cheap writing material was accompanied by another social phenomenon, of which al-Jahiz himself was a product: the rise of a reading public. For the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire, the cities of the Middle East contained a large number of literate people - many of humble origins. Kennedy, Hugh N. (2010) [2007]. "Al-Jahiz and the Construction of Homosexuality at the Abbasid Court". In Harper, April; Proctor, Caroline (eds.). Medieval Sexuality: A Casebook (Seconded.). London [u.a.]: Routledge. pp.175–188. doi: 10.4324/9780203935026. ISBN 978-1-135-86634-1. It’s obvious that people can do incredibly stupid things and come to grief. You may congratulate yourself for not choosing to push your child towards a buffalo for a photo op. Unfortunately, many people get hurt just going about their normal lives. There but for the grace of God…. Human populations are increasingly encroaching on the territory of wild animals. Predation can happen but it’s more likely that the creatures are stressed for one reason or another.but horrifying, horrifying stuff. if you have any eye-sensitivity, do not read this book. the number of things that want to go for your eyes, or lay eggs in your eyes so they pop with new life... eeerrrggghhhh. And then partners, and ex-partners have seen it over the years, but I’ve never really showed it to any friends or anything. It’s always been a very personal thing.

You might ask why anyone would want to read this book about the many ways a person can find serious trouble in nature. Well, it’s very well written. Gordon Grice is a thorough yet very interesting researcher, journalist, and lover of some mighty creepy critters. Best, he’s very funny. Dry, ironic and sometimes dark. Right up my alley! 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. [7] Tradition claims that he was smothered to death when a vast amount of books fell over him. [8] Life [ edit ] Edgerton, Frank N. (2002). "A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 6: Arabic Language Science: Origins and Zoological Writings". Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. 83 (2): 142–146. JSTOR 20168700. a b "Darwin's Ghosts, By Rebecca Stott". independent.co.uk. 31 May 2012. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012 . Retrieved 19 June 2012. The simple fact is that wild animals are indeed wild and need to be treated with respect according to that status. That having been said, it is perfectly possible to interact with them if you have the knowledge of their body language, how to handle them, etc. This book was more fearmongering than much else when it provided a whole host of inaccurate information regarding the hierarchical nature of canines, and wolfdogs "turning" on their owners. These are the sorts of myths that get wolfdogs unfairly euthanized in shelters rather than brought to proper rescues or finding proper experienced owners.Another counter-claim to the existence of god by a creature whose species has existed longer than a biblical account of creation can account for. there were so many more quotes i wanted to share. maybe i will float this later with "additional information." Ok, that is an extreme example, and there is only one other similar case mentioned in the book of a slightly younger woman who received twice as many stings and similarly died, but still in theory you could end up being killed by ants! Al-Jubouri, I. M. N. (12 October 2010). Islamic Thought: From Mohammed to September 11, 2001. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 9781453595855.