Arabic literature
| History of literature by era |
|---|
| Ancient (corpora) |
| Early medieval |
| Medieval by century |
| Early modern by century |
| Modern by century |
| Contemporary by century |
| Literature portal |
| Medieval and Renaissance literature |
|---|
| Early medieval |
| Medieval |
|
By century |
| European Renaissance |
| Literature portal |
Arabic literature (Arabic: الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: al-Adab al-‘Arabī) is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is Adab, which comes from a meaning of etiquette, and which implies politeness, culture and enrichment.
Arabic literature, primarily transmitted orally, began to be documented in written form in the 7th century, with only fragments of written Arabic appearing before then.
The Qur'an would have the greatest lasting effect on Arab culture and its literature. Arabic literature flourished during the Islamic Golden Age, but has remained vibrant to the present day, with poets and prose-writers across the Arab world, as well as in the Arab diaspora, achieving increasing success.
Based on the important number of surviving Islamic manuscripts, with a large part of them being in Arabic, Dutch Arabist Jan Just Witkam has argued that "Arabic traditional literature is probably the largest body of literature in the world."