A CRITICAL OVERVIEW OF THE PRINCIPLES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ISLAMIC LITERATURE

Abstract

Islamic literature is a term referring to the school of thought which believes that a good literary work should view God, man and the world through the lens of Islam. It is conceived that the style of such literature must be of high quality with the Quran, Hadith and the legacy of the Islamic scholars being its model. This school of literary explication was developed by Abul Hasan Ali an-Nadawi, and it is fast gaining currency among literary figures in the world today. However, most of what has been written on the theory and practice of Islamic literature is in Arabic. The aim of this study, therefore, is to give the English readers an opportunity of getting more acquainted with this school of thought in the field of literature. Apart from giving account of the growth and development of the school, this study examined certain critical and salient issues of concern to Islamic literature such as Iltizam (consistency), language, religion, creativity and truthfulness. The study concluded that Islamic literature, as a sub-literary tradition emanating from Muslims, consistently conforms to Islamic ideology and is characterized by truthfulness and service to humanity. The study suggested to all stakeholders of the discipline, which can be in any language, covering all aspects of human endeavour, to convoke a world conference and establish an academy as part of developing the school of thought further. Thisstep is expedient so that it may serve as a veritable platform of literary creativity and a better alternative to other extant schools of thought in the field of literature. Keywords: