Editorial introduction; Maps; 1. Background topics A. F. L. Beeston; 2. Pre-Islamic poetry Abdulla el Tayib; 3. Early Arabic prose R. B. Serjeant; 4. The beginnings of Arabic prose literature: the epistolary genre J. D. Latham; 5. The role of parallelism in Arabic prose A. F. L. Beeston; 6. The Qur'an - I R. Paret; 7. The Qur'an - II A. Jones; 8. Qisas elements in the Qur'an H. T. Norris; 9. Aspects of the Qur'an today Jacques Jomier; 10. Hadith literature - I: the development of the science of Hadith Muhammad Abdul Rauf; 11. Hadith literature - II: collection and transmission of Hadith Nabia Abbott; 12. Shi'i Hadith E. Kohlberg; 13. Narrative elements in the Hadith literature Sahair el Calamawy; [...]opean criticism of Hadith literature N. J. Coulson; 15. The impact of the Qur'an and Hadith on medieval Arabic literature A. M. Zubaidi; 16. The Maghazi literature J. M. B. Jones; 17. The Sirah literature M. J. Kister; 18. The poetry of the Sirah literature James T. Monroe; 19. Fables and legends in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times H. T. Norris; 20. Umayyad poetry Salma K. Jayyusi; 21. Music and verse O. Wright; 22. The Greek impact on Arabic literature L. E. Goodman; 23. The Persian impact on Arabic literature C. E. Bosworth; 24. The Syrian impact on Arabic literature R. Y. Ebied; Appendix J. D. Pearson; Glossary; List of sources; Index.