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Arthur John Arberry (12 May 1905, in
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...
– 2 October 1969, in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
) FBA was a British scholar of
Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, 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 is derived from ...
, Persian studies, and
Islamic studies Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theologies of other religious traditions, such as Easter ...
. He was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. His English translation of the
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
, '' The Koran Interpreted'', is popular amongst academics worldwide.The Koran: Interpreted
- Oxford Islamic Studies Online


Academic career

Arberry served as Head of the Department of Classics at
Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...
in
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
. He eventually returned home to become the Assistant Librarian at the Library of the India Office. During the Second World War he was a Postal Censor in Liverpool and was then seconded to the Ministry of Information, which was housed in the newly constructed Senate House of the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
. Arberry held the Chair of Persian at the School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS, University of London, in 1944–47. He subsequently became the
Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic is a title used at Cambridge University for the holder of a professorship of Arabic; Sir Thomas Adams, 1st Baronet (1586–1668), Lord Mayor of London in 1645, gave to Cambridge University the money needed t ...
at
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
and a Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, his alma mater, from 1947 until his death in 1969. He is buried in
Ascension Parish Ascension Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ascension, es, Parroquia de Ascensión) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 126,500. Its parish seat is Donaldsonville. The parish was created ...
, Cambridge, together with his wife Sarina Simons Arberry (1900-1973). She was Romanian by birth; Arberry first met her in Cairo and they married at Cambridge in 1932. Arberry is also notable for introducing Rumi's works to the west through his selective translations and for translating the important anthology of medieval Andalusian Arabic poetry '' The Pennants of the Champions and the Standards of the Distinguished''. His interpretation of
Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...
's writings, edited by
Badiozzaman Forouzanfar Badiozzaman Forouzanfar or Badi'ozzamān Forūzānfar (also Romanized as "Badiʿ al-Zamān Furūzānfar") (12 July 1904 in Boshrooyeh in Ferdows County – 6 May 1970 in Tehran) ( fa, بدیع‌الزمان فروزانفر, born ''Ziyaa' ...
, is similarly distinguished. Arberry also introduced to an English-speaking audience the work of Malta's national poet, Carmelo Psaila, popularly known as Dun Karm, in the bilingual anthology ''Dun Karm, Poet of Malta''.


Works

* ''The Rubai'yat of Jalal Al-Din Rumi: Select Translations Into English Verse'' (Emery Walker, London, 1949) * '' The Rubai'yat of Omar Khayyam. Edited from a Newly Discovered Manuscript Dated 658 (1259–60) in the Possession of A. Chester Beatty Esq.'' (Emery Walker, London, 1949) — unbeknown to Arberry or
Alfred Chester Beatty Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (7 February 1875 – 19 January 1968)Seanad 1985: "Chester Beatty died at the Princess Grace Clinic, Monte Carlo, on 19 January 1968, .. (some sources give this as 20 January). was an American-British mining magnate, p ...
, the "newly discovered manuscript" was a twentieth-century forgery. * ''Avicenna on Theology'' (London: John Murray, 1951) * ''Omar Khayyam. A New Version, Based upon Recent Discoveries'' (London: John Murray, 1952) — based upon the Beatty and another forged manuscript *''
The Secrets of Selflessness ''Rumuz-e-Bekhudi'' ( fa, ; or ''The Secrets of Selflessness''; published in Persian, 1918) was the second philosophical poetry book of Allama Iqbal, a poet-philosopher of the Indian subcontinent. This is a sequel to his first book ''Asrar-e-Kh ...
'' (John Murray, London, 1953) * ''Moorish Poetry: A Translation of 'The Pennants', an Anthology Compiled in 1243 by the Andalusian Ibn Sa'id'' (University Press, Cambridge, 1953), * '' The Koran Interpreted'' (Allen & Unwin, London, 1955) * '' The Seven Odes: The First Chapter in Arabic Literature'' (Allen & Unwin, London, 1955) *''Classical Persian Literature'' (1958) * ''Dun Karm, poet of Malta''. Texts chosen and translated by A.J. Arberry; introduction, notes and glossary by P. Grech. Cambridge University Press 1961. * ''Muslim Saints and Mystics, A translation of episodes from the '
Tazkirat al-Awliya ''Tazkirat al-Awliyā'' ( fa, تذکرةالاولیا or , lit. "Biographies of the Saints")variant transliterations: Tazkirat al-Awliyā`, Tadhkirat al-Awliya, Tazkerat-ol-Owliya , Tezkereh-i-Evliā etc., is a hagiographic collection of ninety- ...
’ (Memorial of the Saints)'' originally written by Farid al-Din Attar (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1966) *''
Javid Nama The ''Javid Nama'' ( fa, ), or ''Book of Eternity'', is a Persian book of poetry written by Muhammad Iqbal and published in 1932. It is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Iqbal. It is inspired by Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy'', a ...
'' (Allen & Unwin, London, 1966) * ''Discourses of Rumi'', A translation of
Fihi Ma Fihi The ''Fihi Ma Fihi'' ( fa, فیه مافیه; from ar, فیه ما فیه), "It Is What It Is" or "In It What Is in It") is a Persian prose work of a famous 13th century writer, Rumi. The book has 72 short discourses. Description The title ...
, (Samuel Weiser, New York, 1972) * ''Mystical Poems of Rumi'', Translated by A. J. Arberry, (University of Chicago Press, 2009)


References


External links

* * Arberry's English Quran Translation at the *
Online Quran Project
*
Tanzil Project

Arberry, Arthur John article
at
Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arberry, Arthur John 1905 births 1969 deaths People educated at The Portsmouth Grammar School Iqbal scholars Translators of the Quran into English British scholars of Islam British Arabists Iranologists Arabic–English translators Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy British orientalists Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Cairo University faculty Rumi scholars Academics of SOAS University of London 20th-century British translators Writers from Portsmouth Sir Thomas Adams's Professors of Arabic