Database: Al-Jahiz

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Two Hares Eating Berries, in Al-Jahiz's Book of Animals / 17th century copy of a 10th century original

Abu 'Uthman al-Jahiz (the bug-eyed) was a prolific ninth-century writer considered to be one of the finest authors composing in Arabic of all time. Born into the poor family of a black cameleer, his witty writing style attracted the attention and patronage of Baghdad's high society, which he proceeded to delight and satirize in more than a hundred and twenty books.

Al-Jahiz's specialty was composing works of adab. This literary corpus sought to represent, through eclectic examples, the mix of good manners and high culture an ambitious government official, court hanger-on, or scribe was expected to possess in order to shine in elite circles—for example. elements of history and poetry, famous rhetorical retorts, jokes, anecdotes, and so forth. As such, al-Jahiz's books touched upon many different subjects, making still-relevant observations. In his Kitab al-Hayawan (Book of Animals) for instance, he describes the more than 350 species of animals known at the time and remarks on how environmental factors create new characteristics in organisms that are passed to the offspring of surviving animals.

Besides selling fish during his childhood, his only known professional activity was to write and appear in intellectual salons (majlis). Hence, he is one of the first professional writers in history. According to legend, even his death was linked to his love of literature. While rummaging through his vast collection of books, he is said to have been crushed by a collapsing bookshelf!