Introduction
When the Egyptian scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti sat down to pen his autobiography
in about 1485, he began by situating his text within what was for
him a recognized tradition of Arabic autobiographical writing. In the preface
to his work he first considers the Qur'anic injunction that one should
speak of the blessings one has received from God ("And as for the bounty
of your Lord, speak!" [Q 93:11]) and draws on traditions of the Prophet
Muhammad (hadith) and Qur'anic commentaries to demonstrate that to
speak of God's blessings, indeed to enumerate them in detail, is a means
of expressing gratitude to God and thus a duty incumbent on every Muslim.
He therefore titles his autobiography al-Tahadduth bi-ni mat Allah (Speaking
of God's Bounty) and closes his preface by noting both laudable and blameworthy
motivations for writing an autobiography. He concludes by carefully
identifying his own motivations as the former:
Scholars from ancient to modern times have continually written biographical
accounts of themselves [yaktubuna li-anfusihim ... read full excerpt from: Interpreting the Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition, Part One ebook
