Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 March 2016
In the immense corpus of pre-19th-century Arabic literature, the only dramatic works extant are three shadow plays by Shams ad-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Dāniyāl (1248–1311), an oculist turned both popular and court entertainer.
To explain this paucity, conjectures have been offered ranging from the contention that Islam (whose very name implies the total submission of man to the will of Cod) leaves no room for tragic conflict to the argument that Arabs remained attached to a literary ideal born in nomadism, whereas the theater can arise only in a settled community.