Author Description

This book contains the first authentic and comprensive analytical treatment of the lighter side of the Arabs which has been a striking feature of their cultural and social life in both pre-lslamic and lslamic times. The Arab jokes and amusing anecdotes incorporated in this work from various Arabic sources have the potential not only to entertain readers, but also to provide them with penetratitng insights into the main trends of life that prevailed in the medieval Arab World, thereby giving them a peep into the otherwise inaccessible hidden character of Arab-Muslim societies in those days-the period of their cultural ascendancy which, however, contrasted sharply with early classical islam.