Small literature and large literature

Author's name: Ibn al-Muqaffa

Al-Adab Al-Sagheer and Al-Adab Al-Kabeer by Abdullah ibn al-Muqaffa, presented and annotated by Abdul Aziz Nabawy and reprinted by the Egyptian-Lebanese House. Ibn al-Muqaffa was a transmitter in Al-Adab Al-Sagheer, or so it appears from his saying: “I have put in this book from the memorized speech of people letters that help in building hearts, polishing them, clarifying their vision, reviving thought, establishing management, and guiding to praiseworthy matters and noble morals.” The book Al-Adab Al-Sagheer includes moral lessons that encourage knowledge, call a person to refine himself, train himself to do good deeds, recommend friends, and talk about the politics of kings. Among the ideas that Abdullah ibn al-Muqaffa discussed in Al-Adab Al-Sagheer are: “Self-accountability, remembrance of death, enumeration of faults, good qualities, calling a person to educate himself before teaching others, conceit is a scourge of the mind, knowledge is an adornment for its possessor, signs of the mean and deceitful, types of men.”