Ashʿab looked at a shaykh with an ugly face and exclaimed: "Did Sulaymân b. Dâwûd not forbid you to come out by day?".
Humor is a process related to pleasure and joy, discovering them, savoring them, and creating them. Greek philosophers and doctors believe that the balance of fluids in the human body; It controls health and human emotions, including laughter. But are Arabs or Muslims laughing?
We present to the Arab reader the Arabic translation of Franz Rosenthal's book entitled "Humor in Early Islam." This study aims to dispel the opinion held by many people in the Western world that Islam hates humor. This book contains Arabic stories about a character who has become the subject of many jokes and tales, namely the greedy Ashʿab, a singer who lived in the second century A.H./eighth A.D. But his literary and imaginative life continued for a long time. These stories are preceded by research chapters on the textual materials related to humor in Islam, and also on the historical and legendary figures of Ashʿab. The book ends with a short appendix on laughter. Whether the humor will make the modern reader laugh or not; This book is a valuable resource for those seriously interested in the culture of humor in early Islam.

Translated by: Abdulkarem M.A. Alwadhaf