Criticizing the Deficiencies in the Division of Periods of Arabic Literature and Naming Them

The history of literature is the story of the development of literature during the course of time, and its main responsibility is to determine the period of changes in literature. To make the history of any literature comprehensible we need to divide it into periods. This division should be based on certain principles and criteria. The history of Arabic Literature is no exception.This research has examined and criticized the division and naming of periods of Arabic literature from its beginnings to the Arabic Movement. First we have presented the criteria of division; next we have criticized the division of periods of Arabic Literature among the predecessors. Finally we have divided them in a new way and named them based on a new approach.The findings show that: Arabic literature, which with the emergence of Islam was liberated from tribal conflicts, in the time of the Umayyad dynasty was at the service of various groups. In early second century, with the infusion of Iranian culture and civilization, it reached its peak. Finally with the Mongol conquests, the dispersion of the Islamic World, rise of independent Iranian kingdoms, and the Turkish invasions, Arabic literature went into decline and did not revive until the Arabic Movement.