Comparative literature is a modern concept that has become one of the fields of modern literary studies—indeed, one of the most significant and fruitful. This discipline examines points of convergence among literatures in their different languages, as well as the many complex relationships between them, whether in the present or the past. The boundaries that separate these literatures are languages themselves. Thus, if a writer or a poet writes in Arabic, their work is considered Arabic literature regardless of their ethnic origin. The languages of literature are what comparative literature relies upon in studying mutual influence and interaction among them. If we were to compare Abu Tammam and Al-Buhturi, or Hafiz Ibrahim and Ahmad Shawqi within Arabic literature, such comparisons would not fall under comparative literature, because they do not go beyond the scope of a single literature. By contrast, the field of comparative literature is international in nature, linking two or more different literatures. The same applies to studies such as examining the Maqamat of Al-Hariri and his influence by Badi‘ al-Zaman al-Hamadhani, or studying later poets and their imitation of pre-Islamic poets within Arabic literature. This is quite different from studies that set out to examine the genre of the Maqamat and its status in Arabic literature, then trace its transmission to Persian literature and the reception it found there; or studies that explore a theme such as Majnun Layla in Arabic literature and how it developed in Persian literature, shifting from the realm of chaste love and lyrical poetry to that of mysticism and symbolism; or studies that analyze the influence of ancient Greek or Latin literature on the writings and poetry of Renaissance authors. Such studies are considered part of comparative literature. Comparative literature examines the literature of one nation in comparison with that of another; it is the study of national literature in its historical relationships with other literatures beyond the scope of the national language in which it was written. Al-Mustaqbal University College The First Private University in Iraq