دَوْرَةٌ تَدْرِيسِيَّةٌ تَحْلِيلِيَّةٌ لِمَقَامَاتِ بَدِيعِ الزَّمَانِ الْهَمَذَانِيِّ
Analytical and Critical Study of the Maqāmāt of Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī (d. 398 AH / 1008 CE).
What are they?
They are the first Arabic attempt at storytelling in the form of short narratives; each narrative contains two recurring characters throughout the subsequent stories. These two characters are:
One is the narrator of the story, told in his voice and modeled after the method of hadith scholars, where the author begins with the phrase: “ʿĪsā ibn Hishām narrated to us”, then proceeds with the narration.
The second is the protagonist, around whom the plot is constructed—a character crafted in a way that makes the reader admire him despite his being a conman and a thief. Yet, this character ultimately reveals a hidden human aspect within individual souls and addresses a social issue that exists not only in his society but universally—such as feigned religiosity, covert racism, and the like.
This character is also eloquent in a way that astonishes those present in the story, and his eloquence enables him to escape situations where he is on the verge of being killed or arrested. His name is Abū al-Fatḥ al-Iskandarī, and the author, Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī, has a purpose behind giving him this particular name, which holds specific connotations and is not arbitrary.
The total number of maqāmāt reached 52, composed in a mixed style of prose and narrative poetry.
Aim:
This course offers a selective study of a number of maqāmāt rather than a comprehensive study of the entire collection, with the possibility of studying all maqāmāt upon mutual agreement between the participants and the instructor. The purpose of this selective study is twofold: linguistic and philosophical.
1. Linguistic Aim:
Oral rhetorical training (rather than written composition) by expanding the learner’s lexical repertoire.
Deepening familiarity with the Arabic literary heritage and developing expertise in engaging with it.
Enhancing the learner’s ability to analyze semantic structures, particularly in how meaning is constructed through paragraph formation within the maqāmah‘s narrative framework.
2. Philosophical Aim:
The maqāmah is inherently constructed on philosophical argumentation surrounding a particular psychological or social issue, unveiling hidden meanings behind such themes.
Examples include:
Debates reflecting Ashʿarite or Muʿtazilite theological discourse.
Themes of social hypocrisy,
And phenomena akin to what is now termed psychopathy, among others.
Applied Training Workshop:
Participants will be required to:
Develop a short maqāmah-style presentation addressing a contemporary issue—whether social, psychological, religious, or otherwise—
The goal is not mere imitation but the creation of a rhetorically and linguistically sound composition in the maqāmah spirit, delivering a profound message.
Each student will:
Deliver their maqāmah orally in a live presentation.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group will prepare critical feedback points to be discussed after the presentation.
Course Methodology:
1. Reading the Maqāmah
A careful, guided reading of the selected maqāmah text.
2. Lexical Analysis
Exploration of the root-based structure of key vocabulary:
Investigating the material root of words.
Analyzing how these roots contribute metaphorically to the syntactic construction of the sentence.
Evaluating their role in conveying the overall thematic meaning.
3. Grammatical Parsing (ʾIʿrāb)
A syntactic breakdown of the maqāmah, focusing on:
The functional grammatical relationships between components.
How these relationships impact semantic interpretation.
4. Thematic Philosophical Discussion
Engagement with the philosophical and social theme of the maqāmah, using the prior linguistic analysis as a foundation for critical reflection.