Maqama

[1][2] The maqāmāt are anecdotes told by a fictitious narrator which typically follow the escapades of a roguish protagonist as the two repeatedly encounter each other in their travels.

[4] Interest in al-Hariri's Maqāmāt spread throughout much of the Islamic Empire, with translations and original works appearing in Hebrew, Syriac and Persian.

[6] These illustrations tend to be colored linework on a white background; they often depict the narrator and protagonist's escapades together, and so most of these compositions (unlike much of medieval Islamic Art) primarily feature human figures with notably expressive faces and gestures.

[10] The maqāma are typically understood to be short picaresques told by a fictitious narrator about a low-class trickster protagonist who uses disguises, refined language and sophisticated rhetoric to swindle onlookers out of their money.

[3][11] In the case of the Maqāmāt al-Harīrī, the same narrator al-Harīth tells of his numerous encounters with the roguish protagonist Abu Zayd, in various cities and under varying circumstances.

[3] Like much Arabic literature of its time, the maqāmāt also typically blended serious or genuine narratives and tone (jidd) with humor and jest (hazl).

[3][6] Many scholars propose that the events and characters within the maqāmāt are primarily vehicles through which the author can showcase his own literary, poetic and rhetorical skills.

J. Hämeen-Anttila puts forth the following pattern for a typical maqāma:Isnad → General Introduction → Link → Episode Proper → Recognition Scene → Envoi (→ Finale)[13]Alain Qian expands on this structure somewhat.

After this recognition scene the maqāma is ended with envoi (summation in verse), followed occasionally by a finale in which the narrator and protagonist part ways.

[2] A different schema for Maqāmāt al-Harīrī has been proposed by K. Okazaki, similar to Anttila's except for its mirror-like structure: "Arrival of the narrator in town → Encounter with the protagonist → Speech (poetry) → Reward → Recognition ← Reproach ← Justification (Poetry) ← Parting"[11]In this proposed schema the arrows do not indicate chronology but rather the rise and fall of narrative suspense (in a manner not unlike Gustav Freytag's plot pyramid).

[11] Maqāma arose in the tenth century CE from the Arabic genre of prose known as adab (referring to "culture", "manners", "belles lettres").

The popularity of al-Harīrī's maqāmāt is such that they were worthy of memorization, recitation, and scholarly criticism during his lifetime,[citation needed] and he has been the most well-known author in the genre for most of its history.

[19] These literati would attend small private recitations of al-Harīrī's maqāmāt, during which improvisations and embellishments were made as the reader or audience saw fit.

These were likely made for private consumption for individuals or small groups, as the ownership of representational images was commonly frowned upon in Islamic tradition.

K. Okazaki wrote that the word maqāma as "assembly" is meant to reflect the assemblages of characters within the narrative witnessing the acts committed and subsequent trials faced by the roguish protagonist.

Joseph ibn Zabara (end of the 12th-beginning of 13th century), a resident of Barcelona and Catalan speaker, wrote the Sēfer sha'ashū'īm ("The Book of Delights"), in which the author, the narrator, and the protagonist are all Ibn Zabara himself, and in which the episodes are arranged in linear, not cyclical fashion, in a way that anticipates the structure of Spanish picaresque novels such as the anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes (1554) and Guzmán de Alfarache (1599) by Mateo Alemán.

[34] However, illustrations were added to maqamat to add grandeur and interest to the manuscripts, even though the text was usually performed orally in large groups, rather than read in solitude.

[40][page needed] For example, the text is read by the audience who are experts of Arabic language and literature, while the images can be helpful for those with less formal education.

At this time, typical Islamic gravestones were minimalistic without many inscriptions, while several Jewish cemeteries included a type of small stepped stone grave marker.

Specifically in the Istanbul Maqāmāt, several buildings do recall the architectural style and form of the city, notably shown through the Mustansiriya complex that appears to be replicated throughout the illustrations.

[9] The use of vegetal designs and specific rendering of authority figures also alludes back to the style of the Islamic world which can be seen through the Arabic translations of the Greek teachings of Dioscorides.

This process, he argues, would have been especially important in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as modern Arabic states and national identities began to form as a result of or reaction to European colonialism.