[4] The text presents a series of tales regarding the adventures of the fictional character Abū Zayd of Saruj who travels and deceives those around him with his skill in the Arabic language to earn rewards.

The most famous manuscripts include one from 1237 in Baghdad (now in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France) and one from 1334 in Egypt or Syria (now in the National Library of Austria).

The earliest known manuscript is Cairo, National Library of Egypt, MS Adab 105, dated 504/1110–11 through an ijaza certificate of authenticity by al-Ḥarīrī himself.

After this initial non-illustrative phase, illustrated Maqamat manuscripts started to appear, corresponding to a broader "explosion of figural art" in the Islamic world, from the 12th to 13th centuries, despite religious condemnations against the depiction of living creatures "because it implies a likeness to the creative activity of God".

[18] The tradition of illustrated manuscripts started with the Graeco-Arabic translation movement and the creation of scientific and technical treatises often based on Greek scientific knowledge, such as the Arabic versions of The Book of Fixed Stars (965 CE), De materia medica or Book of the Ten Treatises of the Eye.

[21] This synthesis seems to point to a common pictorial tradition that existed since circa 1180 CE in the region, which was highly influenced by Byzantine art.

[24][25] This manuscript probably belongs to the "Artuqid school" of painting,[26] together with an early 1206 edition of the Automata of Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari, devoted to the depiction of mechanical devices (Ahmet III 3472, Topkapı Sarayı Library, securely dated to 1206 and displaying many design similarities).

[30] Arabe 6094[34] was made in the Jazira region, and is the earliest securely dated illustrated Maqāmāt by al-Hariri.

[35] The style and numerous Byzantine inspirations in the illustrations[36] suggest it might have been drawn in the area of Damascus in Syria, under the rule of the Ayyubids.

[43][44] It may have been created in Baghdad, based on some stylistic parallels with the Kitab al-baytarah, which securely emanated from this city,[45] and the fact that the name of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir appears in one of the paintings (15th maqama, fol.

The style is Turkic: "In the paintings the facial cast of these [ruling] Turks is obviously reflected, and so are the special fashions and accoutrements they favored".

[64][69] Figures of Qadis, Sheikhs, Princes or Governors appear recurrently in the various manuscripts of Maqamat al-Hariri, from the 13th century miniatures of North Jazira down to those of the Mamluk period.

These figures are generally similar to Seljuq depictions of authority, wearing typically Seljuq or Turkic costumes, particularly the sharbush headgear, with distinctive facial features, and sitting cross-legged on a throne with one hand on the knee and one arm raised.

[62][4] Snelders summarizes the situation in socio-political terms: ...thirteenth-century manuscripts of the Maqamat of al-Hariri, in which a similar iconographic differentiation can be found.

In a number of these manuscripts a careful distinction is made between royal and non-royal figures, both in terms of physical appearance and dress.

Whereas princes and governors are commonly represented with the same ‘Asiatic’ or ‘Oriental’ facial features, and dressed in Turkish military garments like fur-trimmed caps (sharbush) and short close-fitting tunics, most other figures are depicted with ‘Arab’ or ‘Semitic’ facial features, and dressed in long robes and turbans.