Born: Mashan, near Basra, Iraq, in 446 ah/1054 ce. Family: One known son, ‘Abd Allah. Career: Oversaw the date palm plantation that he inherited in Mashan; held a position in the intelligence branch of the central government of the Caliphate in Basra; and studied, taught, and wrote literary and grammatical works in Basra and Baghdad; his most famous work, al-Maqamat, was allegedly composed for Anushirwan ibn Khalid, minister to the Caliph al-Mustarshid. Died: 516 ah/1122 ce in Basra, Iraq.
Publications Fiction
Al-Maqamat (a linked series of stories in rhymed prose). c. 504 ah/ 1110 ce; as The Assemblies of al-Hariri, translated by Amina Shah, 1980.
Verse
Diwan al-Hariri (collection of poetry), not extant. c. 516 ah/1122 ce Mulhat al-I’rab (a grammatical treatise in verse). c. 516 ah/1122 ce
Other
Rasa’il (letters), not extant. c. 516 ah/1122 ce Durrat al-Ghawwas fi awham al-khawass (a grammatical treatise in prose). c. 516 ah/1122 ce
Critical Studies:
Al-Maqamah by Shawqi Dayf, 1954; Les Seances: Recits et codes culturels chez Hamadhani et Hariri by Abdelfattah Kilito, 1983;; Ra’y fi al-maqamat by Abd al-Rahman Yaghi, 1985; al-Ghaib: Dirasah fi maqamah lil-Hariri by Abdelfattah Kilito, 1987; Fann al-maqamah bayna al-Badi’ wa-al-Hariri wa-al-Suyuti by Ahmad Amin Mustafa, 1991.
Al-Hariri is without a doubt best known for al-Maqamat (The Assemblies of al-Hariri), a linked series of comic stories written in rhymed prose. Al-Maqamat is the name of a literary genre that is first attributed to al-Hariri’s predecessor, al-Hamadhani, who also wrote in Arabic (d. 398 ah/1008 ce). Although al-Hariri pays homage to al-Hamadhani in his introduction to The Assemblies of al-Hariri, it was al-Hariri’s contribution to the genre that became the model for its further development over the centuries.
While the narrative structure of the maqamah genre varies from author to author, in al-Hariri’s case, each of the fifty stories is related by a narrator named al-Harith ibn Hammam and portrays the mischievous adventures of a lowly but eloquent character named Abu Zayd al-Saruji. Each story takes place in, and is named for, a different city of the Islamic world. The series of stories is further linked by the parallel between the first and last stories. In the first story, al-Harith witnesses Abu Zayd pretend to be an itinerant preacher in order to collect money and follows him home, only to find that he is served a lavish meal accompanied by wine, although Islamic law prohibits the drinking of alcohol. In the final story, al-Harith witnesses Abu Zayd pretend to be an itinerant preacher once again, but this time Abu Zayd repents for his mischievous ways before a large crowd in a mosque.
Al-Hariri’s fame is due not only to his skillful presentation of the maqamah genre, but also to the newness of this genre and its importance in the development of the Arabic literary tradition. Other examples of written narrative fiction, such as animal fables and transmitted stories, were in circulation at the time. However, the maqamah as conceived first by al-Hamadhani and then by al-Hariri was perhaps the first example of written narrative that was openly presented as fiction rather than factual transmission. The newness of this idea of fiction is evident from biographies of al-Hariri that attempt to explain who Abu Zayd really was, although al-Hariri himself explains that he is a fictional character.
Perhaps in order to protect himself and his work in this anti-fiction literary environment, al-Hariri also suggests in his introduction that these stories, though fictional, are didactic, and thus morally acceptable and relevant to real life. The final story, in which the phony preacher repents, perhaps bears out this assertion of didactic significance. It is as if al-Hariri implies that eloquence, however refined and persuasive, is worthless without the good intention of honesty.
Although al-Hariri’s role in the development of classical Arabic fiction is important to the history of Arabic literature, al-Hariri’s contemporaries were much more interested in his carefully crafted style. Credit is given to his predecessor al-Hamadhani for inventing the genre of linked stories in rhymed prose, but al-Hariri is generally considered to be the superior master of style. Combining narrative fiction with verse, sermons, letters, grammatical points, and riddles in a smoothly flowing rhymed prose, al-Hariri’s series of stories were considered a masterpiece of style and refined entertainment. This emphasis on style displays the relationship between al-Hariri’s series of linked stories and his two grammatical works, one in prose about common mistakes (Durrat al-Ghawwas) and another in verse designed to introduce students to grammatical concepts (Mulhat al-I’rab).
The genre of linked narratives in rhymed prose, and the example of al-Hariri in particular, was widely imitated throughout the Arabic-speaking world for centuries, down to the beginning of the twentieth century and the emergence of modern forms of prose. His ornate style is still appreciated as a masterpiece of classical literature, but is no longer imitated by modern prose writers. However, the question of fiction associated with the genre of linked stories, and al-Hariri and al-Hamadhani in particular, has taken on a new significance in modern Arabic literature. Many critics reject the idea that narrative fiction in Arabic is exclusively imported from the West. They assert that classical forms of fiction, especially the orally transmitted Thousand and One Nights and the written genre of linked stories in rhymed prose known as the maqamah, constitute an Arabic fiction tradition that is independent of Western influence. Thus while al-Hariri had to defend his series of stories from accusations that they were unacceptable because of their fictional status, that same fictional status has become a source of pride for modern Arab critics.
