Review of Tahera Qutbuddin's Arabic Oration: Art and Function

Brill: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East, 2019

In Arabic Oration: Art and Function, a narrative richly infused with illustrative texts and original translations, Tahera Qutbuddin presents a comprehensive theory of this preeminent genre in its foundational oral period, 7th-8th centuries AD. With speeches and sermons attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad, ʿAlī, other political and military leaders, and a number of prominent women, she assesses types of orations and themes, preservation and provenance, structure and style, orator-audience authority dynamics, and, with the shift from an oral to a highly literate culture, oration’s influence on the medieval chancery epistle. Probing the genre’s echoes in the contemporary Muslim world, she offers sensitive tools with which to decode speeches by mosque-imams and political leaders today.

Ritual and Social Dynamics in Christian and Islamic Preaching, 2024

Across the mosques, homes, battlefields, and open town spaces of the Middle East in the seventh and eighth centuries ad, religion, politics, and aesthetics coalesced in the richly artistic public performance of spontaneous Arabic oration (khuṭba). Exquisite in rhetorical craftsmanship, these interactive speeches and sermons by the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632), Imam Ali (d. 661), and other political and military leaders were also the major vehicle of policymaking and persuasion, and the primary conduit for dissemination of ethical, religious, and legal teachings. The Friday sermon that is an intrinsic part of Muslim ritual across the globe in our present time has a long history rooted in the first Friday sermon delivered by Muhammad in Medina, and more broadly in these multifunctional orations of the early Islamic world. In this chapter, I consider Arabic-Islamic oration across different social domains in its foundational age and situate religious speech within them. Drawing on a decade of research for my book published in 2019, Arabic Oration: Art and Function, I discuss the major features of classical Arabic oration, with a focus on religion, ritual, and the rhetoric of orality; further details for each of the points discussed below may be found in my book. I begin with a section on rhetoric, discussing the oral milieu of early Islamic oration and its aesthetic memory-based techniques. In a second section focusing on religion, I then discuss the pious themes of the early oration, and their diffusion across political and military speechmaking, which shows how boundaries between religion and other spheres of life were fluid in the early Islamic period. In the third section, on ritual, I say a few words about ceremonial aspects of the oration that served, among other things, as a mode of authority assertion. Altogether, I present the religious face of Arabic oration in early Islam, and some of its interconnections with art and society.

MEDIEVAL SERMON STUDIES, 2023

This article discusses classical Islamic oration's power of persuasion through two lenses, one wide-angled, one focused. First, it introduces topographies of Arabic oration in its foundational oral period in early Islam, addressing notable aspects of its art, function, and provenance. Then, it pivots to speak of major life changes induced by particular orations, or sermoninduced 'conversion'. Two early Islamic orations that induced such transformations are transcribed and briefly discussed: (1) the 'sermon describing the truly pious' by the successor of the Prophet according to the Shia and the fourth caliph according to the Sunnis, Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661) in Kufa, Iraq, which is said to have caused his associate Hammam to give up his life spirit, and (2) the battlefield speech addressed to the surrounding Umayyad army by Ali's son, the Shia Imam Husayn (d. 680), in Karbala, also in Iraq, which is reported to have won over the enemy sub-commander Hurr to Husayn's side and prompted him to fight for Husayn unto death. Both are striking examples of the life-altering effects of intense and eloquent sermons, manifest here in the ultimate passagean end to life in this world and entry into the hereafter. KEYWORDS oration's power of persuasion; Husayn ibn Ali; Ali ibn Abi Talib; classical Arabic oration; khutba; taqwā (Islamic piety and virtue); Hammam Sermon; Hurr in Karbala Orations declaimed by the Prophet Muhammad and early Muslim leaders across the mosques, homes, battlefields, and open town spaces of the Middle East in the seventh and eighth centuries CE were exquisite in rhetorical craftsmanship. They were also the major vehicle of policymaking and persuasion, as well as the primary conduit for dissemination of ethical, religious, and legal teachings. Importantly, they prompted life changes in their listeners. Most of these life changes were an ongoing process, but others were more startling and immediate. In this article, I draw on ten years of research for my recently published book, Arabic Oration: Art and Function to discuss the classical Arabic oration's power of persuasion. 1 After introducing the art, function, and provenance of Arabic oration in its foundational oral period in early Islam, I discuss two instances of life-altering oration-induced on-the-spot transformations: a sermon on piety by Imam Ali (d. 661)successor of the Prophet according to the Shia and fourth Sunni caliphthat is reported to have affected his associate Hammam so strongly that it transported him straight into the afterlife; and a speech on the battlefield by Ali's son, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Husayn (d. 680), that won over the enemy commander Hurr in the heat of battle in Karbala and prompted him then and there to lay down his life for Husayn.

Journal of Arabic Literature, 2024

Is oration literature? More specifically, can we read the multi-functional Arabic oration (khuṭbah) of the 1st/7th and 2nd/8th centuries as part of the classical prose canon? In this article, I argue that if our definition of literature includes beautiful language, admiration expressed by literary theorists, and masterful articulation of themes to evoke audience response, early Arabic oration is most certainly literature. I demonstrate this claim by analyzing the rhythmic and graphic oral aesthetics of early Arabic oration, the views of medieval theorists regarding its distinguished place and literary nature, and its crucial influence on the development of the chancery epistle (risālah), the first written genre of Arabic literary prose. I contend that khuṭbah is the foundational prose genre of Arabic and it has materially influenced the major genres of risālah and maqāmāt that followed. The history of Arabic literature cannot be written without oration.

Al-Mustansiriya Journal of Arts , 2012

Languages have different means of communication, some of which are verbal and others nonverbal. For the sake of expressing, stating, asking, requesting and emphasizing certain types of information, we sometimes tend to use some of these verbal or nonverbal means either directly or indirectly. Therefore, scholars and rhetoricians have studied most of these means and the properties that can lead speakers to select a highly effective discourse in order to get a successful understanding of meaning in its literal sense as well as to choose the correct Lexis to unambiguously comprehend the intended meaning. They also have tackled the ways of getting a persuasive discourse by using different aspects, some of which are syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, poetic, stylistic, etc. One of these ways that are used to get a persuasive speech and to sway an audience's opinion is the style or art of oration.

Classical Arabic Humanities in their Own Terms: Festschrift for Wolfhart Heinrichs, 2008

We know of no orations (khuÔbas) except by the Arabs and Persians. As for the Indians, they have inscribed themes, ageless books, that cannot be ascribed to any known man … The Greeks have philosophy and the craft of logic, but the author of the Logic [Aristotle] himself … was not described as eloquent … The Persians have orators, except that the speech of the ÝAjam … derives from long contemplation and … the studying of books … [As for] the [speech] of the Arabs it is all extemporaneity and spontaneity, as though it is [simply] inspiration … (al-JÁÎiÛ, d. 255/868 or 9, al-BayÁn wa-l-tabyÐn) 1 17 A less common plural form is makhÁÔib, which is also said to be a plural of makhÔab, a noun of place, meaning the place where the khuÔba is delivered. KHUÓBA 181 ceremonial occasion such as a public celebration." 18 It subsumes meanings conveyed by multiple English terms-exhortation, admonition, discourse, sermon, homily, debate, and speech-which also express the wide range of applications of the khuÔba. The definition of the term khuÔba by E.W. Lane, based on the medieval lexica, includes the umbrella category of "oration," as well as the subcategories mentioned in the OED. 19 All these applications of khuÔba (and several others, such as the proposing of marriage), are associated with the underlying denotation of "direct address" of the root kh-Ô-b. The scribe and critic IsÎÁq b. IbrÁhÐm al-KÁtib (wrote in or after 335/946 or 7) as well as the famed lexicographer Ibn ManÛÙr (d. 711/1311) offer an alternative derivation from "khaÔb," which means "an important event" or "a calamity," saying the khuÔba was thus named because the Arabs only delivered it on momentous or catastrophic occasions. 20 The morphological classifications of the relevant derivatives of kh-Ô-b are as follows: The form I verb "khaÔaba" (with a fatÎa on the 2 nd root letter), according to the medieval lexicographers, means to deliver an oration, while "khaÔuba" (with a Ãamma on the 2 nd root letter), means to become a preacher. To indicate the orator, the intensive noun form (ism al-mubÁlagha) "khaÔÐb" (pl. khuÔabÁÞ) is generally used in place of the active participle form (ism al-fÁÝil) "khÁÔib." However, the intensive sense of khaÔÐb is not completely lost, for the term is also used to connote a superb orator or a professional preacher. The word "khuÔba" is most commonly categorized as a form I verbal noun (maÒdar). Alternatively, it is categorized as a substantive used as a maÒdar or passive participle (ism al-mafÝÙl) equivalent to makhÔÙba. 21 18 The OED also offers two other specialized meanings of the word "oration:" a derogatory usage, denoting "any impassioned, pompous, or long-winded speech;" and, in the 15 th -19 th centuries, "a prayer or supplication to God," derived from the Latin etymon orare = to pray; this latter usage is now rare, and confined chiefly to the Roman Catholic Church. 19 Lane 1863, kh-Ô-b. Lane leaves out the OED's (internet site) oration subcategory of debate; but, as we shall see in Section IV, this was a valid subtype of the khuÔba. 20 IsÎÁq b. IbrÁhÐm al-KÁtib (d. after 335/946), al-BurhÁn fÐ wujÙh al-bayÁn, 192; Ibn ManÛÙr, LisÁn al-Ýarab. 21 Lane 1863 says it is "a word of the measure fuÝla in the sense of the measure mafÝÙla, like nuskha in the sense of mansÙkha." TAHERA QUTBUDDIN 182

Religion and Aesthetic Experience: Drama–Sermons–Literature, 2018

Early Islamic society revered its articulate speakers, and later scholars held up their addresses as exemplars of eloquence. But wherein lay the power of the classical oration (khuṭba)? Did orators randomly pick and choose stylistic features, or were there certain characteristics they privileged? More importantly, what were the conscious and unconscious impetuses for their choice of aesthetic mode? It is well known that the orator employed logical argumentation based on ideas to convince his audience. I argue that in tandem with this rational argumentation, the early Arabic orator also used a stylistic mode of persuasion to sway his listeners in a subtler way, one which relied primarily on rhythm. Elsewhere, I have divided the fundamental aesthetic features of the oration into five groups: vivid imagery, audience-engagement elements, rhetorical or real questions, testimonial citation of Qurʾānic and poetic verses, dignified yet straightforward language, and most prominently, and the focus of this article, rhythm. Through a granular textual analysis of a sermon on piety by the first Shiʿa imam and fourth Sunni caliph, ʿ Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661), the article demonstrates how the entire piece is formulated rhythmically: rooted in parallelism, augmented by repetition and rhyme, and sharpened by antithesis, the sermon's pulsing beat contributes to its aesthetic and persuasive success.

2018

This dissertation examines the speeches and the literary-historical figure of al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf al-Thaqafī (d. 714), the governor of Iraq under the Umayyad dynasty (661-750), to explore the role that public speech played in the process of building the Islamic empire as its key ideological tool. The first part of the dissertation (Chapters 1-3) establishes that al-Ḥajjāj is an exceptionally opportune case study of Umayyad oratory. It challenges the perceived image of the governor as notoriously brutish tyrant and mere servant of the Umayyads; explains the formation of this image; and provides an alternative account. Al-Ḥajjāj emerges as a semi-autonomous ruler of the Islamic East who made use of a vast array of cultural means to buttress his legitimacy and participated thereby in laying down the ideological principles of the Umayyad empire. Ḥadīths and other sources indicate that among these cultural means, Friday speech played an especially important role for al-Ḥajjāj. The second part (Chapters 4-6) deals with al-Ḥajjāj's speeches and, more generally, with Umayyad oratory, which has remained an unexplored field because of authenticityrelated issues. Chapter 4 discusses the ideology that al-Ḥajjāj's speeches project and draws attention to their performative quality. Appendix I contains translations of nineteen speeches. Chapter 5-through a detailed analysis of ten variants of one celebrated speechdevelops a method in dealing with the authenticity question and highlights oral patterns of transmission based on memorization. The oral transmission of this speech runs against the

2012

The mosque is the symbol of the living faith of Islam: its religiosity, faith in God and in His all-powerfulness. This sacred space is a reflection of deep belief in the divine word. It is also the place of the offering of prayer and of all the rites and rituals of Islam. To these symbolic elements must be added the components of the sacred space of the mosque: the minaret, the prayer hall with its mihrâb (prayer niche) and the minbar, or pulpit. These are the ritual supports of the sanctity of the mosque. Each of these elements has its own function in the sacred order. The prayer hall is the place of piety and of devotion. The minaret and the minbar represent elevation towards Heaven for the call to prayer or for ritual supplication and/or for the ritual "sermon" or the khutba. 1 The divine word is either "proclaimed aloud", or it is silent prayer. To reach God Most High one must either rise, or else prostrate. The centre of centres can only be God, and the mosque is situated in the centre of space, the more elevated spaces being symbolically nearer to God. Thus, in Islamic tradition the Kaa'ba, the centre of the world, is, symbolically, the most elevated place on earth, symbolising the centre of Heaven. All mosques are considered equivalents or copies of the Kaa'ba. Centrality and elevation, therefore, are two major aspects of the sanctity of the space of the mosque. Mystical and spiritual communication

Dar Kunūz al-Maʿrifah, Jordan, 2021

Arabic studies on Rhetoric have apparently changed over the last two decades. Although Classical Arabic rhetoric has dominance in the Arab Academia, whether in teaching or in research, some other contemporary trends have emerged and developed in an endeavor to create a new face of today's Arabic rhetoric. The New Arabic Rhetoric explores the various contemporary trends in Arabic rhetoric. It investigates the Arab endeavors to establish a new Arabic rhetoric.