Al-Hamathānī’s Major Innovative Ploy A Reading into the Cultural Biography Embodied in the Maqāmāt

Abstract

The maqāmāt of al-Hamdhānī generally narrate an anecdote of mendacity or a trick in which the protagonist (Abū al-Fatḥ al-Iskandarī) snatches a prize either from the audience or from the narrator, accordingly; does these maqāmāt, on the whole, form a one major and interwoven ploy, in which al-Hamadhānī won himself a prize that he sincerely strived for?

Also was there a relationship between the protagonist of the maqāmāt, Abū al-Fatḥ, and the author, al-Hamadhānī? Is it possible to read the maqāmāt as a one growing text, so that its historical evolution and internal shifts can be observed by critic? If so, then what implications could this reading bring about?

Was the emergence of the maqāmāt a result of the inventive (writer) keeping distance from the court of patron, or a result of the writer’s endeavour to reach the court? And would his success in reaching the court have strengthened (the maqāmāt/ innovation) or weakened it?

And does extensive learning the writer has gained provide him with (cultural authoritative status) which shapes innovation, the tools of its creation and the occasions of its reception? Is it imaginable that this (cultural authoritative status), would team up with the (culture of power) against the freedom of literati and literature, and cut away the margins of innovations?

These hypotheses and questions among others, for which I tried to find answers, form a reading that I hope will be guided to the truth or at least will encourage other readings.