The Classical Narrative Text in Light of Contemporary Critical Approaches: Al-Hamadhani’s Maqamat as a Model

Abstract

This study aims to reread Badi‘ al-Zaman al-Hamadhani’s Maqamat in accordance with contemporary critical approaches in order to reveal their structural, semantic, psychological, and social dimensions, and to move beyond limiting their interpretation to the rhetorical dimension. It also highlights the role of these approaches in understanding the maqamat as a narrative discourse that reflects the interaction between language and reality.The study concludes that the maqamat are based on a recurring narrative structure and reveal deep symbolic meanings associated with their characters. They also display a discrepancy between moral discourse and actual behavior. The psychological analysis presents the trickster as a product of social disturbances, while the social and historical approach shows that the maqamat reflect political and economic transformations, in which rhetoric becomes a tool of deception. This gives the texts a renewed character and makes them open to interpretation.