Simile in ʿAjāʾib al-Ashʿār wa-Gharāʾib al-Akhbār by Muslim ibn Maḥmūd al-Shayzarī (D. after 622 AH)

Abstract

Praise be to God for granting me success in completing this research, and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and all his companions.

This study examines selected literary texts—both short poetic pieces and full poems—from ʿAjāʾib al-Ashʿār wa-Gharāʾib al-Akhbār by Muslim ibn Maḥmūd al-Shayzarī (d. after 622 AH), through a rhetorical approach. The research analyzes these literary texts rhetorically, with an attentive appreciation of their aesthetic qualities.

The study begins with a theoretical introduction that defines this rhetorical art for the reader before delving into the depths of the texts themselves. It draws on the most renowned classical works of rhetoric and the contributions of leading scholars who addressed rhetoric in all its branches, while also benefiting from the views and studies of contemporary researchers.

The research then proceeds to analyze the literary texts selected in advance for this rhetorical art, relying on the insights of rhetoricians who explored the aesthetics of literary texts in their own works through close analysis and discerned their rhetorical effects.

This chapter highlights the aesthetic dimensions of simile in all its forms, revealing the rhetorical imagery intended by poets in their verse.