Affective and Magical Aspects of the Sheqsheqieh Sermon

The Sheqsheqieh sermon is one of Imam Ali’s most famous sermons, including criticisms, litigations and complaints against the previous caliphs, expressing the ugly truth of the Islamic society with eloquence. Imam Ali in this sermon uses a rhetorical structure in reaction to the usurpation of the caliphate and expresses the deviations and the blows cast upon the Islamic society. He uses rhetorical techniques such as simile, metaphor and figurative speech. He criticizes social phenomena of his time to internalize the values in the Islamic society, criticizing the government and their policies. The present paper focuses on the sheqsheqieh sermon, relying on its rhetorical styles by showing its affective and spiritual aspects. In this sermon, concepts, linguistic structure, styles of speech are intertwined to convey an image of the social and political situation. The literary devices are selected artistically, so that, in addition to creating a literary space, they connect to the overall structure of the speech . the present paper analyzes the linguistic structure of Imam Ali’s speeches in conveying the concepts in this Sermon.