Simulation and Contrivance in Hariri's Maghamat

In the fourth century after Hijra (A.H), many kinds of rhetoric arts became common and popular in literary texts. In that cultural atmosphere, the Maghamat emerged. Badi al-Zaman al-Hamadani was the first to write the Maghamat in Arabic literature in the second half of the fourth century (A.H). The principal recurrent subject of his Maghamat was mendicancy. Every Maghama (singular of Maghamat in Arabic) must have a Rawi (narrator) and a hero. The narrator and the hero are repeated in all of the Maghamat. Al-Hamadani wrote 400 Maghama, only 54 of which are now available. Nearly a hundred years later, al-Hariri al-Basri appeared in the literary scene and helped the development of this literary sub-genre. Al-Hariri admitted in the introduction to his book (Maghamat) that he imitated al-Hamadani in this genre. Hence, al-Hariri’s Maghamat are both similar to and different from those of al-Hamadani. He wrote 50 Maghama on several topics. His Maghamat were longer, better organized and included more rhetorical devices.