Glossary 2 Arabic Literary Terms
| adab al-kātib |
“the scribe’s culture,” prose genre |
| adab |
collection of anecdotes and quotable material, prose genre |
| akhbār, sing. khabar |
historical reports |
| amālī |
“dictations,” prose genre |
| amthāl, sing. mathal |
proverbs |
| ayyām al-ʿarab |
“battle days of the Arabs,” prose genre |
| badīʿ |
word play, figures of speech |
| balāghah |
rhetoric or eloquence |
| dīwān |
government bureau, collection of poetry, sometimes collection of orations |
| gharīb |
rare words |
| ḥadīth |
sayings of the Prophet Muḥammad, hadith |
| ḥāfiẓ, pl. ḥuffāẓ |
Qurʾan memorizer |
| ḥikam, sing. ḥikmah |
maxims, lit. wisdom |
| īqāʿ |
rhythm, beat |
| isnād |
chain of transmitters |
| istiʿārah |
metaphor |
| izdiwāj |
parallelism |
| jinās ishtiqāq |
paronomasia of derivation |
| kāhin, pl. kuhhān, fem. kāhinah, pl. kawāhin |
soothsayer |
| kātib, pl. kuttāb |
scribe or chancery official |
| khaṭābah |
oratory |
| khaṭīb, pl. khuṭabāʾ |
orator or preacher |
| khuṭbah, pl. khuṭab |
oration |
| khuṭbah siyāsiyyah |
political speech |
| khuṭbat al-ʿīd |
Eid sermon |
| khuṭbat al-jihād |
battle oration |
| khuṭbat al-jumʿah |
Friday sermon |
| khuṭbat al-nikāḥ/al-zawāj |
marriage oration |
| khuṭbat al-waʿẓ |
sermon of pious counsel |
| kināyah |
metaphorical expression with extended substitution |
| majālis |
“assemblies,” prose genre |
| majāz mursal |
synecdoche or metonymy |
| maqām, pl. maqāmāt |
ascetic’s public admonishment to ruler, prose genre |
| maqāmāt, sing. maqāmah |
rhymed picaresque tales, prose genre |
| muʿallaqah, pl. muʿallaqāt |
pre-Islamic ode, one of seven or ten singled out as exemplary |
| mukhaḍram |
poet or orator whose life spanned two distinct historical periods |
| mumāthalah |
morphological equivalence |
| muwāzanah |
assonance |
| qāriʾ, pl. qurrāʾ |
Qurʾan reciter |
| qaṣaṣ |
homiletic lecture |
| quṣṣāṣ, sing. qāṣṣ |
homiletic orators |
| radīf |
repeat suffix coming after the rhyme consonant |
| rāwī, pl. ruwāh |
narrator of historical reports, hadith, poetry, or orations |
| rāwiyah |
master narrator |
| risālah, pl. rasāʾil |
epistle or treatise |
| riwāyah bi-l-lafẓ |
verbatim transmission |
| riwāyah bi-l-maʿnā |
non-verbatim transmission |
| sajʿ |
consonant rhyme |
| sajʿ al-kuhhān |
soothsayer rhyme |
| shāʿir, pl. shuʿarāʾ |
poet |
| shawāhid, sing. shāhid |
testamentary texts |
| shiʿr |
poetry |
| sūrah |
Qurʾan chapter, Surah |
| taḥmīd |
praise-and-benediction formula opening orations |
| takbīr |
the religious formula “God is great” (Allāhu akbar) |
| takhyīl |
fantasy |
| takrār |
repetition |
| tamthīl |
extended metaphor |
| taqdīm wa-taʾkhīr |
changing standard word order, Latin: hysteron-proteron |
| tashbīh |
simile |
| tarṣīʿ |
combined rhyme and parallelism |
| ṭibāq, muṭābaqah |
antithesis |
| waṣiyyah |
testamentary address |
| waʿẓ |
homiletic discourse |