al-Maqamat al-Zayniyya
- Author died
- 701 AH
- Editions
- al-Maqamat al-Zayniyya
al-Maqāmāt al-Zayniyya (The Zaynian Assemblies) is an Arabic literary collection of fifty maqāmāt composed in 672 AH (1273–1274 CE) by the Shafiʿi jurist and man of letters Ibn al-Sayqal al-Jazari (d. 701 AH / 1301 CE) on the model of the assemblies of al-Hariri.
Authorship and Composition
The work was authored by Shams al-Din Abu al-Nada Maʿadd ibn Nasr Allah ibn Rajab al-Jazari al-Mawsili, widely known as Ibn al-Sayqal al-Jazari. He completed its composition in 672 AH. In certain bibliographical notices, the work is alternatively titled al-Maqāmāt al-Jazariyya and entered under Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Ghalib Muʿin al-Din al-Jazari (d. 689 AH / 1290 CE). In his introduction, Ibn al-Sayqal indicates that he composed the fifty assemblies and named them after his patron to perpetuate his memory.
Structure and Literary Character
Following the classical maqāma tradition established by Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadhani and al-Hariri, the work consists of fifty discrete narrative episodes. The overarching narrative structure rests on two fictional personas:
- The Narrator: al-Qasim ibn Jaryal al-Dimashqi (al-Qāsim ibn Jaryāl al-Dimashqī), who relates each encounter.
- The Protagonist: Abu Nasr al-Misri (Abū Naṣr al-Miṣrī), an eloquent, itinerant rogue whose wit and rhetorical prowess drive the plots.
The text opens with the doxology:
«الحمد لله الذي أيدنا بمنائح الآلاء...» "Praise be to God who supported us with the gifts of bounties..."
The assemblies are set across diverse cities throughout the Islamic world—including Baghdad, Damascus, Basra, Tus, Sinjar, Irbil, Mayyafariqin, Shiraz, Homs, Hama, and Mardin. The collection blends serious moral discourse with witty humor (al-jidd wa-al-hazl), employing ornate rhymed prose (sajʿ), embedded verse, paranomasia (tajnīs), and extensive displays of rare Arabic vocabulary.
Modern Editions
Al-Maqāmāt al-Zayniyya was edited by Abbas Mustafa al-Salihi and published in Beirut by Dar al-Masirah in 1400 AH (1980 CE).
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