Bulugh al-Amal fi Fann al-Zajal
- Author died
- 837 AH
- Editions
- Bulugh al-Amal fi Fann al-Zajal
Bulugh al-Amal fi Fann al-Zajal (Attaining the Hope in the Art of Zajal) is a treatise on Arabic vernacular strophic poetry written by the Mamluk-era scholar, poet, and epistolographer Ibn Hijjah al-Hamawi (767–837 AH / 1365–1433 CE) . The work is dedicated to examining the conventions, subgenres, prosodic structures, and rhetorical devices of the zajal and related post-classical non-standard poetic forms .
Background and Purpose
Ibn Hijjah composed the treatise to document the principles of zajal, surveying its origins and establishing its critical standards . In the opening, he observes that while classical poetry and the muwashshah require grammatical inflection (i'rab) and formal linguistic mastery, vernacular forms cater to literary sensibility through uninflected language (lahn) . He traces the formalization of the genre to the Andalusian poet Ibn Quzman, who stripped the form of grammatical desinential inflection and established dialect as its defining characteristic .
Ibn Hijjah intended the book to serve as a comprehensive guide for students of the craft, detailing both the artistic virtues (mahasin) and the stylistic pitfalls ('uyub) found in the compositions of Western (Andalusian and Maghribi) and Eastern (Egyptian and Levantine) masters .
Contents and Literary Classification
The treatise discusses the linguistic derivation of zajal, noting that the word literally signifies voice or raised sound (such as thunder or the clatter of stones), and explains that the genre was given this name because its rhythmic beauty and meter are fully realized when sung aloud .
According to Ibn Hijjah, the early masters divided zajal compositions into four main thematic categories rather than distinguishing them by meter:
- Zajal proper: verses devoted to themes of wine (khamriyyat) and nature or flowers (zahriyyat) .
- Balyaq: humorous, playful, or ribald compositions (hazl and khala'ah) .
- Qarqiy: satirical or defamatory verse (hija' and thalb) .
- Mukaffir: hortatory and moral poems devoted to wisdom and sermonizing (hikmah and mawa'iz), named from the expiation of sins (takfir al-dhunub) .
A poem in any of these four categories that introduces partially inflected (mu'rab) classical phrasing is designated as muzannam .
In addition to zajal, Ibn Hijjah incorporates discussion of three related non-classical genres among the "seven poetic arts" (al-funun al-sab'ah): the mawaliya, the kan wa-kan, and the quma .
Critical Rules and Examples
Ibn Hijjah articulates specific technical and dialectal conventions governing vernacular composition:
- Structural requirements: A standard zajal stanza consists of four lines, where returning to the opening refrain (al-dukhul 'ala al-matla') serves functionally as an additional line; fewer than four lines renders the composition deficient . This technique of entering the refrain corresponds to poetic quotation (tadmin) in classical verse .
- Dialectal purity: The rules of zajal prohibit using Eastern dialectal vocabulary and vocalizations in Western zajal, just as Maghribi forms are forbidden in the Eastern-originated mawaliya . For instance, vowelling rules on pronouns and pronominal suffixes differ strictly between the traditions .
- Critique of poets: The work assesses compositions by notable poets of non-classical verse, including Safi al-Din al-Hilli, Burhan al-Din al-Mi'mar, 'Izz al-Din al-Mawsili, and 'Ala' al-Din Ibn Muqatil al-Hamawi .
Publication
The text was edited by Rida Muhsin al-Qurayshi, with an introduction by 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Ahwani, and published by the Ministry of Culture in Damascus in 1394 AH / 1974 CE as part of the Ihya' al-Turath al-'Arabi series .
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