Nadrat al-Bahar fi Muhawarat al-Layl wa al-Nahar
- Author died
- 1330 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Bashāʼir al-Islāmīyah lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ
Nadrat al-Bahar fi Muhawarat al-Layl wa al-Nahar (The Freshness of the Meadow Buttercup in the Dialogue of Night and Day) is an allegorical literary work in the form of a maqama and debate by the Syrian-Algerian scholar and litterateur Muhammad ibn al-Mubarak al-Jazairi (1263–1330 AH / 1847–1912 CE).
Background and Composition
The author composed the text after reflecting on the alternation of night and day and the subtle wisdoms and secrets placed within their hours. Presenting the discourse through personified expression (lisan al-hal), he cast it as an ornate literary session (maqama) and dialogue that interweaves rhymed prose (nathr) and verse (nazm). The author framed the work as an entertaining rhetorical debate crafted to transition seamlessly (husn al-takhallus) into a panegyric dedicated to the Prince of the Maghrib.
Structure and Content
The work is structured as a disputation (muhawara or munazara) between two personified adversaries: Night (al-Layl) and Day (al-Nahar). Each party boasts of its virtues and primacy, employing rhetorical figures, proverbs, and scriptural citations. Night argues for its superiority by citing its celestial adornments, Surah al-Qadr, and Quranic verses such as والليل إذا يغشى ("By the night when it covers") and سبحان الذي أسرى بعبده ليلا ("Exalted is He who took His Servant by night"). Day counters by proclaiming its brilliance, its role in unveiling the world, and its dispelling of darkness.
As the contest intensifies from jest into earnest debate, the two disputants seek arbitration before an amir, who urges them toward mutual accommodation and reconciliation, which forms the entry point for the text's concluding praise of the ruler.
Publication
The text was printed in Beirut by al-Matba'a al-Adabiyya in 1308 AH (1890–1891 CE) in a 45-page edition. In some biographical catalogues, the title is recorded with minor orthographic variants, including Nadrat al-Baha' and Nusrat al-Bahar.
Answer updated