Risalat al-Malaika
- Author died
- 449 AH
- Editions
- t al-Maymani - t al-Ilmiyya · ta al-Jundi
Risalat al-Malaika (The Epistle of the Angels) is an Arabic literary and grammatical treatise by the poet and philosopher Abu al-Ala al-Maarri (363–449 AH / 973–1057 CE) in which complex morphological questions are addressed through an imaginative dialogue with angels in the afterlife .
Composition and Classification
According to Abu al-Fadl al-Mu'ayyad ibn al-Muwaffaq al-Sahibi in al-Muhkam al-Bawaligh fi Sharh al-Kalim al-Nawabigh, al-Maarri dictated the work to answer intricate morphological inquiries (masail tasrifiyya) submitted by students . In the opening of the epistle, al-Maarri notes that these questions were brought to him by Abu al-Qasim Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Hammam .
In his bibliographical compendium Kashf al-Zunun, Haji Khalifa classifies Risalat al-Malaika under al-Maarri's category of long epistles that function as self-contained books, grouping it alongside works such as Risalat al-Ghufran (The Epistle of Forgiveness) and al-Risala al-Sundusiyya .
Content and Method
Al-Maarri frames his grammatical and philological expositions within a satirical narrative of dying and facing the angelic guardians of the unseen realm :
- The Angel of Death: Upon the arrival of the Angel of Death, al-Maarri imagines attempting to stave off the extraction of his soul by debating the morphological root of malak (angel)—whether it derives from al-aluka (message) via root metathesis (qalb)—and analyzing the morphological pattern of the name Azrael (Izra'il) .
- Munkar and Nakir: In the grave, he confronts the interrogating angels Munkar and Nakir, asking why their names are fully inflected Arabic forms while most angelic names, such as Jibril, Mikail, and Israfil, are of non-Arabic origin (ajamiyya) . When they brandish their iron club (al-irzabba), he distracts them with morphological rules governing its diminutive and broken plural forms, invoking opinions of grammarians such as al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, Sibawayh, and Said ibn Mas'ada .
- Malik and the Guardians of Hell: Al-Maarri depicts himself seeking the favor of Malik, the guardian of Hellfire, by inquiring into the grammatical singular of al-Zabaniya (the angels of torment) .
Modern Publication
The work was edited by the Indian-Arabist scholar Abd al-Aziz al-Maymani and published as an appendix to his study Abu al-Ala wa-Ma Ilayh . It has also been issued as an independent volume by publishers in Beirut .
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