Rhetorics of Invective and Defamation in an Islamic Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52610/rhs.v15i57.136Keywords:
Arabic rhetoric, invective, defamation, lampoon, islam, sectarian politics (Sunnism versus Shi‘ism)Abstract
The article introduces variants of the invective and its uses during the first centuries of Islam. After Muhammad’s death in 632 C.E. the newly established Muslim community (al-umma) was soon afflicted by a crisis of dispute concerning the question of rightful leadership. The ensuing conflicts, that were eventually to crystallize into the sectarian divide between Shi‘ism and Sunnism, are reflected in defamatory speeches attributed to proponents of the differing parties. The motives and intentions of the speaker/author may vary considerably. While in some cases it is driven by resentments that may turn the genre into a vehicle for sectarian agitation, or even “hate speech”, others are of a more artistic kind or expressions of pure rhetorical exercise. The invective was also cultivated by Muslim authors in ways that suggest a degree of continuity with the late antique tradition of progymnasmata (prepatatory exercises in elementary rhetoric and prose composition). In either case, however, the invective has tended to be looked upon as a dubious activity by shari‘a-oriented religious scholars (‘ulama).
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