Hadith and Maqama: A Reflection of the Role of the Isnad in Arabic Literature

Author: Stephanie Saporito

"The maqama genre has reached beyond the geographic scope of its birth and far into the 20th century. The supreme linguistic mastery and gratification characterize the maqama and provide the reader intellectual plasure work in concert with the destructive forces of parody. A parody which, in its attack on hadith literature, drives the reader toward the death of society order as contructed by the Qur'an, the dimsantling of the Divine language as set out by the Prophet Muhammad and the return to the time of Jahiliyyah, the age of ignorance of Divine word, when no written language existed."