During the 11th and 12th centuries, maqamat were recited before an assembled audience, and were often improvised and embellished. As such, the work had no need for illustrations. However, from the early 13th century, illustrated editions of the manuscript began to appear.[22] Ten different illustrated editions were known for many years, but with the discovery of a new illustrated edition in 1960, the total now stands at eleven.[23] One of the earliest and most widely known illustrated editions is that by al-Waisiti (completed in around 1236).[24] now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (in Paris).[25]
Maqamat Hariri Urdu.pdf
No known illustrations of maqamat exist prior to the 13th century.[28] However, illustrations were added to maqamat to add grandeur and interest to the manuscripts, even though the text was usually performed orally in large groups, rather than read in solitude.[2] Common images across various Maqāmāt texts include: grand banquet events involving music and drinking, large groups congregated (sometimes in mosques), and general scenes involving the trickery of Abu Zayd as well as the frustration of Al Harith.[2] Particularly in the Saint Petersburg Maqāmāt, these scenes were meant to be humorous to those reading the text, as they often were loosely associated with the poem the image was correlated with.[2] These comical images were also shown through the over-exaggerated gestures, such as rigid elbows and knees, of the human figures portrayed as shown in the Vienna Maqāmāt.[29]
Al-Hariri was born 446 AH (1054 AD) and died in his native city of Basra on 6 Rajab, AH 516 (10 September, 1122 AD).[3] Although his place of birth is uncertain, scholars suggest that he was probably born in Mashan (near Basra), where his family had a palm tree plantation.[4] and only resided in Basra after the age of maturity. The street where he died, Banu Haaran, was a place where certain families were known to have settled and was a centre of Basra's silk manufacturing industry. His name, al-Hariri, probably reflects his residence (hariri = silk manufacturer or silk merchant).[5]
When al-Hariri had written 40 maqamat, he collected them into a single volume and headed to Baghdad where he expected a triumphant reception. However, his opponents accused him of plagiarism; they claimed that the Assemblies were in fact the work of a writer from the Western Maghreb who had died in Baghdad and whose papers had fallen into Al-Hariri's hands. To test the merit of such claims, the Vizier sent for al-Hariri and invited him to compose a letter on a specified subject. However, Al-Hariri was not an improviser, rather he required long periods of solitude in which to compose his stories, and although he retired to a corner for a lengthy period, he was unable to produce anything and was ashamed. In an effort to redeem his reputation, al -Hariri returned to Basra where he composed ten additional maqamat in the following months.[16]
Like most books of the period, maqamat were intended to be read aloud before a large gathering.[28] Oral retellings of maqamat were often improvised, however, al-Hariri who composed his stories in private, intended them as finished works that he expected to be recited without embellishment.
The maqamat became almost the best known and most highly appreciated literary works of later times among the Arabs; in particular, al-Hariri's Maqamat were praised highly and remained a favorite in the Muslim world. 2ff7e9595c