A Satirist in the Abbasid Era

April 16, 2023 1:26 PM

Satire is among the most powerful tools for bringing the powerful back down to earth, and al-Jahiz from ninth-century Iraq was a master of the craft. Beyond his powerful connections, his financial independence may also have helped make him one of the few writers who could speak freely, not only about the maladies of their age but also its various classes and subclasses.
posted by Ahmad Khani (8 comments total)

"As the 11th-century litterateur Badi al-Zaman al-Hamadani once quipped, “For every epoch, there is an al-Jahiz.”

What a fascinating piece, well written and comprehensive without needless decor or unbalanced historical framework. I see al-Jahiz in the great light as Chinese, European or even the"New World". There is an individuality to this writer yet is words echo through the ages.
"Butchers, for example, would close their shops for a day if it happened that one of their fellow meat sellers lost business, to help them recover their losses. Intellectuals, by contrast, pretended not to know each other when they crossed paths in the street. “The kuttab do not distinguish themselves with anything except their mutual denial,” al-Jahiz writes. “Even if one of them knows the other and has read his work, when he sees him, he pretends not to know him.”"

What a brilliant way to live. I can recall at University all the "cool, smart kids" would clique up and we did the same, but if someone stood out or got a prize, it was acknowledged but, dunno, all the poets and writers rarely gathered. This is fascinating.
thanks Ahmad Khani.

"Whenever I read al-Jahiz, I cannot help but imagine him milling around the cafes of Baghdad, Damascus or Cairo, casting a cynical eye at the scores of intellectuals who inhabit these coffeehouses."

With respect, a splinter in the mind's eye, I see Diogenes tailing along banging his bowel and naked where al-Jahiz might quip:
Dulling my hearing and sight might you trample another's carpets for a brief hour?
posted by clavdivs at 3:02 PM on April 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Swell essay, I dig.

Vanity, insincerity, cultural alienation and blind imitation...
ow don't hit me

...and cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker,
Pinker's right that Academic writing often stinks, but he has his own share of misleading arguments...
posted by ovvl at 5:41 PM on April 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Very interesting article! It takes a pretty harsh stance against the intellectuals of the early Islamic age, though, which I'm not entirely sure is warranted, and some of the criticism of their "heresy" is pretty uncomfortable considering the power dynamics at play. For instance,

As he writes, “The purest form of blindness is imitation in heresy, for if it takes root in one’s heart, it elevates one’s brazenness and makes it difficult for people of debate to convince one otherwise.” This hostility toward faith or traditionalism continues to be in vogue today and, I daresay, often appears to be the result of imitation and trend-following rather than serious examination. In many cases, speaking against religion and traditionalism in public becomes “cool” and a way for individuals to stand out.

This is the type of attack that has been levied by the orthodox against the heterodox for millennia, predating not just Islam but most of the world's major religions, and is still prevalent today. Characterizing heterodox speech as merely "trend-following" or an attempt to seem "cool," and equating it with speaking "against faith or traditionalism," are facile techniques for dismissing it without engaging with it, and provide both foundation and cover for the argument that such speech must be suppressed in order to protect the impressionable. Although the Abbasid Empire has a well-deserved reputation for tolerance of religious diversity during its time, to be accused of heresy has never been a safe thing within any society in which orthodox religion wields so much power.

Ahmed Fal al-Din seems confident that al-Jahiz's satirical criticisms of the intellectual class of the Abbasid age constitute "punching up" in the power dynamic sense; at least from what he wrote here, though, I'm not convinced that's true, any more than the quote of Steven Pinker is a fair "punching up" satire of the generally disempowered academic class of 21st century America is, particularly given Pinker's status as one of the relatively small class of Ivy League elite professors who does wield some of the power that should attract satire.

Anyway, I enjoyed the article and learning about al-Jahiz, despite being skeptical of its portrayal of the power dynamics at play.

For those who, like me, were not educated about any of the intellectual history of Islam during school, and who are interested in learning more about the Mu'tazalites and other intellectual movements within the Islamic world (both by Muslims and otherwise) during its long history, I strongly recommend Peter Adamson's excellent History of Philosophy podcast, specifically his series on philosophy in the Islamic world. Adamson is a historian of philosophy specializing in philosophy in the Islamic world, and while the whole podcast is excellent, this series is some of his best work. While the episodes on Aristotle might be particularly useful for background context on what philosophers in the Islamic world were building on, it shouldn't be necessary to go through all the episodes in order to understand the series on the Islamic world.
posted by biogeo at 6:20 PM on April 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

Very interesting to learn about al-Jahiz, thanks!

Like biogeo, I was a little worried by the "hostility toward faith or traditionalism" bit. I'm reminded of Lucian of Samosata, who also ridiculed the philosophers of his day, but also clarified that, hey, he admired the philosophies themselves, just not their contemporary representatives.
posted by zompist at 8:42 PM on April 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Shukran friend! Looking forward to reading, God willing.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 11:29 PM on April 16, 2023

Also, if you're interested in examination of weighty topics from a Muslim point of view, check out The Thinking Muslim and Qarawiyyin Project podcasts.

There are many secular Westerners who approach Islam with respect, but there's nothing like hearing a brother or sister wax wordy on chewy issues like these. And plenty of them are doing exactly that... in English.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 11:33 PM on April 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

I can't find a free link to a translation right now, but The Book of Misers is laugh-out-loud funny, even at 1200 years old. It's basically this long rant about how cheap and shitty landlords are: gouging tenants, installing shitty fixtures, you name it. Absolutely relatable today, seriously. Even funnier in Arabic, because there's all kinds of rhyme/meter play going on that can't translate into English. It's also an ongoing commentary on الشعوبية, shu3ubiya: by making fun of Baghdadi landlords, who are Arabs, for being cheap, chintzy people, what's he's "really" doing is puncturing one of the chief claims to legitimacy of the Arabs, their legendary hospitality. In the desert? Maybe, but in Baghdad? They're all dicks.

The article doesn't even mention the best Jahiz story, which is his death. He lived to a great age, at least 90 and probably closer to 95. He loved reading so much that he'd pay the booksellers of Baghdad to leave him inside when they locked up their shops at night so he could spend the night reading. He died in one of these stores, nobody knows how: he was old and just up and died. But the booksellers started the story that he'd been so eager to read the last few books that he tried to climb a shelf and it collapsed up on him and killed him. Undoubtedly apocryphal but still a ton of fun.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 7:28 PM on April 17, 2023 [4 favorites]

There's an English translation by R. B. Serjeant which is available for loan by Archive.org. Anyone who reads Arabic might be able to take advantage of a free download from the Library of Congress. There are also currently a few used copies available for a not outrageously high price on Amazon.com. I'm going to have to see if I can secure a copy, sounds well worth the read!
posted by biogeo at 8:47 PM on April 17, 2023 [1 favorite]