Dual Crisis and Narrative Form in the Maqāmāt of Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Ḥamadhānī

Abstract

This study reexamines the Maqāmāt of Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Ḥamadhānī as a sophisticated narrative response to the multilayered crises of Abbasid society in the fourth century AH (tenth century CE). Moving beyond formalist readings that limit the maqāmah to linguistic virtuosity or entertainment, the article argues that the genre emerged from a dual crisis: a society marked by political instability, social stratification, economic deprivation, and moral contradiction, and an intellectual author alienated within that reality. Through close textual analysis, the study demonstrates how al-Ḥamadhānī employs satire, disguise, and narrative indirection to critique systemic injustice without the use of overt polemic. The recurrent figure of the mendicant-intellectual functions as an objective correlative for both societal fragmentation and the writer’s own marginalization, revealing a deep tension between creative brilliance and social degradation. Thus, the maqāmāt articulate a form of ethical and aesthetic resistance, transforming lived crisis into enduring literary discourse. By situating al-Ḥamadhānī’s work at the intersection of social critique and authorial self-representation, this study highlights the maqāmah as a foundational narrative form that transcends its historical moment and continues to speak to recurring human and intellectual crises.