Publisher's Synopsis
K. al-Anwar al-bahiyya fi ta?rif maqamat fusaha? al-bariyya is a work of adab attributed to the renowned littérateur and historian of literature Abu Mansur al-Tha?alibi. The work consists of an introduction and four chapters. The first three chapters are concerned with knowledge (?ilm): Chapter One discusses the merit and application of knowledge, Chapter Two the definition of knowledge and its true meaning, and Chapter Three the conditions of knowledge. The fourth chapter, which constitutes the bulk of the book, is concerned with occasions on which scholars and sages made speeches in the presence of rulers. It is divided into two parts: Part One presents pre-Islamic (jahiliyya) speeches, incorporating Arab, Greek, Byzantine, Persian, and Indian traditions, and Part Two presents Islamic speeches. The work is introduced by an analytical study discussing the attribution of the work, its relation to the Maqamat genre, and the manuscripts used.
