Abstract :
When we read adīth ‘Īsā Ibn Hishām we cannot fail to notice the frequency of dialogues modelled on theatrical pattern. This may suggest that the author was fascinated by drama. However, al-Muwayliī fiercely attacks dramatic arts throughout the 32nd chapter of his work. How can this paradox be explained?
While al-Muwayliī belittled drama as an art, with no roots in Arabic culture and not yet mature enough for the Egyptian stage, he was nevertheless very much aware of the vividness of dialogues crafted for their rhetorical and theatrical effects, all in accordance with the famous metaphor: ‘all life is like a stage’. For that reason he refused to submit to the rules of western comedy—which demanded a rigorous plot—and preferred instead the free mode of the picaresque novel, into which he inserted a wide variety of direct dialogues, thus allowing his actors to participate in, or listen as spectators to, many debates or sketches representing everyday life. By so doing, al-Muwayliī sought to persuade his contemporaries that the spirit of drama is to be found everywhere. There was no need to go to a theatre: Egyptian society, with its chaotic mixture of eastern and western habits, was itself full of fascinating comedies. The attitudes displayed by ‘Īsā Ibn Hishām and the Pāshā in adīth ‘Īsā Ibn Hishām were intended as models for the participants in al-Naha: as part of their reform project, they were supposed to be impartial spectators who critically observe and comment on ordinary problems from every point of view. Only thereafter should they proceed to analyse the roots of societyʹs weaknesses.
