Abstract :
As attested by many of their works, sariqa (literary theft or legitimate borrowing) preoccupied medieval critics of Arabic literature. Modern scholars have thus far studied theoretical classifications of sariqa and poetic evidence in question without, however, dedicating enough attention to the social realities related to its praxis. The aim of this article is to come closer to a fuller understanding of sariqa by focusing on the case of theBūyid vizier and literary man al-āib Ibn ‘Abbād (326–85/938–95). Being an extraordinary nexus in which theory and practice of sariqa intersected, his case demonstrates well the discrepancies of the concept. These discrepancies are the outcome of sariqaʹs paradoxical nature shifting between the illegitimate and legitimate, while used interchangeably with other terms, and the changing power base of the person involved init. As a result, the sariqa of the vizier is one thing; the sariqa of his poet is another.
