Abstract

Al Jahiz essays (rasāil) have not had their fair share of study as his other books did, such as Kitab al-Bayan wa al-Tabyin (The Book of eloquence and demonstration), Kitab al-Hayawan (Book of the Animals), and Kitab al-Bukhala (Book of Misers). This has been the motive behind highlighting his essays. I have focused on the question-answer duality in the four essays: "The Envious and the Envied", "the Prides of Blacks over Whites", "Homelands and Countries", and "the Drinker and Drinks". The question form turns out to be direct sometimes, indirect other times, and frequently a combination of indirect and indirect, but the indirect question was expressed in the form of imperatives.

The study found out that the direct question was framed by question word markers only, devoid of prepositions, and this is not surprising because the nature of the message dictates this. The questions asked are just yes/no type, giving the speaker ample space to express his ideas and culture. Al-Jahiz does not stop at the yes and no limits, but rather he discusses opinions and debates visions. The questioner remains absent in the essays of al-Jahiz, which leads to various different interpretations, as his essays were full of rhetorical devices such as specifications, conditionals, proverbs and citations.

Keywords

Essays, Al-Jahiz, Question and Answer, Direct Question, Indirect Question.

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