The subject

Maqamah of Al-Hariri (al-Baghdadiah)

Maqamah of Al-Harizi (האישה ،וילדיו)) it means (the woman and her children)

The beginning

The narrator (Al-Harith bin Hamaam) begins his speech by saying that he joined a seminar in the outskirts of Az-Zawraa (Baghdad) with a group of poets, and he starts praising them with the most eloquent expressions of praise and admiration.

Al-Harizi accurately translated Al-Hariri’s prelude with extreme precision while preserving all the details: The narrator joins a group of poets and praises them with the most eloquent expressions of praise and commendation. However, he replaced Al-Zawraa (Baghdad) with a city named (קרית יערים).

The narrator

The narrator in Al-Hariri’s Maqamat is a character inspired by Al-Hariri’s imagination, and his name is Al-Harith ibn Hammam.

Al Harizi’s replaced Al Hariri inspired character with another character that he himself drew from his Jewish culture, which is the character of Etiyal.

The protagonist

He is the fictional character whose role is based on executing the trick, as in his other Maqamat. He is Abu Zaid Al-Surji, who impersonates an old poor woman in this Maqamah, accompanied by her children who have been turned by fate from prosperity, glory, and wealth to poverty and the darkness of days and nights.

Al-Harizi accurately conveys the hero’s trick in Maqamah as Al-Hariri, and as usual in his other Maqamat. Al-Harizi replaces the character of the hero, Abu Zaid Al-Sarouji, with a character inspired by his cultural environment, which is the character named (חבר הקיני).

The conclusion

The narrator followed this old woman to uncover her secret after he became suspicious of her. He found her hiding inside a mosque in a crowded market, to reveal her true identity. To his surprise, it was Abu Al-Muhtal, also known as Abu Zaid Al-Surji.

The translated version of Al-Harizi’s Maqamah accurately depicts what Al-Hariri’s Maqamah has come to, but as usual, Al-Harizi replaces the Islamic religious places of Al-Hariri with Jewish ones, as he replaced the mosque with the Jewish synagogue.

the plot

The artistic plot in Al-Hariri’s Maqamat follows a regular path in which one can hardly find the element of suspense as is the case in the world of contemporary storytelling and novels. Al-Hariri’s focus is directed towards the eloquent linguistic plot rather than the artistic plot.

Although Al-Harizi translates the text of the Al-Hariri Maqamah in terms of spirit and content rather than literal translation, he is committed to translating the plot of the Maqamah linguistically rather than artistically. This is the goal to which Al-Harizi dedicated his translations of Al-Hariri’s Maqamat, as mentioned earlier, seeking to prove that the Hebrew language is not less eloquent compared to the Arabic language.