Prosodic choices in al-Athari’s work on the al-mujtalab circle, a critical prosodic analysis

Abstract

Abu Sa'id al-Aathari occupies a high scholarly position among the scholars in the eighth century AH. He was a versatile scholar with significant contributions to various fields of Islamic and Arabic knowledge, particularly Hadith and prosody. Al-Athari authored a book on prosody, sourcing his data from diverse sources. He compiled a differing opinions of many scholars of the field of prosody, and arranged them elegantly in a book he titled "al-Wajhul Jamil fi ilm al-Khalil",  sometimes he use to chooses an opinion, favouring it over another, and at other times he opposes and discusses opinions without favouring one over another. This paper, in particular, addresses the prosodic choices made by al-Athari regarding the issues discussed by scholars within the circle of al-Mujtalab: al-Harj, al-Rajaz, and al-Raml. This circle is one of the most contentious in terms of its issues and nature, as it encompasses the meter of al-Rajul, whose status within poetry is subject to varying degrees of respect.