https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/ Arabic Literature Bulletin en daily 1 Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0330 Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0330 https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106470.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Among the diverse approaches to literary criticism, the sociology of literature occupies a distinctive position. This approach, relying on social criteria, investigates the content of literary works to uncover and explain the complex relationships between a literary text and the social contexts that shape it. George Lukács (1885–1971), a prominent modern critic and theorist, profoundly transformed the sociological approach to literary criticism through his innovative ideas. In his theory of the novel, he emphasized key concepts such as realism, the typical character, causal relationships, and social content as the fundamental pillars of literary analysis. From Lukács’ perspective, pure realism should present a coherent and harmonious image of humanity and society, striving to portray the unity and interdependence of these two essential dimensions. Lukács’ realism is characterized by three principal features: critical awareness, fidelity to reality, and popular orientation. He argues that realist writers must adopt a critical view of society and portray inequalities, injustices, and other social ailments with honesty. They must also depict reality objectively—even when it contradicts their personal convictions—and address the fundamental issues of society by delving deeply into human pain, emotion, and behavior. The Lebanese novelist Hoda Barakat’s Barīd al-Layl (The Night Mail), winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (Arabic Booker), exemplifies these principles. Through a critical and realist approach, Barakat offers readers a stark and unsettling portrayal of the chaos and disorder of contemporary society. The main objective of this study is to analyze the novel through the lens of Lukácsian realism and to highlight literature’s vital role in understanding, analyzing, and potentially remedying social deficiencies and disarray.Methodology: As an interdisciplinary approach, the sociology of literature forges a deep connection between society and literary production. By carefully examining the reciprocal influence between the social structure and the writer’s artistic consciousness, this method seeks to reveal how social and economic dislocations are reflected in creative expression. This research adopts a descriptive–analytical methodology, grounded in the theoretical framework of George Lukács, to examine Hoda Barakat’s Barīd al-Layl. The central research question investigates how structural disorders within society are reproduced and mirrored in the narrative fabric of the novel through artistic techniques and narrative representation.Discussion and Analysis: As a realist work, Barīd al-Layl deeply probes social dilemmas and purposefully exposes the harsh and bitter realities of contemporary life. One of Barakat’s most notable stylistic features is her critical orientation, expressed through a penetrating critique of the adverse conditions prevailing in both Arab societies and the Western world. Her narrative addresses a wide range of issues, including poverty, economic inequality, child labor, early and forced marriages, and other social afflictions. Barakat presents these problems with remarkable frankness, identifying illiteracy as both a product of poverty and a root cause of other social pathologies. Beyond this, she confronts phenomena such as sexual exploitation and prostitution, and candidly depicts the oppression of women, including violence, corporal punishment, and sexual abuse—forms of injustice that remain deeply entrenched. The devastating consequences of war, such as arbitrary arrests, the wretched conditions of prisons, and acts of torture and rape, are also recounted with emotional intensity. In alignment with Lukács’ conception of grand realism—which must engage with society’s most pressing problems—Barakat turns her attention to the plight of migrants and refugees, illuminating their suffering and alienation. An examination of Barīd al-Layl within Lukács’ sociological framework reveals abundant evidence of critical realism, commitment to truth, and popular engagement, the three foundational principles of his theory.Findings: The findings of this study demonstrate that the spirit of Lukácsian realism is vividly embodied in Barīd al-Layl. Barakat constructs a narrative world pulsating with the rhythm of social realities, offering an unflinching reflection of the human condition. Her portrayal of poverty, class disparity, war, and widespread illiteracy exposes the destructive forces leading society toward decline. These structural afflictions manifest in numerous phenomena—child labor, child abuse, early marriage, unemployment, addiction, and sexual deviation—which the author portrays with both artistic sensitivity and sociological insight. In doing so, Barakat’s novel exemplifies the capacity of realist literature to reveal and critique the underlying social contradictions of modern life. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106489.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Collocation, which arises from the mutual relationship between words within a text, constitutes a type of lexical cohesion and forms part of the broader concept of textual coherence. The term cohesion was first introduced by Halliday and Hasan (1976). According to these two linguists, reference, ellipsis, substitution, conjunction, and lexical cohesion are the principal mechanisms that create textual cohesion. Lexical cohesion itself is divided into two categories: repetition and collocation. Collocation encompasses various subtypes, and the purposeful use of these forms not only enhances textual continuity but also foregrounds the thematic focus of a work, thereby aiding the reader’s comprehension. By creating harmony among the words in a text—through relationships such as contrast, association, co-occurrence, or part–whole relations—collocation enables words to cohere and generate a unified textual structure. Furthermore, the patterns of collocation among certain lexical items may reveal the underlying ideology of the text, reflecting the author’s conceptual framework and personal experiences. Investigating these relationships can thus illuminate the writer’s motives and ideological orientation. The novel Al-Jaziyah wa al-Darawish (Al-Jaziyah and the Dervishes) by Abdul Hamid bin Hadouqa (1925–1996)—the author of the first Arabic novel written in Algeria—provides a rich literary corpus that implicitly addresses the Algerian social and political condition. The present study aims to determine how the cohesive element of collocation contributes to textual unity and how it functions to highlight the novel’s central themes and ideological concerns.Methodology: This study adopts a descriptive–analytical approach grounded in Halliday and Hasan’s theory of cohesion. Instances of collocation in Al-Jaziyah wa al-Darawish were identified, categorized, and statistically analyzed to determine the frequency of each type and its role in the text’s overall cohesion. The analysis also considers contextual and intertextual factors, interpreting how collocational structures reveal and reinforce the author’s ideological stance and the thematic fabric of the novel.Discussion and Analysis: Drawing on the text of Al-Jaziyah wa al-Darawish, the study identifies and quantifies various types of collocation, analyzing their significance in both structural and ideological terms. The novel’s dual temporal structure—comprising two distinct timeframes across eight sections—reveals a consistent use of contrast both in its title and its narrative development. Hadouqa juxtaposes Al-Jaziyah and Al-Darawish to represent a dialogue between national identity and intellectual crisis, as well as between the worshipped and the worshippers. The recurrence of these two names throughout the narrative creates semantic continuity and cohesion. The contrasts embedded within the text function not only as cohesive devices but also as ideological constructs. Hadouqa frequently employs antithetical relationships to raise reader awareness, using them to promote the ideals of resistance and non-conformity—values that underpin the novel’s broader ideological message. The main characters—Al-Jaziyah, Al-Darawish, Al-Ra‘ah, Al-Shambit, Al-Tayyib, and Al-Ahmar—are all symbolic, and the associative meanings of their names reinforce the novel’s central themes. Such collocations of semantically related lexemes establish both coherence and ideological unity across the text. Hadouqa’s use of collocation is not confined to the primary theme of national struggle; it also extends to other related domains—social, cultural, and political—reflecting the multifaceted realities of Algerian life. Collocations reflecting part-to-part relationships are relatively infrequent and serve primarily descriptive purposes, though some instances subtly reference the novel’s overarching subject. Likewise, collocations denoting part-to-whole relations are limited in number but play a noticeable role in maintaining textual cohesion. Collocations involving words from an organized set are rare, yet even these few occurrences add both cohesion and ideological resonance. The use of color terms—al-ahmar (red), al-akhḍar (green), and al-abyad (white)—creates a distinct collocational network of unordered sets. Notably, Hadouqa names two characters Al-Ahmar and Al-Akhdar, symbolizing two competing ideologies—Islamic and socialist. By juxtaposing these names, the author articulates his ideological stance toward the socio-political structure of Algeria and its postcolonial tensions.Findings: The analysis demonstrates that all forms of collocation contribute to the textual and semantic cohesion of Al-Jaziyah wa al-Darawish. The cohesive power of collocation establishes strong interconnections between words and meanings, reinforcing the unity of the text. The highest frequencies occur in collocations related to the novel’s primary theme (47% in the first timeframe and 41% in the second) and those based on contrast (36% and 35%, respectively). These patterns significantly enhance textual coherence and highlight the themes of Algerian resistance, national independence, and defiance against conformity. The lowest frequencies appear in part-to-whole and part-to-part relationships in the first timeframe (5.5%) and in collocations involving organized sets in the second (1.1%). Despite their lower occurrence, these types also play a supporting role in foregrounding the novel’s central themes. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106490.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Following the Renaissance—the transition from Aristotelian philosophy to modern philosophy—contemporary literature also underwent profound transformations in both form and content. Influenced by emerging intellectual and philosophical movements, modern literature sought to move beyond imitation and to explore the hidden truths and inner essence of reality. Schools such as Classicism, Modernism, Symbolism, Romanticism, and Surrealism all emerged as responses to the need for renewed modes of thought and artistic expression. Among these, Surrealism stands apart by redefining concepts such as reason, intellect, life, and truth, striving to uncover the mysteries and inner realities of existence. This artistic and literary movement, which developed in twentieth-century Europe between the two World Wars as an extension of Dadaism, aimed to liberate thought from dependence and constraint, searching for meaning at the “zero point” of consciousness—the origin of all causes free from external interference. Surrealism, through the powerful instrument of imagination, seeks a return to human metacognition, using linguistic techniques such as repetition, norm-breaking, creation of ambiguity, unfamiliar imagery, and spontaneous or automatic composition to perceive the world from a supra-realistic perspective. Thinkers such as Hegel, Plato, and Freud, and movements including Symbolism, Imagism, and particularly Futurism, contributed to the rise and early formation of Surrealism. Central to this movement is an emphasis on imagination and the creative force of the unconscious, asserting that genuine art emerges not from conscious rationality but from the dominance of imagination guided by the subconscious. The twentieth-century poet Ilya Abu Madi exemplifies these principles in his renowned ode Al-Talāsim. This study aims to analyze how the fundamental ideas of Surrealism manifest in the diction, imagery, and semantic structure of this poem.Methodology: This research employs a descriptive-analytical approach, drawing upon library sources and close textual reading. It explores the foundations of Surrealism in the works of poets such as Ilya Abu Madi—poets who hold a philosophical outlook on life, attach great value to imagination and the unconscious, and often employ spontaneous or automatic mental composition. The study identifies surrealistic imagery in Al-Talāsim through distinctive lexical and conceptual combinations characterized by automatic writing, pervasive imagination, and linguistic as well as conceptual ambiguities that arise from the depths of the subconscious. These features are analyzed and interpreted through textual description and analysis to reveal the underlying surrealistic mechanisms of the poem.Discussion and Analysis: In the works of many modern poets, a freedom-oriented intellectual tendency can be observed, influenced by dominant philosophical and literary movements of specific historical periods. These movements, rooted in earlier intellectual traditions, share a rejection of imitation and a determination to dismantle rigid structures that confine human thought. The manifestation of such thought in poetry takes various forms and techniques, whose recognition requires deep reflection on literary content and structure. Al-Talāsim, part of Abu Madi’s collection Al-Jadāwil, abounds in cryptic expressions and symbolic word combinations, posing philosophical and imaginative questions about existence and the meaning of life. In its opening verses, the poet evokes unknown and mysterious phenomena that guide the mind toward surreal imagery and thought. Through the use of repetition, unconscious composition, disruption of causal logic, self-alienation and self-forgetfulness, and the creation of unfamiliar and ambiguous atmospheres, Abu Madi offers a new aesthetic grounded in mental and psychological concepts. Unlike traditional poets, he seeks to convey meaning through inner rhythm and musicality, engaging the reader’s mind in the discovery of multiple layers of interpretation and abstraction.Findings: The findings indicate that Al-Talāsim is rich in unconventional linguistic relationships and semantic structures. By breaking the logical conventions of language, Abu Madi conveys ideas of rebellion and irrationality through paradoxical and unfamiliar imagery marked by temporal disjunction. Surrealist thought appears with considerable frequency throughout the poem. However, the complete realization of Surrealist principles—namely, establishing a direct cause-and-effect relationship in a realm beyond material reality—remains unattainable due to the inherent limits of human reason. Nonetheless, Surrealist art, relying on the immense imaginative capacity of the human mind, strives to uncover causes that transcend reality—an artistic and imaginative endeavor that satisfies the creative thirst of the modern, supra-real consciousness. Through his ingenious questioning of existential mysteries, his mastery of free imagination, his defiance of convention, and his creation of novel word associations, Ilya Abu Madi succeeds in crafting a distinctive and at times paradoxical poetic language. Words emerging from the unconscious, semantic and verbal transgression, repetition and self-forgetfulness, ambiguous and dreamlike spaces, illogical juxtapositions, and the interplay of contradictions all attest to the dominance of dream and surrealist vision within Al-Talāsim. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106491.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: The concept of the Other is a foundational construct in cultural and semiotic discourse, long serving as a mirror through which societies define and rediscover the Self. In modern literary and cultural studies, it has become a critical lens for examining mechanisms of power, domination, and identity. Islām Bilā Ḍifāf (Islam Without Shores), by Yūsuf Idrīs, presents a multifaceted portrayal of the encounter between the Islamic world and the West—particularly with colonial and imperial powers. Through allegorical and metaphorical language, Idrīs depicts historical adversaries of Islam, notably the United States and Israel, using images such as “the foolish giant,” “the Zionist octopus,” “the oil slaughter,” and “destructive maps.” These signs collectively foreground crises of identity, submission, and cultural disorientation in Islamic societies. Drawing upon Umberto Eco’s semiotic framework, which seeks meaning beyond surface-level signification, this study explores how Idrīs employs the cultural-historical repertoire of the Arab world to reconstruct the discourse of the Self in opposition to the Other. Eco’s concepts—such as the cultural encyclopedia, model reader, and authentic interpretation—provide analytical tools to reveal the interaction between text and cultural codes. The primary aim of this research is to uncover the semiotic mechanisms through which Idrīs represents the Other and to elucidate how linguistic and cultural elements function in redefining notions of identity, resistance, and domination. By distancing itself from purely political or historical approaches, the study treats the text as a network of interrelated signs that generate meaning through the collective memory of Arab-Islamic culture.Methodology: This study employs a descriptive–analytical method grounded in cultural semiotics, following Umberto Eco’s theoretical model. The corpus consists of the Arabic text of Islām Bilā Ḍifāf, analyzed in conjunction with linguistic, metaphorical, and cultural codes. The research proceeds in two main stages: (1) identifying the semiotic system of the text in relation to the historical and cultural context of Egypt and the Arab world, and (2) examining the processes of meaning production and the interaction between Eco’s “model author” and “model reader”. Analytical units include lexical signs, metaphors, and binary structures such as Self/Other, East/West, and Resistance/Domination. These are interpreted within the intertextual networks of Arab-Islamic cultural knowledge. The study rests on Eco’s principle that a sign acquires meaning not in isolation but through its participation in a broader system of cultural codes and historical memory.Discussion and Analysis: The semiotic reading of Islām Bilā Ḍifāf demonstrates that Idrīs constructs the Other as both an external adversary and an internal reflection of cultural crisis. The metaphors “the foolish giant” and “the octopus” encapsulate this duality, embodying power and domination while simultaneously exposing moral and existential decay. In Eco’s interpretive terms, the “foolish giant” functions as a double signifier: it denotes the immense military and economic might of the United States while connoting intellectual and ethical bankruptcy through the qualifier “foolish.” This semiotic tension dramatizes the contrast between material advancement and moral emptiness in Western civilization. Similarly, the “octopus” metaphor for Israel symbolizes pervasive global control through its multiple tentacles. According to Eco’s theory of cultural codes, this sign draws on shared collective memory within Arab culture, invoking imagery of predatory encirclement that resonates with the historical experiences of colonialism and conflict. Expressions such as “destructive maps” and “strategic plans” operate as cultural codes representing Western political and media manipulation. Through Eco’s lens, their meaning extends beyond literal reference, emerging instead from their interrelation with a broader network of ideological and historical symbols. These terms thus guide the reader from overt political critique toward deeper cultural-psychological dimensions of subjugation, including the erosion of confidence and the internalization of inferiority. A particularly striking metaphor—“the oil slaughter”—translates the economic exploitation of the Arab world into a symbolic ritual of sacrifice. In Eco’s semiotic view, this image fuses religious and economic sign systems, portraying oil as the “lifeblood” of Arab nations transformed into a source of their own depletion within the global capitalist structure. The metaphor’s potency lies in its ability to encode political critique through culturally resonant religious imagery. Overall, Idrīs creates a multi-layered textual architecture in which interlinked signs invite the reader to move from the political to the semiotic and existential. His use of culturally familiar codes ensures that the Arab reader participates in meaning construction as a model reader, decoding not only overt messages of resistance but also implicit reflections on cultural destiny and self-renewal. From Eco’s perspective, this multiplicity is not ambiguity but the very condition of interpretive richness and cultural regeneration.Findings: Eco’s semiotic framework proves highly effective for interpreting critical Arabic texts, revealing layers of cultural and ideological signification. The Other in Islām Bilā Ḍifāf is not limited to an external colonial force but emerges as a cultural construct essential to redefining the Self. Idrīs’s metaphors and cultural codes—rooted in the collective memory of colonial encounters—transcend linguistic representation to convey social and ideological meanings. By invoking Eco’s notions of the model reader and cultural encyclopedia, the study shows that Idrīs deliberately invites interpretive participation, making the act of reading itself a process of cultural self-reflection. Ultimately, the text operates as a semiotic map of resistance, transforming historical critique into a reassertion of Arab-Islamic identity. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106492.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Cognitive stylistics is a modern approach within stylistic studies that emerged in the early twenty-first century, following the rise of cognitive linguistics and under its strong influence. Building upon cognitive linguistic principles, this approach examines how concepts, experiences, and mental structures are represented in literary language. Unlike traditional stylistics, which focuses on linguistic and rhetorical features, cognitive stylistics aims to uncover the mental and cognitive mechanisms that writers and readers employ in the processes of text production and interpretation. One of the most significant of these mechanisms is conceptual metaphor. In the conceptual metaphor theory introduced by Lakoff and Johnson, metaphor is not simply a decorative literary device but a fundamental cognitive mechanism through which humans think and understand the world. Accordingly, the human mind comprehends abstract ideas through concrete, sensory experiences, and language functions as the medium for expressing these mental processes. Among the modern Arab writers who have skillfully expressed their worldview through cognitive metaphors is Mustafa Lutfi al-Manfaluti. His collection al-Nazarāt reveals a rich network of conceptual metaphors that reflect his outlook on social and moral issues. A stylistic study of this work within the cognitive framework demonstrates how al-Manfaluti uses metaphorical language and mental imagery to convey his personal experiences and social concerns, enabling readers to share and reconstruct his worldview. This research therefore aims to identify and analyze the key stylistic features of al-Manfaluti’s social conceptual metaphors in selected stories from al-Nazarāt (al-Kaʾs al-Ūlā, Ilā al-Dayr, ʿIbrat al-Dahr, Ghurfat al-Aḥzān, al-Bāʾisāt, al-Tawba, ʿAlā Sarīr al-Mawt, and Qatīlat al-Jūʿ) and to explain how these metaphors represent the author’s social perspectives. The study also investigates which source domains al-Manfaluti most frequently draws upon in mapping his conceptual metaphors.Methodology: This research is library-based and employs a descriptive–analytical method within the framework of cognitive stylistics. Data were collected, classified, and analyzed using content analysis. First, the theoretical foundations of cognitive stylistics and the main scholarly perspectives in this field were outlined. Then, examples of social conceptual metaphors were extracted from the selected stories of al-Nazarāt. In the final stage, data were analyzed according to source and target domains to clarify their range and variety, as well as to determine their stylistic and ideological functions in representing the author’s social vision.Discussion and Analysis: In the selected stories of al-Nazarāt, al-Manfaluti, through his distinctive style, succeeds in presenting complex and abstract social ideas as concrete, perceptible experiences—rooted in the reader’s sensory and cognitive world, making them more accessible and tangible. He achieves this through an extensive network of structural, ontological, and orientational metaphors, among which structural metaphors are the most frequent, as they allow multiple conceptual mappings that make social relations and hierarchies more intelligible. The analysis highlights al-Manfaluti’s capacity for multidimensional conceptualization: he connects each target domain (e.g., marriage, corruption, love, drunkenness) with multiple, diverse source domains. This approach generates new layers of meaning and permits the interpretation of social issues from various perspectives. For example, marriage is conceptualized not merely as a human contract but as commerce, trial, or battle; moral corruption appears through metaphors of theft and trade; love is portrayed as a perilous path, a deadly poison, or a bitter drink; and drunkenness becomes seduction, murder, blindness, or the veil of reason. Such diversity in metaphorical mappings is not merely ornamental—it endows al-Manfaluti’s prose with emotional intensity and rhetorical power, allowing him to address social problems with striking vividness. Readers thus engage with his writing both intellectually and emotionally. The interweaving of ontological and orientational metaphors deepens this engagement by linking abstract concepts to fundamental elements of human experience—such as space, direction, path, object, and substance—and thus facilitating a more profound comprehension of complex ideas.Findings: Al-Manfaluti’s prose in al-Nazarāt demonstrates a distinctive and deliberate use of social cognitive metaphors. Through rhetorical techniques such as restriction (qaṣr), the strategic use of demonstratives and relative clauses, and emotionally charged, oratorical language, he amplifies meaning and impact. Prominent stylistic features include binary oppositions, rhythmic balance, and a didactic tone, all of which enrich the text both semantically and affectively. Ultimately, al-Manfaluti, through his wide range of conceptual metaphors, successfully transforms abstract social concerns into vivid, multilayered representations, creating prose that not only conveys meaning but also evokes emotional and intellectual resonance in the reader. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106493.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Cognitive linguistics, one of the core branches of modern linguistics, explores the relationship between language, structure, and text as a means of decoding meaning. Each poet, shaped by their literary milieu and socio-historical circumstances, selects particular linguistic and stylistic elements that correspond to their intended themes, creating coherence between poetic language and artistic purpose. Examining these discursive and structural layers is essential for understanding how meaning is conveyed to the reader. Paul Werth, a prominent theorist in the field of cognitive linguistics, proposed an integrative model that unites principles of text linguistics and cognitive linguistics. His Text World Theory offers a comprehensive framework that extends beyond earlier approaches such as Beaugrande and Dressler’s Introduction to Text Linguistics (1981) and Van Dijk and Kintsch’s works (1983). Werth conceptualizes literary discourse through three interrelated levels—the text world, the discourse world, and the sub-world—providing a systematic means to analyze the linguistic and cognitive structures underlying literary texts. Yahya Samawi, a leading contemporary Iraqi poet, employs both emotional depth and vivid imagination in his work. His poetry oscillates between complexity and accessibility, yet consistently centers on the suffering and devastation caused by American occupation and its impact on his homeland. This study aims to analyze Samawi’s collection Shāhidat Qabr min Rukhām al-Kalimāt (A Tombstone of Marble Words) through Werth’s cognitive linguistic framework, focusing on the dynamics of the text world, discourse world, and sub-world.Methodology: This research employs a descriptive–analytical method, applying Paul Werth’s Text World Theory—which encompasses the interrelated patterns of the text world, discourse world, and sub-world—to the analysis of Yahya Samawi’s poetry collection Shāhidat Qabr min Rukhām al-Kalimāt. Data have been gathered through library research and textual analysis, emphasizing the cognitive and linguistic mechanisms through which meaning is constructed and perceived.Discussion and Analysis: Cognitive linguistics provides an innovative perspective for literary analysis by linking linguistic structure with mental representation. Werth’s model, due to its comprehensiveness, enables a deep linguistic and cognitive examination of literary works. Traditional literary criticism often falls short in bridging the text world with the reader’s interpretive world; thus, Werth’s framework offers a means to enter the text scientifically while preserving its aesthetic creativity. Given the occupation of Iraq and its resulting social suffocation, Samawi conceals his fundamental political and human concerns beneath layered poetic and rhetorical expression. His collection Shāhidat Qabr min Rukhām al-Kalimāt—when analyzed through Werth’s cognitive poetic approach—facilitates the reader’s comprehension of the poet’s core intentions and emotional vision. Through his imaginative structuring, Samawi manipulates time (frequent shifts between past and future to evoke reflection and hope), space (constantly changing settings expressing suffocation and sorrow), and perspective (shifts between first- and third-person narration). These elements interact within the text world and discourse world to expand the semantic and emotional scope of his poetry. The poet’s stylistic strategies—such as vivid world-building, associative imagery, and propositional layering—guide the reader through both the emotional and ideological dimensions of the text.Findings: Analysis reveals that Samawi’s dominant aim in constructing the text world is to portray his homeland’s suffering under foreign occupation. Temporal movement between past and future serves to immerse the reader in historical experience while inspiring perseverance and envisioning renewal. The spatial world reflects oppression and displacement, embodying the poet’s preoccupation with exile and loss. Within the discourse world, Samawi establishes an intimate dialogue with his audience, sharing his memories, aspirations, and collective pain. The poet enriches the text world through cohesive world-building elements, particularly propositional expansions that reflect his didactic and humanitarian purposes. All three sub-world dimensions—temporal, deictic, and modal—are active in this collection. Samawi employs temporal shifts, perspectival changes, and symbolic compression to merge personal and collective experience, thereby achieving a multidimensional poetic discourse. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106494.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Discourse analysis is a contemporary approach in linguistics and literary criticism (in Persian often termed sokhan-kāvī or taḥlīl-e kalām) that does not confine itself to lexical items as the sole means of explicating textual meaning; rather, it integrates extra-textual factors, notably the context of situation. In literary discourse analysis, textual structures are examined in conjunction with their situational context, and interpretation outside this context is considered inadequate. Applying discourse analysis to Qur’anic passages reveals how literary devices interact with context to generate coherence between textual form and situational demands, thereby deepening comprehension of latent semantic layers and the speaker’s intent. Concepts proximate to “context of situation” in the Islamic scholarly tradition include siyāq (co-text/context), qarīnah (contextual cue/indicator), and moqtazā-ye hāl (exigencies of the circumstance). In Qur’anic studies, these map onto siyāq-e maqāmī (situational/external context) and qarāʾin-e mottaṣil-e ghayr-lafẓī (connected non-verbal indicators), encompassing the circumstances of revelation, the characteristics of speaker and audience, and the occasion of utterance. The Qur’an’s eloquence—long recognized for its multiple dimensions of iʿjāz (miraculousness)—lies in tailoring expression to context and marshalling linguistic resources to convey divine intent with precision. Yet many studies have focused chiefly on traditional rhetoric while underexamining the systematic relation between linguistic structure and situational context. Surah al-Dukhān, a Meccan chapter revealed amid the specific social, political, and cultural conditions of the ninth and tenth years of the Prophetic mission, exhibits a distinctive textual configuration in its verses on the Hereafter (al-Maʿād). This configuration amplifies the message’s persuasive force. The present study analyzes these verses to elucidate the interplay between textual context and context of situation.Methodology: Using a descriptive–analytical design and drawing on documentary and library sources, this study examines the Hereafter verses of Surah al-Dukhān through the lens of literary discourse analysis. Building on Islamic scholarly treatments of situational context in the Qur’an, it analyzes both the textual context and the context of situation and uncovers their interrelations, with the aim of demonstrating how their harmony and cohesion enhance message transmission to the audience.Discussion and Analysis: Surah al-Dukhān was revealed during the Prophet’s public proclamation, in a milieu where the Meccan polytheists, having rejected the Qur’an’s revelatory message, adopted an antagonistic posture. They not only refused belief themselves but also impeded dissemination of the divine message. Reports from the closing years of the Prophet’s mission attest to heightened insolence, mockery, and disrespect toward the Prophet (pbuh), alongside denial of the Hereafter and skepticism about the Qur’an’s divine origin. Within this situational context, the Hereafter verses speak with clarity about life after death, the primacy of the otherworldly life, human immortality, and they vividly depict scenes of Resurrection. At the level of textual structure—following a three-tier model (phonological/phonetic, syntactic, semantic)—a tight fit between text and situation emerges. Phonologically, the Qur’an exploits verse-endings (fawāṣil), letter qualities (ṣifāt al-ḥurūf), and patterned repetition of sounds and words to draw attention and arouse affect. Syntactically, extensive use of emphatic constructions and a calibrated mix of declaratives and performatives (injunctive/optative forms) serve the communicative aims of proving resurrection, reproaching opponents, and refuting their claims, doubts, and denials—features that mirror an audience disposed to reject the Hereafter. Semantically, through imagery (simile), figurative transfer (metonymy/synecdoche, majāz), and contrast (taḍādd), the text renders punishments and blessings of the afterlife with concreteness and rhetorical economy, immersing the audience while conveying maximal meaning with minimal wording.Findings: The findings show that the denial of the Hereafter and opposition of the Meccan polytheists constituted a decisive situational backdrop shaping the surah’s divine discourse. In Surah al-Dukhān, God mobilizes the Qur’an’s linguistic and rhetorical resources to substantiate the epistemic foundations of the Hereafter, while issuing stern warnings of worldly and otherworldly consequences for obstinacy, enmity, and persistent denial. The surah delineates the ultimate destinies of deniers and the pious in the afterlife. Analyzing the systematic correlation between textual context and context of situation clarifies the surah’s overarching communicative objective: to transform and rectify beliefs regarding the Hereafter and to admonish hostile polytheists about the grave consequences of doubting and denying resurrection. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106495.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: This study examines the technique of condensation (takthif) in the flash poems (qasidat al-wamda) of the contemporary Iraqi poet Najat Abdullah, and clarifies the role of this technique in shaping both the form and content of the poems in her collections. The flash poem—widely embraced in the fast-paced modern era—captures an instantaneous, pure poetic moment that flashes in the poet’s mind and is rendered as a highly compressed utterance. In this micro-form, several textual strategies recur, most prominently condensation, paradox or contrast, and a striking closure. While classical poets highlighted condensation mainly through brevity (ijaz), many modern poets extend condensation to form and syntactic composition, coordinating structure with compressed meaning. Because flash poems must convey thought within extremely limited space, they rely on complementary strategies across semantics, layout or form, and syntax to intensify coherence and effect. This article asks: (1) By what methods does condensation manifest in Abdullah’s flash poems at the levels of meaning, form, and syntax? (2) What are the types of condensation she employs, and which type appears most frequently?Methodology: The research adopts a descriptive–analytical approach. Abdullah’s poetry collections were surveyed in full; given her extensive use of the flash-poem form, condensation is the dominant feature of her corpus. Drawing on classical and modern sources, the study organizes evidence into three analytic levels—meaning, form, and syntactic structure—and extracts, classifies, and analyzes examples accordingly. Techniques considered include figures of speech, juxtaposition or montage, deliberate white space and page layout (including vertical or columnar lineation), use of ellipses and punctuation, pruning of superfluous modifiers or adverbials, omission of one or more clauses or sentences, and defamiliarization through altered word order.Discussion and Analysis: In Abdullah’s work, condensation is most visible in three domains: meaning, form, and syntax. In meaning (semantic condensation), she deploys allegory, metaphor, proverb, kenning or metonymy, allusion, symbol, paradox, lexical focalization, and artful repetition. By mixing unfamiliar diction with purposeful ambiguity, she opens the poems to multiple readings and dense implication, activating readers’ horizons of expectation—political, social, cultural, martial, and religious. In form (graphic or visual condensation), she uses juxtaposition and montage, spatial arrangement of lines on the page (concrete or visual poetics), strategic white space, vertical and horizontal lineation, and pointed punctuation (including ellipses). These techniques both deepen semantic compression and consolidate the poems’ innovative character. Drawing on adjacent arts—especially cinema—she adapts montage to craft a vivid visual field for the flash poem. In syntax (syntactic condensation), she practices defamiliarization in sentence structure, pares away redundant modifiers, omits clauses or whole sentences, and avoids ornamental excess. To communicate intimate lyric feeling, including explicitly feminine emotion, she often restricts utterance to core sentence elements, giving the flashes the aphoristic precision of gnomic statements that lodge memorably in the reader’s mind.Findings: Condensation emerges as a foundational pillar of Abdullah’s flash poems across all three domains—meaning, form, and syntax—with semantic condensation occurring most frequently. By combining brevity with defamiliarization, ambiguity, polysemy, omission, visual design, and purposeful gaps, Abdullah transforms the minimal surface of the flash poem into a site of active readerly engagement. The resulting texts invite challenge rather than passive reception, intensifying the compactness of expression while expanding interpretive depth. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106496.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Muḥammad b. Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (146–204 AH), celebrated jurist and eponym of the Shāfiʿī school, was also noted for eloquent, morally focused verse. Although he later renounced poetic practice in deference to jurisprudence and never compiled a dīwān, his scattered poems—preserved in biographical and bibliographical works—circulated widely. Their ethical tenor and aphoristic brevity made them fertile sources for later Persian poets. This article examines how core themes in al-Shāfiʿī’s Arabic poetry are reflected—through translation, adaptation, and elaboration—in the works of four major Persian poets associated with the Shāfiʿī tradition: Niẓāmī, Khaqānī, Saʿdī, and Ḥāfeẓ. It identifies shared motifs (e.g., striving, the “four takbīrs,” disclosure of secrets, seeking knowledge in youth, censure of excessive laughter and envy, loyal friendship in hardship, and conduct toward an enemy’s friends) and clarifies the nature and limits of this intertextual reception.Methodology: Using a library-based, descriptive–analytical approach, the study surveys relevant passages in al-Shāfiʿī’s transmitted verse and traces their Persian counterparts in Khamseh and other works of Niẓāmī, the Dīwān of Khaqānī, Saʿdī’s Golestān and Būstān, and the Dīwān of Ḥāfeẓ. Close readings establish thematic correspondences, modes of transfer (literal translation, paraphrase, thematic echo), and points of agreement or divergence in ethical and theological stance.Discussion and Analysis: Al-Shāfiʿī’s poetry is largely fragmentary and didactic, eschewing ornate embellishment in favor of lucid moral counsel; this stylistic economy facilitated its migration into Persian. In lyric and gnomic registers alike, Persian poets reframed his ideas within richer figurative and scientific vocabularies, clothing simple Arabic maxims in the “thousand-pattern” aesthetics of Persian poetics. Notably, the well-known Golestān anecdote of the “aged, rag-clad jurist” echoes a Shāfiʿī source; the persona aligns with al-Shāfiʿī himself as an emblem of learned poverty. Likewise, the celebrated hemistich associated with Ḥāfeẓ—“I uttered the four takbīrs over all that exists”—resonates with Shāfiʿī materials, suggesting poetic revoicing from the Arabic dīwān rather than solely from juridical prose. Reception is not monolithic: Niẓāmī often affirms Shāfiʿī’s perspectives, whereas Saʿdī and Ḥāfeẓ occasionally contest or reconfigure them, staging debates over ascetic restraint, sociability, and the limits of disclosure. Across these poets, recurrent Shāfiʿī themes—industry and perseverance; youthful study; tempering laughter; warning against envy; constancy in adversity; prudence toward adversaries—are variously translated, expanded, or ironized, yet remain recognizable as shared ethical capital.Findings: (1) Al-Shāfiʿī’s verse exerted a substantive, traceable influence on Persian moral-didactic discourse, supplying portable maxims readily naturalized within Persian style. (2) The pathways of transmission include direct translation, thematic paraphrase, and symbolic transposition into Persian narrative and lyric frames. (3) Among the four poets studied, Niẓāmī most consistently endorses Shāfiʿī’s viewpoints; Saʿdī and Ḥāfeẓ, while indebted to his themes, sometimes articulate qualified dissent, thereby enriching the Persian reception with dialogic nuance. (4) Specific correspondences—such as the “four takbīrs,” the portrait of the humble jurist, and admonitions on envy, laughter, and loyal friendship—demonstrate that Persian reworkings are not mere borrowings but creative assimilations that preserve ethical cores while achieving distinctive Persian eloquence. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106497.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Given that the novel Sleeping in a Cherry Orchard (Al-Nūm fī Ḥaql al-Karaz) by Azhar Jergis deeply explores themes of spiritual turmoil, loss of identity, and the search for peace in two contrasting environments—Iraq and Norway—this study seeks to analyze the function of Logotherapy, Viktor Frankl’s existential school of thought, within the novel. The work’s emphasis on the quest for meaning in life, disillusionment, and moral struggle makes it an ideal ground for the application of Frankl’s theory. The central question addressed is: How does Azhar Jergis employ the three core components of Logotherapy—creative values, experiential values, and attitudinal values—to portray his characters’ confrontation with suffering, inequality, and their pursuit of meaning and serenity? Furthermore, the research examines how the notions of divine unity (Tawhid) and the afterlife (Ma‘ad) operate as tools that link the experience of death to a sense of existential meaning and inner peace. The primary objective of this research is to analyze and explain the function of Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy in Sleeping in a Cherry Orchard. The secondary objectives are: (1) to examine and interpret the direct and indirect implications of the novel through the lens of Logotherapy; (2) to identify the techniques through which the author enables his characters to find meaning in life through human experiences, moral values, and suffering; (3) to clarify the role of divine unity and the afterlife in connecting the confrontation with death to inner peace; and (4) to substantiate that the novel is not merely a narrative work but also a philosophical exploration of the meaning of life, reflecting the principles of Frankl’s therapy of meaning.Methodology: This study applies a descriptive–analytical method to explore Viktor Frankl’s theoretical components within Azhar Jergis’s Sleeping in a Cherry Orchard. Data were gathered through library research and direct textual analysis of the novel. Each of Frankl’s core concepts—creative, experiential, and attitudinal values—was traced in the text, with corresponding evidence analyzed to determine how they contribute to the work’s overall philosophical and psychological dimensions.Discussion and Analysis: Azhar Jergis’s Sleeping in a Cherry Orchard is grounded in profound Logotherapeutic concepts that draw from diverse value systems and universal human experience. Logotherapy in this novel is not confined to individual crises but expands to encompass cultural and transnational dimensions, defining life in broader and more complex terms. Emotions and experiences intrinsic to human nature are presented as essential instruments for constructing meaning, particularly in the face of spiritual turmoil, leading to balance and inner peace. According to Jergis, endurance of pain and suffering yields meaning only when it leads to liberation from distress and the attainment of security—security from the threats of death, infanticide, and genocide, all of which are thematically rooted in the post-war and occupied Iraq depicted in the novel. Likewise, guilt is reinterpreted through an ethical and altruistic lens: the protagonist perceives the shame of his lost literary gift as a means of serving others, transforming guilt into purpose and suffering into redemption. Through such portrayals, Jergis translates existential struggle into a journey of moral self-realization consistent with Frankl’s principles.Findings: The findings indicate that Jergis employs human experience, moral values, suffering, and other meaning-giving elements to help his characters transcend despair and resist the injustices of life. He defines the attainment of peace amid mortality through the dual framework of divine unity and belief in the afterlife. Death serves as a central motif, approached from two distinct perspectives. The first, rooted in faith, views death as an opportunity for union with divine mercy—mirroring Frankl’s assertion that meaning can be found even in suffering and finitude. The second perspective, based on nihilism, regards death as the absolute end of existence, resulting in alienation, addiction, and despair. The ethical principles embodied in the novel—resistance, justice, altruism, and self-sacrifice—align directly with Frankl’s Logotherapy, illustrating that the salvation of humanity arises through meaning-making, moral steadfastness, and compassionate action. Ultimately, Sleeping in a Cherry Orchard emerges not merely as a story but as a literary enactment of Logotherapy’s central idea: that life retains meaning under all circumstances, even amid suffering and loss. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106498.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Elegiac poetry constitutes one of the most enduring genres in Arabic and Islamic literary heritage, deeply rooted in religious, cultural, and social traditions. Beyond articulating a poet’s grief over personal loss, the elegy functions as a mirror of faith, ideology, and social consciousness. Within this framework, elegies devoted to Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) occupy a distinctive place, combining emotional intensity with theological, historical, and critical dimensions. By depicting the injustices inflicted upon the Prophet’s family—especially in the tragedy of Karbalāʾ—these elegies have contributed profoundly to the formation of Shiʿi identity and the transmission of its doctrinal and moral values. Among the Abbasid poets, Diʿbil al-Khuzaʿī stands out as a loyal adherent of the Ahl al-Bayt and a central figure in the development of Shiʿi lamentation poetry. His compositions—particularly the celebrated Qaṣīda al-Tāʾiyya al-Kubrā—combine linguistic mastery with conceptual depth, intertwining his personal sorrow with the collective anguish of the Shiʿi community. Characterized by poignant diction, vivid imagery, and powerful religious themes, Diʿbil’s elegies sustain the collective memory of Shiʿism and serve as instruments of identity formation. Despite numerous studies on Abbasid poetry, a systematic conceptual analysis of Diʿbil’s elegiac corpus remains essential. Such analysis reveals not only his expressive strategies but also the cultural, political, and theological functions of his verse. This study therefore aims to construct a conceptual model elucidating the principal components of Diʿbil’s elegies for Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and to demonstrate their role in consolidating Shiʿi religious identity under the Abbasid caliphate.Methodology: The research adopts a qualitative approach, focusing on the elegiac themes for Ahl al-Bayt in Diʿbil al-Khuzaʿī’s poetry. Primary data were drawn from Dīwān Diʿbil al-Khuzaʿī, as edited by Ḥasan Ḥammād and ʿAbd al-Ṣāḥib ʿImrān al-Dujaylī, complemented by historical and literary sources such as al-Aghānī, Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, and annotated commentaries. The analytical unit comprised all poems and verses directly related to the elegy of Ahl al-Bayt. Following triple-stage coding—basic, organizing, and integrative—the data were managed using Citavi and analyzed with MAXQDA software to map the conceptual structure. Validity and reliability were ensured through triangulation, document cross-analysis, and random recoding.Discussion and Analysis: Content analysis of Diʿbil’s Dīwān reveals that his elegy transcends mere personal mourning, functioning instead as a framework for articulating Shiʿi identity, political dissent, and the moral supremacy of Ahl al-Bayt. The category “calamity and oppression” emerges as the most frequent and central organizing code, indicating that Diʿbil builds his elegiac structure around depictions of historical tragedies and injustices visited upon the Prophet’s family—images that evoke collective empathy and reinforce communal solidarity. Alongside this central motif, the codes “virtue and rank” and “devotion and love” are prominent. By exalting the spiritual and moral virtues of Ahl al-Bayt and emphasizing their divinely sanctioned status, Diʿbil redefines legitimate religious authority in opposition to the political power of the Abbasid caliphs. The dimension of maḥabba (devotion and love) manifests the poet’s inner attachment and transforms the elegy into a text suffused with reverence and fidelity. Additional imagery—martyrdom, weeping, sacred tombs, ruins, thirst, severed heads—intensifies the sensory and visual power of the poems, recreating scenes of grief and resistance that animate the Shiʿi historical imagination. These images not only evoke lament but also sanctify memory, turning geographical and material sites into markers of faith and identity. Furthermore, Diʿbil’s satirical attacks on the enemies of the Prophet’s household inject a sharp critical edge, elevating the elegy from passive mourning to an instrument of protest and defiance against Abbasid hegemony. The overall conceptual network that emerges from the analysis integrates emotional, historical, theological, and political layers. Thus, Diʿbil’s elegies function as both aesthetic compositions and ideological texts that preserve collective memory and affirm Shiʿi resistance. His poetry stands as a testament to the endurance of cultural identity under oppression and remains a foundational source for the study of Shiʿi ritual literature.Findings: (1) Diʿbil’s elegiac corpus constitutes a multilayered semantic system, in which grief, protest, and devotion are intricately interwoven. (2) The dominant conceptual axis—the suffering and persecution of Ahl al-Bayt—forms the structural core of his elegies. (3) Secondary yet reinforcing motifs—virtues of the Prophet’s family and expressions of love and attachment—underscore the doctrinal and affective dimensions of his art. (4) Vivid references to sacred places and funerary imagery generate a ritual and sensory experience for the audience, enhancing spiritual empathy. (5) His biting tone toward adversaries transforms lamentation into a vehicle of political protest, bridging aesthetic expression with social activism. Accordingly, Diʿbil al-Khuzaʿī’s poetic heritage can be regarded as a cultural and theological document that encapsulates the Shiʿi collective identity and its enduring struggle for justice and remembrance. https://jalc.sbu.ac.ir/article_106499.html Statement of the Problem and Objective: Critical language awareness is a contemporary pedagogical approach that has gained significant attention for its impact on the quality of language learning. Beyond memorizing vocabulary and patterns or rehearsing superficial communicative scenarios, it cultivates learners who can analyze, debate, and interpret texts within their cultural, social, and historical contexts. In teaching Arabic to non-native speakers, however, many programs still rely on traditional, rote methods that constrain learners’ expressive range and hinder deeper understanding. Drama offers a promising alternative: as a living text that fuses dialogue, interaction, and cultural context, it allows learners to experience language in lifelike situations involving conflict and diverse perspectives. This study investigates the extent to which drama can enhance speaking skills and foster critical language awareness, and whether it can outperform traditional instruction. The applied model is Tawfiq al-Hakim’s play Ṣāḥibat al-Jalālah (Her Majesty), selected for its linguistic and cultural richness.Methodology: A mixed-methods design was used, combining a descriptive–analytical approach with a quasi-experimental intervention. The sample comprised 30 fifth-year undergraduates at the University of Tehran in the 2020–2021 academic year, purposively assigned to an experimental group (drama-based instruction) and a control group (traditional instruction). The program unfolded in three stages: (1) preparatory—introducing the play’s cultural background and learning goals; (2) interactive teaching—close analysis of selected scenes and discussion of characters and language use; and (3) applied—role-play, dialogue rewriting, and presentation of critical analyses. Pre- and post-tests measured speaking skills and critical awareness. Data were analyzed in SPSS using descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations) and inferential statistics (Kolmogorov–Smirnov, Levene’s test, and ANOVA).Discussion and Analysis: Drama-based instruction enabled students not only to acquire new linguistic knowledge but also to transfer it to varied, quasi-real contexts. At the speaking level, dramatic dialogues supported accurate pronunciation, appropriate grammatical–pragmatic choices, and richer verbal/nonverbal interaction. At the critical level, discussions of character, event, and theme strengthened logical argumentation, justification of positions, and the ability to situate texts within cultural and social frames. The approach also increased motivation and classroom participation, rendering learning more vivid, enjoyable, and productively challenging. Two practical constraints emerged: some dramatic texts are demanding for intermediate learners and may require adaptation and cultural scaffolding; and instructors need targeted preparation to manage drama activities so they move beyond performance to genuine critical analysis.Findings: Compared with the control group, the experimental group showed significant gains on three axes: (1) critical expression—deeper analysis of texts and situations; (2) linguistic interaction—greater fluency and use of advanced communication strategies; and (3) critical thinking—stronger links between texts and their cultural–social contexts. These outcomes indicate that drama is not merely entertaining but an effective pedagogical tool for elevating Arabic language learning and cultivating critical language awareness among non-native learners. As such, drama merits strategic adoption in Arabic curricula for non-native speakers.